Quotes / Don't Go in the Woods

Comic Books

"After questioning students all day we discovered a possible connection to a drug called Kick that was being smuggled in through the woods. Side note—only bad things happen in the woods. Also abandoned cabins. Basically, nature is a habitat for grade-A weirdos."

—Cosmic Ghost Rider, Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History #3

Film

"Kin ye squeal like a piggy?"

— Deliverance

"There's evil in the wood..."

— William, The VVitch

"There's something out there. That... that witch in the cellar is only part of it. It lives... out in those woods, in the dark... something... something that's come back from the dead."

—Ash Williams, Evil Dead 2

"Don't go out into the woods tonight, you probably will be thrilled
Don't go out in the woods tonight, you probably will be killed
There's a friendly beast who lurks about
And likes to feast, you won't get out
Without being killed and chopped up in little pieces"

—End Song, Don't Go in the Woods

Literature

Beware, beware, the Forest of Sin
None come out, though many go in.

—The Minpins

No track led up to the sinister gloom of the trees, either of men or cattle; not even a poacher had been there snaring elves for over a hundred years. You did not trespass twice in the dells of the gnoles. And, apart from the things that were done there, the trees themselves were a warning, and did not wear the wholesome look of those that we plant ourselves.

—"How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art Upon the Gnoles", Lord Dunsany

"Before you could get round Mirkwood in the North you would be right among the slopes of the Grey Mountains, and they are simply stiff with goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs of the worst description. Before you could get round it in the South, you would get into the land of the Necromancer; and even you, Bilbo, won't need me to tell you tales of that black sorcerer."

—Gandalf, explaining why trying to go through Mirkwood is the least bad option for Bilbo and the Dwarves, in The Hobbit

Then at last he was there and the place was just as he remembered it. If anything it was even darker, for snow on the higher branches shut out most of what little light would normally penetrate; and here where the winter had been kept out, the ground was black to eyes used to a white glare. Airless as ever, the place seemed; and what air there was, as before, seemed stirred by unseen shapes and presences. Oh, certainly, it was a place for bad dreams. Especially in the evening. And evening approached even now...

—Necroscope

Rimmer peered into the relentless gloom of the surrounding woods. He thought of mountain lions and grizzly bears. He thought of wolf packs and cougars. He thought of werewolves and Sasquatch and inbred hillbillies with guns and seriously dubious sexual preferences. He thought of all the wild things with yellow eyes and an insatiable bloodlust that would swallow his light bee whole as a pre-hors-d'oeuvre canape without even making a gulping nose.

—Red Dwarf: Backwards

Music

"There's nothing to fear,
People do disappear,
In the dark side of the forest... forest... forest
Now don't get lost,
Or you'll have to pay the cost,
As many have died,
In the dark side of the forest..."

— David Somerville, "The Dark Side of the Forest", The Forest (1982) soundtrack

Don't go out in the woods tonight, you probably will be thrilled
Don't go out in the woods tonight, you probably will be killed
There's a friendly beast, who lurks about
And likes to feast, you won't get out
Without being killed, and chopped up in little pieces

—H. Kingsley Thurber , the end credits song for Don't Go in the Woods

Those who dare to walk in the forest
Be wary, there is trouble abound
A new breed of humanity
Surviving by hunting you down

—Cormorant, "Mark the Trail"

'Cause there's animals in the woods.
And there's shadows in the woods.
Oh baby, there's maniacs in those woods.
But you're taking your chances.
Ain't no second glances,
but you're taking your chances,
noooooooooooooooo...

Don't go into the woods,
don't let go of my hand.
Don't go into the woods,
do you understand?

—Calibretto, "Don't Go in the Woods"

Theatre

You go into the woods,
Where nothing's clear,
Where witches, ghosts
And wolves appear.
Into the woods
And through the fear,
You have to take the journey.

— Into the Woods, Finale Act One

Video Games

"You are surrounded by hideous, tortured trees. The trees almost seem to be alive, whispering, plotting, closing in..."

—Magician for the Nintendo Entertainment System

Web Original

Jacob and Elisa had been warned by their parents on numerous occasions never to venture into the Amber Woods after dark or risk some vague and unspoken fate once within the trees, so they didn’t and just played in their front yards instead.

—Eric Lorenz, Phoenix, AZ, The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest 2015

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