In Japan, haunted forest attracts those with the darkest thoughts

Aokigahara Forest, commonly known as the "Sea of Trees" (Jukai), is located at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan. This vast expanse of land, covered with a dense and lush green canopy, is infamously known for the significant number of people found dead, hanged here since 1950.

According to StarsInsider, it's the “second most popular suicide destination in the world”.

At the entrance of the forest, various messages are hung, serving as alerts or warnings, such as “Think of your parents who gave you life, your loved ones, before making such a decision”, or “Life is precious”. An emergency number is also displayed at the bottom of the signs.

Aokigahara owes its grim reputation to a practice called "oyasute", which involves abandoning an infirm or elderly relative in an isolated spot, ensuring they can never be found. Later, this labyrinthine woodland became the favoured place for Japanese with dark thoughts. In 2010, 200 suicides were recorded here. Today, the forest is considered one of the most haunted places in the country, attracting many enthusiasts of "dark tourism".

Dark tourism

Dark tourism, a sombre, macabre, or even morbid form of tourism, involves visiting places, generally linked to the country’s history, that host remnants of war crimes, natural disasters, and other terrifying histories.

Memorials, cemeteries, concentration camps, sombre gardens, former prisons... although the practice might seem eerie, it's often a way to remember the tragedy and those who lost their lives there, as a duty of remembrance and tribute.

(MH with Raphaël Liset - Source: StarsInsider/Ouest-France - Illustration: ©Unsplash)