History Main / DontGoInTheWoods

** Pretty much ''[[CrapsackWorld every]]'' forest in the Old World is filled with brigands, wolves, goblins, giant spiders, mutants, beast men, minotaurs, cockatrices, chimeras, or even worse things. The forest of [[HiddenElfVillage Athel Loren]] is in some ways the least scary because the xenophobic Wood Elves will just shoot you full of arrows -- if you're lucky. You're at least equally as likely to get lost on [[LostWoods twisted, maddening paths]] that lead only where the forest wants them to lead, at which point all manner of suck will happen, especially once the [[WhenTreesAttack dryads]] get their hands on you.

* The indie game ''Summerland'' has the Sea of Leaves, a [[TheLostWoods supernatural forest]] that spontaneously covered the world one day. Travel through it from the few communities left is extremely ill-advised since the psychic Call it emanates causes any human who hasn't suffered massive emotional trauma to degenerate into one of the mad hermits or the [[CannibalTribe savage, feral cannibals]] that already live in it.

** Averted in the case of the [[TheRemnant antifascist rebels]] hiding out in the woods, who are portrayed sympathetically.

* ''Series/KamenRiderGaim''
** The Helheim forest in perpetually is very dangerous, infested with Inves monsters and fruits that turn unfortunate saps into monsters if eaten. It's best to travel in groups when going through this world. And also, there is a [[spoiler: ruined city in there.]]

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** Forests are the home of green dragons, {{manipulative bastard}}s who deceive foes and reveal their true colors to lesser beings. Other inhabitants include larger and more dangerous versions of real-world animals such as dire bears, dire wolves, and dire boars.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has the extremely creepy Duskwood region. The local [=NPCs=] ominously warn you to keep to the roads and only travel by day (though it doesn't make a lot of difference because ... well, how do you think the area got its name?) One of the loading screen tips advises you to keep to the roads if you want to avoid monsters. A sound piece of advice, actually, as monsters and other enemy [=NPCs=] usually prefer to wander off-road.

** Of course, if you do get on Slendy's radar, you might as well go into the woods. It's not as though you'll be safe anywhere else...

* In WebVideo/DemoReel, the bad guys drop off Donnie in the deepest part of some very creepy woods and leave him to die. With what happens to him later, he probably ended up wishing he did.
** Creator/DougWalker's characters don't do well in woods. His soldier in WebVideo/{{Sonic|EddieLebron}} got captured and nearly got killed there, and WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's venture into ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' was [[ILetGwenStacyDie regretted]] for his belief that he got Ma-Ti killed.

* The Haunted Woods in ''{{Website/Neopets}}'' gives off this vibe, although it's just as visible as any other realm.

* One word: Siberia. Miles and miles and miles of endless forests in all directions, on a stretch of land big enough to cover all Lower 48 States plus Europe. Also consider this: it has the world's largest population of wolves, bears, wolverines, lynxes, boars and only gods know what else. Oh, and it's also the coldest place on Earth outside of Antarctica.
** Siberia consists of ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiga taiga]]'', which is the Northern coniferous forest with spruces, pines, and birches dominant, and ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra tundra]]'', which is semi-desert permafrost where only the hardiest vegetation can survive. Even the ''Mongols'' dared not to venture into the taiga, let alone the tundra.
** Interestingly, Siberia can provide the woods-wise settler everything he needs: safety, shelter, game, fish, berries, mushrooms, and arable land. In the 1970s, Soviet surveyors, using helicopters, found previously unknown ''villages'', complete with Orthodox churches, in Siberia. The inhabitants were religious people who had run away from the Communist regime in the 1920s to Siberia and lived there without any contact with the outside world -- unknown to the Stalinist era regime, or WWII- and Khrushchev-era politicians.

* Subverted by the [[UsefulNotes/FinnsWithFearsomeForests Finnish Army]]. They are forest specialists ''par excellence'', and every conscript is taught to survive and find his way in the woods. The woods do provide excellent hideaways and bases for Finnish jaegers and rangers.
** ... And played perfectly straight by the invading Russian soldiers whom said Finns were fighting during the Winter War. The Finnish Army had an overwhelming terrain advantage, and their snipers -- including Simo Hayha a.k.a. 'the White Death' -- mowed down those poor devils by the ''hundreds''.

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by [[http://vimeo.com/93052696 There's a Man in the Woods]], a poem/video/story about a small child who pretends that there is a man in the woods so that he can get all the honeysuckle to himself. Because the protagonist of the video, the principal of the school, knows that there isn't a man in the woods, but doesn't do anything about it other than try to get rid of the rumor, he ends up getting fired in a fit of mass hysteria as parents decide that he isn't doing enough to protect their precious children. [[spoiler: In the end, the principal [[ThenLetMeBeEvil becomes the man in the woods]] and is implied to murder the child who started the rumors.]]

* ''Manga/BeautyAndTheBeastOfLostParadise'': When Belle was a kid, she insisted into going to the forst, dismissing the rumors about a beast that kidnapped beautiful young women to steal their faces. Her mother, who was with her, was kidnapped by the monster, and Belle spent the next five years blaming herself for that, but actually it could have happened anyway, because the monster also attacked the villages.

A SubTrope of DeadlyRoadTrip. The darker equivalent of the HorribleCampingTrip. For a doomed wilderness expedition, see RiverOfInsanity. Can overlap with WildWilderness, but with much darker overtones. See also TheLostWoods, for when forests are portrayed as enchanted, mysterious, and full of strange things, which may or may not overlap with this trope; HungryJungle and SwampsAreEvil. Closely related to NatureIsNotNice, where the wilderness, in general, is inhospitable for human beings.

* ''Film/AClassicHorrorStory'': A group of carpoolers are driving through the Southern Italian forest when they swerve to avoid a corpse in the road, crash into a tree, and find themselves in a field with a house, being harassed by MalevolentMasked men who want to sacrifice them all. [[spoiler:Or rather, don't go in the woods with Fabrizio, unless you want to die in his latest SnuffFilm.]]

* In ''Film/HouseOfWax2005'', a bunch of teenagers), on a road trip to catch a football game, wind up in a seemingly deserted town in the middle of a forest, and fall prey to a pair of serial killers who turn all who come there into wax statues.

* In ''Film/HouseOfWax2005'', a bunch of teenagers (including Paris Hilton) driving on their way to a holiday (or some such) wind up in a seemingly deserted town in the middle of a forest, and fall prey to a pair of serial killers who turn all who come there into wax statues.

* In Creator/FranzXaverVonSchonwerth's "LiteratureTheThreeFlowers", three huntsmen go into a huge forest where their sister has been hidden away by a witch. They run into strange creatures, one of which is stalking her sister, and become turned into beasts when her sister plucks three enchanted blossoms.

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': When Tim takes a road trip into the Ozarks to follow a gun runner to his source he stumbles across an EldritchAbomination that twists people's memories in order to pass as human. When their disguise is broken they kill everyone in their path until they've bound a new person to form a new one, wiping their mind and making them rely on her. The thing has left a number of weird societies in its wake including a bunch of mentally scared former cannibals and a group of "pacifists" who regularly meet to try and kill the mute child she's bound herself to that recovers from any harm so long as he's close enough.

* In ''ComicBook/SoulsearchersAndCompany'' #5, the woods outside of Mystic Grove are magically transformed into fairy tale forest, with all of the attendant threats: including the cannibalistic witch from "Literature/HanselAndGretel".

* In ''Roleplay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'' Tagg lives next door to an area known as the Sea of Trees, which happens to be based on Aokigahara, the forest infamous for being the second-most popular spot for suicides in the world. It's infested with Ghost types and the souls of those who have died in the forest.

* In ''ComicBook/SoulsearchersAndCompany'' #5, the woods outside of Mystic Grove are magically transformed into fairy tale forest, with all of the attendant threats: including the cannibalistic witch from ''Literature/HanselAndGretel''.

** During "In Conclusion", the young girl confidently ignores the dangers of the woods and makes it to her mother's house without incident. Actually seeing just how dangerous the woods can be, however, seems to deeply traumatize and terrify her.

* The forests of ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'', which are filled with giant insects, birds, reptiles, and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers fire-breathing beavers]], all of which are dangerous to the frogs as most of them are big enough to eat them.

** Creator/DougWalker's characters don't do well in woods. His soldier in WebVideo/{{Sonic}} got captured and nearly got killed there, and WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's venture into ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' was [[ILetGwenStacyDie regretted]] for his belief that he got Ma-Ti killed.

* The titular ''ComicBook/WendigoWood'' is said to be home to the {{Wendigo}}. It's home to [=LOADS=] of them.

* An old joke: A man and a young boy are walking through a forest. The boy says "I'm scared". The man replies "''You're'' scared? I'm the one who has to walk back on my own!"

[[folder:Jokes]]
* An old joke: A man and a young boy are walking through a forest. The boy says "I'm scared". The man replies "''You're'' scared? I'm the one who has to walk back on my own!"
[[/folder]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snow_white_forest.png]]

[[DownerEnding Rarely do horror and thriller movies of this flavor end happily]]; often with everyone ends up dead, although there may be a {{final girl}}. This has almost gotten to the point at which such movies almost have {{Foregone Conclusion}}s. Other genres like the {{Rescue}} series are more hopeful with the rescue team racing against time to find the person.

The darker equivalent of the HorribleCampingTrip; for a doomed wilderness expedition, see RiverOfInsanity; sometimes may overlap with WildWilderness but with much darker overtones. See also TheLostWoods, for when forests are portrayed as enchanted, mysterious, and full of strange things, which may or may not overlap with this trope. Subtrope of DeadlyRoadTrip. See also HungryJungle and SwampsAreEvil. Closely related to NatureIsNotNice, where the wilderness, in general, is inhospitable for human beings.

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]