The ''Shadow People'' of Hiroshima

By Crusader1307

The Product Exhibition Hall, located near the very center of The City of Hiroshima, Japan looks strangely out of date today. A shell of a building in ruins, the massive 1915 constructed structure was used to house industrial exhibits and foster trade within Japan and other Countries. But on the morning of August 6th, 1945 - at exactly 8:15 AM, The US Military dropped the first Atomic Weapon (Bomb) on The City, to hopefully force Japan into surrender and thus end 4 years of bloody World War. At a height of 790-feet, an explosive device equivalent to 15,000-tons of TNT detonated – and forever changed The World and how future Wars would be fought. The Atomic Bomb, was seen as a ‘’City Killer’’. It did just that. Over 2-square miles were incinerated by a blast (heat) wave of over 10,000 degrees. Over 6,000 Humans were killed, instantly (vaporized), with untold hundreds of thousands perishing from the sort and long terms effects of radiation. But it is the ‘’fire ball’’ initially generated in which our Tale unfolds.

After Japan surrendered days later, Scientific Teams began to collect date ‘’on the ground’’. As information was collected, most Survey Teams noted the appearances of strange ‘’shadows’’ – seemingly burned into surviving concrete and stone in The City. Given the distinct shapes of the shadows, the very real nature of ‘’what’’ Teams were looking at was made known. In short, these were the shadows of Humans and everyday objects burned into stone at the very second of their ‘’vaporization’’ from the intense generated heat. Be it an ‘’Old Man walking with a cane’’ or perhaps a Person simply ‘’sitting on steps’’ – the ‘’everyday Life’’ of Hiroshima was forever etched into stone. The ghastly ‘’Shadow People of Hiroshima’’ – as they would become known, would serve as the real answer to future Wars – or rather, to never again use such devastating weaponry as Atomic (Nuclear) Bombs. This is the real reason as well that The Exhibition Building was preserved and let to stand….as a Memorial and warning of such ‘’folly’’.  While much of The ‘’Shadow People’’ were preserved via film and photograph, most of ‘’Them’’ were destroyed when The City began to rebuild itself after The War. However, some few ‘’pieces’’ were saved and are still on display inside the rather grim and retrospective Museum inside The Memorial.