Japan's Creepiest Forest

If you find yourself hiding under a blanket and stress eating delicious buttery popcorn while watching scary movies, grab your comfort foods, because this article will fill your spine with chills and have you sleeping with a nightlight on. Even though Halloween is over, there is one place in the world that stays incredibly eerie all year round: Aokigahara Forest, commonly known as Japan's Suicide Forest. Japanese locals said there are three types of people who go into this forest: hikers, rubberneckers and those who aren't planning to come out.

People were so intrigued by the forest that filmmakers released horror film, The Forest, in early 2016. The forest is not just terrifying in the movie but also in real life. Since 1971, Japanese authorities remove about 100 bodies a year. When you approach the forest, you'll find shoes and clothing littering the pathways and abandoned cars rusting away in the parking lot.

In Japan, suicide is the number one cause of death for men, making Aokigahara Forest the second most popular place in the world to commit suicide. This is partially due to the fact that in World War II, samurai and kamikaze pilots would sacrifice themselves in "honorable suicide," so it became somewhat normalized in Japanese culture.

Strange things happen in Aokigahara Forest that make it so terrifying and fascinating to people all over the world. First, before you even enter the forest there are abandoned personal belongings scattered on the ground and signs urging people not to go into it. The myth of the forest is that the hauntings began after a Buddhist monk wandered in to purify himself by starving himself. Other monks followed suit and thus, suicide forest got it's name. Japanese consider the forest to be the most haunted place in Japan, because of the Yurei that are in it (paranormal beings who suffered a violent and unnatural death.) These Yurei are rumored to get into people's heads and urge them off the path even if they went in the forest with the intention of coming out.

Very rarely, some who go into the forest come out. The suicide survivors are said to have seen white beings gliding through the trees that they assume are the spirits of the Buddhist monks. They also have reported that the forest pulls you in certain directions, causing you to get lost deeper and deeper into the point of no return.

The trees in the forest are so dense that sunlight and wind can't reach below the canopy, creating an eerie, isolated environment. Because of the dense iron deposits in the soil, compasses and GPS devices cease to work, leaving the most experienced hikers lost in the forest. Inside the forest, you can find suicide notes left behind and ropes weaving through the trees. The ropes are said to be there to help lead authorities to the bodies or to help hikers find their way back out of the forest. One woman claimed that her rope was deliberately cut so she would be ultimately trapped in the forest. Some people say that the cutting of the rope is the Yurei at work. Others who have made it out of the forest reported hearing blood-curdling screams but when they looked for the source, they were completely alone.

Whether it's the haunting of unhappy souls or the dense environment, Aokigahara Forest definitely has something spooky happening in it.

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