History Main / AtTheCrossroads

* In an episode of ''{{WesternAnimation/Metalocalypse}}'', the band members are urged by one Mashed Potato Johnson (an obvious reference to the Music/RobertJohnson legend) to sell their souls to the Devil in exchange for the ability to play blues music. They go to a crossroads to do so, and HilarityEnsues when their negotiations result in the contract being significantly in their favor.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', deals with "crossroads demons", the ones that actually make deals that both parties are bound to, have to be made [[ShapedLikeItself at crossroads]] (usually on backroads, but recurring character Crowley is introduced making a deal under a highway cloverleaf interchange). These demons can be summoned with some personal effects, a bag of graveyard dirt, a black cat's bone, and a few other things. Once you've summoned the demon, just BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor when you make your DealWithTheDevil.

Just like [[TakeItToTheBridge bridges]], crossroads often feature as the setting for portentous happenings - there's something [[RuleOfSymbolism symbolic]] about the (often ancient) [[PlaceOfPower intersection of two paths]] that gets people's imaginations going. Often they are used to represent the intersection between two worlds.

[[folder:Comics]]

* ''TabletopGame/HoodooBlues'' is a horror rpg based on Southern folklore, where one of the main character types is a "Crossroader". Someone who has made a literal DealWiththeDevil for supernatural abilities, usually at a crossroads.

* ''WebOriginal/MarbleHornets'' ends with the sole survivor struggling with [[AmbiguouslyEvil possibly being possessed or cursed]] and driving away. Before the camera cuts out, the character turns it forward to point out the windscreen, revealing an approaching crossroad.

* In ''Fanfic/ResonanceDays'', the AntiVillain Annabelle Lee dreams that she is pursuing Kyoko Sakura through a forest when she comes to a crossroads. One road leads up a mountain, and one road leads into a warm, claustrophobic tunnel, and on a rock sits the {{Seer}} Elsa Maria, who asks Annabelle Lee who she's seeking. Annabelle Lee answers that she's seeking Kyoko Sakura, but Elsa Maria says she's wrong. She asks why Annabelle Lee is trying to catch Kyoko, and Annabelle Lee answers that she wants to hand her over to [[BigBad Oblivion]] so Oblivion will [[WhoWantsToLiveForever finally kill her]], which Elsa Maria finds unsatisfactory. Nevertheless, Elsa Maria tells her that she will find Kyoko if she goes down the tunnel, but if she climbs the mountain, she will find who she truly seeks. Annabelle Lee is conflicted for a moment, longing for the cold, free mountaintop, but ultimately walks into the suffocatingly warm cave.

* ''WebVideo/TheHire''. The film "Beat the Devil" has a variation; a young Music/JamesBrown is shown making his DealWithTheDevil where the road intersects a railway track, foreshadowing the GameOfChicken later on when he tries to renegotiate his contract by challenging the Devil to a road race.

[[folder:Film]]
* This is where the brothers meet [[EyepatchOfPower Big Dan Teague]] in ''Film/OBrotherWhereArtThou'' as well as Tommy Johnson after he made a DealWithTheDevil.
* Near the end of ''Film/{{Castaway}}'', the intersection is symbolic.
* The 1986 Creator/RalphMacchio movie ''Film/{{Crossroads}}'' mirrors the Music/RobertJohnson legend, and hinges on this trope.

* In Soviet propaganda film ''Film/Earth1930'', Khoma Bilokin kills Vasyl at the crossroads, symbolizing the choice that Ukranian peasantry has to make, between collectivization and sharing the land between everyone (what Vasyl wants), and to resist change and selfishly hold on to private land (the Bilokin family won't give up their land to the collective).
* In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', Indy and his father arrive at a crossroads, debating whether they should head to Berlin to get his father's grail diary back, or to Venice, to go to Alexandretta to save Marcus from the Nazis. Given the theme of the movie, there's great emphasis upon the term "cross".
* Appropriately enough, in ''Film/{{Faust}}'', the rather serious choice to summon the Devil must take place at a crossroads. (As noted below in the Mythology section traditional European folklore holds that evil spirits or Satan must be summoned at a crossroads.)
* ''Film/TheBloodOfJesus'': When Martha starts her AdventuresInComaland, the angel tells Martha to bear right at the crossroads if she wants to go to Heaven. Sure enough, there's an actual crossroads, with a cross in the middle. The left side of the cross is labeled "to Hell", and there's a jazz band performing there. The right side is labeled "to Zion". Martha doesn't actually take a turn; instead she collapses at the foot of the cross and the blood of Christ redeems her.

* In Myth/BrazilianFolklore, a werewolf does not turn during a full moon, but during Fridays at midnight. The person instinctiely goes to a crossroads to transform and returns to the same crossroads when morning dawns to become human again.

* In the MagicalGirl CrisisCrossover ''FanFic/ShatteredSkiesTheMorningLights'', [[spoiler:"The Crossroads" is the name for the center of [[InnBetweenTheWorlds the Lighthouse]], the room in which all five protagonists ([[Franchise/SailorMoon Usagi]], [[Manga/CardcaptorSakura Sakura]], [[Anime/PrettyCure Nagisa]], [[Franchise/LyricalNanoha Nanoha]], and [[Franchise/MadokaMagica Madoka]]) meet for the first time.]]

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation's SCP-[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-023 023]] is a spectral hound, based on the mythological [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_shuck black shuck]], who can only be contained in crossroads and other intersections, such as the intersection of two corridors.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', Morpheus specifically goes to a crossroads to summon the Hecatae, because they are the goddesses of fate and, their holy places are always where choices are made.

* Parodied in ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows''. Laszlo claims that he once went to a crossroads to make a DealWithTheDevil in order to become a better guitarist, but accidentally showed up at one in ''California'' instead of in Mississippi, where Robert Johnson's encounter with Satan supposedly took place.

* ''Series/TheSandman2022'': Lord Morpheus performs a SummoningRitual to confer with [[TheHecateSisters the Three-in-One]] at a crossroads in [[DreamLand the Dreaming]], along with [[EyeOfNewt other offerings]]. Being the Lord of Dreams, he plucks a suitable crossroad out of a human's dream with [[TheHandIsGod one gigantic hand]].

* This is where the brothers meet [[EyepatchOfPower Big Dan Teague]] in ''Film/OBrotherWhereArtThou?'' as well as Tommy Johnson after he made a DealWithTheDevil.