When the woods are scary

theres a local fishing hole here in Western North Carolina, its the slow, deep bend of a river. There are high cliff-like rocks on one side and a flat muddy bank on the other. Everyone I've ever talked to about the place seem to all say something along the lines of: "sometimes I go there and the sun's shining and you can hear the water playing across rocks.... but other times its dark there in the middle of day, the river is quiet and you'd swear someone was watching you from those high rocks on the far side."
Sometimes when I'd go there, I'd find ripped up clothing around the place, fish laying on the baks gasping and once i saw a dog's foot print, a single dog print as large as my hand. Its terror you feel in a place like that, panic.

mmm I love the forest. however at night, and alone, my dog and I have heard and seen some weird stuff.

the worst is when you're walking through the woods during the day and all the sudden the wind stops along with the birds and frogs. this happened to me last week in matilija canyon in ojai, california. eerie.

...apparently my roommate's dog thought the same, haha.

a reply to: wanderlustqueen

There is an old saying, goes kinda like this...

"When the forest goes silent, prepare for violence"

Good thing you made it out.

I grew playing in the woods and running up and down creeks and rivers in Tennessee. I always loved the woods and they were my number one destination, all the time. However at some points, I definitely got the GTFO feeling and I for sure could not tell you why. I didn't even think about it, it was just GTFO and boy oh boy did I run. To be fair, I was afraid of the dark till about 11. SO maybe just me being a kid. Or maybe not? I can say that im pretty sure i've been helped out by some forest spirits/ energy of the woods. I went Ca-brewing(canoeing with beer) with some friends and we headed out late, and it was january, so kinda too cold to be in the water. Anyway, somehow i got stuck with walking/swimming along everyone else and at some point i lagged REALLY far behind and i remember wanting to give in and just float, but I just got this "urge" to go forward, and I made it! Yay for me. Thanks for the interesting posts and sorry if i bored you with meh story.

In my neck of the woods... we would trek but we would never get far. Always at night.
There was something or someone in there who would suddenly jump out yelling hey.
We would just take off running. As time went by... I noticed many of my friends would disappear for days on end. They would always show up saying don't go in there.
Then one night I went in there... And sure enough that thing jumped out yelling hey.
That Time we never made it. He caught me and my date. Took us straight to jail.
Turns out the park closes at one a.m. and it's against the law to go in.
If you're caught you get sent to jail. A couples days only.
But... we don't go to the woods anymore....

I don't know if this counts with the thread but once I have heard of a particularly disturbing tale where someone lives near a very large forest. One day when they were looking out the window a vaguely 'female' entity walked out of the forest. She didn't seem to have arms and her face was just one massive circular mouth. It was quite clear, they know what they saw too.

My people believe in spirits of nature. I grew up in a cottage in forested mountains, and my grandmother used to warn us never to venture out into the woods in odd numbers. The 'penunggu hutan' would ensure only an even number would leave the forest in peace. Roughly translated, I think 'penunggu hutan' means he who waits in the forest. According to local lore, he's the guardian spirit of the forest and if you do something disrespectful to nature in his territory, he will curse you so you can never find your way out. I've heard stories of people who stumbled around for days and swore they were trapped in the same area no matter which way they walked. Spooky stuff.

That first picture of yours is definitely very scary - gonna give me nightmares.

Woods have always featured in stories as scary places. Maybe to our ancestors they were with all the wolves/bears etc living in them. The ancient woods were different to those that exist today.

We have a pretty popular cemetery down where I live. Some say one of the most haunted in the country (my team investigated it and got a little evidence but nothing mind blowing). But it's surrounded by woods. And once I went into the woods to see what was around and the whole time I could hear someone following me. Then when I started heading out of the woods I could hear a girl laughing behind me. Nobody was around but me. I was almost a mile deep into the woods at this point. I just wonder was it something from the cemetery or something from within the woods..

the forests round my childhood home were usually full of stoners and people getting drunk in diy shacks made of whatever wood is lying around the edges of industrial estates.

maybe the trees are old men like in lord of the rings, who knows.

I love the the forest, I'd go camping in Aokigahara if i had the chance.

arent forests found to be mainly 1 giant tree connected under the soil? or is it just a particular breed of tree that grows this way?, think it might be a type of flower actually.

originally posted by: bigtrousers
arent forests found to be mainly 1 giant tree connected under the soil? or is it just a particular breed of tree that grows this way?, think it might be a type of flower actually.

I think it is actually several different types of plants, and not all of that species.

Apparently they are called "clonal colonies" and are actually identical?
en.wikipedia.org...
More than plants do it too.

a reply to: smashdem

i think it was in a documentary about how certain plants have evolved so fast to repel certain insects etc, pretty crazy.

vegetation has likely been evolving far longer than anything else on the planet, arent cabbages supposed to have a central nervous system too? or leaks? might have to look up the documentary again.

originally posted by: Pinocchio
In my neck of the woods... we would trek but we would never get far. Always at night.
There was something or someone in there who would suddenly jump out yelling hey.
We would just take off running. As time went by... I noticed many of my friends would disappear for days on end. They would always show up saying don't go in there.
Then one night I went in there... And sure enough that thing jumped out yelling hey.
That Time we never made it. He caught me and my date. Took us straight to jail.
Turns out the park closes at one a.m. and it's against the law to go in.
If you're caught you get sent to jail. A couples days only.
But... we don't go to the woods anymore....

LOL
"That Time we never made it. He caught me and my date. Took us straight to jail."
I was still thinking this was gonna be another paranormal/spooky story. No, this one was actually scary, jails no fun.
Sometimes its nice to take a breather and have yourself a laugh.

A big circular deal now

originally posted by: crimsongod21
The woods are a beautiful and creepy place, I have been in some that just make my skin crawl and where you feel like you are being watched constantly and others that are just really nice places to spend time.

While never having any extra normal experiences that could be classified as anything other than weird vibes I can certainly say some places just seem off.

Pinocchio

originally posted by: Pinocchio
In my neck of the woods... we would trek but we would never get far. Always at night.
There was something or someone in there who would suddenly jump out yelling hey.
We would just take off running. As time went by... I noticed many of my friends would disappear for days on end. They would always show up saying don't go in there.
Then one night I went in there... And sure enough that thing jumped out yelling hey.
That Time we never made it. He caught me and my date. Took us straight to jail.
Turns out the park closes at one a.m. and it's against the law to go in.
If you're caught you get sent to jail. A couples days only.
But... we don't go to the woods anymore....