The News
People in Japan are seeking out “haunted houses” to beat the heat. Summer in Japan has long been associated with the dead, as ancestral souls are thought to return to their homes during the mid-August festival of Obon. Indoor theme parks evoke spirit-infested towns, including one in Tokyo where “kimono-clad ghosts with bloody eyes convulse in agony and lurch toward visitors,” The Japan Times wrote.
The spooky, cooled houses are a way to escape scorching summers: this July was the hottest since records began. “We believe visitors can experience the feeling of being scared, surprised or ‘chilled to the liver,’” one operator said.