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Welcome to the fourth and final post in the October Spooky Sunday Series.
Today I bring you the most creepy, frightening, bizarre and terrifying places in the world.
Known as Japan's Demon Forest, Suicide Forest, or the Sea of Trees, Aokigahara Forest is located at the base of Mt Fuji and is the home to over 500 confirmed suicides since the 1950s. It has often been called "the perfect place to die" and is the second most popular place for suicides -- the Golden Gate Bridge is the first.
Some legends claim this phenomenon began with a novel by Seicho Matsumoto was published in 1960 which ends with the two lovers committing suicide in the forest, but the suicides have actually predated that novel.
A controversial 1993 bestseller, The Complete Suicide Manual which graphically describes various modes of suicide is commonly found in the forest not too far from victims and their belongings. The most common method of suicide used is hanging.
Japanese spiritualists believe that the suicides committed in the forest have permeated Aokigahara's trees, 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.
In an effort to stem the suicides, scattered around the forest are signs put up by the police with messages like “Your life is a precious gift from your parents,” and “Please consult with the police before you decide to die,”. Thusfar, the signs seem to have not been very effective.
The historic Overtoun Bridge just outside Dunbartonshire, Scotland is prone to suicides of a different nature; over 50 dogs have leapt the walls to their deaths in the past 50 years. In 2005 five dogs jumped to their death during a six month period. The bridge is known to some as "Rover's Leap", the place that compels dogs to suddenly, and deliberately, commit suicide. There has been at least one report of a dog having survived a leap from the bridge only to return and jump again.
Rumors are that the bridge and nearby Overtoun House are haunted. In 1994 a local man threw his baby son to his death from the bridge, claiming the child was the anti-Christ. Shortly after, he made an unsuccessful suicide attempt from the same spot.
In Celtic mythology, Overtoun is known as 'the thin place' - an area in which heaven and earth are reputed to be close. Could it be that dogs are more sensitive to this than we humans?
Several veterinarian behavioral specialists have studied the phenomenon and suggested depression in the dogs themselves, the dogs picking up on owner's depressed thoughts, sounds from the nearby nuclear base at Faslane or nearby telephone pylons and smells that could be coming from nests of mice, mink and squirrels.
In the end, the behavior of the dogs remains a mystery.
This enormous chandelier of bones, which contains at least one of every bone in the human body, hangs from the center of the nave with garlands of skulls draping the vault
Located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in Sedlec, Czech Republic is the Sedlec Ossuary which contains the bones from an estimated 70,000 persons. What makes this particular ossuary so unique is the incredible artistic arrangement of those bones and the decorations made entirely of bones that furnish the entire chapel which attracts 200,000 visitors a year making it the most visited spot in all the Czech Republic.
In 1278 King Otakar II of Bohemia sent Henry, the abbot of Sedlec , on a diplomatic mission to the Holy Land. When leaving Jerusalem Henry took with him a handful of earth from Golgotha - the site where Christ was crucified - which he sprinkled over the cemetery of Sedlec monastery, consequently the cemetery became famous, not only in Bohemia but also throughout Central Europe and many wealthy people desired to be buried there. In the mid 14th century, during the Black Death, and after the Hussite Wars in the early 15th century, many thousands were buried in the abbey cemetery, so it had to be greatly enlarged.
Around 1400, a Gothic church was built in the center of the cemetery with a vaulted upper level and a lower chapel to be used as an ossuary for the mass graves unearthed during construction, or simply slated for demolition to make room for new burials.
The Sedlec Ossuary - The Art of Human Remanis has several excellent photos.
Built in 1970 and officially proclaimed a city in 1979, Pripyat was intended to house the workers and their families for one of the largest European nuclear power plants - Chernobyl.
The urban city plan featured the triangular plan and alternated five-story buildings and high-rises with city streets lined with broad vistas, open spaces and the horizon visible from nearly every corner. The city planners achieved a free and vivid look for the comfort of its inhabitants.
At the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, Pripyat was home to over 50,000 residents who enjoyed the shopping plazas, swimming pools, amusement park and rides. Today all those structures stand hauntingly mute.
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The adventurous and curious with a fascination for the forgotten can get passes and travel to the ghost town with guides. Radiation levels have been reduced to acceptable levels and for short periods of time Pripyat is harmless in small doses. Destination Truth even visited Pripyat in search of the ghosts that wander its darkened shell.
Pripyat 2009 - a vast collection of photos
Chernobyl Today: A Creepy Story Told in Pictures