The Aokigahara Forest is a lonely place to die. So dense is the vegetation at the foot of Japan’s Mount Fuji, it is all too easy to disappear among the evergreens and never be seen again.

Each year the authorities remove as many as 100 bodies found hanging at the country’s suicide hotspot – but others can lie undiscovered for years. After the novel Kuroi Jukai was published, in which a young lover commits suicide in the forest, people started taking their own lives there at a rate of 50 to 100 deaths a year.

The site holds so many bodies that the Yakuza pays homeless people to sneak into the forest and rob the corpses. The authorities sweep for bodies only on an annual basis, as the forest sits at the base of Mt. Fuji and is too dense to patrol more frequently.

Hydnora Africana plant
The plant grows underground, except for a fleshy flower that emerges above ground and emits an odor of feces to attract its natural pollinators, dung beetles, and carrion beetles.

The flowers act as traps, retaining the beetles that enter, then digesting them and never releasing them when the flower is fully opened.

The Giant Gippsland Earthworm averages 3 feet in length, but has been seen as long as 9 feet. It is native to the clay soil along streams in Victoria, Australia. The worms take 5 years to mature and live for about 10, surprisingly long for invertebrates. Unlike other types of worm, the Giant Gippsland rarely, if ever, comes to the surface, but its location can be detected by the audible gurgling that their bodies make as the slither through their labyrinthine burrows. Click photo for more.

Last words

Hart Crane, American poet, uttered his last statement before jumping off the reeling of a cruising ship: “Goodbye everybody!”
John Wayne Gacy, molester and murderer of male children and teenagers: “Kiss my ass!”
Cherokee Bill, an American outlaw. As the answer to the question if he wished to say any last words before getting hanged, he spoke: “No. I came here to die. Not to hold a speech.”
Bernard de Fontenelle, dead by 100: “I don’t feel anything except a slight difficulty to go on existing.”
Maury Paul, American gossip columnist: “Oh my god, it’s so beautiful.”
Josef Stalin, dead after a long period of horrid agony: “Where is the left sock? Is it under the chair?”
Nostradamus, famous atrolog, mathematician and physician, spoke his last words as a reply to the question “And tomorrow, master?”: “Tomorrow I won’t be here anymore.”
Gajus Caligula was a Roman emperor, known for being a sadistic and perverted ruler who killed and raped. Stabbed by a guardian, he yelled: “I’m still alive!”
Anonymous letter written on the wall of an abandoned house, the body found lifeless nearby: “Why suicide? Why not?”
Morgan Earp accepted in his last words his brother Wyatt’s belief that there was no life after death: “I think you’re right, Wyatt. I can’t see a damned thing.”
Joseph Henry Green, British surgeon, uttered his last words after having checked his own pulse: “Stopped.”

Healing Crystals from A-Z

Amethyst –  has the power to calm the mind and emotions, creating a sense of peace. Amethyst also stimulates the intellectual and creative side of you. Amethysts are very powerful for people who suffer sleepless nights or for those with disturbing dreams and nightmares.

Bloodstone – believed to have great magical and protective properties, possessing the ability to banish evil, keep out undesirable influences and dispel negativity. As its name suggests, Bloodstone is an excellent blood cleanser.

Clear Quartz – has very strong powers of protection against anyone who doesn’t mean you well. Clear Quartz is a pure and powerful energy source which has the ability to transmit and receive energy.

Jasper – The powerful Jasper crystal is a stone that cools, soothes and calms the mind and nerves, hence reduces stress and brings tranquility. It enhances one’s ability to relax and heal if necessary.

Healing Crystals from A-Z