Creepy abandoned garden is home to 800 life-like statues

bruno1122 (53)in #story • 8 years ago

HAVE you ever felt like you’re being watched?

This incredibly creepy garden in Japan’s Toyama prefecture is home to 800 life-like statues, following your every move with their unnervingly blank stares.The sculptures were created in the late 1980s at the request of a prominent local businessmen called Mutsuo Furukawa, at an estimated cost of 6 billion yen (A$78.5 million).While some appear to be Buddhist deities, many are thought to be people he knew during his lifetime, because he wanted them to be with him for eternity.He even commissioned a tall statue of himself, overlooking the park.It’s believed he intended the garden to be a place of relaxation, and that he wanted to enhance the wellbeing of the local people while promoting tourism.However, photographer Ken Ohki says he couldn’t shake the feeling the bizarre lawn ornaments came alive after dark.

The statues were carved out of stone in the late 1980s. Picture: Ken Okhi.Source:Supplied

They were commissioned by a prominent local businessman. Picture: Ken Okhi.Source:Supplied

Some are Buddhist deities, others are people he knew during his lifetime. Picture: Ken OkhiSource:Supplied

“You come to feel like something is moving every time you turn around,” he wrote on his blog, describing the place as “chilling”.The village is known as Fureai Sekibutsu no Sato, which literally translates to “the village where you can meet Buddhist statues”.

It’s incredibly popular with tourists, who arrive daily to check out the bizarre lawn ornaments.Some of the eerie figures are lined up in rows, while others are scattered over the hills, with many almost disappearing into the long grass.

Some of the figures are obscured by long grass, others disappear into the hills. Picture: Ken OkhiSource:Supplied

It’s not the only creepy village in Japan.Further south, in Nagoro, a woman has been replacing dead people with life-size dolls.Tsukimi Ayano has created more than 350 effigies, which vastly outnumber the local population.“Since I started to weave the dolls, I am not alone anymore. Every day someone comes to visit me,” she told Brazilian journalist Roberto Maxwell.Some dolls are crowded at bus stops, while others are working in fields or fixing roads.She even created likenesses of her own family, showing her father with a cigarette.“I always remember him smoking,” she said.