The forest has a historic association with demons in Japanese mythology and is a জনপ্রিয় place for suicides , The forest is a জনপ্রিয় place for suicides, reportedly the most জনপ্রিয় in জাপান and সেকেন্ড in the world after San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. Statistics vary, but what is documented is that during the period leading up to 1988, about 100 suicides occurred there every year.
In 2002, 78 bodies were found within the forest, exceeding the পূর্ববর্তি record of 74 in 1998. In 2003, the rate climbed to 100, and in সাম্প্রতিক years, the local government has stopped publicizing the numbers in an attempt to downplay Aokigahara's association with suicide. In 2004, 108 people killed themselves in the forest. In 2010, 247 people attempted suicide in the forest, 54 of whom completed the act. Suicides are ব্যক্ত to increase during March, the end of the fiscal বছর in Japan. As of 2011, the most জনপ্রিয় means of suicide in the forest were hanging and drug overdoses.
The high rate of suicide has led officials to place signs in the forest, in Japanese and English, urging those who have gone there to commit suicide to seek help and not kill themselves. The annual body search, consisting of a small army of police, volunteers, and attendant journalists, began in 1970.
The site's popularity has been attributed to the 1960 novel lit., "Tower of Waves" (波の塔?) দ্বারা Seichō Matsumoto. However, the history of suicide in Aokigahara predates the novel's publication, and the place has long been associated with death: ubasute may have been practiced there into the 19th century, and the forest is reputedly haunted দ্বারা the Yūrei (angry spirits) of those left to die.
There is an average of 50 to 100 suicides bodies found each year. Signs পোষ্ট হয়েছে throughout the forest telling people to seek professional has saved a few lives but still lack the power to deter all suicides . Aokigahara is not only associated with suicides but myth and ghosts as well.
Aokigahara is considered the most haunted location in Japan. Dubbed the "Purgatory of Yurei". Hikers have often seen apparitions as well as heard the howl of Yurei on the wind. Some have reported objects moving and seeing shadows amongst the trees. Spiritualists say that the trees themselves are filled with a malevolent energy, accumulated from decades of suicides. They try to prevent আপনি from getting back out. They say if আপনি look hard at the trees, আপনি can see the faces of the dead in the bark.
Today, the forest is littered with colored tape used দ্বারা walkers to find their way among the trees as well as discarded items and nooses, used to facilitate the suicide of its সাম্প্রতিক victims and bouquets of ফুলেরডালি left দ্বারা grieving বন্ধু and family members.
