One of the most shocking episodes of "Unsolved Mysteris" - Netflix documentary, where each series deals with an unresolved issue (mostly murder), is the one entitled "Tsunami Souls".
The episode takes viewers to Ishinomaki, Miyagi, Japan, located in the northwestern region of Tohoku country. In March 2011, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck the area. The force of the earthquake led to another tsunami, which according to experts was expected, but was not expected at all that it would be so strong. The tsunami left more than 15,000 people dead and 2,500 missing, according to the Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
"Tsuami Spirits" looks at the supernatural phenomena that occurred days, weeks and months after the tsunami. Many people who have lived through the disaster have said they have had ghost encounters with the victims. The episode describes several stories, including many taxi drivers convinced that some of their customers were ghosts, disappearing from the car halfway.
The documentary mentions the diploma theme of a sociology student, "In the months following the tsunami, taxi drivers report 'ghost passengers' in areas devastated by the 2011 tsunami" - was the title of her research. In an interview, student Yuka Kudo said she spoke to more than 100 taxi drivers in the affected region. Only 7 of them agreed to speak. One of the taxi drivers recalls how a woman asked him to go to the area devastated by the tsunami and when he told him that "that area has already been completely destroyed", the woman asked "Am I dead?"
Another case mentioned in the episode, tells the story of another driver, where a customer about 20 years old, gets into the taxi and the driver feels that something was strange to the passenger. When they arrived at the destination, the sun was setting while the 20-year-old was gone.
The questioned professor, who does not believe in ghosts, says that these may be a result of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the fact that many taxi drivers / people report similar events makes people more suspicious about everyone. history.
After the tsunami, some thought they were possessed by ghosts. Reverend Taio Kaneda, a Buddhist monk featured in the episode, works with people who claim to be "possessed by tsunami spirits". The monk, who says it is in Japanese culture that death and life are separated by only a thin line, deals with such a case during the documentary.