Japan’s Suicide Forest

Aokigahara – Japan’s Suicide Forest
Labelled as the spookiest forest on earth Aokigahara is also a popular suicide spot in Japan. As though forests aren’t creepy enough, Aokigahara forest has earned the bad reputation of attracting suicides every year.

The Aokigahara forest lies at the base of Japan’s famous Mt Fuji and spreads over 35 square kilometres. According to statistics released by the Japanese government this forest witnesses 70 to 100 suicides every year.

All of this began with the Japanese tradition where the elderly where taken to these forests and left to die there. This tradition made Aokigahara the Suicide Forest. Years back the suicide of two lovers made this forest more popular as a suicide spot.

The suicides and creepiness attract a lot of tourists every year. These tourists trek through the forest not with a compass but with tapes which they stick on the trees to find their way back. Many of the trekkers have been accounted as saying that their compasses stop functioning inside the forest! Sometimes these tourists also get to see hanging bodies. Some of the bodies are found and retrieved by the forest officials while some get lost or eaten up by animals.
People believe that the numerous unnatural deaths have made this forest evil and sinister. These evil spirits are said to haunt the forests particularly around 2 and 3am. The Japanese call these evil spirits Yurei. They believe that unnatural death and improper burial causes the spirits to become evil.
People commit suicide out of anger, depression or misery. When they kill themselves all these negative emotions are absorbed by the surroundings, which makes everything inside the forest negative and depressing.

The Japanese government have however rubbished off these beliefs as superstition. According to them the high iron content in this forest causes the compasses to go haywire. To prevent more suicides the government has put up a sign boards throughout the forest asking people to get help instead of killing themselves.
Maybe there are no spirits, or maybe the government is trying to downplay the incidents, the truth is still unknown. Even today if you go to Japan and ask for directions to the Aokigahara forest, people will give you a shocking expression and ask you not to go.

To know the truth about the haunting and death you need to visit the Aokigahara forest….so what have you decided?