Japans Suicide Forest, The Sea Of Trees

Mount Fuji beauty spot where up to 100 bodies are found every year

Source: Dateline Zero

The Aokigahara Forest is a gorgeous locale, so dense with vegetation that it’s easy to become lost. Because it is so thick with life, it’s also quite barren of any sound. Therefor, should you become lost (which is easy in this place) no one would hear your cries for help.

It’s also an intensely creepy place. A lonely place to die. And each year the authorities remove as many as 100 bodies found hanging at the country’s suicide hotspot — but others can lie undiscovered for years.

Why so many choose to end their lives in the forest remains something of a mystery. It has been suggested that the first among them were inspired by a novel set there. Other suggestions point to an ancient belief that the forest is home to evil spirits.

Azusa Hayano has studied and tended to the forest for more than 30 years. Even he cannot make sense of the trend. As seen in the video below, the middle-aged geologist took a film crew from Vice World deep inside the site to share what he has learned.

Sometimes sting or ribbon can be found leading from the trail into the thick forest — left there by someone heading out to commit suicide, That way the individual can find the way back to the trail, should the person change his or her mind.

Full post at Dateline Zero