The Aokigahara Forest...Japan's Suicide Forest

Called "the perfect place to die," the Aokigahara forest has the unfortunate distinction as the world's second most popular place to take one's life. (The first is the Golden Gate Bridge.) Aokigahara is a woodland forest at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan that makes The Blair Witch Project forest look like Winnie the Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood. It probably has something to do with all the dead bodies scattered around.

Japanese spiritualists believe that the suicides committed in the forest have permeated Aokigahara's trees and landscape, generating paranormal activity and preventing many who enter from escaping the forest's depths. Complicating matters further is the common experience of compasses being rendered useless by the rich deposits of magnetic iron in the area's volcanic soil that can lead to visitors becoming lost.

What Niagara Falls is to weddings, Aokigahara is to suicide. How many suicides does it takes for a place to get that reputation? A dozen? Fifty? More than 500 people have taken their own lives in Aokigahara since the 1950s. The trend had supposedly started after Seicho Matsumoto published his novel Kuroi Kaiju (Black Sea of Trees) where two of his characters commit suicide there. Seeming eager to prove they are bizarrely susceptible to suggestion, hundreds of Japanese people have hanged themselves among the countless trees of the Aokigahara forest, which is reportedly so thick that even at high noon it is not hard to find places completely surrounded by darkness.

Besides bodies and homemade nooses, the area is littered with signs placed there by the government displaying such messages like "Life is a precious thing! Please reconsider!" or "Think of your family!"

 

In the 1970's, the problem gained national attention and the Japanese government began doing annual sweeps of the forest in search of bodies.  They found 78 in 2002 alone, but who knows how many they may have missed? In all likelihood there is probably a person who has hung themselves somewhere in Aokigahara on any given day.

By the way, if an entire dark forest full of hanging corpses wasn't bad enough, a few years ago some people noticed that a lot of the dead in Aokigahara probably had cash or jewelry on them. So, one may encounter scavengers around the Death Forest, looking for the dead to rob. This begs the question of whether some are suicides or some are murders.

Police and forest workers see the events of suicide all to often in the forest. The forest 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 suicide corpses. The forest workers then play jan-ken-pon—which English-speakers call rock, paper, scissors—to see who has to sleep in the room with the corpse until it can be officially taken care of. It is believed that leaving the corpse alone is very bad luck, for the yurei (ghost) of the suicide victim will scream through the night, and the body will move itself on its own. Yeah, that's not creepy at all.


Article from Cracked.com and Atlas Obscura.

More reading on the topic is available at these websites...

http://www.cracked.com/article/181_the-6-creepiest-places-earth/

http://atlasobscura.com/place/aokigahara-suicide-forest-skb
http://www.unexplainable.net/Ghost-Paranormal/Aokigahara.shtml

The Overtoun Bridge Mystery

Built in 1895 by Lord Overtoun, near the village of Milton in West Dunbartonshire lies the Overtoun Bridge; an arch bridge which has become famous for the bizzarely large number of dogs who have leaped over the side to their death.

The famous location near the bridge is the Overtoun mansion which is nearly spreads across 2000 acres. The mansion was built by James White. The mansion was further expanded during its construction by the owner, forming the western and eastern side of the estate. The western side is more famous known as western drive. But the two sides are separated by a water fall and to connect this sides, the famous Overtoun bridge was constructed.

The Victorian bridge stands 50 feet over the Overtoun Burn which flows below. The dog jumping phenomenon started sometime in the 1950s continuing to be a common occurrence for the following five decades, with each account having certain similar details.

Strange things have been noticed that dogs actually climbing the parapet wall before making the jump. Even stranger are the reports of dogs surviving their brush with death, only to return to the bridge for a second attempt. Some more interesting facts about the bridge is it has never claimed the life of humans but engulfed more than 600 dogs till now, averaging one dog per month.

What makes this tragic mystery even more mysterious is that many of the dogs that jump from Overtoun Bridge jump from the same side and from almost the same spot: between the final two parapets on the right-hand side of the bridge.

But why is this happening? What would compel otherwise contented canines to leap from the stone structure?

Some believe that the bridge is haunted. In 1994, a man threw his baby son off the bridge claiming that it was the anti-Christ. Later, the man attempted suicide there as well. Was Overtoun Bridge responsible for this tragic event?
Another theory comes from Celtic beliefs that Overtoun Bridge is a "thin place" where the barrier between the world of the living and the world of the dead meet and sometimes cross over. Some believe that dogs are more sensitive to the paranormal and perhaps they are getting spooked by spirits. In fact, one psychic toured the bridge and, although she admitted that she felt nothing malevolent - only peace, her dog pulled on its leash to the right side of the bridge.

But why is this happening? What would compel otherwise contented canines to leap from the stone structure?

Some believe that the bridge is haunted. In 1994, a man threw his baby son off the bridge claiming that it was the anti-Christ. Later, the man attempted suicide there as well. Was Overtoun Bridge responsible for this tragic event?

Another theory comes from Celtic beliefs that Overtoun Bridge is a "thin place" where the barrier between the world of the living and the world of the dead meet and sometimes cross over. Some believe that dogs are more sensitive to the paranormal and perhaps they are getting spooked by spirits. In fact, one psychic toured the bridge and, although she admitted that she felt nothing malevolent - only peace, her dog pulled on its leash to the right side of the bridge.
However, the explanation which seems to be the most logical involves the presence of minks on the banks of the burn. The mink’s powerful anal glands leave marks wherever they go and the strong musty smell they produce apparently interest dogs. So it is suggested that the height of the bridge’s granite walls significantly impairs the dogs’ sense of sight and hearing, so when they go to investigate the smell, they are unaware of the massive fall that awaits them. This would explain why the dogs all went over on clear and dry days, because the mink smell wouldn’t have been strongly diluted by the rain.

Whatever the explanation for the famous Dog Suicide Bridge actually is could be debated for years without satisfaction. Just take some advise from the locals and keep your best friend on a leash when visiting Overtoun Bridge.

Article by: World of Mystery

Some other reading on the subject is available at these websites:

www.problempets.co.uk/media/overtounbridge.asp

www.atlasobscura.com/place/overtoun-bridge