Unfetted Dreams: 軽井沢大橋 (Karuizawa Bridge)

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Before I continue, please be advised that readers' discretion is STRONGLY advised. If you got a faint heart or am intolerant to supernatural context, please skip this post altogether.

Alrite with that in place I can begin. Ever since I got here last August, I have been hearing stories about an infamous bridge where the suicide rate increases every year. It's like a routine that have to be carry on for no apparent reason or is there one? Haunted places is what we are discussing today or rather what I am about to tell you.

This paricular bridge is located in Karuizawa. While Karuizawa seems to have the best reputation in the entire Nagano Prefecture because it's a tourist driven area, there are also many insanely beautiful architectures. It's a ski town, has tons of shops and even a Shinkansen Station right in the heart of it. But that's all located where commerce thrive. The fame bridge is far far away from all these expensive and busy districts. Instead it is tuck away in the forest like a sacred shrine where no one lives. In fact there is indeed a shrine built there in 1989 after the increasing suicide rates since the incorporation of the bridge in 1968. There is a short Japanese Wiki Entry on this haunted bridge HERE. Along with a whole strings of stange Japanese places, this bridge is classified as a Haunted Spot (心霊スポット). More can be found in this Japanese Wiki HERE

Unlike urban cities or Singapore, there are no high rise buildings for people to take the plunge so here in Nagano Prefecture, this particular bridge is supposedly the "Fame" suicide spot. It like with each death, the victim's soul would seek out the next replacement or victim to continue this legend. Other "Hot" spots include the other bridge in Komoro city or quite simply the classic "Train Dive" and the Mystery Forest beneath Mt. Fuji.

I was proudly taken for a ride to this fame spot on the night on Monday, 1st September 2008. At approximately 8 pm, we arrived at the bridge. It wasn't really what I had in mind but the road that leads to the bridge was like a old battered tarmac road that winds through thick vegetation in pitch black darkness leading to some 90 metres above the Chikuma River (I think). I was in a Hybrid Honda Elysion with Mitsu as the Driver, Mitsu's GF Asuka in the front passenger, Asuka's sister Sayaka behind her and me behind the driver. To prevent any supernatural induced accidents, Mitsu flipped the rear mirror up to avoid seeing "unwanted" apparitions in the last row of seats.

The car peered out of the pitch black forest and stopped in front of the well lit bridge. There was this intense atmosphere inside the car and also on the bridge itself. The air outside the car seems still with the stench of lingering grievances along the bridge. At the other end of the bridge the light faded into a sphere of black. On closer inspection, both sides of the bridge were covered in steel protective barriers with barbed wires on the top. Sort of like the electrical fence in Jurassic Park but this one clearly keeps the potential suicider from climbing out for that leap of death.

I actually thought that it wasn't really that scary initially but when I peeked on to the GPS mounted on the dashboard of the car, there were no lines indicating the road we were on but quite simply the words "軽井沢大橋" in faint white font against a black background. Then I looked up again and this time round the black sphere at the other side of the bridge seems to draw me in with some kind of mysterious force waiting to be discovered.

Prior to coming here, I have heard so many stories about weird incidents happening. Stories like how a weird force will prevent drivers from braking on the bridge and then causing an accident. Stories like if you stop your car and then take a walk on the bridge and then return to your car, you will see "Her" in the back seat via the rear mirror. Well to a certain degree apparitions can be either real or very much exaggearated...it's subjective I would say. Somehow the vision of the bridge keeps playing inside my head...

While I have been to spooky places in SG during my younger days and I do not deny that they were indeed scary, but this place seems to have more grief than fear. Possibily because the places in the past were actually travelled on foot and I was being exposed to all the 5 senses while this time round, I was in the comfort of the car that seemed to repel anything outside the car. The more I look at the bridge the more grief I feel...eventhough I could never and will never understand why people give up their lives, I really hope that they find their inner peace somethere else.

After passing the bridge, my dear Mitsu was preparing me for another treat...a tree with a human face on it. However we took a couple of wrong turns and ended up in some weird farms in pitched black. There were cabbages or some kind of vegetables planted in the farms but what was alarming was that traditional scarecrows were replaced simply with a stick in the ground with a mannequin head on it. There were numerous heads, both male and female, with and without caps or hats looking in all directions. Spooky! And that freaked Asuka out as she whispered, "I am not seeing anymore of this!" as she covered her eyes with her hands.

In the end we found the tree but no matter how I look at it, there was absolutely no face...nothing even close. Then we made our way back to the bridge to go back to the main road. Surprising there were occasionally 1 or 2 cars travelling on the road and through the bridge. While once again going slowly along the bridge, I peeled my eyes and watched closely at anything that might appear but in the end nothing much happened. The only thing that left a permanant and deep impression was the view of the bridge playing constantly in my head.

After that we went for a heavenly Unagi dinner and then it was home. Along the way home, again the vision was playing in my head...I was also watching out for any racoons that might be suicidal and so I kept my speed at around 50 to 60 km/h. I had told myself that I really really do not want to hit any racoons after seeing so many of those poor critters lay lifeless on the roads since last year. Tonight everything will change...out from the side of the road I spotted a racoon and it was going into the drain by the left side of the road. I eased on the gas and decelerate but it was too late as that 1/100th of a second, the poor racoon changed it's mind and crossed the road. There was nothing I could do as the next 99/100th of a second I felt a hard bump on the bottom carriage of the car. As much as I wanted to get down and check on the poor animal, some form of retardant shot into my head and I didn't stop till I reach my house. I felt really lousy when I got home...Other ridiculous ideas flooded my head as I recalled the bump. Like a car hitting a branch or a stone, there was absolutely to squeals or screams...just a heavy knock followed by faint knocks and it was all silent after 1 seconds.

Tuesday morning I went to work as usual trying to see if the poor animal still laid there. Nothing, no blood and no carcass...nothing much I can do then. Then on Tuesday night I was abruptly woken up when I had a strange dream. I wasn't sure if it was my sub conscious playing but in it I shouted but there was no voice, I struggled but I couldn't move...I exerted all my strength but there was simply some invisible force binding me. There I laid in a car or on a bed I wasn't sure but the left side of my waist hurt...it was burning. Sure feels like being compressed by a spirit or something...Whoa scary.

Wednesday, 3rd August...everything still the same and I decided to enter this post. If you are wondering why I did not take any pictures, well...I really do not like the idea of seeing something in the pictures after I transfer them onto the computer. Besides, I would prefer to give those soul some after-death respect. Other reasons include my Japanese level is still not proficient to communicate with those things. But here's some I ripped off the internet.