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Rotting corpse discovered by two men exploring 'haunted hotel' in Miyazaki

21 Comments
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24

While Japan is really good about keeping litter off the streets, the country can be surprisingly lax in cleaning up unused architecture. For example, the Green Hills Hotel, in the town of Ebino, Miyazaki Prefecture, has been out of business since 1992, but the owners didn’t bother to tear it down after they vacated it, and the local authorities never sent a wrecking crew over either.

And so the hotel has stood, unused, for the last few decades. Well, actually calling it unused isn’t 100-percent accurate. Even though there’s no commerce going on, the Green Hills Hotel still gets occasional visitors because its spooky exterior has earned it a rumor that it’s haunted, turning it into an attraction for would-be ghost hunters.

Gaining access to the building isn’t hard. The property isn’t sealed off from the street, and the plate glass on the front doors is broken, so anyone who wants to can just walk right in. That’s exactly what two men in their 20s did after midnight but before dawn on April 15, having traveled to Ebino from another prefecture after reading about the hotel on a website listing supposedly haunted places in Japan.

After entering the lobby, the two men began making their way, floor by floor, towards the top of the nine-story building, but didn’t make it all the way. Sure, it’s tempting to call them chickens for that, but we can’t say we’d have done any differently. As the men entered a guest room on the sixth floor, they realized they weren’t completely alone. Lying on the bed, facing towards the ceiling, was a dead body.

The corpse was dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and dark pants, with graying hair and a height of between 170 and 180 centimeters. However, due to the heavy rate of decay, the deceased’s sex is currently indeterminable.

Having had far more horror than they’d bargained for, the men called the police and reported their discovery. Investigators are unsure whether the death was some sort of accident or a murder, and are currently investigating both possibilities, as given how long it’s been since the hotel went out of business, it would seem to be mathematically impossible that this was a bedridden guest who was left behind.

The two men who found the body don’t appear to be on the hook for any trespassing charges. The local paper does report that “they regret their actions,” though it’s unclear whether that’s in a legal sense, or simply because they really wish they didn’t have to live with the memory of finding a rotting corpse inside an abandoned hotel.

*Sources: Mainichi Shimbun via Yahoo! Japan News via Jin, *Miyazaki Nichi Nichi Shimbun

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Chance to see Japan bucket-list must-see scenery “Road to Laputa” gone for good?

-- The Story Hotel: A new concept for couples wanting some romantic private time in Japan

-- Japanese love hotel worker injured after two men run off without paying exorbitant bill

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

21 Comments
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All things considered, it's the kind of ideal place to dump a body, if one doesn't want to get caught.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

All things considered, it's the kind of ideal place to dump a body, if one doesn't want to get caught.

That’s a rather clever and suspicious observation.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Except for the fact that we're talking about the dead body of a person, I'd say these guys got exactly what they asked for. They wanted some horrors, they got it. On the plus side, one less missing person, if they can find out whom it is -- and fame for the property.

8 ( +12 / -4 )

The corpse was dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and dark pants, with graying hair and a height of between 170 and 180 centimeters. However, due to the heavy rate of decay, the deceased’s sex is currently indeterminable.

Sounds like a male. There aren't many women over 170cm in Japan.

7 ( +10 / -3 )

I really wish Japan tore down unused buildings more readily, at the current rate of population graying rate, "akiya" will also render certain areas literal ghost towns in the not so distant future ,I reckon. Unused buildings that are death traps and that consume valuable land in a country notorious for valuing hygiene, safety and for lacking space and being prone to earthquakes...it's a total irony for such places to exist here...

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Sounds more like they just found a homeless guy who died in his sleep

7 ( +7 / -0 )

this place would make an excellent place for all of the displaced homeless in Tokyo, especially when there temporary rest home is being used for the C19 virus cases.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

That's going to haunt those guys for a good long while.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I'd say these guys got exactly what they asked for. They wanted some horrors, they got it. 

That's not necessarily true. I go with one of my kids to such places so they can take pictures. They can be very photogenic, especially in the summer when plants and vines move in. Quite a few photographers are attracted to abandoned sites like this. Most of them are not looking to be frightened, but want the capture the contrast of a modernity in decay as nature takes over - a kind of post-apocalyptic look.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Not likely but one wonder if this will be one of the hotels the government has secured for Covid patients with mild symptoms in Kyushu. “Here’s Johnny!...”

0 ( +0 / -0 )

To tell the truth, we were planning a trip to this hotel. But now, with the body discovered, we may pass!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

J-horror in the time of Covid-19.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If you're going to somewhere to see ghosts, what does a corpse qualify as? Success? Failure??

Since they went in at midnight, we can presume they weren't there to take urb-ex photos. You need daylight for them.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Better than the usual stuffing-the-dead-relative-in-the-cupboard, which seems to happen here almost daily.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@spek

your spot on minus the J factor.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Most of them are not looking to be frightened, but want the capture the contrast of a modernity in decay as nature takes over - a kind of post-apocalyptic look.

Well there is certainly no shortage of this in the countryside & there will be a hell of a  lot more to gander out over the next few decades, while I get what your doing with interesting photos etc its also depressing as hell watching the country we live literally rotting all around us & next to nothing done to address it

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I wonder if they were vloggers who do abandoned property videos on YouTube. Those videos are quite popular and even some foreigners have filmed in Japan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's a very unpleasant and unnecessary headline.

That "rotting corpse" was a person. I wish you would show some respect with your choice of words, not just act like a 2-bit tabloid.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Well at least the headline was accurate

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Bubble money haikyo:

https://www.departure-ruins.com/posts/7034248

Sad end for some homeless fella no doubt.

If you wanted to murder someone there's be a million better places

to dispose of the evidence around there.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Kobe White Bar Owner what is the J factor? xD

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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