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Aokigahara forest- (Japan)
- mysterious world
- Jun 18, 2022
- 2 min read
The Aokigahara forest is located in the northwestern flank of Japan’s Mount Fuji. It has been a popular tourist destination for years.
The forest has a historical reputation as a home to “yurei”, ghouls of the dead in Japanese mythology. In recent years Aokigahara has been tainted by the name of ” Suicide forest” because of the large number of suicides happening there throughout the year.
Every year more and more bodies are found there. In 2003, 105 bodies were found in the forest. In 2010, police recorded more than 200 people having attempted suicide in the forest that year. Suicides are said to increase during March, the end of fiscal year in Japan. The increasing number of suicides has led the officials to place signs at the forest’s entry urging people of suicidal nature to seek help.
Moreover, a lot of people believe that in old times when there were famines, people used to take the oldest members of their family and leave them in the forest to die. Although many believe this to be a hoax and an urban legend that has gained popularity over time because of the internet. The paranormal activities are sometimes attributed to these events as well because the forest is ancient.
The traditional belief was that if the bodies of the dead were not cleared immediately, their souls would linger there forever. People travelling in the forest often find clothing and sometimes even a body. Due to the vastness of the forests, people who enter the forests carry a string along tape so that they can find their way back out. It’s very easy to get lost in the forest and gps and mobile phones do not work properly inside the forest. Many times these tapes have been purposefully cut off by someone and due to that people have got lost there.
A Suicide warning sign @Davide Mauro
People have reported hearing blood curdling screams while wandering in the forests. A reporter heard a scream from somewhere in the forest, he went to investigate the source of sound but found a dead body which looked like it had been there for a long time and could not be the source of the sound. There have been alleged ghost sightings and people have seen white figures drifting in between the trees. People have found curses and sometimes they feel they are being followed. The atmosphere inside the forest is in itself very eerie. Trees grow in twisted turning shapes and the roots are spread all around the floor making movement difficult, these trees are closely knit and packed blocking any kind of air and sound making the forest eerily silent where you can even hear your breath. People often have difficulty breathing and they fall sick during their visit to the forest.
Aokigahara has seen a fair share of death and paranormal. It is believed that the forest is one of the most if not the most haunted places in the world. However, this does not stop people from entering the forests. It still attracts a lot of tourists, travellers, youtubers and paranoramal fanatics hoping to get a glimpse of the paranoramal.
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