History Main / GoingInCircles

* In ''Comicbook/DarkCrisis: The Deadly Green'', [[Comicbook/SupermanSonOfKalEl Jon Kent]], Comicbook/SwampThing, and Comicbook/{{Raven}} are trying to contact the Great Darkness via a MentalWorld in [[Comicbook/GreenLantern1941 Alan Scott]]'s ring resembling 1940s Gotham. Raven is supposed to be the guide due to her connection to darkness, but when they pass the same car several times, the other two realise they're going in circles, and increased paranoia due to the Great Darkness's influence makes them suspect she's leading them astray on purpose. It turns out [[spoiler: she was leading them directly to the Darkness in a straight line, it just ''looked'' like they were going in circles because Alan was unconciously turning it into an UnnaturallyLoopingLocation as his mind tried to protect itself from what they were seeking.]]

* ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' pulls this off nicely. The three kids start to worry that ''something'' has them going in complete circles despite the fact that they've been heading south all day (especially confusing and creepy since they have been confirming their southerly progress all day with a ''compass'').

Compare UnnaturallyLoopingLocation, HotOnHisOwnTrail.

* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'': "Okay, I've definitely seen this speck of dust before."

-->-- '''Libby''', ''Series/{{Lost}}'' (fittingly)

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': "Where Silence Has Lease", an entity called Nagilum has [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} Worf and Riker going in circles]] [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} from one bridge on a phantom]] ''[{{Bizarrchitecture}} Enterprise]]'' [[UnnaturallyLoopingLocation into the same bridge]]. Earlier in the episode, the ''Enterprise'' crew tries to fly the ship out of the void they find themselves in, only to end up back at their starting position each time.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In the episode "Where Silence Has Lease", an entity called Nagilum has Worf and Riker going in circles from one bridge on a phantom Enterprise into the same bridge. Earlier in the episode, the Enterprise crew tries to fly the ship out of the void they find themselves in, only to end up back at their starting position each time.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Beacons are being released as a tech-TrailOfBreadCrumbs to help Voyager navigate its way out of [[EldritchLocation Chaotic Space]], only the ship runs into the first beacon they released an hour earlier.

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheTinLabyrinth'' have this happening to Nobita, Shizuka and their friends Sapio and Tap in the middle of the titular labyrinth, when their gadget guide-mouse gets unexpectedly destroyed when they're in the ''heart'' of the maze. Sapio decides to use his memory to lead everyone out, but after walking for some hours Nobita remarks the checkpoint they're passing through looks familiar. Sapio then responds in horror that it ''is'' the exact checkpoint - they've been wandering around and got back where they started.

* ''{{Zigby}}'': Happens to Zigby the zebra and his friends in "Zigby's Kite".

* ''Anime/{{Spriggan}}''. While in the [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Forest of No Return]], there's a montage where Yu and the others carve a notch on the tree--cut to them running into the same notch, then several notches later ending right back where they started. Even GPS trackers and compasses are shown not to work.

** They do this again in ''Recap/TintinExplorersOnTheMoon'', finding their own footprints and assuming there are more people. Keep in mind, the ''{{Tintin}}'' universe, ''this is the first time anyone has ever set foot on the Moon.'' They even mention doing it before in the desert. Yep.

* ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'': One episode has three main characters trapped in a house where every exit leads back into the house.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** "[[Recap.MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E11StudentCounsel Student Counsel]]": In the Everfree Forest, the search party is quickly seen passing over and over on the same spots, from trusting Trixie to know where she was going, while from her own admission she was winging it.

* In the ''Podcast/AliceIsntDead'' episode, "Alice," this is a power of mobile VanishingVillage Charlatan, which appears four times in different locations, forcing the long-haul trucker {{Narrator}} to drive through it to bear witness to an increasingly disturbing, physics-defying GroundhogDayLoop.

** They do this again in ''Recap/TintinExplorersOnTheMoon'', finding their own footprints and assuming there are more people. Keep in mind, the ''{{Tintin}}'' universe, ''this is the first time anyone has ever set foot on the Moon.'' They even mention doing it before in the desert. [[WhatAnIdiot Yep.]]

* Wide open stretches of land (grasslands, plains, and deserts) are notorious for being hard to navigate not only because they're empty, but they're HUGE, so you might not find landmarks like rivers or mountains just by looking around.

Compare the UnnaturallyLoopingLocation.