History Main / SeekingSanctuary

* ''Film/{{Moolaade}}'': "Moolaade" is what one particular African village calls its custom of sanctuary, in which a homeowner may invoke moolaade and give shelter to anyone who asks. Colle does this to give shelter to four girls of the town who are trying to avoid being subject to female circumcision.

* In Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/SleepyHollow'' movie, the town residents are gathered in a church for a meeting when the Headless Horseman shows up outside. The Horseman's body and weapons dissolve upon contact with consecrated ground, and it would seem that his plan to kill the heroine's father is thwarted. So the Horseman ties a rope to a stake and launches it through a window [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling Baltus Van Tassel]]. The Horseman then pulls on the rope, yanking Baltus out of the window, then he pulls on him until the father gets stuck in the fence. (Unfortunately for the father, his head is now sticking beyond the border of the consecrated ground...)

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E6TheLazarusExperiment "The Lazarus Experiment"]], Richard Lazarus hid from the Blitz in Southwark Cathedral as a child. When he's losing control of his mutation, he retreats there a second time. The Doctor lampshades it.
** Also in ''Doctor Who'', Rose alters her own timeline in "Father's Day" and the Reaper is trying to destroy everyone. They hide in a church, which provides protection, but not because of its holy nature. It protects because it is the ''oldest'' building there, and the Reapers unravel objects based on their age.

* ''Film/SpiderMan3'': After realizing [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil things have gotten out of control]], Peter goes to a church tower where he tries to free himself from [[TheDarkSide the black symbiote]]. He later learns the ringing bells generate the loud noises that are the symbiote's weakness, freeing him. This is more or less how it happened in the comics.
* The film ''Film/SometimesTheyComeBack'' has the hero and his family hide from demonically resurrected hooligans in a church. When one of the punks tries to enter the church to attack them, his limbs begin to catch fire as they pass the threshold.

* In Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/SleepyHollow'' movie, the town residents are gathered in a church for a meeting when the Headless Horseman shows up outside. The Horseman's body and weapons dissolve upon contact with consecrated ground, and it would seem that his plan to kill the heroine's father is thwarted. So the Horseman ties a rope to a stake and launches it through a window [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling Baltus Van Tassel]]. The Horseman then pulls on the rope, yanking Baltus out of the window, then he pulls on him until the father gets stuck in the fence. (Unfortunately for the father, his head is now sticking beyond the border of the consecrated ground...)

* ''Film/LesVisiteurs'': Godefroy, a temporally-displaced medieval knight, charges into a modern-day church on a horse bellowing "Sanctuary!" It takes a full squad of riot cops to get him out.
* The eponymous (and likely [[spoiler:demon-posseed]]) vehicle in the horror film ''Film/TheCar'' is unable to follow some of its would-be victims into a cemetery.

* ''Series/AmericanGothic1995'' plays around with this trope in the episode "Inhumanitas,". Caleb believes he will be safe from Buck's evil influence by taking shelter in the church, but the sheriff not only has no issues whatsoever stepping into the sanctuary and relentlessly pursuing his attempts to corrupt the boy, but he is even able to [[spoiler:exert DemonicPossession on him]], proving [[GoodIsImpotent how little the forces of holiness can touch him]]...until Merlyn [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome lays a delicious smackdown on him]]. The fact that the parish priest had [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul]] and was attempting to break free of the deal may have had something to do with why Buck was first untouchable, then vulnerable.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Played with in the Graphic Novel ''Hiketeia'', starring Wonder Woman. A young woman appears at the door of the Themiscyran embassy (WW's home), and uses the eponymous ritual to demand sanctuary and protection from the thing that chased her all the way from Gotham... Batman.

[[folder: Films -- Animated]]

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

[[folder: Folklore, Mythology, and Religion ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Defiance: ''The Zombie Survival Guide'' explicitly warns the reader ''not'' to go to a church when zombies attack. The reason? Everyone else who goes there will likely pray loudly for protection, and the sound of their prayers will draw the zombies straight to them.

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

* Played very straight - to surprisingly good effect - in an episode of the New World ''Series/{{Zorro}}'' series. While they're driving into town together, Don Diego's mentor is shot by government officials convinced he's a traitor. The only way for Diego to get him treatment is to duck into the nearby pueblo church and claim sanctuary...then try to figure out how he's going to either a] transform to Zorro without giving the secret away or b] get out of this as his meek alter ego.
* On ''Series/{{Highlander}}'', the one undisputed rule among Immortals is that they ''cannot'' harm one another on Holy Ground. It doesn't matter what religion it is, any church, temple, cemetery or other site recognized as a holy place counts. Thus, if an Immortal is being chased by an opponent, they can duck onto such a place and seek some safety for a while.
** In one episode, an Immortal has her husband murdered by an obsessive former love. With the police suspecting her, she goes to Immortal priest Darius at his Paris church to hide. While a detective suspects she's there, he's bound by the law to not be able to just go in and drag her out.
** An Immortal Nazi is hunting a priest who (as a young boy) caused him to be killed in World War II and spend decades chained under a river. Duncan's girlfriend Anne is with the priest when the Immortal shows up, assuring him he can't do anything while they're in the church. But the priest is so terrified that he ends up running out of the church grounds, giving the Immortal the excuse to attack him. It also gives Duncan the excuse to take the guy's head.
** Why is this rule so sacred? Because according to legend the one time two Immortals fought on Holy Ground was in a temple in Southern Italy. In Pompeii. In August of 79 AD.

* ''Series/AmericanGothic1995'' plays around with this trope in the episode "Inhumanitas,". Caleb believes he will be safe from Buck's evil influence by taking shelter in the church, but the sheriff not only has no issues whatsoever stepping into the sanctuary and relentlessly pursuing his attempts to corrupt the boy, but he is even able to [[spoiler:exert DemonicPossession on him]], proving [[GoodIsImpotent how little the forces of holiness can touch him]]...until Merlyn [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome lays a delicious smackdown on him]]. The fact that the parish priest had [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul]] and was attempting to break free of the deal may have had something to do with why Buck was first untouchable, then vulnerable.
%%%% How so?
%%%* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles''.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''
** Downplayed in "Salvation", where Meg makes it clear that only minor demons are forbidden from holy ground.
** Invoked in "I Know What You Did Last Summer". [[spoiler:Anna may not have been safe in the church, but at least it had a bleeding Virgin Mary early warning system]].
-->Sam: "If you were religious, scared, and had demons on your tail, where would you go to feel safe?"
* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Scully and a bunch of kids hide from someone inside a church; the chaser is revealed to be Satan after it turns out that he can't cross the threshold.
* In the ''Series/KolchakTheNightStalker'' episode "Firefall", Kolchak takes refuge from a pyromaniac poltergeist in a church (due to its being on holy ground). He later sees the ghost looking into the church through a window.
* On an episode of ''Series/{{Mash}}'', an AWOL soldier takes refuge in the mess tent while Father Mulcahy is using it for a church service. Mulcahy states that he will not allow the soldier to be arrested on holy ground, and many calls are made to find out if a mess tent qualifies as a place of sanctuary. The answer comes back no, and the [=MPs=] are sent in to get the soldier, who wards them off at gunpoint. Incensed, Father Mulcahy upbraids him for defiling what he considered a house of the Lord just moments earlier by pointing a deadly weapon at someone. After Mulcahy disarms him despite being at point-blank range, the soldier feels bad and surrenders. The Army later compromised by arranging Dr. Freedman to give him psychiatric help instead of just throwing him in the stockade.
* {{Defied|Trope}} in ''Series/ThePillarsOfTheEarth'', when the corrupt bishop denies The GoodShepherd sanctuary as the newly-built church hasn't yet been consecrated, and [[LoopholeAbuse thus doesn't count as "holy ground"]]. He's later HoistByHisOwnPetard when the town turns on him and he attempts to seek sanctuary himself in the same church.
* ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': In TheTeaser to "The Eagle's Nest", a PursuedProtagonist flees from his attackers into a monastery. He disturbs the monks at their devotions, demanding sanctuary. This ends badly for him, as the monks are actually [[BadHabits Nazis in disguise]].
* ''Series/Lucifer2016''. PlayedForLaughs when Lucifer offers a priest a PlaceOfProtection. Cut to several nuns descending a staircase in what appears to be a candle-lit crypt...until they throw off their veils to reveal themselves as strippers in [[DenOfIniquity Lucifer's nightclub]]. Fortunately the priest is [[TheGoodShepherd entirely unruffled]] by Lucifer's attempts to expose him to temptation. Lucifer, incidentally, can walk into a church no problem (he is an angel, after all).

[[folder: Music ]]

* In the Music/SteeleyeSpan song "John of Ditchford", the title character claims sanctuary at Wooten Church after killing Henry Felip. The church coroner tells him he must accept exile, and so he takes a heavy cross (indicating he's still under sanctuary) and heads for the coast. He gets a mile before being killed, presumably by Henry's son, who's already killed the other members of the gang.

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* ''Webcomic/ThePhoenixRequiem'': The people think that they are safe from the shades in the church, but it is heavily implied that they are wrong. On the other hand, they can't enter [[spoiler: [[BedlamHouse Hyde Asylum]]]].

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Raven and a badly injured Robin hide from Slade, now Trigon's messenger, in a Church. Slade follows them in, Robin is finally knocked out, and Raven runs for it.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Historically, most western governments have respected Church's right to offer sanctuary. This was not true in Aparthied South Africa, however. During the student protest movement, a rally at a university turned ugly, and the riot police chased the students into a church. The students figured the police would respect the church, but they just barricaded the door and tossed in a tear gas grenade, forcing those inside to jump out the windows.

* Played with in the Graphic Novel ''Hikateia'', starring Wonder Woman. A young woman appears at the door of the Themiscyran embassy (WW's home), and uses the eponymous ritual to demand sanctuary and protection from the thing that chased her all the way from Gotham... Batman.

* An episode of ''Series/ChicagoPD'' has the cops tracking a trio of young black men they suspect of killing a young woman. They take refuge in a church and the priest refuses to allow the cops to arrest them. While annoyed by that, Voight soon finds himself having to defend the church when the girl's irate parents lead an angry mob there.

* ''Series/AmericanGothic1995'' plays around with this trope in the episode "Inhumanitas,". Caleb believes he will be safe from Buck's evil influence by taking shelter in the church, but the sheriff not only has no issues whatsoever stepping into the sanctuary and relentlessly pursuing his attempts to corrupt the boy, but he is even able to [[spoiler:exert DemonicPossession on him]], proving [[GoodIsImpotent how little the forces of holiness can touch him]]...until Merlyn [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome lays a delicious smackdown on him]]. The fact that the parish priest had [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul]] and was attempting to break free of the deal may have had something to do with why Buck was first untouchable, then vulnerable.

** In "Who Are You?" the reverse occurs, when a group of vampires decide to prove that they have enough courage to invade a church on a Sunday morning. This involves the symbolism of the church as a sanctuary--the vampires used to believe in such an idea, but their attitude toward it changes to mockery once they are inside the church. Possibly there are other kinds of religious symbolism, but an attempt to figure out what they are will, quite disappointingly, end in WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic.

* Done completely straight in ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles''.

Scenario: You're TheHero, and you're being pursued by something -- something evil, dark, sinister, bloodthirsty, and demonic. Maybe it's TheHeartless, or the EnemyWithout or your SuperpoweredEvilSide that wants to return to you. Maybe it's your universe's parallel of {{Satan}}, or at least something working for him. If you're lucky, the villagers just decided to break out the TorchesAndPitchforks.

* In TheBible, fugitives would flee to the temple in Jerusalem ("take hold of the horn of the altar"), where they would be granted temporary asylum from pursuers. However, the important word here is "temporary", as a judgement of the king nullifies the protection of the temple. And as Joab found out to his detriment, Solomon is not shy about killing people in the Tabernacle.

* One of the Rules of ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'': no Immortal can fight another on Holy Ground. ''Any'' holy ground of any religion seems to work, but churches and graveyards are the most common. Whether it's an honor system or a binding law seems to vary by show/movie. In one TV Movie, an attempt to fight in a Buddhist Temple causes [[DramaticThunder omnious thunder]] and [[WreckedWeapon the swords to break]], while in ''Film/HighlanderEndgame'', a group of [[HeroicBSOD Immortals tired of the fight]] are slaughtered on presumably (it's the subject of much debate) Holy ground. In one episode of ''Series/{{Highlander}}: The Series'' Joe tells Duncan that the last time an Immortal killed another on holy ground was in 79 AD, in a little town named Pompeii.

** Why is this so sacred? Because according to legend the one time two Immortals fought on Holy Ground was in a temple in Southern Italy. In Pompeii. In August of 79 AD.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' a traveler getting on a Corbettite trains that gives the monks an honest explanation of who they are, where they're going, and why, is entitled to sanctuary and safe passage until the train gets to their stop.

* ''Series/Lucifer2016''. PlayedForLaughs when Lucifer offers a priest a PlaceOfProtection. Cut to several nuns descending a staircase in what appears to be a candle-lit crypt...until they throw off their veils to reveal themselves as strippers in [[DenOfIniquity Lucifer's nightclub]]. Fortunately, the priest is entirely unruffled by Lucifer's attempts to expose him to temptation. Lucifer, incidentally, can walk into a church no problem (he is an angel, after all).

* ''Series/{{Lucifer}}''. PlayedForLaughs when Lucifer offers a priest a PlaceOfProtection. Cut to several nuns descending a staircase in what appears to be a candle-lit crypt...until they throw off their veils to reveal themselves as strippers in [[DenOfIniquity Lucifer's nightclub]]. Fortunately the priest is entirely unruffled by Lucifer's attempts to expose him to temptation. Lucifer incidentally can walk into a church no problem (he is an angel, after all).

** In ''The Prince Commands'', Michael finds the enemy in the cathedral. They murder the bishop, and he refuses to honor their claim of sanctuary on that ground.

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/TheZeroStone'', Jern flees the HumanSacrifice and his mentor's murderers to a location protected by a godling. It's a classic sanctuary: anyone, regardless of crime, may find shelter there.

* Happens several times in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' with innocents running to the nearest church to escape whatever demons happen to be roaming around. [[CrapsackWorld Unsurprisingly]] this fails more often than not. The only real time it worked was in Enoch village during the troll invasion, where at first the trolls managed to easily get into the church, but were chased off by the little witch Schierke's magical barrier.

* It wasn't uncommon for this to be [[DefiedTrope defied]] in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, often by the Nazis. Forget hauling criminals out of churches, they would [[MoralEventHorizon trap people inside and ''burn the building down''!]]

* In the SteeleyeSpan song "John of Ditchford", the title character claims sanctuary at Wooten Church after killing Henry Felip. The church coroner tells him he must accept exile, and so he takes a heavy cross (indicating he's still under sanctuary) and heads for the coast. He gets a mile before being killed, presumably by Henry's son, who's already killed the other members of the gang.