After watching the movie The Forest, I was curious about the real Suicide Forest and the legend behind the movie. I decided to conduct some research and was bombarded by lots of information, which lead me to make a separate post designated to my findings.
The forest is located northwest of Mount Fuji and is 35 sq km of foliage. Getting lost is quite easy and coming out is almost impossible because of the denseness of the forest. The other issue is modern technologies and devices fail within the forest due to the rich deposits of magnetic irons created by volcanic soil in the region.
For these reasons, it has become a destination for people contemplating suicide. "Since the 1950s, recorded suicides in the forest have been rising at an increasing rate of between 10 and 30 per year. In 2003, a record number of 105 suicide victims were discovered here." (Rachel, 2020).
In Japanese culture, people who die while in a deep sense of hatred, anger, desire for revenge, or sadness their soul is trapped and cannot leave this world. They continue to wander and appear to people affected or who cross their paths. The Japanese call these souls yurei. Unlike the ghosts from Western horror movies/culture, they tend to want something specific. This isn't the case for yurei, they don't want anything specific just to have their curses or conflicts resolved.
"According to some reports, forest workers must carry the bodies from the forest to the local police station, where they are put in a special room used specifically to house suicide corpses. Some believe that if a corpse is left alone, it is very bad luck for the yurei (ghost) of the suicide victims. Their spirits are said to scream through the night, and that their bodies will move on their own." (Rachel, 2020).
Some Japanese spiritualists believe the trees themselves are soaked with malevolent energy that they've accumulated over the centuries and can even move through the forest. It's understandable why they might think this way with how easy it is for people to get disoriented while being in the forest.
Resources:
Bever, L. (2018). The Haunting Alllure of Aokigahara, the Japanese 'Suicide Forest' Logan Paul Captured on Film.
McAndrew, T. F. (2017). The Creepiness of Japan's "Suicide Forest"
Rachel, (2020). Aokigahara Forest
Rich, M. (2018). Long Before Video, Japanese Fought Suicide in the 'Sea of Trees'
Srivastava, P. (2018). The Suicide Forest of Japan and Its Shocking Truth
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