Script

This is the My Dark Path Podcast

During World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited his allies at the White House, engaging in intense war discussions with President Roosevelt.  After these long days, Churchill would retire to his bedroom for a relaxing soak in a hot bath, often accompanied by his signature cigar.  One evening, as he emerged from the tub, he was taken aback to find a transparent form leaning on the mantlepiece in his bedroom.  The figure turned out to be none other than President Abraham Lincoln, seemingly deep in thought and oblivious to the presence of the naked head of state in the room.  Although surprised, Churchill maintained his wit and greeted the apparition, "Mr. President, you seem to have me at a disadvantage." Lincoln's ghost offered a smile before vanishing.  Churchill slept the night in a different bedroom across the hall.

Given his historical significance and the tragedies surrounding his life and death, it is no surprise that Lincoln may be the most famous ghost in Washington, DC.  He lived in the city during tumultuous times and experienced personal losses in office.  His wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, was very interested in Spiritualism, a movement encouraging communication with spirits.  Her interest was stimulated, in part, by the deaths of three of her four children.  Two died very young.  Her second son, Eddie Lincoln passed away on February 1, 1850. He was only four years old at the time.  Willie Lincoln, the third son of the Lincolns, expired on February 20, 1862.  He was just 11 years old.  As a part of her exploration of Spiritualism, Mary attended several seances, both in the White House and elsewhere, seeking to communicate with her deceased sons.  She believed that she was able to receive messages from Willie through mediums.  Some reports suggest that Abraham Lincoln attended a few of these seances, though he was more skeptical of the practices.

I came across this story while researching the episode about the Blackbird of Chernobyl which recounted the history of the nuclear accident there and the odd premonitions around the incident.  You can listen to that episode on My Dark Path Plus on Patreon.  The idea of ghosts in the white house is intriguing – it is the opening scene of my first novel Seeing by Moonlight where President Roosevelt is visited by the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.  So, if that idea is intriguing, you may want to check out the book on Amazon.

The idea that spirits of the dead would continue to visit the place of his death – maliciously or kindly – is a common element of most ghost stories.  Once we finish the background on Lincoln's ghost, we'll visit Japan where there have been mass sightings of ghosts, all tied to the massive Tsunami and loss of life the country experienced in 2011.

Hi, I’m MF Thomas, and this is the My Dark Path podcast.  In every episode, we explore the fringes of history, science, and the paranormal.  So, if you geek out over these subjects, you're among friends here at My Dark Path.  See our videos on YouTube, visit mydarkpath.com or find us on Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok.

You can find the link to My Dark Path Plus on Patreon in the show notes or on MyDarkPath.com.  We’re putting out new videos regularly on Youtube and experimenting with shorts. 

Thank you for walking the dark paths of the world with me.  I’m so grateful for your support.  Let’s continue with Episode 55, The Ghosts of the Tsunami.

Part 1

The White House has a rich history of stories about Lincoln's ghost.  Staff members have reported hearing mysterious footsteps outside rooms associated with Lincoln, like the Lincoln Bedroom, and even presidential pets have reacted strangely at times.  President Harry Truman and his daughter, Margaret, claimed to have heard Lincoln pacing at night.  Other notable guests, like Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, encountered Lincoln's ghost during their visits.

Lincoln's spectral presence is not limited to the White House.  People have reported seeing his ghost in many locations in Washington, D.C. Numerous paranormal enthusiasts' online forums document these reported encounters, from Ford's Theatre, where visitors claim to hear echoes of a gunshot and see Lincoln in his box during performances, to 10th Street NW, where passersby occasionally hear the sounds of chaos from the night of the President's assassination.  Lincoln's tall figure has allegedly been spotted at the Capitol, on Pennsylvania Avenue, and even at his memorial on the National Mall which was built after his lifetime.

Over the years, various White House residents, staff members, and visitors have reported encounters with Lincoln's ghost.  Grace Coolidge, wife of President Calvin Coolidge, was among the first notable residents to claim seeing him.  Eleanor Roosevelt, occupying Lincoln's former bedroom as her study, felt his presence when working late into the night.

In more recent times, during President Ronald Reagan's tenure, the stories of Lincoln's ghost continued.  The First Lady, Nancy Reagan, recounted instances of mysterious noises and missing objects attributed to the ghost.  While some dismiss these sightings as mere folklore, they demonstrate Lincoln's enduring presence in the national consciousness.

Today, Lincoln's ghost sightings are less frequent, and ghost stories have lost some significance in the national narrative.  Nevertheless, the stories and legends surrounding Lincoln's ghost endure as part of D.C. folklore, captivating those who seek the thrill of the spooky and mysterious.

The connection between ghosts and locations of traumatic events is often attributed to the concept of residual energy or residual haunting.  Several theories attempt to explain this phenomenon:

1.         Residual Energy: Traumatic events, such as battles, murders, accidents, or intense emotional experiences, are believed to leave a strong imprint on the surrounding environment.  This residual energy is thought to be recorded in the fabric of the location and can be replayed or experienced by sensitive individuals, leading to reports of ghostly apparitions or sounds associated with the traumatic event.

2.         Like the concept of residual energy from past events, the theory of Emotional Imprints is also used to describe why ghosts may appear.  It is believed that intense emotions, especially negative ones like fear, anger, or sorrow, can create strong psychic imprints on a location.  These imprints are thought to linger and manifest as ghostly occurrences, particularly when conditions are conducive to their activation, such as specific times of day, certain weather conditions, or significant anniversaries related to the traumatic event.

3 Finally, the theory of Unfinished Business or Trapped Souls is also used to describe why a location may be haunted.  Some paranormal beliefs suggest that ghosts are the spirits of individuals who experienced sudden or traumatic deaths and, for various reasons, were unable to move on to the afterlife.  They are believed to be bound to where the trauma occurred until their unresolved issues are addressed or until they find peace.

The appearance of Lincoln’s ghost might be explained by the emotional imprint theory.  And, as you'll see, the residual energy and trapped soul theories may be why the areas affected by the 2011 Japanese Tsunami remain haunted to this day.

Part 2

On March 11, 2011 at 2:46 PM a magnitude-9.0 earthquake occurred, with its epicenter approximately at a depth of 19 miles beneath the western Pacific Ocean 80 miles east of the Japanese city of Sendai.  The seismic activity caused significant displacement of the Pacific Plate, which, in turn, led to the generation of highly destructive tsunami waves.  A wave measuring 33 feet tall hammered the coast and submerged parts of Sendai, including its airport and  countryside.  According to some reports, a tsunami wave even reached as far as 6 miles inland.  Other cities along the coast, including Fukushima and Chiba, were hit hard by the waves.  Then, as the waters receded, they carried a massive amount of debris with them.  Thousands of people who were swept up in the flood.

At first, reports of casualties following the Tsunami indicated hundreds had died with hundreds more missing.  However, the numbers in both categories increased significantly over the following days as the magnitude of the devastation became apparent.  But as the search for victims continued, the official count of those confirmed dead or still missing ultimately reached over 19,300.

The Tsunami’s destruction was followed by countless stories of survival.  For example, one remarkable story is that of Hiromitsu Shinkawa, a 60-year-old man from Fukushima.  Amid the chaos of the earthquake and Tsunami, Shinkawa and his wife made the decision to evacuate their home.  While his wife reached safety, Shinkawa could not leave fast enough and was caught in the tidal wave that engulfed his house.

As the massive wall of water rushed towards him, Shinkawa clambered onto the roof of his house, which was torn from its foundations by the force of the wave.  Clinging to the wreckage, the retreating flood waters carried him out to sea.  For the next two days, he floated adrift on the remains of his rooftop, without food or fresh water, surrounded by a sea of debris and battling hypothermia in the cold winter water.

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the Japanese government deployed over 100,000 personnel for search and rescue operations. Still, the scale of the devastation made it difficult to locate and rescue survivors.  Remarkably, despite being nearly 10 miles offshore, Shinkawa was spotted by a maritime self-defense force ship conducting a search and rescue operation.  The crew was astonished to find a lone survivor amidst the vast expanse of debris.  Shinkawa was plucked from the ocean, exhausted but alive, and taken to a hospital where he was treated for mild hypothermia and dehydration.  When he was rescued he was reported to have said, "I thought today was the last day of my life.”

Another story of survival after the earthquake and Tsunami came from the city of Ishinomaki, where one family experienced an astonishing reunion amidst the devastation.  Jin, a 16 year old teenager and his grandmother, Sumi Abe, were at home when the earthquake struck.  They initially tried to escape to higher ground, but the tsunami waves reached them before they could escape.  The water engulfed their house, and they found themselves trapped inside.

For the next four days, Jin and his grandmother were trapped in their kitchen, which had become a small pocket of air amidst the wreckage of their house.  They had no food, no drinking water, and no way to call for help.  The temperature dropped to near freezing at night, and they had to huddle together to stay warm.  Jin later recounted that he kept talking to his grandmother to keep her spirits up and to keep himself from falling asleep, fearing that if he did, he might not wake up again.

Rescuers had been searching the area for days, but the destruction was so widespread that knowing where to look for survivors was difficult.  On the fourth day, rescue workers from the Japan Self-Defense Forces were searching the wreckage in Jin and Sumi's neighborhood.  Jin heard them outside and managed to crawl through a small hole in the wreckage to alert them.  He was weak and disoriented, but he was able to guide the rescuers back to where his grandmother was still trapped.

Jin and Sumi were rescued and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.  They were severely dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia, but they were otherwise unharmed.  Their survival was nothing short of miraculous.  Jin's determination and resilience despite seemingly insurmountable odds were remarkable.  Despite his dire situation, he remained focused on keeping his grandmother alive and never gave up hope that they would be rescued.

A third story of survival involves a couple in Onagawa, who managed a miraculous escape just moments before the Tsunami struck by making a split-second decision.  Masayuki and Yuko lived in a coastal area of Sendai designated as a tsunami evacuation zone.  After the earthquake hit, they knew they had only a short window of time to escape the impending Tsunami.  Aware of the risk, Masayuki and Yuko quickly decided to leave their home and head for higher ground.

They got into their car and drove towards a nearby hill, joining a stream of other vehicles trying to escape the waves.  The traffic was heavy, and progress was slow.  As they inched their way up the hill, they could see the water rising behind them, swallowing up the landscape and getting closer and closer to their car.

With the water rapidly approaching, they abandoned their car and continued on foot.  They ran up the hill, joining other residents fleeing for their lives.  They watched in horror from the top of the hill as the waves engulfed their car and swept away their home and neighborhood.

Miraculously, Masayuki and Yuko survived the disaster, but like many others, they lost everything.  Their home, their possessions, and their neighborhood were all destroyed.  In the aftermath of the disaster, they were forced to start their lives anew, grappling with the trauma of what they had experienced and the loss of their community.

Masayuki and Yuko's story is a testament to the importance of quick thinking and decision-making in a disaster.  They may not have survived if they hesitated or chose to stay in their home.  Despite the chaos and uncertainty, their decision to leave their home and head for higher ground ultimately saved their lives.

But for every story of survival, there were, sadly, hundreds of deaths. 

Part 3

The tragedy of Okawa Elementary School is one of the most heart-wrenching episodes of the 2011 tsunami.  In the coastal city of Ishinomaki, the Okawa Elementary School was situated about 4 km from the coast, on a small hill.  On that fateful day, the school had 108 students and 11 teachers.  When the earthquake struck at 2:46 pm, the school building survived due to Japan's strict building codes.  However, the subsequent 30 foot high tsunami swept away everything in its path.

The school had a tsunami evacuation plan, but it was tragically flawed.  The designated evacuation site was a nearby hill, but the route to reach it required crossing a bridge that was considered unsafe because of the earthquake.  The teachers were unsure what to do and wasted precious time deciding on an alternative course of action.  For 45 minutes after the earthquake, the students and teachers remained at the school, waiting for instructions from the city's disaster prevention center.  The instructions never came.

Finally the teachers decided to evacuate to a nearby hill, but it was too late.  The Tsunami struck, washing away 78 children and 10 teachers.  Only a handful of students and one teacher survived.  The incident was particularly tragic as other schools in the area successfully evacuated their students to higher ground in the earthquake's immediate aftermath.

Today, the Okawa Elementary School site has been turned into a memorial.  A single building has been left as a stark reminder of the tragedy, and a monument has been erected to honor the victims.  It is a sad reminder of the devastating power of natural disasters and the importance of being prepared for the worst.

Another example of the tragic loss of life during the Tsunami is Toshie Sasaki.  She was an 87-year-old woman from Kesennuma, a coastal city that was one of the areas hardest hit by the disaster.

Toshie was born and raised in Kesennuma and had witnessed many changes in her lifetime, from the end of World War II to the rapid modernization of Japan.  She lived a simple, modest life dedicated to her family and community.  A widow for many years, she had outlived her husband and many of her friends.  Her children and grandchildren, who lived in other parts of Japan, visited her as often as they could, but Toshie was mostly independent and took care of herself.

When the earthquake struck at 2:46 pm local time, and the Tsunami warnings were issued almost immediately.

Toshie, like many of her neighbors, was aware of the risk of tsunamis.  The city had experienced them in the past, and regular drills and evacuation plans were in place.  However, the speed and ferocity of the Tsunami that day caught everyone off guard.  There was very little time to react between the earthquake and the arrival of the first wave.

Toshie's house was near the coast, and she knew she had to evacuate to higher ground as soon as possible.  However, her advanced age made it difficult for her to move quickly.

Toshie’s last phone call to her daughter is a heartbreaking testament to the chaos and confusion of the day.  The earthquake damaged telephone lines and infrastructure, but Toshie managed to get through to her daughter.  Toshie told her about the earthquake and that she planned to evacuate to higher ground.  Likely, she tried to reassure her daughter that everything would be ok, even though she felt frightened and unsure.  Toshie must have been aware of her challenges, but she would not have wanted to worry her daughter more than necessary.

Her daughter, on the other hand, would have been frantic with worry.  Living in another part of Japan, she would have been acutely aware of the tsunami warnings and her mother's potential danger.  She would have urged her mother to leave as quickly as possible and probably offered to come and get her.  Toshie's daughter likely urged her to contact a neighbor or friend for help, or to let her know once she had reached safety. Unfortunately, Toshie could not escape the Tsunami in time, and that phone call became their final farewell.

Thinking of this emotion, love and heartbreak spread across the country of Japan, repeated hundreds of thousands of times during the day of the disaster and the search for the missing that went on for weeks and months…and you might understand why this area is now one of the most haunted in the world.

Part 4

Located forty miles from Sendai, Reverend Kaneta presided over his Zen temple in Kurihara.  The temple was a legacy from his father.  However, the Tsunami's aftermath presented challenges he hadn't anticipated.  This calamity was unparalleled in postwar Japan.

The March 11 earthquake was beyond anything he or anyone he knew had ever felt.  The temple's large wooden beams creaked under its intensity.  Essential services like power, water, and telecommunication were disrupted for days.  The residents of Kurihara, situated thirty miles from the shoreline, were less informed about the coastal situation than global TV audiences.  But the magnitude of the tragedy became evident when families, initially in small numbers, then in droves, approached Reverend Kaneta's temple with deceased loved ones to inter.

While the full extent of the casualties took time to unfold, it was quickly obvious that thousands had perished.  Within a month, Reverend Kaneta had conducted funeral services for two hundred souls.  The grief-stricken faces of the surviving relatives were more heart-wrenching than the sheer numbers.

As documented in his book Ghosts Of The Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone, the writer Richard Lloyd Parry, captured Kaneta’s words: said later: “They cry.  There was no emotion at all.  The loss was so profound, and death had come so suddenly.  They understood the facts of their situation individually — that they had lost their homes, lost their livelihoods, and lost their families.  They understood each piece, but they couldn't see it as a whole, and they couldn't understand what they should do, or sometimes even where they were.  I couldn't really talk to them, to be honest.  All I could do was stay with them, and read the sutras and conduct the ceremonies.  That was the thing I could do."

A few months after the burial services, he and a cohort of fellow priests began touring the coastline, setting up a roving initiative providing meals and the opportunity for conversations.

This informal setting, offering a warm cup of tea and friendly conversation, drew people to the temples and community hubs where.  Many attendees resided in temporary shelters, the stark prefab huts chilling in the cold season and stifling in the heat — a last resort for those with limited means.  The priests provided a listening ear, always careful not to probe too deeply.

“People don’t like to cry,” said Kaneta.  "They see it as selfish.  Among those who are living in the temporary homes, there's hardly anyone who has not lost a member of their family.  Everyone's in the same boat, so they don't like to seem self-indulgent.  But when they start talking, and when you listen to them, and sense their gritted teeth and their suffering, all the suffering they can't and won't express, in time the tears come, and they flow without end."

Hesitantly and with initial reservations, but gradually with more confidence, survivors shared tales of the wave's terror, their heartache from loss, and anxieties about the days ahead.  Alongside these stories were mentions of ethereal encounters.

They recounted seeing spectral figures—strangers, familiar faces, and departed loved ones.  Stories of hauntings emerged from homes, workplaces, public areas, beaches, and the devastated towns.  These ghostly experiences varied, from unsettling dreams and sensations of discomfort to more alarming incidents, such as what Takeshi Ono went through with possession.

One young man felt an oppressive weight on his chest during sleep, like an entity was sitting atop him.  A young girl described a daunting presence that lingered in her home.  Another man shared his dread of rainy days, tormented by the visions of deceased eyes gazing at him from water puddles.

In Tagajo, mysterious distress calls came into the fire station from locales ravaged by the Tsunami.  Although these areas lacked any intact structures, the firefighters dutifully answered.  Venturing into these remnants, they prayed for the departed, and remarkably, the enigmatic calls ceased.

In a makeshift settlement in Onagawa, residents recounted an elderly neighbor who'd seemingly drop by their provisional homes, taking a seat and sharing tea, much to their surprise.  No one dared to inform her of her demise; the cushion she occupied would always be damp with seawater after her visits.

Tales of this nature emanated from various parts of the affected region.  Religious leaders from Christian, Shinto, and Buddhist backgrounds were frequently summoned to appease restless souls.  A Buddhist monk even penned an article addressing "the ghost conundrum." Scholars at Tohoku University embarked on an endeavor to document these stories, and in Kyoto, the subject was a topic of discussion at an academic conference.

"Religious people all argue about whether these are really the spirits of the dead.  I don't get into it, because what matters is that people are seeing them, and in these circumstances, after this disaster, it is perfectly natural.  So many died, and all at once.  At home, at work, at school — the wave came in and they were gone. The dead had no time to prepare themselves.  The people left behind had no time to say goodbye.  Those who lost their families, and those who died — they have strong feelings of attachment.  The dead are attached to the living, and those who have lost them are attached to the dead.  It's inevitable that there are ghosts."

And there are many ghosts here.

Part 4

The coastal city of Ishinomaki, which I’ve described several times in this episode, is known as a center for commercial fishing.  Entire districts in the area, including the Minamihama district, were destroyed.  In total, more than 29,000 residents of Ishinomaki lost their homes.  That was almost 20% of its population in 2010.  And three years after the Tsunami there were still over 400 residents of Ishinomaki unaccounted for.  Over the past decade, the city has been slowly rebuilding, including the removal of four million ton of debris have been removed from the city, while sea walls, roads and bridges have been rebuilt.

Amid all the uncertainty, taxi drivers started encountering ghosts as early as the spring of 2011.

If you’ve ever been to Japan, you’ll likely have a fond memory of any taxi rides you took.  The first taxi in Japan 1912 was a Ford Model T that was imported and used by the Tokyo Motor Vehicle Company.  Before this use of a motorized taxi, rickshaws were the main mode of personal transportation in the country.  Unlike taxis in some other countries, taxi drivers in Japan are known for its high level of professionalism and courtesy. Drivers wear white gloves and keep their cars spotlessly clean, even when they are a decade or more old.  Most taxis, and certainly every Japanese taxi I’ve ever ridden in, have automatic doors that open and close without the rider having to touch the door.  Taxi drivers are required to pass several tests.  And to become an independent taxi driver, you have to have 10 years of driving experience, a bank balance of a million yen, no accidents or traffic tickets.

And as you see, Japanese taxi drivers are a very stable population, not driven to flights of fancy or unusual speculation.  Their highly personal interactions with dozens of people a day make them, perhaps, a very reliable source for observing a surge in ghostly sightings after the Tsunami.

Amid all the uncertainty, taxi drivers started encountering ghosts as early as the spring of 2011.

One of the earliest incidents involved a young woman, who hailed a cab near a public transport station while wearing a heavy winter coat, despite the weather being balmy and warm.  If you recall, the Tsunami occurred in March when the highs are only 47' Fahrenheit and the lows average just below freezing.

"Can you take me to Minamihama, please?" the woman reportedly asked the driver.

"There’s nothing at Minamihama anymore," the driver responded.

After a few moments of silence, the passenger spoke again.

"Have I died?" she asked.

When the driver turned to look at the passenger, she was no longer there.

Another taxi driver who was in his 40s told of an unexplainable occurrence.  According to the driver, a man who looked to be in his 20s got in his taxi.  His passenger pointed toward the front when the driver looked into the rear-view mirror.  The driver repeatedly asked the man for his destination.  Then, the passenger replied, "Hiyoriyama” referring to a nearby mountain.  The driver would have navigated through the disrupted streets of Ishinomaki, periodically glimpsed the Kitakami River which empties at the ocean right by the city.  Leaving the city, the road would have followed the gentle rise in the terrain, winding its way up the hill.  As the taxi would have pulled into the Kiyoriyama park, the views of the city, the river and the ocean are spectacular.  Yet the view would have shown the extent of the massive destruction.  When the taxi arrived, the driver turned to speak with his fare, only to discover that the man had disappeared.

The reports of ghosts became so routine that in 2016, Yuka Kudo, a sociology student at Tohoku Gakuin University, decided to write her thesis about the phenomenon.  She interviewed more than 100 taxi drivers in Ishinomaki, asking them whether they had experienced anything unusual in the aftermath of the earthquake and Tsunami.

While many taxi drivers refused to speak to Kudo for her thesis, at least seven drivers recalled picking up passengers who later disappeared with the incidents beginning just months after the disaster.

Another driver shared this story with Kudo.

A driver picked up a passenger who asked to be taken to a residential address.  They drove for some time and when they arrived at the address, the driver discovered that the house had been flattened in the disaster.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" the taxi driver turned around to ask the passenger.  The rear seat was empty.  The passenger was no longer there.

Kudo felt that the taxi driver's stories were reliable as each driver had started their meter when they unknowingly picked up their spectral passengers.  Japanese taxi drivers start the meter once a passenger gets in the car, and taxi drivers are liable for the fare, meaning the drivers had to cover the cost of the ghosts'  taxi fair.

In another story, a taxi in Sendai picked up a  man who asked to be driven to a residential address.  The driver started driving but halfway through the trip, the driver realized the destination was in a part of the city that had been completely destroyed.  Looking in the mirror to speak with the passenger, he saw the the rear seat was empty and the passenger had disappeared.  Still, he drove on stopping at the destroyed home.  Reportedly, he politely opened the taxi door, allowing the invisible passenger out at his former home.

According to Kudo, the taxi drivers didn't report feeling scared during the incidents.  She said: "Young people feel strongly chagrined [at their deaths] when they cannot meet people they love.  As they want to convey their bitterness, they may have chosen taxis, which are like private rooms, as a medium to do so." Generally, the drivers recalled picking up young 'ghost passengers'.

Another driver shared the following story. 

"When I was driving, I found a girl dressed in the middle of winter."  When I asked, ``What about your mother and father?'', the girl replied, ``I'm alone.'' I thought she was lost, so I asked her where her house was and wanted to take her home.  In an instant she disappeared.  It's true that we had a conversation, I held her hand and touched her, but she suddenly disappeared.

While I want to believe, a skeptical mind might rationalize away the ghostly sightings.  Since Yuka Kudo's thesis gained media attention, some have suggested that the ghost sightings were "grief hallucinations". Japanese psychiatrist Keizo Hara suggested that the 'ghost passengers' are signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.  "The places where people say they see ghosts are largely those areas completely swept away by the Tsunami.  We think phenomena like ghost sightings are perhaps a mental projection of the terror and worries associated with those places."

There’s no reason to argue with this perspective.  For those of us who believe that our souls are immortal, we can certainly believe that when mortal lives are taken abruptly and prematurely, those spirits might choose to linger in the areas where they passed away, perhaps seeking to reconnect with the people and country they loved.

Most of us will never see the spirits of the dead.  But I loved the statement of one of the Japanese taxi drivers who had encountered a spectre.  His words acknowledge that the ghosts of the Tsunami are a consequence of the terrible natural disaster of 2011, a consequence like the loss of thousands of lives or the destruction of the hallmarks of the advanced civilization of this part of Japan.

This taxi driver, wearing his white gloves, caring for his pristine taxi said:  "If I encounter a ghost again, I will accept it as my passenger."

Thank you for listening to My Dark Path.  I'm MF Thomas, creator and host, and I produce the show with our engineer and creative director, Dom Purdie.  Extra narration provided by Kevin Wetmore.  Big thank yous to them and the entire My Dark Path team.

Please take a moment and give My Dark Path a 5-star rating wherever you're listening.  It helps the show, and we love to hear from you.

Again, thanks for walking the dark paths of history, science, and the paranormal with me.  Until next time, good night.