History Main / ScaryScarecrows

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/GhostRider'' both had separate villains called the Scarecrow. The Marvel version sometimes fights ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' as well. As for [[ComicBook/TheScarecrow the DC version]], during the events of ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', he was deputised by the Sinestro Corps, thus acknowledging him, in Batman's absence, as the scariest entity ''on the planet''.
** The Batman version has also been adapted in the film ''Film/BatmanBegins'' (played by Creator/CillianMurphy), the video game ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'', and various animated TV series.
** Dr. Crane even serves as the page image for ''Arkham Asylum'''s Nightmare Fuel page and got ''worse'' for ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight''.
*** "Scarecrow: Year One" reveals that Jonathan Crane's abusive grandmother would take the suit from the scarecrow, pour a potion on it, and make Jonathan wear the suit while locked in a ruined aviary so he'd be mobbed by crows.

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "The Scarecrow Murders", the bodies of the [[VictimOfTheWeek Victims of the Week]] are dressed up and posed as scarecrows and placed among the scarecrows on display [[AttackOfTheTownFestival the village's scarecrow festival]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Folklore}}'' for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 has a half-life (a sort of imaginary friend/spirit) named Scarecrow who accompanies the heroine, Ellen on her journey through the Netherworld. He's rather whimsical and charming [[spoiler: that is until it turns out that he's been using Ellen to get him to the Netherworld core so he could absorb all of humanities sorrow; though it was only to fulfill the wish Ellen made as a child, that is to create a world without fear or hatred]].

* "Black Crow King" by Music/NickCave & the Bad Seeds' is sung from the perspective of the Black Crow King, the "keeper of the nodding corn" until the townsfolk come to the fields and make him the "keeper of the trodden corn". As the weather turns bad and both humans and crows retreat, the Black Crow King is left the "keeper of the forgotten corn".

* The narrator in Music/{{Beck}}'s [[Music/{{Guero}} "Scarecrow"]] refers to himself as a scarecrow so pointless that it's "only scaring himself". Whether the titular scarecrow is to be taken literally[[note]]Beck has stated he imagines robot swampbillies when singing the song.[[/note]] or a figure of speech for a human down on his luck is up for interpretation.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': A common monster. In ''VideoGame/Shantae2002'', they ambush Shantae when she walks past a cornfield. In the sequels, they gain variations that breath out poison mist or throw pumpkin bombs.

** Dr. Crane even serves as the page image for ''Arkham Asylum'''s Nightmare Fuel page, and got ''worse'' for ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight''.

* "The Burning", published in ''ComicBook/HouseOfMystery'' #206, features [[MeaningfulName Adam Strat]], who wakes up with [[QuestForIdentity no clue who he is]] in the care of the witch Meg. All she tells him, aside from his name, is that outside the farmers are burning the fields and that if she hadn't intervened he'd have burned along. Nonetheless, he hates her and repays Meg's kindness by handing her to the townfolk to buy his place among them. [[BurnTheWitch She is burned]], but not before telling Adam he'll now know the truth. Adam is then transported back to the day he was saved, finding himself an immobile scarecrow while the flames creep closer and there's no Meg to save him.

* The titular [[AntagonistTitle Zardy]] of ''VideoGame/ZardysMaze'' is the game's BigBad. He's the leader of a legion of vicious scarecrows called Pumpkin Jacks, which will attempt to murder the player on sight. Although Zardy and his minions might be WeakenedByTheLight, it doesn't stop them from being threatening in the least, and trying to survive Zardy's [[LostInTheMaize corn maze]] is a NintendoHard challenge not meant for the [[IncrediblyLamePun foolhardy]].

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' and ''Comicbook/GhostRider'' both had separate villains called the Scarecrow. The Marvel version sometimes fights ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' as well. As for [[ComicBook/TheScarecrow the DC version]], during the events of ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', he was deputised by the Sinestro Corps, thus acknowledging him, in Batman's absence, as the scariest entity ''on the planet''.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: 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 spaceship, by [[TaxidermyIsCreepy stuffing the body of one of the giant Ytirflirk aliens that had enslaved them and putting it on wheels]].

* The Straw Man by Creator/MarvelComics is an extra–dimensional demonic being that protects Earth from other demonic beings. He normally lives in his own dimension but can manifest here through a painting. His main adversary is Kalumai, whose plots he has foiled many times. He was also one of the seven Fear Lords for a time, but he betrayed them to Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} and Comicbook/DoctorStrange when his co-demons sought to subjugate humanity through fear. During this time, he took on a human disguise as the host of "Horror TV" cable network. His chosen name was Skirra Corvus, "Skirra" being Old Norse for "Scare" and "Corvus" being Latin for "Crow".

* In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', scarecrows animated by the swarms of demonic insects inside them serve as the game's [[TheGoomba Goombas]].

* In "The Scared Crows", Betty protects her garden from aggressive crows with a scarecrow. One crow bumps into a tree, which makes Betty take pity and nurse them back to health in her house. As soon as she's gone, it opens the window for the other crows to come raid the food storage. Betty quickly takes the scarecrow from its post and dons the oversized outfit herself to personally deal with the pests, who [[DiseaseBleach flee white-stricken]].

[[quoteright:320:[[Literature/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sc27zy8-1_6636.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:"There really is nothing to be afraid of," they told one another. "[[TemptingFate After all, what could a doll do?]] He's just a sack of straw, it's not possible!"]]

* Basil Hawkins from ''Manga/OncePiece'' ate the Straw-Straw Fruit, which gives him the power to [[GreenThumb control straw]] as well as HollywoodVoodoo. One of the powers of the fruit lets him turn into a giant monster made of straw with long nails at the end of his fingers.

* The opening scene of ''Film/{{Sleepy Hollow|1999}}'' sees Peter Van Garret and his son Dirk travel at night by coach. While passing a cornfield, Peter spots a pumpkin-headed scarecrow with his arms raised menacingly. He's disturbed, but can't dwell on it when [[HeadlessHorseman something]] attacks and kills Dirk. Peter flees into the cornfield where he bumps into the scarecrow for a CatScare. Then the actual supernatural threat shows up and kills the man.

Scarecrows do more than scaring crows: humans often aren't fond of them either. The fact that they look like corpses propped up, or the [[FauxSymbolism vaguely]] [[CrucifiedHeroShot Christ-like]] looks, or the fact that [[UncannyValley they're meant to be human]] but don't look very human at all. A [[PumpkinPerson pumpkin head]] usually makes a great varnish for that "evil smile" and the desperate need for unnerving, blackened eyes. Expect one to be covered in [[ScaryStitches stitches]]. As such, scarecrows are brilliant NightmareFuel fodder, so fiction is littered with examples of scarecrows, some only scary, some reasonably vengeful, and if luck's out the window the protagonist has to deal with an evil one.

* The UncannyValley aspect is mentioned in ''Nanny Ogg's Cookbook'' from the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series. "Unlucky Charlie" is a once-ordinary scarecrow formerly used for target practice by witches in the Lancre Witch Trials. It absorbed so much magic that Charlie now appears and disappears all across the kingdom, though no-one ever sees him move. He's not malevolent, but does demand privacy and respect. Give him those and your harvest will be excellent even if you've not planted anything.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' kept changing their design for ComicBook/TheScarecrow; his initial appearance wasn't so scary at all, but he got progressively more ghoulish. Their final depiction of him doesn't look all that Scarecrow-y, but looks very much like a corpse, and has a broken noose around his neck. The noose was so popular that many subsequent versions of the Scarecrow have it, including the one played by Cillian Murphy in ''Film/BatmanBegins'' and the freaky gas-mask-faced Scarecrow of the ''Arkham Asylum'' game. Possibly a reference to ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', where the first volume features a cameo by Dr. Crane, sans costume, pretending to hang himself in a attempt to scare the guards at Arkham.

* The champion Fiddlesticks from ''Franchise/LeagueOfLegends'' has several different legends doing the rounds about it, earning it titles such as [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Harbinger of Doom" and "The Ancient Fear"]], but in any case the conclusion is that it is a sackcloth and scrap metal demon that embodies fear itself. It [[VoiceChangeling can mimic the last words of its victims]] to torment or mislead prey. In-game, itsskills include deploying a lantern and standing in a T-pose to mimic a real scarecrow, summoning a swarm of magic crows to shred everything around it, passively afflicting people with dread, and slashing about with a [[SinisterScythe scythe]].