Aokigahara – Forest Of Suicides (Not For Minors)

WARNING: Photos of Suicide Victims Shown. View at own risk.

So I was randomly researching suicide on wikipedia (like most people do) and watching episodes of Hard Gay (again, like most people do), and I ran into a very interesting location: Aokigahara. Aokigahara, also known as the Sea of Trees, is a forest at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. What makes it so interesting, you ask? Well, this place is famous for the number of suicides that have occurred in it.

The trend for people to go to Aokigahara to commit suicide seems to have been popularized by a novel called Kuroi Jukai, which is a tragic love-tale that ends with the main couple committing suicide in Aokigahara. Personally, I'd feel like a total asshole if my book was the single cause of a place becoming a prime location for suicides. Though to be fair, he probably had no idea that was going to happen...

Since 1950, over 500 bodies were reported to have been found within the forest. In 2002, the body count peaked with 78 bodies being found in that year alone. Now mind you, this is the count for REPORTED bodies. Aokigahara is a big forest nestled with trees; they probably haven't even found half of the people that have committed suicide there.

This is a sign located near a designated entrance of the forest (one of many spread all throughout the place). It reads, "Your life is precious, and was given to you by your parents. Please think about your parents, siblings, and children. Please get help, don't go through this alone." Quite eerie, isn't it? To think, suicide in this forest is so prevalent that they have to put signs up to make people reconsider their actions.

WARNING: Now, the next few pictures are very disturbing so if you are faint-hearted, I suggest you don't stop to look at the photos. The next few pictures are of some of the bodies they found at the forest during annual searches. As you can see from a few of the photos, a lot of the bodies are decomposing and some are nothing but bones. This just shows how many of the bodies are not found for a very long time, and some may even end up disappearing after fully decomposing and being buried under the dirt and plant-life.

Again, this is not for the faint-hearted.

Jesus Christ, okay that was really creepy. Sorry if you saw some of them out of curiosity. I felt the need to put them up to show you just how real all of this is. There are many legends surrounding Aokigahara, many of them pertaining to spirits and the negative energy that the forest has been filled with due to all the deaths. Many people even go on scavenger hunts because of all the garbage that is left by people who either go to Aokigahara to explore the place or end their lives. The forest is equally disturbing and interesting, its amazing how one place can be known for something as depressing as suicide. Though honestly, I wouldn't mind going to sight-see a bit.