The waterline from the March 11 tsunami is left on the wall at the barber shop in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Saturday, April 16, 2011. The water in many places along Japan's northeastern Pacific coast struck by tsunami rose above head level, and everything below the waterline was destroyed or left covered by mud. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)

Taxi Drivers Say They’ve Picked Up Ghosts of 2011 Tsunami Victims in Japan

Taxi drivers in Japan say they’ve picked up ghosts of victims of the 2011 tsunami.

At least seven drivers claim passengers have entered their vehicle only to vanish into thin air before they reach their destination.

One driver described a young woman dressed in a coat climbing into his cab near Ishinomaki Station and telling him: “Please go to the Minamihama (district).”

In response, the driver noted that the area was “almost empty,” and asked her if she was sure she wanted to go there, reported the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

The woman replied in a trembling voice: “Have I died?”

When the driver turned around to look at her, no one was there.

Police officers inspect a car destroyed by the March 11 tsunami in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan on April 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Another driver, in his forties, said a young man climbed into his cab and asked to go to “Hiyoriyama mountain.”

The driver set off, but when he pulled over he realized the passenger had disappeared.

The accounts were compiled by Tohoku Gakuin University sociology student Yuka Kudo for her graduation thesis. She asked more than 100 drivers if they had experienced anything unusual in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami.

According to a Fox summary on the incident: