Random Haunting Facts About Japan's Suicide Forest (15 items)

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  (#14) Aokigahara Scavenging Is a Thing

  Buoyed by the presence of dozens of corpses, scavengers have begun to set upon the forest to look for dropped valuables, left behind by people who killed themselves. Even worse, they'd often loot the corpses before the forest workers had a chance to find them. Talk about something that will make the yurei angry...
  
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  (#12) The Suicide Epidemic Has a Concrete Origin

  While people had been committing suicide in Aokigahra for decades, the epidemic first started to be tracked in the 1950s. It didn't truly become a national problem until 1960, when author Seicho Matsumoto published a novel called Kuroi Kaiju (Black Sea of Trees) in 1960. The story ends with two lovers committing suicide in the forest, and a noticeable uptick in suicides was seen afterwards.Wataru Tsurumui’s controversial 1993 bestseller The Complete Suicide Manual recommended Aokigahara as the perfect place to die, and the book is often found near suicide victims and their belongings.
  
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  (#10) Forest Workers Have to Take the Bodies Out

  When a body is found, the workers of Aokigahara have a solemn and complicated task to carry out. The sheer number of corpses found every year has led to a series of codified procedures and rituals, carried out every time. The workers must carry the bodies down from the forest to the local  police station, where the bodies are put in a special room used specifically to house bodies from suicides.

  The forest workers then play jan-ken-pon (rock, paper, scissors) to see who has to sleep in the room with the corpse overnight until it's picked up the next day. This is part of a ritual so that the spirit of the deceased is not left alone.
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  (#9) The Suicides Represent All Walks of Life in Japan

  Given its popularity and prominent location, Aokigahara sees the suicides of many different types of people. While it's known primarily for the suicides of the so-called "Japanese salaryman" in a suit who loses his job and shamefully kills himself, it doesn't stop there. Aokigahara has had young lovers kill themselves, patients with terminal illnesses, people suffering from severe depression, and most recently, relatives of those killed in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

  Mental illness, joblessness, debt, and disease have all been cited as reasons for suicides in the forest.
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  (#4) It's Also Devoid of Wildlife

  Virtually no wild animals live in Aokigahara. The denseness of the trees makes it difficult for animals to make their way into and around it, and there's little for them to eat when there. Any animals that do live in the dense foliage are nocturnal, and are never seen by humans.

  The trees are so thick that birds are rarely seen, and hikers have spoken about how startled they are when they actually do hear a bird chirp.
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  (#2) The Trees Are Incredibly Thick

  The foliage in Aokigahara is so dense that it's virtually impossible to see above it, or past about ten feet. The trees are high and crooked, meaning the sun can be virtually blocked out. Japanese officials caution hikers not to wander off beaten paths, and people often use colored tape to mark the trail they've gone on.
  

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