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Back in 2003, the world was introduced to the first Siren, a survival horror video game which told the story of a mysterious secluded village caught between time and space. Like the best games of its genre, the setting played a pivotal role in captivating the player, sucking them into an eerie atmosphere made all the more scary by the tremendously creepy town.

It turns out that the fictional town of Hanuda is based on an actual town in Saitama Prefecture, just north of Tokyo. Life imitates game as a camera crew heads to the abandoned town, just like how a crew did in the third Siren game. Take a look at the footage they captured after the break. If you aren’t too afraid…

Japan seems like a haven for abandoned buildings and towns these days. Sure some of them are abandoned for good reason, like radiation, but others have been left and forgotten purely because the citizens have moved away one by one.

Chichibu, a town in Saitama Prefecture, is one such place, but perhaps it is most famously known for being the inspiration for the horror survival game Siren. As the story in the game goes, the town becomes abandoned due to a secret ritual and subsequent earthquakes, trapping the unfortunate citizens who are “never heard from again”.

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Chichibu definitely doesn’t appear to have anyone residing in it, but maybe it’s just that they’re trapped between time and space, making it impossible for the crew’s cameras to pick up any multi-dimensional signals. Don’t take our word for it, though; check out the video yourself.

Crumbling houses, small shrines without Jizo, a motorbike that is halfway buried in the ground; this ghost town really has that haunted, uncanny vibe that survival horror—and post-apocalyptic, for that matter—game fans love.

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▼ Where did the Jizo go?

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▼ It’s as if an aliens abducted the townsfolk

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▼ But the view is still quite nice…during the day!

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It’s a good thing they filmed when it was light out because we aren’t sure people could handle the scare factor in the pitch black night. If you think that things would be no different at night-time, readers are free to go out with a camera and capture some of their own images themselves. We just can’t guarantee that we’re brave enough to watch the video.

Source: NariNari
Top Image: Amazon US, YouTube/Superman Kiko (image edited by RocketNews24)

Images: YouTube/Superman Kiko