Something very bizarre began happening to taxi drivers after the deadly Japanese tsunami in 2011.
The natural disaster killed nearly 16,000 people in a catastrophe that shocked the world.
In the months and years that have followed, an unexplained twist has spooked mystery lovers.
As featured on Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries, the case in question features ‘ghost passengers’ hitching rides near the disaster site.
A 22-year-old college student named Yuka Kudo polled 100 taxi drivers for their stories as part of her sociology graduate thesis.
Most ignored her – apart from seven, who all had something to say.
The Tsunami claimed thousands of lives (Image: REUTERS)
And their stories are eerily similar.
A cabbie picks up a passenger, who shortly after is asked for a destination, but somehow disappears from plain sight.
In one case, the driver said he stopped for a woman several months after the disaster.
Devastated survivors reported spooky goings on (Image: AFP/Getty Images)
She was wearing a coat, despite it being summer, and asked to be taken to the Minamihama district – which was destroyed by the tsunami.
Then, in a shaking voice, she replied: “Have I died?”.
The cases are similar to the fabled phantom hitchhiker that has been retold in folklore.
The area was left in utter ruins (Image: REUTERS)
Travellers describe picking up a strange hitchhiker who subsequently vanishes from the moving vehicle.
In another example, a taxi driver in the city of Sendai picked up a “sad faced” man to asked to be taken to a place that no longer existed.
According to the driver, the passenger disappeared into thin air.
But, courteous to his invisible guest, he drove on to the address and let him out.
It is not just cabbies that have reported ghostly guests.
Families have reported seeing children’s toys moving of their own accord.
Some think the disaster zone became overpopulated with ghosts because of the scale of death the tsunami caused.
For believers, it was inevitable that ghosts would plague the area as so many would be unprepared to move on to the next life.
In one spooky retelling, a dead woman is said to have visited a friend at their temporary accommodation for a drink, but left a dampness on the cushion and vanished.
The eerie cases are relived on Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries, which dropped on October 19.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
