Close your eyes and picture the deep, green, musty forest. You can almost feel it soaking up your anxiety and slowing down your rushing thoughts, soothing your soul and body. No wonder so many of us have a deep fascination with forests.
Woods are also among the most mysterious places. They never cease to capture our imagination, from early childhood days spent roaming there carelessly to watching horror movies about haunted forests (who needs a reminder about The Blair Witch Project?).
So no wonder there’s this impression that the only other place where what happens in there stays there, apart from Vegas, is the forest. And the collection of pictures below puts that into perspective. Scroll down through the craziest, weirdest, and most question-inducing discoveries people made while talking a walk out in the woods, and let us know if you too have seen something unusual there in the comments.
Psst! More bizarre and fascinating forest findings can be found in our previous feature here.
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Forest Huntress
“We grow up hearing stories about the dangers of the forest - in fairy tales, the forest is the place where the witches and wolves lurk, the place where little children get lost and get into trouble,” Lauren McMenemy, a south London-based writer of gothic-influenced folk horror who is currently working on a novel set in the world of the Victorian occult, told Bored Panda. She was happy to share some insights into our endearing fascination with deep dark woods, so scroll down to see what she said below.
An Albino Moose In The Forest
Found A Cool Tree In My Local Park And Felt Like It Needed Some Magic
Came Across Some Dinosaurs In The Woods
“Forests and woodlands are full of intrigue; it's a totally different world to the urban life many of us now lead. When we see trees in cities, they are carefully placed in a curated landscape, often as a way to distract us from the concrete jungle we live in. In forests, though, nature rules,” McMenemy, who is a professional writer, journalist, and experienced writing coach, argues.
“It's wild, it's unruly, and anything could be lurking there. To a certain sort of personality, that is captivating,” she explained.
I Found This Carved Fox Inside A Tree Stump, In A Forest Close To My Home
The Sculptures Are All Made Of Twig And Twine. They're Mostly Tucked Away Off The Main Paths, So If You Don't Know They're There, You Might Walk Right Past Them
Yes, She Found A Wild Mushroom In The Forest. No, She Didn't Eat Part Of It, She's Just Always A Derp
Meanwhile, in folklore and fantasy, forests represent places unknown, the place beyond the safety of home, McMenemy argues. “They are the liminal spaces - the spaces in between - where transformation can occur. Forests can be a place of threatening danger, or one of refuge, depending on the story.”
The writer continued: “There could be more to it than a warning, though; many pagan cultures are strongly connected to nature, and forests or woodlands were places of worship. Perhaps as Christianity spread, the tales of forest-dwellers became parables?”
A Buddy Of Mine Found This Dinosaur While On A Hike The Other Day
This Tower We Found In An Irish Forest Looks Like Something Out Of A Fairytale
A Forest Dining Room
“As humanity once again wakes up to the importance of nature to our lives and our climate,” McMenemy told us, “I fervently hope the forest becomes a sacred place again. There is so little true, thick woodland and forest left in the world, yet these are the places where our imagination comes alive,” she concluded.
An Old Jacket Hanging In The Woods With A Bird's Nest Built In The Pocket
This Wooden Throne In An English Woodland
Out For A Walk, Found In The Middle Of A Forest
Tragically, the world’s forests have been shrinking at an increasingly rapid rate since the last ice age. According to the data by the World Economic Forum, once humans figured out how to cultivate plants and livestock for regular sources of food, they needed land to use.
For centuries, the loss of greenery was relatively slow. By 1800, the world had lost 700 million hectares each of forest and grassland, replaced by around 900 million hectares of land for grazing animals and 400 million hectares for crops. But industrialization in the 1800s rapidly sped up the process.
Igor Hit The Jackpot, And That's Why Jogging Is Good, Kids
This Random Chandelier Left Hanging In The Forest
Keeper Of The Woods
Massive Abandoned Sanatorium I Found In A German Forest
While half of Earth’s loss of forests occurred from 10,000 years ago to 1900, the other half or 1.1 billion hectares have been lost since 1900. Part of this loss, about a whopping 100 million hectares, has occurred in the more recent time period of 2000 to 2018.
In that sense, humanity’s destruction of nature and ecosystems is a result of very recent population growth and increasing consumption. Experts have calculated that today, the world has lost one-third of its forests. Globally we deforest around ten million hectares of forest every year. That’s an area the size of Portugal every year. Around half of this deforestation is offset by regrowing forests, so overall we lose around five million hectares each year.
Found A Little Faerie Door In The Woods
This Abandoned Ship In The Middle Of A Forest
Eerily Humanoid Shapes On This Tree
A Creepy Little Christmas Tree Fully Decorated In The Middle Of The Woods. Powered By What Looked Like Mini Solar Panels
I Have No Good Explanation For This. Found Three Hours Into A Deep Forest, 20ft In The Air, And Impaled On A Tree. Hours Away From Major Roads
Came Upon A Stained Glass Window Hanging In A Forest In Belgium
Almost 30 years ago I stuck an 8' tall black monolith (a la 2001: A Space Odyssey) in the woods near where I was living. In a clearing along a public trail. You'd walk around a bend in the trail, it would open into the clearing, and boom, monolith! Probably didn't last long before tipping over, it was upcycled plastic. Hm. Basically I littered. My bad.
Pass Under The Stairs To Nowhere, Then Turn Around Three Times, To Find Yourself Right Where You Need To Be. His Is In Madame Sherri Forest In West Chesterfield, NH
Just Going For A Little Hike
I Found A Plant-Based, Man-Made "Acorn" Hanging In The Middle Of The Woods
Skull Looking Rock In The Middle Of The Forest
I Found A Deer In A Makeshift Hut In The Woods
This Guy I Found In The Woods, About 11ft Tall
Steam Engine Left In The Forest. Ontario Canada
So I Was Walking In A Forest Near My City And Found This
Found A Random Painting In The Middle Of The Woods
Found A Cougar Skull In The Woods
Piano In The Woods
Found This Gnome Town On A Walk In The Woods Today
This Creepy Paper-Mache Family I Found While Walking In The Forest
A Cast Iron Cauldron I Found Buried In My Forest
I Was Walking In The Forest And Noticed That Some Plastic Was Sticking Out From Under A Rock. I Find It A Bit Eerie Since I Still Was On My Dad’s Property
This Super Mario Pipe In The Woods In New Hampshire
Sleeping Bus In A Japanese Forest
Clean-Cut Stone In A Swedish Forest
Doorknob On A Tree In The Middle Of The Woods
Random Old Chimney And Fireplace In The Middle Of The Woods. Found Off The Trail While Fishing In Northwest Pennsylvania
This Small-Scale Railway In The Forest
My Friend Has The Theory That If I Laid Down I Would Wake Up In The Hole In The Middle Of The Woods Every Night Like A Curse, And Keep Coming Back
Old Shoes In The Forest Turned To Moss
I Found An Old Abandoned Cottage N The Woods
An Ordinary Photo Of Some Lost Items In The Woods
A RuneScape Player With Low Cooking Made This
In The Woods
This Tree Broke This Rock And Kept Growing
An Actual Pet Cemetery In The Woods
These Steps I Found While Hiking Are Carved Out Of A Fallen Tree
This Gravestone I Found In The Woods
A Random Abandoned Mausoleum In The Middle Of The Woods
Just Strolling Through Kielder Forest, UK
A few of our National Parks and Forests have sculptures and sculpture trails through them. As well as mountain biking trails.
When Walking In The Woods And Finding The Exit Of The Matrix
There Is A Plane In The Middle Of The Forest In Oregon
There Are Abandoned Bunkers In Lithuania. They Look So Surreal In The Middle Of A Forest
Abandoned Fireplace In The Forest
Often times the only thing left standing when the rest of the building rots away.
While Cycling Through The Forest I Found This Old-Looking Wood Carving
Beautiful House In The Woods That Was Abandoned
Found This While Walking My Dog In The Woods. Someone Put A Lot Of Time Into Making This
NC Mountains
I had a dream once a plane crashed near my house and I was excited because all the meals were already hot. Something wrong with my brain
Anyone Lose A Camera Say, I Don't Know, Maybe 80 Years Ago Down At Eagle Creek? I Think We May Have Found Ansel Adams 1st Camera
Obviously, we were in a spot not many people have been. Down a high steep slope next to the creek!! My homie Ethan found it almost completely buried! And it still has a film in it!
See if it is possible to get the film developed. In good condition, these cameras can be worth about £300
Geodesic Dome In The Woods With Dry Stone Surround
Kind of a sci-fi sort of vibe, when you're walking through the woods and happen on this. Great acoustics inside.
Walking In The Woods And Came Across This Building With A Whole Wall Made From Old Wooden Doors
This Payphone In The Middle Of The Woods
Tall View Of A Tree Besieged By Woodpeckers And Termites
An Old 8 Ball Found Deep In A Forest
My Friend Found A Tiny Tree House In The Forest
Found On A Hike Through The Woods In The Middle Of Nowhere, West Virginia. Nothing Else Around, No Buildings Anywhere
Someone Hid A Bunch Of Little Plastic Dinosaurs Amongst The Trees On A Hiking Trail
That is an AWESOME idea. I love doing stuff like that to make people wtf?
An Abandoned Piano In The Forest
Was Out Foraging In My Local Woods Today, And I Wandered Off Down A Long Overgrown Path I'd Never Followed Before
This rather unsettling padlocked door freaked me out a bit.
The Things You Find In A Forest
Found This Weird Underground Door In The Woods. Thank God It Was Daylight
I'm way to curious to leave this door alone ^^. Guess i'm the person in the horror movie who always gets killed first : )
I Love The Cool Stuff You Find In The Woods
I Found A Bomb While On A Hike
Found A Boat In The Woods. Well, Half A Boat
Found In The Woods
Found This Big Structure Hiking In The Woods. Big Square Cement Tower, About 3 Stories Tall, Inside Had Metal Ladder To The Top With A Small Seat And Window. What Is?
Took A Walk In The Forest And Discovered A Decorated Gnome House Inside A Tree
Picture I Took In A State Forest
Red Balloon Far Out In The Woods
Found A Random Door In The Woods In A Fairly Desolate Area Of Pa Near A Lake. The Door Also Faces Almost Perfectly East / West
Came Across This Abandoned Building In Vermont While Hiking In The Woods. There’s No Door And The Windows Have Been Boarded Up And Caged
What Is This Metal Sphere I Found In The Woods?
I Found A Pac-Man Manhole Cover In The Middle Of The Woods This Afternoon
This Photo I Found Impaled In The Woods
This Was Found In The Middle Of The Woods
I Found Plane Wreckage While Hiking In A State Park This Weekend
The Lines On This Tree I Found In The Woods
It looks like it's from a bark beetle that burrows under the bark and basically kills the tree by keeping it from getting food and water.. they leave lines like that under the bark.. I grew up in a national forest that had a problem with them..
Chair In The Woods For The Outsider Art Park
All The Trash I Found In 25 Square Feet Of My Forest
This Absolutely Humongous Plow I Came Across In The Middle Of A Forest
What Are These Big Concrete-Blocks I Found In A Forest In Switzerland?
I Went For A Walk At An Old Ski Hill And Found The Abandoned Snow-Maker Machines
Altar Of Lost Toys In The Woods Near A School
Trash I Found In 25 Square Feet Of My Forest
That's rubbish! I teach Cultural Education to kids at a behavioural school. One of the lessons was altruism and caring for Country. We cleaned up a Sacred site where somebody had dumped a couple of trailer loads of building materials. People have no respect
I Was Told Y'all Might Like This Reel-To-Reel Audio Tape I Found Near A Collapsed House In The Woods
This QR Code Etched Into A Rock Along A Forest Trail In My City
An Auto Rickshaw Abandoned In The Forest
Iron Door In The Middle Of The Woods, With Rock Behind Them
Came Across This On A Remote Forest Road
🥺 looks like a car seat in the background. Maybe a memorial site for a horrible wreck
I often hike off-trail (I'm a biologist) and have encountered many weird stuff, most of it harmless. However, last winter I found a dead body. I was pregnant, far away from any road and had to lead the police to the place after calling them. It was wild. I still feel very sorry for the family of the victim and the person itself. Turned out it was suicide. The guy was my age. I have clinical depression myself and am so sorry nobody was able to help him. I am however glad that I found him and not the wild boars or wolves... And now his family at least knows what happened and can hopefully start the process of grieve. (Sorry for the language, I'm not a native speaker)
That must have been tough for you, especially while pregnant!
Load More Replies...Just do one of the weird carvings on dead plants and broken logs. It's not littering and it looks like a fairy did it.
Load More Replies...I often hike off-trail (I'm a biologist) and have encountered many weird stuff, most of it harmless. However, last winter I found a dead body. I was pregnant, far away from any road and had to lead the police to the place after calling them. It was wild. I still feel very sorry for the family of the victim and the person itself. Turned out it was suicide. The guy was my age. I have clinical depression myself and am so sorry nobody was able to help him. I am however glad that I found him and not the wild boars or wolves... And now his family at least knows what happened and can hopefully start the process of grieve. (Sorry for the language, I'm not a native speaker)
That must have been tough for you, especially while pregnant!
Load More Replies...Just do one of the weird carvings on dead plants and broken logs. It's not littering and it looks like a fairy did it.
Load More Replies...