Deep, Dark and Disturbed Forests

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
These are all places that have terrifying histories, and visitors sometimes hear high-pitched screams from those that are no longer alive, and have not found peace in the afterlife.

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Epping Forest

Epping Forest, Essex, England
Due to its density this forest became a favorite hideaway for highwaymen, including Dick Turpin (1705-1739) who hid there with his gang of thugs. He used a cave in the High Beach area of Epping as a hideout for many years. ​

Located close to London, it's known also as place to dispose of murder victims. Those suspected of using the forest as a dumping ground are the Krays, identical twin brothers who were the foremost perpetrators of organized crime in the East End of London from the 1950s to 1967. Since the 1960s, more than a dozen victims have been discovered there.

The forest is haunted by those who were left to rot in a secret grave and even Turpin himself makes an appearance. Or it could be ghosts of those who died in battles dating back to Roman times. Hangman's Hill is stalked by a shadowy man and screams are heard.

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Remnants from a suicide at The Suicide Forest in Japan

Aokigahara Forest (aka Suicide Forest), Japan
The Aokigahara Forest is a 6,000 acre primeval forest located at the base of Mt. Fuji and Mt. Hiel in the eastern suburb of Kyoto. This is where the Enryakuji Temple, established in 788 A.D. is located. It is considered one of the most historically significant monasteries in Japan.

The serene sway of the trees belie the tormented past of what has become known as the Suicide Forest. At one time this forest was known as the "Sea of Trees".  The forest's eerie ambiance, marked by an unnatural silence and limited wildlife has contributed to its unsettling reputation. 

It is second to the Golden Gate Bridge as a place to commit suicide.

By 1978, it had developed a more morbid name which was the Forest of No Return. In April of that year alone, police had found 13 bodies. The search for suicides had started in 1974. In 1976 they had 19,786 deaths by suicide.

A police officer noted they knew there might be other bodies that were never located since the official search parties never went too deep into the area. Authorities believe few murderers have disposed of their victims in the forest, and many times it's a murder-suicide act. A post mortem is only done on bodies if it's suspected there was foul play.

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A woman performs a cursing ritual (Hokusai), an illustration by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849).

The forest's attraction began after the publication of the best-selling fiction work by Seicho Matsumoto, Nami No To (Tower of Waves), in which the heroine disappeared into the forest beneath Japan's most sacred mountain, and was never seen alive again. He depicted it as a site for a peaceful death. In the 1970s the book became a television drama.

In recent years the authorities have decided not to post the amount of successful suicide attempts in order to stop the allure of the forest.

 The latest numbers of suicide in Japan are a little over 26,000 from 2025 into 2026. The most common causes of suicide in Japan are: health issues; economic or livelihood problems; family issues; school-related issues; and relationship issues.

Some think that the novel popularized the area as a place to end one's life, however the morbid history of the Suicide Forest predates this since the area has long be associated with death.
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Ubasute (translating to "abandoning the old woman") is a practice dating back to feudal Japan, and is believed to have been practiced in the forest. This is when an infirm or elderly relative is carried to a desolate place and left to die.

The forest is said to be haunted by ghosts (yūrei) of those abandoned to a lonely death, and those who chose the path of self destruction.

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Would you be one of those that would visit these dense, dark forests and confront the feelings of dread? You could chalk it up to your imagination or admit that there is someone, or something looking at you intently from the shadows.

The Atsion Mansion belonged to a family who ran a mill in the Pine Barrens in the early 19th century

Pine Barrens, New Jersey
Spanning over one million acres the Pine Barrens covers seven counties in New Jersey. During the 17th century the area was settled by the Swedish and Dutch who developed whaling and fishing along the Delaware River. The Dutch abandoned their claim to the English in 1664.

Because of the plentiful wood in the Pine Barrens an economy grew around sawmills, gristmills and shipbuilding, establishing the first European settlements in 1700.

Many of the industries the developed during the Colonial Period were used during the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Second Barbary War.

The discovery of coal in Pennsylvania left many of the villages as ghost towns, which were eventually reclaimed by the forest.

The most popular resident of the forest is the Jersey Devil or the Leeds Devil. According to legend, the creature was born in 1735 to Deborah Leeds also known as Mother Leeds. She lived in Burlington on the Delaware River part of a pioneer Quaker Settlement. She was accused of witchcraft, and in 1735, she gave birth to her 13th child. Born during a stormy night, the baby was normal at first then transformed into a creature with a serpent-like body, cloven hooves, a horse's head, the wings of a bat and the forked tail of a dragon. The night of its birth it went from village to village devouring babies and attacking women.

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The Jersey Devil is said to the Pine Barrens home

A variant of this story is that Deborah Leeds was a witch, and the "devil child" was the product of a dalliance with a British soldier.

The Devil hid in the forest, and travelers reported having heard and seen it.

Those that lived in the Barrens blamed it for turning milk sour, horses that became lame in their stalls and cows who stopped producing milk.

The sighting of the Leeds Devil was said to be accompanied by the howling of dogs and the hooting of owls which announced its arrival.

It was said to stalk the seashore and wait for merchant ships that wrecked on wild nights. Sometimes it was seen accompanied by a beautiful, blonde woman dressed in white. Other times it was a pirate with a cutlass in its hand. He had supposedly wrecked on the shore of Cape May 200 years before. A third companion is a decapitated man said to be a sailor killed by Captain Kidd, as a sentinel of his buried gold.

Through the years many credible townspeople claimed to have seen the Jersey Devil. Among them was Stephen Decatur who described a flying creature, and Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's eldest brother who saw it in 1820 while out hunting.

In 1899, the Jersey Devil was said to have reappeared for the first time since it warned the pioneers of the approach of the Civil War.

In 1960, Camden businessmen offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who captured it.

Even before the legend of the Jersey Devil, early settlers avoided the interior believing it was desolate and threatening. For those running from the law, deserters, religious dissenters and others it became a perfect hideout. These people insulated themselves from the outside world and started their own settlements. They were referred to as "pineys" and developed reputations as bandits, and even as being "feebleminded" from too much interbreeding.

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Hoia-Baciu Forest, Romania​

Hoia-Baciu Forest, Romania​
The forest covers less than two miles, and is situated in the depths of Transylvania. During the 20th century, the oldest Neolithic settlement dating back to 6500 B.C. was discovered at the north end of Valea Lunga.

The wood was supposedly named after a shepherd who went missing in the forest along with his flock of 200 sheep.

In the 1950s, biologist Alexandru Sift (1936–1993) began to study the area’s unusual magnetic field, strange light phenomena and sightings of a UFO. During his exploration, he began experiencing strange feelings of being watched and claimed to have seen shadowy figures darting between the trees. These shadows would sometimes take the shape of a man and a woman – who would disappear into thin air as soon as they caught sight of him.

Fueling the mystery is the disappearance of Sift's photographs and research archives after his death. 

​However it wasn't until 1968 that Hoia-Baciu came to international attention. Emil Barnea, a military technician photographed a UFO over a clearing that was known to be barren of any growth. Due to the publication of the photograph, Barnea lost his job.

Since then the forest has developed a reputation as the "Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania." 

Reports of portals, disappearing people and weird physical afflictions are brought on by visiting the forest. A story is told of a young girl who disappeared only to reappear in the forest five years later without any memory of what had happened to her. 

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The Black Forest

The Black Forest, Germany
The dense fir trees create pools of darkness even in daylight. The Romans who arrived here called it Silva Nigra or Black Forest. 

The tales range from the fantastical to the paranormal: a White Lady who is a portend of doom;  a headless horseman who rides on a white stallion, a king who lives in an underwater lair with nymphs but who occasionally kidnaps human women, werewolves, witches, dwarves and the devil are just a few of the strange characters running around in the Black Forest.

Another strange one is der Grossmann (translates to the Tall Man or The Great Man), a multiple-armed man with bulging eyes. Naughty children who go into the forest are made to confess their sins to him. The worse offenders are never heard from again.

There is the Hexenloch (Witches' Hollow) Valley's Headless Horseman, a 17th-century spectral rider said to be a mercenary from the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). He's seen near dusk accompanied by the sound of hoofbeats and screams. During this war, starving soldiers and villagers cannibilized the dead.

The Brothers Grimm used the forest’s dark reputation as a backdrop to their stories like Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel and Snow White.

During medieval times it was considered a forbidden land, full of outlaws, strange beasts and those who still practiced pagan rituals.

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Local Proverb: "Im Schwarzwald, die Toten gehen nicht allein" — "In the Black Forest, the dead do not walk alone."