I received the first extensive information about the Japanese "tsunami ghosts" in March 2021, when a documentary about the devastating tsunami of March 11, 2011, which left over 20,000 dead in Japan, was broadcast on a Russian TV channel.
Uncanny Encounters in the Taxi
The film crew had rented several taxis, and one of the drivers reported that ghost sightings had been occurring repeatedly since the disaster. He himself had picked up a woman who, after stating her destination, sat silently in the back seat. After a short time, she vanished. At the specified address, only a ruin remained; the house had been destroyed by the masses of water.
Literary Adaptation and Eyewitness Accounts
Regarding this topic, I obtained the book "Ghosts of the Tsunami" by R. L. Parry. This book focuses primarily on the fate of an elementary school in Okawa and its students, the majority of whom did not manage to reach safety. In addition to this, however, one can also find some information about the ghost sightings!
One of the witnesses, who did not live directly in the tsunami area, observed a group of people walking past his house weeks after the event. Supposedly parents with their children, teenagers, and other individuals. The clothes they wore were dirty. They stared at the man with hostility. While doing so, they "flickered" like in a movie.
Another witness was haunted at night by a creature that acted like a "Drud" (nightmare demon), sitting on his chest and suffocating him! It is interesting that this "myth" / "type" also exists in Japan, as it is known in Europe right up to modern times! A creepy figure—Parry did not describe it in more detail—had nested / established itself in the home of a young woman and made her life a living hell!
At a remote section of the beach, a city employee from Soma noticed a woman. While he was wondering how she could have gotten there through the barriers, she vanished without a trace!
Mysterious Emergency Calls and the Modern Charon
The fire department of Tagajo repeatedly received calls via telephone lines that originated from houses that had been destroyed by the tsunami! However, there was no longer an active telephone connection there! The voices cried out for help and described the rushing masses of water. The firefighters often drove to the locations and prayed for the dead.
A taxi driver from Sendai picked up a male passenger. During the ride, the passenger disappeared. Upon arriving at the destination, only a ruin was found. Regardless of this, the driver opened the door and let the ghost out!
Taxi drivers are repeatedly mentioned as witnesses. They picked up their passengers on streets where they stood and waited. Not unlike Charon, the "ferryman" of Greco-Roman mythology, who brought the deceased across the Styx into the realm of the dead!
Religious Reactions and Scientific Interest
Such reports came from all parts of the flooded areas! It is interesting that most of the encounters were threatening or unpleasant, even when one's own family members were haunting the place!
As a result, those affected turned to their respective priests, regardless of whether they were Shintoists, Buddhists, or Christians, and asked for an EXORCISM; the former relatives in their new "form of existence" were to be driven out! The ghost problem was so widespread that Tohoku University had begun to collect and evaluate sighting reports!
As far as I can assess up to this point, this "flood of ghosts" is the first in recent history. I found no further indications on the internet regarding a tsunami that is said to have had similar effects.
Why the encounters were perceived as so negative that people resorted to exorcism, meaning EXPULSION, is also not truly clear. Who would want to have their deceased child or their former partner driven out? Or were they not the souls of the deceased, but something else?
If anyone has further information on this topic, please contact me!
This text was translated into English by Gemini, your AI collaborator!ʬ