History Main / DontGoInTheWoods

* ''Animation&title/MavkaTheForestSong'': The villagers don't go in the forest Mavka and the other {{Nature Spirit}}s inhabit, for they believe them to be demons. They're not, but some like [[OurSirensAreDifferent Ondina]] can be very territorial and eager to defend the local nature out of bad past experiences with humans.
* ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'': The dark forest sequence can be considered a subversion, given how all of what Snow White thought were monstrous trees turn out to just be cute little woodland critters, though not before briefly appearing to be animal monsters.

* A song by the Swedish techno-bluegrass band Rednex, called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1xueTp9gfk "Is he alive"]] tells about a HumanoidAbomination that plays the fiddle and hides in a mine in the woods.

In horror/thriller/fantasy movies or literature, holidays, outings, or traveling in woodsy locations never seem to bode all that well. This trope is OlderThanDirt, with the wilderness being viewed as dangerous for much of human history.

When people go deep into the woods, horrible things ensue. They are inhabited by [[HillbillyHorrors inbred hillbillies]], {{barbarian tribe}}s, [[AxCrazy psychopathic]] [[SerialKiller killers]], [[TheFairFolk wicked fairy folk]], [[OurMonstersAreDifferent monsters]], and [[NatureIsNotNice dangerous animals of every sort]]. [[TheDarknessGazesBack Malevolent eyes gaze from every shadow]]. Perhaps even the [[WhenTreesAttack trees themselves attack them]]. The woods could be cursed. There are strange noises in both the day [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight and the night]]. People disappear. People go insane.

* ''Literature/FangsOfEndearment'', a Creator/DaveBarry ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' parody: One character tries to warn the protagonist (who, in a deliberate show of GenreBlindness, decides to grab the IdiotBall instead) not to go into the woods, and describes how a lot of hikers have died mysterious, violent deaths there recently:

** In "Our Neighbor's House", the girls' father leaves for the woods to go hunting, instructing that they leave for their neighbor's house if he doesn't come back in three days. [[spoiler:Sure enough, he doesn't return, having died of the extreme cold]]. Later, [[spoiler:after losing her sisters]], Beth travels through the woods alone to her neighbor's house. [[spoiler:Instead of the neighbor as she expected, she meets the man with the wide-brimmed hat, heavily implying that both Beth and the neighbor are dead]].
** In "The Nesting Place", Bell is explicitly warned against the woods near the house of Clarence and Rebecca. [[spoiler:She ignores the warnings and ends up discovering a cave pool where "Rebecca" has become a host for a monster that kills and inhabits people's bodies, and has been looking for other victims for her children to inhabit]].

** Much of the story in "A Lady's Hands Are Cold" takes place in an extravagant mansion that is isolated by the surrounding forest. However, the trope is reversed: [[spoiler:The danger takes place inside the mansion itself, which is haunted. At the end, in trying to evade her husband's first wife, now a vengeful corpse hellbent on having the husband all to herself, the second wife flees the mansion and into the surrounding woods where she is safe, though understandably traumatized. The husband, meanwhile, returns home from a hunting trip in the woods to find the first wife he killed waiting for him, and he is gruesomely murdered]].
** During "In Conclusion", the young girl confidently ignores the dangers of the woods and makes it to her mother's house without incident. She goes to bed confident that she can avoid whatever's out there... only for a shadowy wolf standing right outside her window to point out that even if she made it this time she still has to travel through the woods again and again, and while she has to be lucky every time, he only has to be lucky ''once''. Actually seeing just how dangerous the woods can be seems to deeply traumatize and terrify her.

* In ''ComicBook/SupermanSupergirlMaelstrom'', [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Kal-El]] takes [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} his cousin]] on a camping trip in an alien jungle, assuring it is not dangerous...despite of being full of hostile humanoids, ferocious giant predators, weird monsters and poisonous flora.

* In "Literature/HanselAndGretel", a people-eating witch waits in the woods.
* In "Literature/LittleRedRidingHood", a people-eating ''wolf'' waits in the woods.
* "Literature/{{Morozko}}": The old woman sends her stepdaughter in the woods to die. However, the woodlands are home to Father Frost, who is willing to be benevolent and helpful... as long as you are not a rude disrespectful ass, so incurring its wrath.
* "Literature/TheCatOnTheDovrefell": The woodlands on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dovrefjell Dovrefjell]] are full of dangerous and obliviously evil trolls.

* This is explicitly the theme of the old (early 1900s) play, "Babes In The Wood", with a wicked relative leaving the children to die in the woods so that said relative can inherit the children's estate. In the original, the children die and the birds come and cover them with leaves. After the appeal of this light tragedy wore off, there were many subverted versions made where the children survive somehow.

* In Creator/TheBrothersGrimm's "[[https://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/the_drummer The Drummer]]", -one of the versions of "Literature/TheSwanMaiden" tale-, the woods surrounding the glass mountain are home to dangerous man-eating giants.

* In "Literature/TheThreeLittleMenInTheWood", the main character does not want to go into the woods near her house because she would freeze to death. Said woodlands are also inhabited by dangerous magical beings.
* In Creator/FranzXaverVonSchonwerth's "Literature/TheTurnipPrincess", the prince follows a bad pathway which takes him to a thick wood where he becomes hopelessly lost. Seeking shelter in a cave, he finds several cursed creatures, one of them unwilling to let him go.
* In Creator/FranzXaverVonSchonwerth's "Literature/TheThreeFlowers", three huntsmen go into a huge forest where their sister has been hidden away by a witch. They run into strange creatures, one of which is stalking her sister, and become turned into beasts when her sister plucks three enchanted blossoms.

* In ''Roleplay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'', Tagg lives next door to an area known as the Sea of Trees, which happens to be based on Aokigahara, the forest infamous for being the second-most popular spot for suicides in the world. It's infested with Ghost types and the souls of those who have died in the forest.
* In the Agatha & Sam Gaiden sidestory of ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' the title characters have to venture in the Drowning Woods at the base of Mt. Silver when Agatha's younger brother runs off on his own. Like the above example, it's also based on Aokigahara and infested with evil Ghost-types.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Popped}}'', Rainbow Dash and Applejack venture into a dense forest in an effort to find a missing Pinkie Pie. [[spoiler:Things don't exactly end well for either of them.]]
* In ''Fanfic/AMinorMiscalculation'', Satsuki is eventually forced to track down [[spoiler: the [[HumanoidAbomination berserk-form]] Ryuko]] in the middle of Aokigahara. The setting gives her great anxiety even before [[spoiler: Ryuko springs out and nearly kills her]].
* In ''Fanfic/AtTheEdgeOfLasglen'', the inhabitants of Lasg'len stay out of the forest at the edge of the village. Those who stray in tend to come back out with no memory of what went on inside, and there have been stories about the Elves that live there for centuries. As it turns out, the stories are totally true.

* The dark forest sequence in ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' (pictured above) can be considered a subversion, given how all of what Snow White thought were monstrous trees turn out to just be cute little woodland critters, though not before briefly appearing to be animal monsters.
* In one scene of ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' Maurice accidentally takes the wrong turn in a forest, heading down an ominous-looking path rather than the brighter looking path. It's not long before his horse gets spooked and runs away, leaving him to be pursued by hungry wolves. Later, after leaving the Beast's castle when frightened and rushing into the woods, Belle encounters the same wolves who would've killed her had the Beast not shown up to save her.

* ''Film/AClassicHorrorStory'': A group of carpoolers are driving through the Southern Italian forest when they swerve to avoid a corpse in the road, crash into a tree, and find themselves in a field with a house, being harassed by MalevolentMaskedMen who want to sacrifice them all. [[spoiler:Or rather, don't go in the woods with Fabrizio, unless you want to die in his latest SnuffFilm.]]
* In ''Film/{{Antichrist}}'', a couple retreats to a cabin in the woods after their baby falls out of the window while they are having sex. There, the wife goes AxCrazy, hits her husband in the testicles and attaches a millstone to his leg, and then cuts her clitoris off. He's forced to kill her and burn her corpse. Something to do with a fox, a deer, and a bird. Also a more subtle, disturbing, and creepy take on the trope, as it manifests as ''evil acorns'', forest animal stillbirths, and waking up with ticks all over your hand even ''before'' the genital mutilation.

* In ''Film/CabinFever'', the kids go on a trip to a cabin in the woods and contract a flesh-eating disease. HilarityEnsues.
* Invoked in ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' which focuses on this trope and -- as its name points out -- the cabin in the woods.

* The titular ''Film/DeadLands'' are described as a forbidden, scary place.
* The horror flick ''Film/DeadNight'' takes place around a cabin inside the snowy Oregon woods wherein a HumanoidAbomination is plotting something sinister. Predictably, people die.
* In ''Film/{{Deliverance}}'', four yuppies go on a canoeing trip in the backwoods of Georgia and run afoul of the local hillbillies. One of them gets raped, another dies when going over a waterfall, and the three left alive have to defend themselves from a sniper up on a cliff.

* In ''Film/DogSoldiers'', a bunch of British marines on a training exercise in the forest get attacked by a pack of werewolves and are forced to hole up in a cottage, which turns out to be [[spoiler:owned by one of the werewolves themselves]].

* The first people killed by the CannibalClan in ''Film/EvilBreedTheLegendOfSamhain'' are an American couple camping in the woods. Later the CrustyCaretaker Gary keeps telling the students to not go in the woods after dark, and to keep to the paths. [[spoiler:His concern seems a trifle misplaced as the cannibals have no issue with leaving the woods in search of victims.]]

* In ''Film/TheFactsInTheCaseOfMisterHollow'' the woods of northern Ontario are where a SecretCircleOfSecrets[=/=]MysteryCult get up to the dirty business of worshiping ancient death-goddesses, and its heavily implied that HumanSacrifice is a part of that worship, as an OccultDetective examines a seemingly innocuous [[SpookyPhotographs photo]] of a group on a camping trip.

* Crazy cannibal hermit hunts people for food in ''Film/TheForest1982''. There are also ghosts.
* Two-thirds of the ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' installments, where generations of teenagers visit the infamous forestbound Camp Crystal Lake and/or its environs, and come up against the vengeful, hulking zombie of a drowned boy named Jason Voorhees (or [[MamaBear his equally vengeful mother]], or some [[LegacyCharacter random copycat killer]]). They're always being warned. They always ignore the warnings. They always lose the use of vital organs.

* In ''Film/HouseOfWax2005'', a bunch of teenagers, on a road trip to catch a football game, wind up in a seemingly deserted town in the middle of a forest, and fall prey to a pair of serial killers who turn all who come there into wax statues.

* Most of the action in ''Film/LemonTreePassage'' takes place in dense bush at night, when the protagonists go searching for their missing friends and become easy prey for the malevolent force looking to pick them off.
* In ''Film/LesbianVampireKillers'', two down-on-their-luck young men go to the forests of Britain for a holiday and end up holed up in a cottage under siege by -- you guessed it -- {{Lesbian Vampire}}s.

* In ''Film/{{Madman}}'', most of the "killer prowling for his prey" scenes happen in the forest surrounding the camp where the main cast work as counselors.
* The original ''Film/MothersDay'' features a trio of women going on a camping trip, only to be abducted by a family of psychopaths.

* In ''Film/NightOfTheDemon'', Holden breaks into Karswell's estate house late at night looking for crucial information and is found out. Karwsell suggests he leave by the front door and out the drive, but Holden insists he'll go back through the woods he came through. As he leaves Karswell sighs "I ''told'' him not to go through the woods...he just wouldn't listen!" Holden encounters...''something'' in the dark...

* In ''Film/PansLabyrinth'', in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War a little girl whose mother is married to a fascist captain goes with her mother and stepfather to a retreat in the forest, where she gets wound up in (possibly imaginary) antics involving the fauns and fairies who live about the estate, discovering the secret to her past in the process. [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted in that the forest-dwelling fey creatures are good, despite being incredibly creepy.]]

* In ''Film/{{Preservation}}'', a woman, her husband, and her brother-in-law go on a hunting trip in a state forest: ignoring the signs saying that the park is closed. Overnight, all of their gear is stolen and the trio find themselves being stalked by a group of maniacs bent on HuntingTheMostDangerousGame.
* Main cast of ''Film/{{Prophecy}}'' are stuck in a forest in Maine ([[CaliforniaDoubling actually Canada]]) which is home to a killer bear that has been mutated by pollution from a local paper mill.

* In ''Film/{{Rovdyr}}'', four friends (for given values of friendship) plan a weekend hiking trip in the woods of Norway's far north. On the way there, they are abducted and knocked unconscious. When they wake up, they discover that have dumped deep in the woods and are now the prey for someone who is HuntingTheMostDangerousGame.

* In ''Film/TimberFalls'', a couple goes camping in the mountains and falls prey to a pair of deranged [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] religious maniacs.

* In ''Film/TheVirginSpring'', two young Swedish women enter the spooky forest. They encounter a creepy old man in a cabin who might be Odin. Then one of them is raped and murdered by a pair of shepherds.

* In ''Film/TheWindmillMassacre'', the tourists have to trek through the woods to reach the mill after their bus breaks down (and falls into a canal). Most of the deaths occur in the woods rather than the mill.
* In ''Film/TheWitch'', a puritan family in [[SalemIsWitchCountry 1630s New England]] become convinced that they are being tormented by a WickedWitch who lives in the woods outside their farm. Eventually, however, the horror moves out of the woods and into their home. The movie ends with [[spoiler: the eldest daughter, and probably the last surviving family member, walking into the woods to become another witch after making a DealWithTheDevil.]]

* ''Film/TheRitual'' features four friends taking a hike in Sweden to honor the memory of a fifth recently deceased friend. They decide to take a shortcut through a forest. Unfortunately, said forest is home to [[spoiler: an ancient Nordic god monster, possibly a daughter of Loki, and a village of people that worship her and give her human sacrifices.]]
* In ''Film/PigHunt'', the protagonists' pursuit into the woods takes them through fields of marijuana and into the muddy landscape of Big Wallow, involving weaponry, the violent Tibbs brothers, tortured animals, a kukri-toting hippie, vengeful rednecks, and throat-slitting young women who grow pot by day and worship the giant boar at night.

* In Creator/DaveBarry's ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' parody "Fangs of Endearment," one character tries to warn the protagonist (who, in a deliberate show of GenreBlindness, decides to grab the IdiotBall instead) not to go into the woods, and describes how a lot of hikers have died mysterious, violent deaths there recently:

* The woods of Ithor in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: Spore''. Tash and Zak find out their ball has gone in there, and for once it's Zak who's inclined to be cautious and Tash who just goes in.

* In ''Literature/TheGraceYear'', the grace year girls are convinced that there are ghosts (not true) and wild animals (true) in the woods. The biggest danger to them is the poachers hunting them to sell their parts (believed to be magic) in the black market. One of the girls runs off into the woods to cry after being bullied, and ends up captured by a poacher. They can hear her screaming for hours. When the screaming stops, Tierney is relieved her suffering is over.
* In Arthur Machen's ''Literature/TheGreatGodPan'', some of Helen's earliest victims are driven to madness after going in the woods with her. (She is the daughter of the pagan nature deity Pan, who is depicted as a [[EldritchAbomination very dark force]].)

* ''Literature/TheInheritanceCycle'': The forest of the Spine. It's said that "though the trees were tall and the sun shone brightly, few people could stay in the Spine for long without suffering an accident." It's also mentioned that, around a hundred years before the current storyline, King Galbatorix lost half his army in there; it's eventually revealed in-story that this mass-disappearance was a huge ambush by [[OurOrcsAreDifferent the Urgals]] who inhabit the Spine, leading to a total rout of the soldiers, and the Urgals are a bit miffed that no one knew this.

* [[SettingAsACharacter Forest]] in ''Literature/{{Messenger}}'' decides to kill people, seemingly at random -- and that's on a good day. It becomes even more malevolent to reflect the personalities of Village's inhabitants.
* The page quote comes from the final book by Creator/RoaldDahl, ''The Minpins'', with some woods known as the Forest of Sin. Truth be told, the only really threatening thing in the forest is the fiery Red-Hot Smoke-Belching Gruncher, and it becomes much more calm once he’s been dealt with.
* In ''Literature/TheMonsterBed'', the narrator warns the reader against the Withering Wood, claiming that an assortment of fearsome creatures live there (gnomes, trolls, fairies, pixies, and Dennis and his mother).

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' the prologue of the first book and several chapters of the later ones take place in the Haunted Forest just North of the Wall. Already dangerous due to the bitterly cold climate and the tribes of hostile barbarians living there, the woods beyond the wall become even more dangerous [[spoiler:due to the arrival of Others and their army of the dead]].

* Creator/JRRTolkien:

** The woods of Brethil in ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'' are dangerous due to the large band of outlaws living there, the Gaurwaith (Sindarin for Wolf-Men). When he joined them, Turin made the wood dangerous for orcs by turning the outlaws into LaResistance.

* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, kittypets (house cats) are terrified of the woods, and tell stories about the savage wildcats that eat bones and the dangerous animals that live out there. Most feel that if you go into the woods, you won't come out, but some of them do like to explore there from time to time, and some actually join the Clans of cats that live out there.

* In the short story "[[Creator/NathanielHawthorne Young Goodman Brown]]", the protagonist goes into the woods, and he sees his wife [[MeaningfulName Faith]]'s [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic pink ribbon.]] He meets up with a LouisCypher and sees that Faith has joined a Satanic cult, along with several other supposedly upstanding members of their Puritan community.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E9ItTakesYouAway "It Takes You Away"]], blind girl Hanne warns the Doctor and her companions about a mysterious monster in the woods near her cottage, which took her father away. Terrifying roaring sounds back up her argument. [[spoiler:It turns out to be ''invoked'' by Hanne's missing father, Erik, who set up a speaker system outside to play the roars on a loop to keep his daughter from, well, going in the woods while he was on the other side of a dimensional portal.]]

* ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'': Invoked, where the people of Briarwood are superstitious about the nearby woods. It turns out that the woods ''is'' home to a number of inhuman mystical beings... but they turn out to be pretty friendly for the most part. Just what they were so afraid of is a good question subject to WildMassGuessing (there are several quite plausible possibilities, none stated in-show). Though this was not ultimately kept in the series, the ads showed that the magical forest creatures were equally afraid to go into the city. The final episode has both sides overcome their mutual superstitious fears... which [[PlotHole weren't actually in the series proper]].

* In the episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS01E02Wendigo "Wendigo"]] of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', campers disappear in in the Lost Creek Wilderness.

* The aptly-named Ghostwood Forest around the town of ''Series/TwinPeaks'', which contains a portal to the hellish Black Lodge, and is creeping with vaguely-defined evil and [[OminousOwl terrifying demonic owls]].

** In "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E04Detour Detour]]", Mulder and Scully face "moth men" -- predatory creatures who are barely visible and who try to protect their space. Several people get lost in the woods, and the creatures also come back for those who have been in their territory. Mulder and Scully are stranded in the woods and discover a creepy pit with human bodies and injured people.
* ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'': The Helheim forest in perpetually is very dangerous, infested with Inves monsters and fruits that turn unfortunate saps into monsters if eaten. It's best to travel in groups when going through this world. And also, there is a [[spoiler: ruined city in there.]]

** "Someone's In The Wolf": "Once you're lost in twilight's blue, you don't find the way, the way finds you".

* Music/TheCogIsDead song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9MlmEx8sA4 "Never Go Into the Woods"]]
-->There's danger lurking just outside\\
But no need to be terrified\\
This simple advice can be applied:\\
NEVER GO INTO THE WOODS!

* The Iron Woods from Myth/NorseMythology, full of trolls, [[OurTitansAreDifferent jötnar]], witches, giant wolves, and [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs jötunn witches who shapeshift into giant wolves.]]

* The mode "Fear of the Dark" in ''Pinball/IronMaidenLegacyOfTheBeast'' displays the viewpoint of a person fleeing a shadowy creature with GlowingEyesOfDoom in a [[OminousFog foggy]] forest.

* Creator/EddieIzzard did a similar routine once.
-->Let's go camping in ''the Forest of Death and Blood!''

* ''TabletopGame/{{Summerland}}'' has the Sea of Leaves, a [[EnchantedForest supernatural forest]] that spontaneously covered the world one day. Travel through it from the few communities left is extremely ill-advised since the psychic Call it emanates causes any human who hasn't suffered massive emotional trauma to degenerate into one of the mad hermits or the [[CannibalTribe savage, feral cannibals]] that already live in it.

* ''Theatre/EvilDeadTheMusical'' opens with the song [[http://www.allmusicals.com/lyrics/evildead/cabininthewoods.htm "Cabin In The Woods" ]].

* The Far Grasslands from ''VideoGame/BugFables'' is the bug equivalent to a dangerous forest, being a wild patch of backyard where the grass has grown incredibly tall. It looks like a peaceful, tranquil sort of area... until you run into the dangerous monsters that populate it such as [[DemonicSpiders Wild Chompers]] and [[GoddamnedBats Mantidflies]]. It's also part of the dangerous, warmongering [[WickedWasps Wasp Kingdom's]] territory, and shares a border with the even more hostile [[BubblegloopSwamp Wild Swamplands.]] Unsurprisingly, one of the few friendly [=NPCs=] you can find here is a paranoid wreck due to living in such a hostile environment, and the first meeting with him results in the battle due to him fearing that Team Snakemouth came to harm his family.

* The ''Ghoul's Forest'' series of [[GameMod Game Mods]] reeks of this trope, with the player being chased through the woods by [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier assorted ghouls]].

* Indie game ''VideoGame/ThePath'' instructs you not to go into the woods, and because this is an adaptation of Literature/LittleRedRidingHood, you know what's waiting there... but on the other hand, if you follow instructions and don't go in, nothing of note happens. So, even with a warning not to do it, and knowing what waits for you in there, you have no choice but to go in if you want a satisfying game-experience...

* In ''VideoGame/NightInTheWoods'', the titular woods are home to an incorporeal, teleporting, kidnapping entity that begins to stalk [[PlayerCharacter Mae]] once she becomes aware of it, and is later shown to be [[spoiler: a member of a murderous cult that was empowered by their eldritch god]].
* The forest in ''VideoGame/{{Wick}}'' is haunted by five murderous ghostly children. In-game collectibles imply their supernatural abilities predate their deaths and that [[spoiler: two of them may have never been human to begin with]].
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'''s ''Far Harbor'' expansion, the Island's woodlands are shrouded in a radioactive FogOfDoom and home to baddies such as [[SavageWolves Mutant Wolves]], [[DemonicSpiders Fog Crawlers]], [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Trappers]], and the [[ReligionOfEvil Children of the Atom]].
* The ''VideoGame/ForestOfDrizzlingRain'' is home to a deadly {{youkai}} and the ghosts of her victims.
* Ignited Chica's level in ''VideoGame/TheJoyOfCreationReborn'' takes place in a forest in a nighttime setting
* The primary setting of ''VideoGame/WhiteNoiseOnline'' is a dark forest.
* The Slumbering Weald in ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' is a vast, eerie-looking forest shrouded in huge amounts of fog. Residents of Postwick generally avoid going in there for good reason, and the first time you and Hop head in there to rescue a Wooloo, both of you get lost in the dense fog. But that's not even the scary part -- the scary part is when you encounter the legendary mascot as soon as you wind up lost, and end up going into a HopelessBossFight against a beast that you know absolutely nothing about. And all this happens ''right after you get your starter''.
* ''VideoGame/SpiritsOfAnglerwoodForest'': The children of Anglerwood Forest are told by their parents not to go in the woods at night. Stories are told around the area of children that encounter strange creatures or go missing in the woods. By the end, we know that [[spoiler: something [[TheCorruption corrupted]] Ezra and took his spirit into the woods. After that, corrupted Ezra made the woods a ''much'' more dangerous place to be]].
* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' has the Red Forest. Based on the real Red Forest in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (which turned to this color after the radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl disaster killed the trees), the area is a place where even stalkers in large and well-armed groups fear to go, and the only permanent inhabitant is [[CoolOldGuy Forester]]. Radiation hotspots and [[RealityIsOutToLunch anomalies]] are numerous, large packs of mutants (including a respawning BossInMookClothing) roam the area, the safe roads are controlled by [[EliteMooks Monolith]] ''and'', once one goes through all of that, they find themselves straight into the area of effect of the [[MindControlDevice Brain Scorcher]], turning them into [[EmptyShell Zombies]] or [[ReforgedIntoAMinion Monolith soldiers]].
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': The planet Voss has a forbidden area known as the [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Nightmare Lands]], a twisted forest surrounding the Dark Heart, home to an ancient evil entity. If you don't get killed by the monsters and crazy people roaming the forest, you're likely to be driven insane by the heavy Dark Side presence infusing the place.

* ''VideoGame/{{Limbo}}'''s first act is set in an eerie, fog-shrouded forest full of monsters.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', likewise, has its first act in and around a small woodland village in rural Spain, where a PuppeteerParasite has turned the [[HillbillyHorrors townsfolk]] into {{technically living zombie}}s.
* ''VisualNovel/TaishoxAlice'': Both Red and Snow White where told not to leave their house as children in their respective routes.

* Subverted in ''Webcomic/CursedPrincessClub''. The forest below the cliff on which the Pastel Kingdom palace is built has a reputation for being haunted, which the eponymous club exploits to keep their activities secret, but there's no indication of anything intrinsically dangerous about it.
* Elon gives Myari this warning in ''Webcomic/EarsForElves'' after she's wandered into the dark, dangerous forest without him.

* The staple and prevalent background scare in ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent''. Enhanced by the fridge horror of the fact it's not just the woods outside the settlement walls -- it's the entire known world. If the scene showing the landscape during the train ride isn't a dead ringer for this trope, nothing is.
* One need not be human to be endangered by entering the forest of Kellwood in ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate'', though most humans seen in it are summarily killed and eaten by the monsters therein and the fact that it is [[BiggerOnTheInside ''much'' larger]] than it looks on human maps or when flying over it or walking around it would make it an easy place to become hopelessly lost.
* There are a number of human-eating monsters in the forests of ''Webcomic/TheDreamwalkerChronicles'', and while some of the supernatural entities encountered are benevolent the one that attempts to help the main trio while they're in the woods ends up being killed himself.

* [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos The Slender Man]] sure loves his pine forests, but he's not averse to [[Blog/SeekingTruth other]] [[WebVideo/MarbleHornets kinds]] of [[Blog/JustAnotherFool trees.]]
** A specific example is in WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID; in the episode entitled ''Joke's Over'', Evan, Vince, and Jeff see [[spoiler: the Slender Man in the woods. Evan chases after him, with Vince and Jeff following. Slendy vanishes and they suddenly find a circle of black bags. Vince cuts one open... [[{{Squick}} and there's a few pints of blood in there.]]]]
** WebVideo/MarbleHornets narrows it down a bit -- while the Operator can show up just about anywhere, wandering into the woods in Rosswood Park is practically ''guaranteed'' to end in a run-in with him.

* ''WebVideo/NyxCrossing'' takes place in a forested area, which appears to be an EldritchLocation.
* The forest bordering ''Roleplay/InkCity'' is home to mindless ink monsters and other threats, and also holds the FourthWall. Assuming you make it that far, it's best just to leave the Wall alone... touching it leads to ''bad things''. The City's first major Event involved a large group of residents venturing into the woods only to discover exactly WHY that was such a bad idea.

%%* In WebVideo/DemoReel, the bad guys drop off Donnie in the deepest part of some very creepy woods and leave him to die. With what happens to him later, he probably ended up wishing he did.
* The locations page for Blog/OffThePageAndIntoLife reveals the Hanging Woods, which everyone avoids due to a town legend of a man that hanged himself there, and general creepiness. It's unknown if the woods are really dangerous or if it's all paranoia and rumors, mainly because no one's willing to go and check. At any rate, we ''do'' know that the reincarnation of TheBigBadWolf himself lives there...
%%* The Haunted Woods in ''{{Website/Neopets}}'' gives off this vibe, although it's just as visible as any other realm.
* Website/TaerelSetting: Some of Taerel's woodlands are inhabited by hostile kin'toni clans. There is also the Torsh Dense Taiga Forest, filled with poisonous gas.
* In ''Website/TheOnion'' article [[http://www.theonion.com/article/report-leading-cause-death-still-venturing-beyond -- 52615 Report: Leading Cause Of Death Still Venturing Beyond The Pines]], disregarding this trope and venturing into the forest -- whether by losing your way on a foggy night, [[GenreBlind looking for a shortcut despite repeated warnings not to]], or just waking up in the middle of the night and heading straight for the forest -- turns out to be the leading cause of death among Americans.
-->"The report, which analyzed the nation’s mortality data from the past decade, found that wandering past the tree line and entering the shadowy depths that lie therein results in approximately 650,000 deaths each year."
* The various forests of Remnant in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' are home to the creatures of Grimm, who will attack any human they can find. While it makes it handy for aspiring Hunters to go out and train, the forests are so infested that human civilization has barely expanded beyond a few small states, and going out into the woods alone and unarmed is basically a death sentence, as Yang and Ruby almost found out the hard way when they were children.
* One episode of ''WebVideo/BedtimeStoriesYoutubeChannel'' covers mysterious killings and disappearances in American and Canadian national parks. And suffice to say, don't go into the woods unless you want to end up like these people. This trend is continued in a later episode, where sightings of BigfootSasquatchAndYeti living deep in the forest are mentioned, complete with the deaths of several hunters, loggers, factory workers, and outdoorsmen.
* Everyone on ''Series/TheCallOfWarr'', save Vid, is afraid of the woods -- the trees specifically because they heard voices coming from the trees and couldn't find their way out. The small town they reach is completely surrounded by trees, so they consider themselves trapped until rescue. When Gravesite decides they should go into the woods to find Durkin, even Prince, who was previously mocking Glintz-Terry's fear of trees, is horrified and opposed to the plan.
* In ''WebAnimation/TheresAManInTheWoods'', a BrattyHalfPint named Sid makes up a lie about there being a murderer in the woods next to the school so he can have the honeysuckle bush at the edge of the woods all to himself. His lie {{snowball|Lie}}s into a moral panic that ends up getting the teacher fired for not doing enough to protect the kids from the nonexistent killer (as if that's his job and not the job of the police), all while the teacher's claims that Sid is lying fall on deaf ears. The unjustly slandered teacher turns from a NiceGuy into an AddledAddict, and eventually decides that if everybody else is going to play along with Sid's lie, then so will he... [[WouldHurtAChild by making]] [[{{Revenge}} it true]].

* Literature/WhateleyUniverse: The wooded areas around the titular SuperheroSchool are exceedingly dangerous. Aside from the oft-hostile GeniusLoci known as The Grove, the area is dotted with {{Eldritch Location}}s, and patrolled by the native [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent Werefolk]] who own the land Whateley Academy sits on.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', "The Picnic". To get to the picnic area, the class has to go around the Forest of Doom ([[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Yes, that's what it's called]]). Gumball and Darwin misunderstand it as going ''through'' the Forest of Doom, so they do. They get lost and have to run from [[OurMonstersAreWeird very, very bizarre]] predators like a teal deer with fangs and a rooster head and giant cyclopic bear with antlers.

* The Headless Horseman sequence from ''Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow'' segment from ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad''.
* Since Franchise/TheSmurfs already live in the woods, they are warned in ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSmurfsTheLegendOfSmurfyHollow The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow]]'' not to go into Smurfy Hollow.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' has "The Forest of Certain Death" from "Diaz Family Vacation", a Mewni landmark which is just as bad as it sounds.
* In ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'', Wirt and Greg encounter a number of strange threats in the forests of the Unknown, including [[EldritchAbomination The Beast]].
* In the HalloweenEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'', Kaeloo warns Stumpy not to go into the forest. Stumpy ignores her, finds a cemetery which for whatever reason was inside the forest, and ends up accidentally causing a ZombieApocalypse by raising the dead.
* The forests of ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'', which are filled with giant insects, birds, reptiles, and fire-breathing beavers, all of which are dangerous to the frogs as most of them are big enough to eat them.

* The plot of ''Film/{{Shrooms}}'' follows a group of American students and their English guide who are stalked by a SerialKiller while out in the woods looking for psilocybin mushrooms in an isolated Irish forest. The killer might be real, a ghost, or just the product of their mushroom-induced hallucinations.

* In ''Film/PigHunt'', the protagonists' pursuit into the woods takes them through fields of marijuana and into the muddy landscape of Big Wallow, involving weaponry, the violent Tibbs brothers, tortured animals, a [[KukrisAreKool kukri-toting hippie]], [[HillbillyHorrors vengeful rednecks]], and [[ReligionOfEvil throat-slitting young women]] who grow pot by day and worship the [[FullBoarAction giant boar]] at night.

* The forest of the Spine in ''Literature/TheInheritanceCycle''. It's said that "though the trees were tall and the sun shone brightly, few people could stay in the Spine for long without suffering an accident." It's also mentioned that, around a hundred years before the current storyline, King Galbatorix lost half his army in there; it's eventually revealed in-story that this mass-disappearance was a huge ambush by [[OurOrcsAreDifferent the Urgals]] who inhabit the Spine, leading to a total rout of the soldiers, and the Urgals are a bit miffed that no one knew this.

* ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' hits this in the third act when the characters have to cross the ''[[KingOfTheDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'' and ''[[RaptorAttack Velociraptor]]'' territories to reach the old camp in the center of the island. Ironically, the moment the trope is played the most straight is when one of them leaves the group to go to the toilet and gets killed by a ZergRush of ''[[KillerRabbit Compsognathus]]''.

** "His Face All Red" makes frequent mention of strange things coming form the woods. Nobody bats an eye at the thought of a monster coming out of the woods to attack their livestock, and later it seems that [[spoiler:a {{Doppelganger}} of the murdered older brother comes out of the woods and begins trying to take the brother's place.]]

* Creator/JRRTolkien:
** Mirkwood, haunted by a weakened shade of Sauron and a swarm of {{giant spider}}s. There are Wood-Elves living there, but they come across as far more sinister than many of the other elves in Middle-Earth.
** The Old Forest on the borders of the Shire, which is intelligent and actively hostile, as a result of being one of the last survivors (along with Mirkwood and Fangorn) of the old-growth forests that once covered most of the continent, the rest having largely been destroyed by Sauron's armies and by human expansion during the Second Age. It's full of thorny bushes that let people deeper into the forest but close up when they try to leave, it's actively tried to expand into settled land in the past, and in its depths waits [[WhenTreesAttack Old Man Willow]]...
** Fangorn Forest had a pretty bad reputation, probably due to the Ents' (a race of ultimately benevolent, though still dangerous, [[{{Treants}} tree-people]]) proclivity for taking down anything that might be a threat. Even Aragorn was wary of it. It's mostly due to the Huorns, trees that have woken up or Ents that have almost turned into trees (the process seems to go both ways). They aren't very intelligent, but they can move -- as fast as bullet train if needed -- and aggressively pursue anything they perceive as a threat if there are no Ents around to herd them.
** In the First Age there was the Forest Elf realm of Doriath. Technically, it was one of the safest places at the time in Middle-Earth due to a magical barrier created by its Queen Melian, meaning evil creatures couldn't enter. However, the barrier meant people who weren't invited would often get lost in the woods and die. Similar to Babes in the Wood, the twin princes Eluréd and Elurín are abandoned in the woods by the servants of Celegorm when the sons of Fëanor sacked Doriath and their father King Dior was killed. Fëanor's eldest son Maedhros repented and tried to find them but was unable to. It is left unclear what happened to them, though there is a story that says the birds and beasts led them to safety.
** The woods of Brethil in ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'' are dangerous due to the large band of outlaws living there, the Gaurwaith (Sindarin for Wolf-Men). When he joined them, Turin made the wood dangerous for orcs by turning the outlaws into LaResistance.

* In ''Literature/TheMonsterBed'', the narrator warns the reader against the Withering Wood, claiming that an assortment of fearsome creatures live there (gnomes, trolls, fairies, pixies, and Dennis and his mother).
* ''Literature/{{Once}}'': By his cottage childhood home of Little Bracken, Thom Kindred, on a nostalgic walk through the woods, is steered, by soil-disgorged leering dwarfs, into a wasps' nest. Later [[InvertedTrope inverted]], when Thom learns most of the forest-dwelling ''[[OurFairiesAreDifferent faerefolkis]]'' to be benevolent.

* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheGirlWhoLovedTomGordon'', the title character gets lost in the forests of LovecraftCountry.
* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, kittypets (house cats) are terrified of the woods, and tell stories about the savage wildcats that eat bones and the dangerous animals that live out there. Most feel that if you go into the woods, you won't come out, but some of them do like to explore there from time to time, and some actually join the Clans of cats that live out there.

* Lois Lowry's ''Autumn Street'' is a children's book, not a horror story. But this trope definitely applies to [[spoiler:Charles]] near the end.
* The woods of Ithor in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: Spore''. Tash and Zak find out their ball has gone in there, and for once it's Zak who's inclined to be cautious and Tash who just goes in.
-->"It's so peaceful, [[TemptingFate I'm sure there's nothing dangerous here]]."\\
The sentence had barely left her mouth when [[WhenTreesAttack a bunch of vines wrapped themselves around Zak and pulled him into the air]].
* In Creator/DaveBarry's ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' parody "Fangs of Endearment," one character tries to warn the protagonist (who, in a deliberate show of GenreBlindness, decides to grab the IdiotBall instead) not to go into the woods, and describes how a lot of hikers have died mysterious, violent deaths there recently:
-->"I mean, sure, we usually get two or three violent-dismemberment hiker deaths a week around here; that's going on as long as anybody can remember. But a hundred and fifty-eight dead in two days seems like a lot. Doc Smelkins examined all of the body pieces we were able to find, and he ruled out natural causes such as hookworm."

* The forest of the Spine in ''Literature/TheInheritanceCycle''. It's said that "though the trees were tall and the sun shone brightly, few people could stay in the Spine for long without suffering an accident." It's also mentioned that, around a hundred years before the current storyline, King Galbatorix lost half his army in there; it's eventually revealed in-story that this mass-disappearance was a huge ambush by [[OurOrcsAreDifferent the Urgals]] who inhabit the Spine, leading to a total rout of the soldiers, and the Urgals are a bit miffed that no one knew this.
* [[SettingAsACharacter Forest]] in ''Literature/{{Messenger}}'' decides to kill people, seemingly at random -- and that's on a good day. It becomes even more malevolent to reflect the personalities of Village's inhabitants.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' the prologue of the first book and several chapters of the later ones take place in the Haunted Forest just North of the Wall. Already dangerous due to the bitterly cold climate and the tribes of hostile barbarians living there, the woods beyond the wall become even more dangerous [[spoiler:due to the arrival of Others and their army of the dead]].
* ''Literature/TheWindInTheWillows'': Mole impulsively decides to visit Mr. Badger's house by himself after Rat evasively discourages the idea several times -- he finds out the hard way that the Wild Wood is not a safe place for small creatures to travel alone.
* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'':
** The Kingdom of Valdemar has the Forest of Sorrows; subverted in that though it certainly is dangerous... that's only if you have evil or cruel intent. A toddler would be safe in there but a group of bandits would get torn to pieces.
** The Palegis forest has the Tayledras invoking this for many reasons. Including the fact it is actually a very dangerous place to be.
* The Doctor Who novel ''The Way Through The Woods'' has a forest that the locals try to avoid, even building roads that go kilometers out of their way to avoid it, because an alien [[OurWereBeastsAreDifferent werefox]] crashed his spaceship there thousands of years ago, and the damaged vessel caused time (and space) distortions, meaning people that go in never come out. They just end up going in circles until they die. Of course, the human population doesn't know most of this, they just know that no-one who went in ever came out.
* ''Literature/HowToSurviveAHorrorMovie'' has this as a RunningGag; it claims that going into the woods is basically the equivalent of painting a target on your back.
* ''Literature/{{Uprooted}}'': The Wood is a living, malevolent ''thing'' that corrupts or kills all who enter. People or animals who return tend to lose their minds, become violent, and often mutate. Worse, [[GeniusLoci it's sapient]], able to use its corruption to manipulate events far beyond its borders. Naturally, people avoid it like the plague -- which would be easier if it weren't also actively expansionistic.
* The page quote comes from the final book by Creator/RoaldDahl, ''The Minpins'', with some woods known as the Forest of Sin. Truth be told, the only really threatening thing in the forest is the fiery Red-Hot Smoke-Belching Gruncher, and it becomes much more calm once he’s been dealt with.

* ''Literature/{{Once}}'': By his cottage childhood home of Little Bracken, Thom Kindred, on a nostalgic walk through the woods, is steered, by soil-disgorged leering dwarfs, into a wasps' nest. Later [[InvertedTrope inverted]], when Thom learns most of the forest-dwelling [[OurFairiesAreDifferent faerefolkis]]'' to be benevolent.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "Under the Bed", many generations of parents told their children not to play in the woods outside Buford. It turns out that there is a child-snatching monster living in them.

** Episode "Darkness Falls" is about Mulder and Scully's nice trip to the woods. Or so Mulder thought at first, Not only do they have to deal with eco-terrorists who sabotage their car, radio, and other equipment, but they discover that certain mysterious and deadly bugs are responsible for loggers' deaths. They nearly don't make it out.
** In "Detour", Mulder and Scully face "moth men" -- predatory creatures who are barely visible and who try to protect their space. Several people get lost in the woods, and the creatures also come back for those who have been in their territory. Mulder and Scully are stranded in the woods and discover a creepy pit with human bodies and injured people.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' does it in [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-899 SCP-899]]. It's a bad idea to go near it if you're an adult. It's even worse if you're a child. And if you're a teenager going through puberty [DATA EXPUNGED]. [[spoiler: And this is ''before'' the SCP-899-1 manifestations appear...]]

* In the world of Wiki/TaerelSetting, some of Taerel's woodlands are inhabited by hostile kin'toni clans. There is also the Torsh Dense Taiga Forest, filled with poisonous gas.

* ''Literature/LoneHuntress'': Everyone on Gaia already lives in the woods (because almost the entirety of the planet's sole continent is given over to a massive rain forest with kilometer high trees), but they prefer to live in the canopy layer, deemed relatively safe in comparison to the understory and the floor. Trips to the floor are regarded as so dangerous that survivors traditionally receive a tattoo to mark their courage.

* ''Manga/BeautyAndTheBeastOfParadiseLost'': When Belle was a kid, she insisted into going to the forest, dismissing the rumors about a beast that kidnapped beautiful young women to steal their faces. Her mother, who was with her, was kidnapped by the monster, and Belle spent the next five years blaming herself for that, but it could have happened even if they hadn't visited the forest, because the monster also attacked the villages.

* ''Manga/BeautyAndTheBeastOfLostParadise'': When Belle was a kid, she insisted into going to the forest, dismissing the rumors about a beast that kidnapped beautiful young women to steal their faces. Her mother, who was with her, was kidnapped by the monster, and Belle spent the next five years blaming herself for that, but it could have happened even if they hadn't visited the forest, because the monster also attacked the villages.