“Suicide Forest” Among World’s Most Haunted Sites
Aokigahara Forest (pictured above) was recognized as one of the world’s top 10 most haunted sites and the only one in Asia. Citing TripAdvisor data, SpinBlitz ranked popular places with well-known historical reputations for ghosts and unexplained legends among locals and visitors from afar. The global ghost business is, apparently, booming with some destinations earning 20% of tourism revenue from the ghost curious, according to reports.
Some of Aokigahara’s caves fill with ice in winter, drawing in tourists, school trips and ghost hunters. The “Sea of Trees” is also dubbed “Suicide Forest” due to its unfortunate reputation as one of the world’s most-sought after sites for ending one’s life. Located about two hours west of Tokyo in Yamanashi Prefecture, the forest’s density and porous lava rock absorb sound, helping create an unnerving sense of solitude, disorientation and stillness that has inspired several books and movies. Signs throughout the forest urge the suicidal to stop, consider their loved ones and call a hotline.
The eerie list also includes several European castles, a Canadian hotel and one of London’s most famous landmarks. But the top global ghost spot is Salem, Massachusetts for its history of witch-trial hysteria, lantern-lit streets and psychic fairs, especially in October. Its state neighbor, Lizzie Borden House, comes in at third. Furthermore, at a US prison featured at number six, you could try the most haunted cities in America, ranked by actual ghost sightings or the most haunted destinations in each of the 50 states.
As we reported last year, a number of websites are also dedicated to paranormal fans in Japan who love to travel off-the-beaten-track and onto tree-lined country lanes, long neglected by natural and electric light. It is on one such dark road near Kyoto where a manic young woman dressed in muddy white rags is said to have jumped at passing cars or briefly appeared in the rear-view mirror, sitting morosely in the back seat. The sounds of barely audible screams, unexplainable echoes and sudden temperature drops along forest trails can leave even cynics scared, confused and running home.
Indeed, Japan is fertile ground for yūrei: ghosts of the dead in the nation’s mythology. The hospitality industry in particular is known to promote the area’s ubiquitous, abandoned and graffitied mansions, resorts and hotels to intrepid foreign travelers. Also decorating the landscape are long, damp and dark tunnels, rusty bridges spanning nameless hills above eerie green ponds and plunging bottomless gorges.
Popular too for outside voyeurs are underused temples and shrines, overgrown and twisted railways, crumbling stations, fire-damaged castles, unidentifiable ruins, lifeless villages and other remote spots traditionally renowned for gory tales of death by suicide, accident, war, murder, disease and natural disasters.
Listeners of such stories are often spooked into silence by tragic—and perhaps tall—tales of lovesick schoolgirls flinging themselves into the paths of oncoming trains and a penniless caretaker jumping from the top of a Bubble-era bankrupt love hotel. Rumored mountain-top “sky burials” feed wild flora and fauna, as well as our insatiable hunger for disgusting tales of morbid destinations; the heads of decapitated Samurai and their rivals have turned rivers red with blood and thick bamboo forests hide the remains of lost souls.
If you are still inspired to explore, please be aware of your surroundings. Apart from ghosts, dangers include guard dogs, wild animals, security and unstable structures. When exploring the paranormal, always abide by the golden rule: take only pictures and leave only footprints.
Top 10 Most Haunted Sites on Earth
- Salem, Massachusetts (4.9/5)—The Salem witch trials (pictured above) were held from 1692 to 1693.
- Corvin Castle, Romania (4.9/5)—Gothic architecture, Vlad the impaler, foggy hills
- Lizzie Borden House, Massachusetts (4.8/5)—bed and breakfast’s phantom footsteps
- Hill of Crosses, Lithuania (4.7/5)—Wind sounds like whispers, mysterious lights glow
- Tower of London, London (4.6/5)—betrayal, bloodshed and Anne Boleyn’s spirit
- Eastern State Penitentiary, Pennsylvania, USA (4.6/5)—moving shadows, unexplained cold spots
- Edinburgh Castle, Scotland (4.4/5)—phantom touches, sudden temperature drops
- Charleville Castle, Ireland (4.4/5)—young girl’s spirit roams the hall
- Banff Springs Hotel, Canada (4.4/5)—wedding day death, vanishing bellboy and permanently sealed Room 873
- Aiokigahara Forest, Japan (4.3/5)—suicide spot