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The History of The Famous Sea Forest
- Journal-is-Me
- Nov 29, 2019
- 2 min read
The sea forest or the Suicide forest is known as Aokigahara. It is the most haunted forest in Japan. Rumors say that the forest had some eerie mythical aura, that make people lose their hope to live and end up committing suicide. Even though it's haunted, this forest still can be visited by tourists who want experience or do an expedition. But, we have to follow the rules when we go there. We have to follow the path and if we see any corpses we have to call the authorities.
Let's talk a little bit more about this forest. Aokigahara is located in the west side of the famous Mount Fuji, through Kawaguchiko city to Narizawa village. The forest was called the sea forest because when the wind blows, the leaves of the trees will make a motion of the sea waves that looks beautiful from the outside. But, it all changes when we went deeper into the forest. This forest already existed for 1200 years. this forest is reported as the 2nd place with the most suicide rate in Japan and the world.
The popularity of this forest rocketed after a novel was published to the public. This forest was already haunted even before the novel was published. It says that the forest had some kind of connection with the Yokais or Japanese mythology ghost. There's a tradition called ubasute, which was a tradtion where a family brought their dead family members to this forest if they were struggling when they’re alive or lived in poverty.
Started from 1950 there’s a lot of people committing suicide in this forest and about 500 people that attempted to commit suicide. In 1970 they created an expedition team to look for the corpses. As soon after they found the body, they will put them in a room and it will be guarded by one person. Rumor says, if there’s no one that kept them company their spirits will scream in the night.
But, even though this place is haunted, this forest can be the heaven for the poor people. Many people found the belongings of other people that committed suicide in this forest. Even it's illegal to steal but it was a blessing for the poor people who walked around the forest.
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Author: Amelia Christina Debora
Editor: Lidya Verisca dan Gabriela Priscila
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