COVID-19 and Rumors and Hoaxes (The Slit-Mouth Woman, the Rumor of Orleans)

The impact of the new coronavirus is expanding rapidly.

The infection is spreading worldwide, including to Italy, South Korea, and the United States, and some countries, such as India, are now in lockdown.

On March 24th, it was decided that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be postponed for about a year, and on the 25th, Tokyo Governor Koike held an emergency press conference to announce that the situation was at a critical juncture of an overshoot and the possibility of a lockdown (city lockdown or capital lockdown). On the 26th, the governors and mayors of local governments such as Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa called for people to refrain from traveling to and from Tokyo.

The number of infected people in Japan has continued to increase since then, especially in Tokyo, and as of the 27th, the number of infected people was 1,524.

The impact of COVID-19 has had a major impact on economic and social activity, with stock prices fluctuating wildly every day and some small and medium-sized enterprises going bankrupt due to the coronavirus.

Additionally, following the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's press conference, there has been an increase in panic buying at supermarkets in the city.

COVID-19 and Rumors and Hoaxes

There was a lot of toilet paper hoarding going on recently, but the rumor that toilet paper would run out turned out to be a hoax.

Not only is there the issue of toilet paper, but various rumors, fake news, gossip articles, chain emails, etc. regarding the coronavirus are circulating, and people are being swayed by information.

There are rumors of a state of emergency being declared and a lockdown of Tokyo.

There are also conspiracy theories emerging that the coronavirus is just a cold or that it is the effect of 5G.

It just so happens that April Fool's Day is soon upon us.

Rumors are when they are spoken as if they were true.Urban legendAnd as this story continues to be told,LoreIt will be.

The rumor of the Slit-Mouth Woman

Famous monsters born from rumors include:Slit-Mouth WomanThere are.

The rumor began in Gifu Prefecture in early December 1978, and spread across the country within six months, affecting real social life, including police car deployments and children walking home in groups from school.

In August 1979, the rumor that had been sweeping the nation suddenly died down. This was said to be because summer vacation began and the exchange of information among children (word of mouth) ceased.

This phenomenon was analyzed in detail by Nomura Junichi in his book "Study of the Slit-Mouth Woman." He is considered to have been one of the earliest researchers to study the Slit-Mouth Woman from the standpoint of folklore and oral literature, and to have been a pioneer in the study of ghost stories and urban legends in Japan.

The Slit-Mouth Woman usually hides her mouth with a mask, but with the recent shortage of masks, it seems that even the Slit-Mouth Woman cannot go out...

Rumors of Orleans

A classic urban legend based on rumors is Edgar Morin's "Rumors of Orléans" (about a boutique where female customers suddenly disappear).

A woman enters a fitting room at a certain boutique, but no matter how long she waits, she never comes out. When her husband (or lover or friend) who came with her asks the store clerk, they are told that "no such customer came," and she ends up going missing. The story goes that the missing woman ends up being trafficked into human trafficking.

The general outline of the story is an urban legend that has been used in a variety of works, so I'm sure many people have heard similar stories.

This story is based on a rumor that actually circulated in Orléans, France in 1969. A rumor spread that young women were disappearing one after another after entering the fitting rooms of a boutique in Orléans. Six stores were suspected, five of which were owned by Jews. Although it was merely a rumor and no such incidents had actually occurred, the six boutiques named were surrounded by citizens, and the situation came to the brink of rioting. After that, it was reported that the rumor was a plot by anti-Semites, and the people who had tried to start a riot kept quiet for fear of being accused of being anti-Semitic, and the rumor died down.

This rumor spread from Orleans to other places, and similar rumors were seen in various parts of the world, including Italy and Hong Kong, modified based on actual local stores.

The real-world impact of rumors

There are countless examples of how what began as mere rumors like this have actually had an impact on social activities.

False rumors and rumours are particularly likely to spread when psychological factors such as fear and anxiety are strong.

Regarding the new coronavirus, various "rumors" have been circulating about everything from how to prevent and respond to it to its source and impact, but most of these are nothing more than false information intended to stir up anxiety.

I believe that knowing about past urban legends and folklore about monsters will give you a basis for thinking for yourself, and allow you to make judgments without being swayed by rumors and hoaxes.

Image: Slit-Mouth Woman (Shigeru Mizuki)

References:

"The Misfortune of Folklore" (Takahiro Otsuki, Seikyusha), "The Psychology of Rumors" (G.W. Allport, L. Postman, translated by Hiroshi Minami, Iwanami Gendai Sosho), "The Vanishing Hitchhiker" (Jean Harold Brunvant, Takahiro Otsuki, Yukihiko Shigenobu, Yuko Sugaya, translated by Shinjuku Shobo), "Rumors" (Ikutaro Shimizu, Iwanami Bunko), "Sociology of Rumors: An Approach from Formal Sociology" (Yoko Hayakawa, Seikyusha), "Sociology of Rumors and Disinformation" (Osamu Hiroi, Bunshun Shinsho), "The Rumors of Orleans: Rumors of Women's Abduction and Their Mythological Effects" (Edgar Morin, translated by Mitsunobu Sugiyama, Misuzu Shobo), "Rumors of Edo Tokyo: From 'An Evening Like This' to 'The Slit-Mouth Woman'" (Junichi Nomura, Taishukan Shoten)

Text by Keishiro Watanabe

■ Keichan Watanabe

Born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. Graduated from the School of Human Sciences at Waseda University. An independent researcher of yokai. Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).

He currently works as a management and IT consultant, residing in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and traveling throughout the prefecture and Tokyo. However, he studied folklore and cultural anthropology at university, and continues to research yokai as his life's work.

I am currently writing articles about monsters associated with Hokkaido, where I currently live, as well as current news about business and economics.

Twitter:https://twitter.com/keishiro_w

Blog:http://blog.livedoor.jp/meda3594/