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Successive deaths have lead some to wonder if the fourth floor is cursed.

A hospital in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture has been experiencing a string of strange deaths all on a single floor of their hospital. According to reports, 50 elderly in-patients who were staying on the 4th floor have died since July 2016.

One of the mysterious incidents involved two 88-year-old men who arrived a couple of days apart. Both died as a result of identical surfactant poisoning. Surfactants are compounds that play an important role in many household cleaning products as they can act as wetting, dispersing, emulsifying, foaming and anti-foaming agents.

3680263866_f002a59a91_bFlickr/Mike LaCon

When interviewed by FNN, one nurse mentioned that successive deaths like this were rare at the hospital, leading her to wonder if the 4th floor is cursed. This is likely partly the result of the fact that the number four is deeply associated with death in Japan as 四 (which means “four” and can be read as “shi”) is a homonym of 死 (which means “death” and can be read as “shi”).

Whatever the reason, we hope that they can solve the mystery behind these deaths soon and that the elderly patients can get the care they need without any additional fears.

Source: Yahoo! Japan News, Hamsoku
Featured image: Flickr/olavXO