History Main / BatScare

* ''VideoGame/StardewValley'': Happens during Abigail's 0-heart event. She's attempting to brave the mines for the first time, and gets startled by a single bat flying out of the mine shaft, startling her. Then a ''massive swarm pours out'', terrifying her into fleeing and cowering in the corner. The Farmer shows up a moment later and consoles her, leading to a BigDamnKiss.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E9LiveItUpTonight Live It Up Tonight]]", Zoom brings his tour group to the part of the park where there are bats and Cole gets so freaked out by them when a flock of them flies through them and he abandons the tour guide and Molly has to go after him.

** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E11WinterWrapUp Winter Wrap-Up]]", Twilight Sparkle tries to help wake up hibernating animals. After being startled by a nest of snakes, Twilight backs into a cave... and is chased out again by a flock of bats.
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E23InspirationManifestation Inspiration Manifestation]]", Spike's entrance into the locked chamber where the titular spellbook is kept startles a large flock of [[BatOutOfHell vampire fruit bats]], which briefly obscure the screen as they fly past. Subverted and PlayedForLaughs -- the bats are one of several glaring visual cues that indicate that something very weird and unnatural is going on, but Spike's just as oblivious to them as he is to every other unsettling thing in the scene. Regardless, the bats still serve to highlight the unsettling nature of the place and that the chamber has been abandoned for a ''long'' time.
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E5GauntletOfFire Gauntlet of Fire]]", Rarity and Spike are prospecting for gems, and when Spike starts mysteriously glowing, he accidentally wakes up a flock of bats that swarm over Rarity.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS17E13TheSeeminglyNeverEndingStory The Seemingly Never-ending Story]]", the Simpsons get stuck in a cave. The obligatory flock of bats appears, and everybody is scared but baby Maggie, who waves enthusiastically at the bats.

* WesternAnimation/TalesfromtheCryptkeeper in the intro and 1st episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': Done with yellow moths in "Jack and the Haunted House".

* On ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', a flock of birds bursts out of a bush when Tyreese investigates a rustling sound, scaring Mika who runs deeper into the forest.

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'': When the vikings approach the dragons' nest, they go inside expecting to fight hordes of dragons. All the dragons fly out, fly past the vikings, and flee, without a single one attacking. Of course this only leads up to something [[AlwaysABiggerFish even worse]] coming out of the cave.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', if Link is out in the open at night, he may sometimes get attacked by large swarms of Keese from out of nowhere. They can be scared off with a good attack that takes out a few of them, though.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Happens a lot whenever our heroes go into a cave and disturb a whole lotta Zubat, Woobat, or any other Chiroptera pokemon. This also tends to lead to an InvoluntaryGroupSplit.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Happens a ''lot'' whenever our heroes go into a cave and disturb a whole lotta Zubat, Woobat, or any other GoddamnedBats. This also tends to lead to an InvoluntaryGroupSplit.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': Clouds of bats often appear when Batman enters the Batcave. On at least a few occasions he has weaponized this, using bat-influencing ultrasound to set up a Bat Scare which distracts an opponent.
** In ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'', Batman uses this as a bookend to [[ExtremeMeleeRevenge teaching]] [[KillerCop Branden's]] [[CorruptCop squad]] that their services are no longer wanted.

* Creator/{{Disney}}:

* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' uses a similar event, with the added gross-out factor that one of the characters is lying down checking a broken-down car's undercarriage at the time, so the rats run ''right over'' their face and body.

* ''Film/Jumanji'': The first denizens summoned by the game are bats which swarm at a traumatised Sarah moments after Alan is taken into the game. A solitary bat descended from the flock provides a scare for Peter 26 years later.

* Creator/FranciscoDeGoya: Bats and owls are seen in ''The Sleep Of Reason Breeds Monsters''.

->'''Alfred Pennyworth:''' Why bats, Master Wayne?\\
'''Bruce Wayne:''' Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies shared my dread.
-->-- ''Film/BatmanBegins''

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Aside from the risk of zoonotic diseases that all animals carry, a swarm of bats is more scary than dangerous. They'll bite if handled but if you remain still, they'll fly past and away from you. Roosting bats have much more to fear from spelunkers than the other way around: rousing them in winter can needlessly use up their fat stores and cause them to starve before spring.
[[/folder]]

* The ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' franchise has several tracks with Swoopers, bats that can form a hazard for racers to avoid:
** They first appear in ''VideoGame/MarioKartDS'' on N64 Banshee Boardwalk.

* ''Film/ManIntheAttic'': While searching the roof for UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper, a constable hears a noise and peers round the side of a doorway, only for flock of pigeons to fly out at him.
* A box in the attic from ''Film/{{Mousehunt}}'', labeled "mothballs", unleashes a torrent of hundreds of large moths when opened.

** ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': In the first volume, Tim's far from Bruce in France for training but ends up working with ComicBook/LadyShiva and a rouge DEA agent against King Snake. While fighting the Ghost Dragons in some old WWII era bunkers their gunfire startles a colony of bats awake and the bats fly through and freak out the gangsters, saving Tim's life as he'd been grabbed and was about to be shot in the head.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}'': Happens to MK.

* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'': Early on in ''Metroid Prime 2'', as soon as Samus walks into the Great Temple for the first time, she is immediately greeted by a swarm of sand bats right to the face. While it does come as a shock at first since the player would be lulled into a false sense of security, the bats do signal where the next SavePoint is by flying out of the crack where it's hidden.