History Main / ScaryScarecrows

** In ''Scarecrow Gone Wild'', Sam is tied up to a scarecrow and left for hours when a diabetic attack of his is mistaken for aggression. He doesn't die, but slips into a coma, which is enough for the scarecrow to come to life and go after his tormentors. Meanwhile, Sam's friend Jack finds him and takes him to a nearby hospital. There, he tries to awaken Sam with a MagicalDefibrillator, both to save him and to end the scarecrow. It doesn't work, but by using the defibrillator on the scarecrow when it arrives in search of more victims, Sam is properly revived. What no one realizes until later is that now the scarecrow possesses Sam. The scarecrow in human form takes on Jack and tries to possess him instead when Sam's body is dying, so Jack impales himself on a crucifix to end the terror.

* ''WesternAnimation/HappyHalloweenScoobyDoo'': The villain of the movie is one of these. Justified, since the identity of this scarecrow is '''the''' Scarecrow, Jonathan Crane.

* Dr. Jonathan Crane; AKA Scarecrow in ''Film/BatmanBegins''.

* In ''Film/CaptainClegg'', there are these all around town. The smugglers actually hide inside them to keep their eyes out for the law.

* ''Film/{{Planet of the Apes|1968}}:'' Just before leaving the Forbidden Zone, the three astronauts find several things that ''could'' be scarecrows, but might in fact be human corpses that were strung up by the apes long ago.
* In the prologue of ''Film/HeadlessHorseman'', the confederate private walks past a scarecrow only to stop and realize it is the headless body of the scout. Later, Headless poses as a scarecrow to terrify the teens. Doc questions why there is a scarecrow in the middle of a forest. When he turns around, the scarecrow pole is empty.

* ''Film/{{Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark|2019}}'' is an adaptation of ''More Tales to Chill Your Bones'', so the iconic Harold appears and he's just as terrifying as ever. The scene where he stalks and kills Tommy, [[BalefulPolymorph turning him into a scarecrow]] is one of the film's best (and scariest).

* Scary Scarecrow: The villain of the movie is one of these. Justified, since the identity of this scarecrow is '''the''' Scarecrow, Jonathan Crane.

* ScaryScarecrow: The villain of the movie is one of these. Justified, since the identity of this scarecrow is '''the''' Scarecrow, Jonathan Crane.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' episode "Night of the Scarecrow", the Bagges find a scarecrow who isn't scary so they convince him to be a hay ride driver instead.

[[caption-width-right:320:[[TooDumbToLive There really is nothing]] [[GenreBlindness to be afraid of]], they told one another. [[TemptingFate After all, what could]] [[CreepyDoll a doll do?]] He's just a sack of straw, [[FamousLastWords it's not possible!]]]]

* A ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' module featured an encounter in a cornfield where ghoul-bitten villagers had been strung up as scarecrows by the ghouls to "ripen." When the party shows up, some "scarecrows" have turned, some are still human, and others are normal everyday scarecrows.

** ''The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight'', where the protagonist and her brother visit their grandparents' farm, only to come face-to-face with a dozen of these, brought to life by a somewhat psychopathic farmhand nearby. The spell that brought them to life is reversed at the end, but then the farmhand accidentally brings a ''bear pelt'' to life...
** ''The Scarecrow'', a short story about three kids who discover a mysterious scarecrow set up in front of an abandoned house has got articles of clothing they all want. [[StrippingTheScarecrow Two of the kids take things off the scarecrow]], but strange things start happening to them, leaving the third kid scared something will happen to her while trying to fight back the temptation of taking the scarecrow's gloves for herself. It turns out it was all a prank set up by the other two kids, but that doesn't explain why [[spoiler: the scarecrow is suddenly smiling at the end]].

* One of ''Literature/TheThreeInvestigators'' novels is ''The Mystery of the Sinister Scarecrow''. The eponymous scarecrow is a costume worn by several people to terrorize Miss Radford. The ruse was inspired by Radford expressing her dislike of scarecrows to explain why she didn't want to watch ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
* The original cover of ''Literature/NightmaresAndDreamscapes'' depicts a scarecrow planted on the white marking in the middle of a road. It wears a Castle Rock Rockets baseball jersey in reference to Castle Rock, a recurring setting in Creator/StephenKing's works that also is featured in ''Nightmares & Dreamscapes''. Other than that, the scarecrow has no connection to the book's contents and so it has no significance beyond being eerie.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' spin-off ''Nanny Ogg's Cookbook'' says "There's something scary about scarecrows in any case. I know that's their job, but I mean scarier than that. They're not exactly people but they're not exactly just ... stuff. Or maybe it's those cut-out eyes." This is particularly the case with Unlucky Charlie, a target at the Witch Trials who has a habit of unexpectedly popping up in people's gardens. He doesn't appear to be malevolent, but he's very creepy, and people who've stayed up to see how he actually moves have been very quiet ever since, expecially around straw.

* ''Splatter Master'': The wizard Jagodd turns objects to life and hands them and animals massive power in return for their loyalty to him. All join, except for one scarecrow who belongs to an elderly couple that takes exceptional care of their farm. When Jagodd's forces injure them, he sets out to reclaim the village. His first major opponent, encountered on the farm, is a huge humanoid crow. When finally he defeats Jagodd, the scarecrow becomes a mere object once more because the wizard's influence is gone. However, if the life stone is obtained during the adventure, it's power causes the scarecrow to become a human boy. He happily reunites with the elderly couple to live happily ever after, though it's implied some malicious energy remains with him.

* Among the secondary sidekicks to choose from in ''VideoGame/KikiKaiKai Pocky & Rocky 2'' is Scarecrow (Tobimaru in Japanese, which means "Jumper"). He thinks highly of himself, his looks in particular, and he attacks by throwing sickles that like boomerangs return to him. With magic, he can be transformed into a pogo stick.
* ''Lu Ye Xian Zong'' is an unlicensed ''The Wizard of Oz'' game for the Famicom. The scarecrow is a playable character once he's encountered at the end of the first level. He is armed with a hoe.

* ''VideoGame/{{Maize}}'': The Red Queen has been bringing scarecrows to life in hopes one can serve as the maize people's champion. Many were too stupid, but [[spoiler:the protagonist]] is the exception. While he completes her tasks, the others are kept entertained in an underground dance hall.

* ''Manga/TheMoroseMononokean'': In Chapters 21 and 22 and Episode 10, Ashiya and Abeno help a scarecrow yokai who is stuck in a mud- and smoke-covered potato-field. The yokai, Nobou, is stuck in a phantasmagoria of the day his friend, a regular scarecrow, died. A passerby had thrown a cigarette into the field, which caused a fire. Nobou tried to carry his friend to safety, but had to abandon him to save himself. He thinks his friend's resentment causes the smoke and mud, but Abeno corrects him it's his own guilt and that he can't send him to the underworld if Nobou doesn't first free himself. Learning this and having Ashiya and Abeno for emotional support, Nobou makes peace with what happened and moves on. The mud and smoke likewise disappear.

Their humanoid appearance means that having a person looking like a scarecrow, imprisoned, dead, or hiding, gives extra creepiness. Compare CreepyDoll and SackheadSlasher, where a (usually) live body wears a burlap mask which can make them resemble a scarecrow and draws on similar fears. Japanese scarecrows (kakashi) may sport a henohenomoheji face, named so after the hiragana the face consists off, which depending on context may be silly or eerie.

That all said, plenty of scarecrows are friendly. It largely depends on the intended audience. For every horror movie featuring killer scarecrows, there's a children's book in which scarecrows are the best non-human friend right after dogs. After all, think of a fictional scarecrow and chances are you're thinking of that guy from ''Literature/LandOfOz''.

** In ''Scarecrow'', Lester Dwervick is bullied by the entire town and eventually strangled in a cornfield. Lester had run there to see the scarecrow, which he envied for its carefree existence. The scarecrow becomes possessed by Lester's vengeful spirit and goes on a killing spree. He is destroyed when the FinalGirl sets him on fire. However, for Twist I, it seems that she's now possessed by Lester's spirit. However, for Twist II, the movie is a story told by another character, Mitch, to two youths out in the cornfield. Once finished, he calls for Lester, causing the scarecrow to come and kill the others while he and Mitch laugh.

* "Scarecrows" by Creator/JunjiIto uses scarecrows in two ways:

** This leads to the village discovering that by setting up scarecrows at the cemetery, the scarecrows will take on the appearance of the person whose grave they're planted on. If they're uprooted, they revert back to their cloth-like state. The scarecrows cannot talk, but they have a subtle capacity to facial expressions, which is enough for those who want to see their loved ones again. One murdered boy's scarecrow's stare causes his nervous murderer to trip and be impaled, while a young woman's scarecrow may or may not have killed her boyfriend. Both the means and the why are left undisclosed.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': The gremlins take inspiration from humans to create their own scarecrow, meant to scare off humans while the gremlins steal parts to try to repair their stolen spacship, by [[TaxidermyIsCreepy stuffing the body of one of the giant Ytirflirk aliens that had enslaved them and putting it on wheels]].

* In the ''Creator/ColumbiaCartoons'' short "Way Down Yonder in the Corn", the fox tries to keep the crow out of his garden by hiring a scarecrow because he's read that crows are allergic to scarecrows. The crow, indeed creeped out by scarecrows, dresses up to get hired himself. The crow eats all the produce as soon as the fox leaves and thereafter tricks him into getting access to his house to consume the food storage. The fox doesn't realize the scarecrow was a crow until the radio tells him so. Aware that the crow is afraid of scarecrows, the fox tries to scare him to death by dressing up as an axe-wielding scarecrow himself. In the end, they make up [[BreakingTheFourthWall because the short's almost over and they've been a good comedy duo]].

* There is an eerie scarecrow with a pulsating red light inside its eye socket at the entrance of the titular carnival in ''[[VideoGame/MysteryCaseFiles Mystery Case Files: Fate's Carnival]]''. When the detective gives it a heart, it hisses at them and opens its mouth to reveal a mutoscope reel. The scarecrow is later burned when it is hit by lightning.

** The Twists find a chest filled with costumes, which only much later they learn are from a circus of which all members have perished in an accident. Intrigued by the find, they each dress up and find themselves [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman bestowed with the talents and characteristics of the original owners]]. For fun, they dress up their scarecrow in a clown's outfit. This causes it to come alive and, being empty beforehand, to strongly take to the love the clown had for the other clown, who wore the costume Linda is wearing. She feels terrorized until her family gets her to take off the costume. The scarecrow is heartbroken, but Tony, who'd been the FortuneTeller, already arranged for a mannequin to be available to dress up instead. She comes alive too and happily reunites with her love. As both the scarecrow and the mannequin steadily become human-like due to the costumes, they decide to join the circus.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has Cacturne, a scarecrow-like cactus creature which lives for thousands of years, has sand for blood, and eats humans.