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Historian Kathy Kelly shares the story of a hauntingly ordinary artifact: a camera-warning sign from Aokigahara, Japan’s “Sea of Trees” (often called the “Suicide Forest”). After a U.S. Marine stationed in Japan encountered the forest’s tragic reality, he carried the sign home and kept it for years—unable to throw it away, until he finally entrusted it to the Paranormal Museum.

Trigger warning: This episode includes discussion of suicide. In recognition of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month (September), we’re also including support resources below.

Support Resources

• International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP): https://www.iasp.info/suicidalthoughts/
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (U.S.): https://988lifeline.org/

Resources consulted for this episode:

1. Takahashi, Yoshitomo. “Aokigahara-jukai: Suicide and Amnesia in Mt. Fuji’s Black Forest.” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 18, no. 2 (1988): 164–175. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1943-278X.1988.tb00150.x. (PubMed)
2. Chang, Kathryn Yalan. “‘A Perfect Place to Die’: Thinking the EcoGothic, Darkness, and the Dark Sweet in Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees.” SARE: Southeast Asian Review of English 59, no. 1 (2022): 88–109. https://doi.org/10.22452/sare.vol59no1.7. (Southeast Asian Review of English)
3. Hart, M. “The ‘Suicide Forest’: Aokigahara, Japan.” In 50 Dark Destinations: Crime and Contemporary Tourism, edited by A. Lynes, C. Kelly, and J. Treadwell, 235–244. Bristol: Policy Press, 2023. https://doi.org/10.56687/9781447362210-042.
4. Cather, Kirsten. Scripting Suicide in Japan. Oakland: University of California Press, 2024. See especially Chapter 4, “Aokigahara Jukai, Sea of Trees,” pp. 87–108. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.18799921. (JSTOR)
5. Keefe, Alexa. “An Ethereal Forest Where Japanese Commit Suicide.” Photographs by Tomasz Lazar. National Geographic, February 23, 2017. National Geographic article (National Geographic)
6. The Sea of Trees. Directed by Gus Van Sant. Performances by Matthew McConaughey, Ken Watanabe, and Naomi Watts. A24/Roadside Attractions, 2015.
7. The Forest. Directed by Jason Zada. Performance by Natalie Dormer. Gramercy Pictures, 2016.

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