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Pretty comprehensive list you have there. Seems like this situation hasn't been troped yet. You could either make this a new character trope, something opposite of Haunted House Historian. Alternatively, Town with a Dark Secret could be expanded to mention its inhabitants being chronically suspicious to outsiders.
Edited by eroock
Expanding Town with a Dark Secret sounds like a good idea for the setting you have in mind, but I agree that this could also work as a character trope.
Thanks for confirming. Though the Untrusting Community from a Town with a Dark Secret is definitely related, it doesn’t always apply since sometimes the attempt to discourage is motivated by good intentions instead of mistrust (almost like being lured out of a trap). Perhaps I’ll move this to the Trope Launch Pad when I have some time.
Edited by NickSherman
This concept can be applied to an area as small as part of a building - for example, in Beauty And The Beast, the servants try to discourage Belle from snooping in the (already forbidden) west wing of the castle by claiming it's "dusty, dirty, very boring."
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
After a few genuine search efforts, I couldn’t find an article for the trope where:
For example, in the beginning of Messiah of Evil, the protagonist tells a gas station attendant her destination, and the attendant asks something along the lines of "Why do you want to go there? I don't know why anyone would visit there. It's just a small town of no interest." – but clearly he knows something, and is trying to dissuade her with boredom.
The Hills Have Eyes (1977) has a similar scene, though after the travelers show dedication to continue on, the attendant becomes more actively dissuasive, with warnings about wild animals, etc.
There are some existing trope articles that are close but don't quite capture what I'm looking for:
Maybe one of the first two articles from the list could be tweaked to cover the concept I'm looking for?
Edited by NickSherman