Yūrei

A Yūrei is a type of ghost featured in Japanese folklore. They are considered fading spirits of humans who have since died, whose souls are still trapped in the afterlife, hindered from finding the peace they require. A departed spirit, or Reikon, may become a Yūrei if the living person suffers a violent death, such as a murder or a suicide, and the required funerary rites are not observed. This being becomes trapped between the physical world and the spirit world, and are typically associated with the location wherein they died.

Yūrei were the primary supernatural element presented in the 2016 horror film The Forest. One such creature haunted the Aokigahara (Suicide Forest) area at the northern base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The parents of Sara and Jess Price died in a murder-suicide, and her father's spirit became a Yūrei. This Yūrei had the ability to affect the perceptions of others, causing intense hallucinations. Ultimately, Sara herself met a violent end, and her spirit became a Yūrei trapped in the Aokigahara Forest as well.