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Disney Land meets Silent Hill in this twisted place
People left in a hurry…
1.) Abandoned Takakanonuma Amusement Park - Japan
Surrounded in a thick cloud of mist that swallows the park entirely, it is swallowed in mystery as well.
Built in 1973, the park’s first attempt at bringing fun family entertainment lasted only two years.
While never officially confirmed, it was rumoured to be closed due to a number of mysterious deaths inside the park.
Perhaps the park was repaired, or maybe it was long enough for people to forget the bizarre freak accidents, but the park reopened in 1986.
This time it only stayed open for a single year, again mysterious deaths were rumoured to be the cause.
Today, the sprawling hills and trees of the surrounding forests seem to have taken over the park.
Although adventurous travellers or Horror movie directors may be tempted to seek out this Disney Land from hell,
the recent nuclear meltdown at Fukushima keeps a prohibitive level of radiation in the area.
the recent nuclear meltdown at Fukushima keeps a prohibitive level of radiation in the area.
2. Trees of the Sea – suicide forest
The Blair Witch Project Forest is like Disneyland compared to this place…
Aokigahara, also known as the Trees of the Sea is a 35-square-kilometre forest that lies at the northwest base of Mount Fuji in Japan.
The density of the trees is so intense that you can wander in pitch black darkness during the day. Due to the wind-blocking density of the trees and an absence of wildlife, the forest is also known for being extremely quiet.
The forest has a historic association with demons in Japanese mythology and is the second most popular place for suicides in the world (right after the Golden Gate Bridge).
Almost 100 people a year wander in the forest never to return again. The forest is so sprawling and dense, it cannot be patrolled adequately ...
so often suicides go undiscovered until their bodies mummify as they hang from tree branches to be discovered by horrified tourists.
Pictures of these poor souls are on the Net, but out of respect for their anguish and despair, I have not used them.
Almost 100 people a year wander in the forest never to return again. The forest is so sprawling and dense, it cannot be patrolled adequately ...
so often suicides go undiscovered until their bodies mummify as they hang from tree branches to be discovered by horrified tourists.
Pictures of these poor souls are on the Net, but out of respect for their anguish and despair, I have not used them.
3. The Winchester Mystery House
The house was build by Sarah Winchester, the widow of William Wirt Winchester, who was the son of the manufacturer of the famous Winchester repeating rifle.
Sarah lived a wealthy but extremely cursed life, losing both her daughter and husband to illness. These tragic turn of events made Mrs. Winchester fell into a deep depression from which she never fully recovered.
It is said, she ultimately sought help from a spiritualist who gave her the idea of building a house to please and accomidate the spirits, and as long as she kept building, her life would not be in danger.
The result is Sarah building this real-life version of the Addams Family household.
I've always wanted to visit the Winchester Mystery House. Those are some eerie places you discovered, Roland.
ReplyDeleteWhat fascinating places! And the descriptions of them against your "dark" blog heightens their mystery and strangeness. Truly this earth is a place of many fascinating faces. (Hope life is going well for you, my friend! I'm still trying to get to the books, including your novella, that I want to read; slowed down but not for long as I decided to try to finish a second memoir that I started before I had to spend more time with my daughter, but this has gotten better. Sometimes we do get some grateful respites. Have you gotten any in the past months with your job in this troubled world?)
ReplyDeleteMaybe I will just try to visit by Google map?
ReplyDeleteAlex:
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to visit the Winchester mansion, too!
Ann:
So good seeing you here. I hope your own respite stretches out. They are downsizing at my blood center, having me work solo all weekend WHILE also being on first call! Whew!!
And I've just adopted an abused cat abandoned by his moving mistress. Even more time out of my schedule! I'm a softie! :-)
David:
Too funny!! LOL.
How neat! Is it weird that I would like to visit these places if only for a minute? lol
ReplyDeleteChris:
ReplyDeleteYou probably wouldn't want to visit that forest ... it is so large that visitors often find dead bodies hanging from tree branches. Brrrr.
But I would like to visit the Amusement Park and the Winchester Mansion like you. :-)
I enjoyed this post. Love that haunted forest. I've never heard about the Winchester House. Sounds like an awesome tour.
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to see the Winchester house. I heard it's full of stairways to nowhere and doors that open onto nothing. It's supposed to be like a maze.
ReplyDeleteSusan:
ReplyDeleteI really would like to tour the Winchester Mansion. Not so much the haunted forest! Shivers.
J E:
It is indeed full of staircases reaching up to nowhere and doors that open to blank walls. Strange. It would be fun to tour, don't you think?
So eerie... all of them... The amusement park makes me think of Chernobyl... Yes, I would really like to visit all of them... yes, definitely.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many stories in here, true or imagined... just my kind of weirdness. :-)
I've always wanted to visit the Winchester, but the theme park freaks me out.
ReplyDeleteVesper:
ReplyDeleteI would like to visit the Park and the Mansion ... the forest not so much. To stumble upon a mummified body of a suicide swinging from a heavy tree branch would have me constipated for months!
You're right: tons of material for stories in those 3 places.
Misha:
The Winchester Mansion does intrigue me, too. But what if a lonely spirit followed you home ... and was not friendly? Shivers.
I always enjoy reading about these sorts of things. I'm particularly intrigued by abandoned amusement parks. There was one in Chester, WV that I remember seeing. I don't know if any of it still remains, but I read about it on some internet site about abandoned amusement parks. My family used to pass it when I was a kid. I think it closed in the 60's. Once I was on a hitch-hiking trip in 1970 and at one point was trying to catch a ride across the street from the park. I really wanted to go check it out, but I needed to get somewhere.
ReplyDeleteGood Halloween season topic.
Lee
Wrote By Rote
Oh my gosh, that pic of the staircase at the Winchester House totally creeps me out. I think I would be scared to death to walk up it!
ReplyDeleteLove to read about these kinds of things, so interesting.
Arlee:
ReplyDeleteToo bad you couldn't get to see your abandoned amusement park. It seems life has a way of putting a big Detour sign in front of our dreams, doesn't it? Thanks so much for dropping by!
Julie:
Yes, I think some people have taken waywards ghosts back with them to their own homes after a tour at that Mansion. Spooky thought, right? I'm so happy you liked this cyber-tour -- safer, too!
Wow. This is one of the creepiest October posts yet. *shudders*
ReplyDeleteMelissa:
ReplyDeleteThere is no need for Hollywood, the world possesses eerie, scary places that are all too real! Shivers! :-)
The abandoned amusement park is the creepiest for me. I recently watched a show about the amusement park near Chernobyl, which was due to open on the day of the tragedy years ago. Sends shivers up and down my spine! O_O
ReplyDeleteCandilynn:
ReplyDeleteYes, you can visualize lost spirits of dead children, their eyes pools of darkness whose depths hold secrets the living cannot grasp, roaming the abandoned park looking for the parents who left them there so long ago never to return.