45 Creepy Forests You’d Better Not Walk In At Night

These dark, mist-covered woodlands are alleged to have been the scene of numerous homicides. According to reports, those who enter the forest feel like they are being watched. Some have even reportedly seen a red eye staring at them and caught a quick glimpse of a ghost wearing an ash-colored garment. The most frequently reported legend involves a headless child making his way from the forest down “Death Road” to the Dow Hill Victoria Boys’ School, which itself is regarded as one of India’s most haunted places.

One of Japan’s most haunted locations is said to be the bamboo forest of Yawata no Yabushirazu (sometimes just called Yawata), which is located less than 30 minutes from central Tokyo. The myths of Yawata are founded on the idea that anyone who enters the forest gets whisked away and is never seen again. Various hypotheses on the mysterious origins of the forest’s eerie aspect circulate, ranging from samurai ghosts to poisonous gas. Whatever the case, the villagers take these rumors seriously because Yawata is currently enclosed by a fence, making entry restricted.

A rare gem in the Balkans, the Šalinac Grove is a protected area of old-growth forest. The trees are the last remaining of the vast oak and ash forests that originally covered the area. The remaining woodland was destroyed by deforestation.

The Dering Woods, sometimes known as "the Screaming Woods," are an excellent location for your upcoming family camping trip. We are kidding. They’re not. Visitors to the forest have described hearing footsteps and whispers on misty days and spine-tingling screams coming from the forest's depths at night. The highwayman captured and executed by locals in the 18th century, whose ghost supposedly still harbors quite a grudge, is commonly blamed for the screaming sounds. Others think the apparitions resulted from a massacre in 1948 when 20 individuals were allegedly found deceased in the woodland on November 1st. Locals claimed to have seen unusual lights from the woods on that Halloween night. Still, an autopsy on the bodies revealed no apparent cause of demise.

Randolph Forest, located in Maine, USA, is surrounded by houses and is known throughout the community as being haunted. Orbs have been sighted, and there have been reports of flashes of light and unusual ambient noises. Abandoned automobiles and ripped-up railroad tracks that previously led veterans to a hospital but are now covered with grass add to the eerie atmosphere. While the forest may look harmless in daylight, it turns sinister at night.

Locals refer to the 180-hectare mixed forest known as the Nienhäger Holz simply as the Ghost forest. Over many years, the wind and the salty, damp sea air gave the forest its unique appearance. The oddly shaped deciduous trees are what make the coastal forest so distinctive.

A grove of dead trees known as the Copalis Ghost Forest was created by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that shook the Washington Coast in 1700. As a result of the earthquake, the soil instantly sank up to 6 feet in elevation, and saltwater flooded the forest.

It still remains a mystery why dozens of trees in this forest in Russia have trunks bent into rings, spirals, and other loops and squiggles. The trees were planted in the early 1960s to stabilize the dune sand; thus, some speculate that the unstable sand is why the trees appear so distorted. Among locals, the crooked forest is known as the Drunken Forest.

Not often are haunting events or haunted woodlands associated with New Zealand. But there have been other strange and eerie disappearances in this small forest area, giving it a troubling past. Six people have gone missing from this area since 1992. All in the same bizarre way. Piha has suffered many losses due to riptides and strong currents throughout the years. However, almost every time, those pulled out to sea return to Piha Beach or a little further down. What adds to the unsettling character of the disappearances in Piha is that the six missing individuals in question simply vanished without a trace, leaving no indication of what happened or where they went.

It's unsurprising that many paranormal stories have been associated with the forest, given its almost esoteric, out-of-this-world appearance. Wistman's Wood has been named "the most haunted place in England's Dartmoor National Park" thanks to ancient tales of druids, hellhounds, ghosts, and other supernatural creatures. The wood has been the subject of many ghost stories and hauntings, but the druid and hellhound myths are the most common. The subjects of many legends are the vicious packs of "Wisht Hounds," enormous red-eyed black hounds that feed on blood.

The claims and sightings of a cursed pilot, ghostly cries from the shore and sand dunes past these frightening woods, and numerous local reports and sightings over the years make them impossible to ignore. The area is also famous for the "little hatchet men of Pembrey," who would use their lamps to entice sailors to a coastline full of hazardous rocks, where they would wreck the ships. After killing the survivors, the small hatchet guys would take anything of worth. Ghost ships with dead sailors on board, the little hatchet men and the cursed spirit of a second world war airman have all been allegedly spotted roaming the woodland, dunes, and beach.

At first glance, Pokaini Forest doesn’t seem particularly strange. That is until you see the enigmatic piles of moss-covered rocks. These mounds are dispersed randomly around the forest, rousing many rumors and urban legends among tourists. Some believe that the forest was once the scene of ancient pagan rituals and that it now possesses a mystic power to heal people. Some tourists even make offerings to the stones to strengthen their magical abilities. Locals warn that stealing a rock will result in bad luck, as there are reports of people experiencing harm and even passing away soon after leaving the woods.

Many legends involve ghostly encounters, disappearances, and mythical creatures in the Crater Lake National Park. Some of the strange activities reported by forest rangers include following a smelly, eerie monster through the woods until it began hurling pinecones at them. Or the countless reports of campfires in deserted forest locations where there were no signs of any people.

The Belanglo State Forest is notorious for its dark past and already has a frightening appearance with its endless rows of radiata pine trees. Most notoriously, it is recognized as the location where serial killer Ivan Milat buried at least seven deceased travelers in the 1980s and 1990s in a case that shook Australia. In 2010, three teenagers (one being Milat's great-nephew Matthew) were arrested on suspicion of connection with the discovery of a murdered male in the forest. The park's entrance is marked with a sign asking visitors to "please be careful." According to detectives who worked on the Milat murders, there is "pure evil" in Belanglo State Forest.

Despite having sandy, acidic, and nutrient-poor forest ground, New Jersey's vast Pine Barrens are home to abundant plant life, including pine trees that rely on forest fires to survive. The region began to be occupied by outcasts of various kinds in the 18th century. Over time, its occupants appeared to practically cultivate a "hillbilly"-like backwardness, which some people think is done to keep outsiders out. The "Jersey Devil" is undoubtedly the most well-known inhabitant of the Pine Barrens. The creature born in 1735 to Deborah Leeds - her thirteenth child - with a goat's head, bat's wings, and cloven hooks is one legend that sprang from the Pine Barrens.

The spirits of 18th-century British troops and pirates who formerly passed through the nearby historic port town of Mathews and may have left hidden chests of gold in its soft mud now find refuge in this forest in Virginia. A single abandoned Colonial homestead that had burned down was located in the middle of the woods, hence the name of the forest. In the 19th century, one fisherman claimed to have witnessed a ship silently cruising the creek before proceeding over the beach and disappearing into the woods.

The area of 4 square miles encircling the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant is referred to as the Red Forest (formerly known as the Worm Wood Forest). The pine forest surrounding the station changed to a ginger-brown tint. It died from the horrific nuclear accident in 1986, resulting from a flawed reactor design operated by poorly trained personnel. Sadly, this forest is among the most polluted areas on earth.

A hand reaching out to touch a lonely person's shoulder or a family with two crying children being transported on a horse-drawn cart are just a few reports from Wychwood Forest. However, the case of Amy Robsart, the wife of the Earl of Leicester, is perhaps the most striking one. Apparently, Amy unexpectedly passed away from a broken neck, visited her husband at Wychwood as a ghost, and predicted that he would join her in ten days. And he did after falling severely ill. Anyone who encounters her is believed to suffer a similar and brisk fate.

This 200 square mile area in southeast Massachusetts, a part of the "Bridgewater Triangle," is plagued by paranormal activity, with layers upon layers of intrigue. It was inhabited by Native Americans who unwillingly sold it in the 1600s and left behind numerous burial places. It is also believed to be the scene of satanic murders in the 1970s and '80s. To this day, the forest continues to serve as the setting for paranormal sightings and reports about UFOs, poltergeists, or fireballs.

A flourishing sawmill town with over 1,000 residents formerly stood in the Angelina National Forest. Sadly, the mill served as a catastrophe beacon after being damaged by a cyclone in 1911 and a fire in 1914. Soon after, the locals left, leaving a small ghost town in their wake. The abandoned location is unsettling in and of itself, but the paranormal rumor aspect raises the spookiness level a notch. A young woman who used to live in the town and was slain in a freak accident while visiting her boyfriend at the sawmill has allegedly been heard screaming by hikers. Even her spirit has been seen by a few people strolling around the abandoned mill.