Since time immemorial, people have been afraid of what lurks among the flora in the wooded
areas near their homes.
Stories about the ghosts and demons that haunt these all-natural labyrinths can be found
throughout the ages, all across different societies.
It’s easy enough to get lost if you don’t know what you’re doing, and once you step
off the beaten path you’re at the mercy of the forest.
To make matters worse; once the sun goes down, anything could be hiding in the pitch darkness
of the trees.
Many horrible creatures make the forest their home, all with blood-curdling backstories
to make their presence all the more unsettling.
The last thing you want is to stumble across some horrid hellion while trying to find your
bearings and get the heck out of the woods.
So, like the extremely lovely people we are, we’ve compiled a smattering of creatures
you’d be better off avoiding if push comes to shove.
Here is our list of the Top 5 Creatures You Wouldn’t Want to Meet in the Woods.
Before we get started, make sure to hit that thumbs up, and subscribe if you want more
creepy content.
Let’s get to it.
LUCY: FIVE: THE WENDIGO Also referred to as the Wetiko, this is a
mythological man-eating creature or evil spirit from the folklore of the Native American Algonquian
tribes based in the northern forests of Nova Scotia, the East Coast of Canada, and the
Great Lakes Region of Canada.
It is a monster with characteristics of a human or even a spirit who has possessed a
human being and made them monstrous.
It has been referred to as a possessing force that makes a person want to eat human flesh,
found mostly in areas with a shortage of food in the winter.
However, there are more than just one variant, the second is a northern ghoul variant -- a
person who eats human flesh becomes the wendigo, rather than eating flesh because they were
possessed by the wendigo.
This can oftentimes be depicted as a floating humanoid figure that moves quickly with the
wind, with a starved figure and a distended belly because they’re always starving for
more human flesh.
Now, the third variant is more recent, linking descriptions of Bigfoot or yeti with the Wendigo
myth, where it is a mix between human and furry.
Regardless of the variant, the wendigo is on the hunt for human flesh, making you, a
mere wanderer in the woods, their prime target.
Keegan: NUMBER FOUR: JOTUNN Watch your back, and stay away from trees
with sharp branches if you ever think you’ve encountered one of these Nordic nature spirits.
If you’re not careful, you might end up as a gruesome sacrifice.
Known to many as a son of Loki, this beast-man-thing has shape shifting capabilities, and is generally
pretty ambiguously defined.
Often when someone is referring to a Jotunn, they could also be talking about a giant,
or a troll, or a number of other large mythical monsters.
However, today I want to make sure we’re pretty clear in defining it as a malicious,
sacrifice-seeking shapeshifter.
There are many Jotunn out there, but it's best to be prepared for the worst of the bunch.
If you’ve ever seen David Bruckner’s movie “The Ritual,” you already know how horrifying
Jotunn can truly be.
In the movie, four friends go on a hiking trip in Sweden in honour of their dead friend.
One of them injures their knee, and they’re forced to take a shortcut through an unmapped
forest.
Always a bad call guys, come on!
Haven’t you ever watched a horror movie?
During their time in the woods, they come across an eviscerated deer hanging from a
tree, one wake up with unexplainable injuries, and they even find their friend praying in
the nude to a wooden statue without even realizing it.
Very soon after this, two of the friends are taken and killed by the Jotunn.
The other two friends discover a body as they come across a village of Jotunn worshippers.
This is where the real scary stuff starts.
They find out that the villagers sacrifice people to the Jotunn in exchange for immortality,
and trap the two remaining friends.
During an attempted escape, the beast reveals its shapeshifting abilities by luring one
of the men in with a facsimile of his wife.
Then it’s true form is revealed: a massive eight-legged partially-human partially-beastly
shambling monstrosity with huge antlers.
Ready to hear how one of the protagonists gets killed?
The Jotunn reaches out with weirdly human arms, and impales the man on a sharp tree
branch, leaving him to bleed out.
Ouch.
Coming across one of these guys in the woods means that you’ll likely meet the same fate.
You might think that due to the size of the thing, it wouldn’t be too fast.
Well, you’d be wrong!
It is extremely fast, and will know the forest like the back of its hand.
It’s not a nature spirit for nothing.
As a Son of Loki, it is an excellent trickster as well, and will take the form of whatever
it needs to to hunt its prey.
Loki seriously got around huh?
Fathering murderous forest beasts, jeez.
The impaling upon tree branches has a Norse background as well.
If you’ve ever studied Norse mythology, you’ll know that Odin hung himself from
the world tree, Yggdrasil, and was impaled upon the spear in order to learn the secrets
of rune magic.
It’s possible that the Jotunn is impaling creatures and humans alike on trees as sacrifices
to Odin himself.
That’s hardcore, but you wouldn’t want to be on the recieving end.
I also mentioned it having eight legs earlier, which may remind you of another character
in Norse mythology; Sleipnir, Odin’s eight-legged horse.
It’s all coming together…
However, unless you’re a Norse God yourself, I would recommend staying away from this one.
Unless you like getting impaled on trees…
It’s your life, I guess…
Lucy: THREE: THE DULLAHAN Also known as the Original Sleepy Hollow,
The Dullahan is a headless rider, usually on a black hore who carries his head under
his arm.
Now, although The Dullahan is typically male, there have been some female version throughout
folklore.
The mouth is usually in a hideous grin that reaches both sides of the head, think the
joker and you’re on the right track.
Not only that, but his eyes are constantly moving about and can see across the countryside
even during the darkest of nights.
It has been said by those who have reported sightings that the flesh of the head is the
colour and consistency of moldy cheese, which, as a dairy intolerant person is revolting
to me, just saying.
The Dullahan use the spine of a human corpse for a whip, and its wagon is adorned with
funeral objects, e.g. candles in skulls to light the way, the spokes of the wheels are
made from thigh bones, the wagon’s covering made from a worm-chewed pall or dried human
skin.
Now, here’s where things get spooky, especially for anyone tracking through the dark woods.
When the Dullahan stops riding, that is where a person is due to die.
The Dullahan will then call out the person’s name, at which point that person will immediately
perish.
Now, even more terrifying still, there is no way to bar the path against a Dullahan
-- all locks and gates open to them when they approach.
They also do not appreciate being watched while on their errands, throwing a basin of
blood on those who dare to do so.
You have been warned.
Keegan: NUMBER TWO: SKINWALKERS In Navajo lore, skinwalkers are known as “he
who walks on all fours.”
Powerful medicine men and witches who have acquired various supernatural powers through
terrible means.
Shapeshifting is one of their most well-known attributes, most commonly taking the forms
of coyotes, crows, bears, wolves, cougars, and owls.
They also have a tendency to appear as unspeakable chimeras, with hideous amalgamations of both
human and animal features.
Skinwalkers begin as humans who place terrible curses upon themselves through rituals of
pure evil.
They’re required to commit terrible atrocities, grotesqueries, and grave taboos.
This can often require the killing of a family member or loved one.
When all is said and done, they’re infused with the insidious curse and the awful powers
that come with it.
Once a skinwalker, they are often banished from their tribes for submitting to evil,
and left to walk the badlands forever.
As they traverse the wastes, they are often seen as animalistic, even in their human forms.
Also, they often travel naked.
If they weren’t scary enough already, now there’s a chance you’ll come across a
nude ungodly abomination in the woods.
Yikes.
These monsters are extremely strong and agile in addition to their magical powers.
They can use their abilities to mesmerise, instill fear, sow confusion, and even take
control of another’s body for a short period of time.
On top of all this, they’re extremely difficult to kill.
Unless you know their original name, or have a very specific ash to coat your knife, good
luck getting rid of a skinwalker.
There are countless stories of skinwalkers being terrifying in forests all across North
America.
One story details the time a duo in Arizona came across a gigantic coyote sitting perfectly
still in the middle of the road.
It didn’t even flinch when they drove by it, and started chasing the car afterwards.
It was right on the car’s tail, even at 50 miles per hour.
This obviously freaked the passengers out, but what happened next was absolutely bone-chilling.
The coyote ran alongside the car, and looked into the window with human-like eyes.
Then it smiled at the driver, and let out a screech before running off into the night.
Yeah, remind me not to take a late night drive in Arizona.
Another skinwalker story is even scarier, thanks to the long-lasting consequences of
the encounter.
A man and his friend were on a hiking trip, and got separated at some point.
Hours later they reconnected, but there was something wrong with one of them.
They didn’t seem to be themselves, and seemed to not know many details about his own life.
Upon returning to the city, the friend who disappeared seemed lost, like he didn’t
know what he was doing.
He was dropped off at his house, and was never heard from again.
This could very well be an instance of a skinwalker taking over someone’s body for a very long
time.
Whether the friend’s body was taken over, or if he was killed and replaced by the skinwalker,
it’s hard to tell.
The prospect of a loved one being taken over permanently by a skinwalker is blood-curdling.
So, unless you want yourself or a family member being taken over, I’d say avoid skinwalkers
to the best of your ability.
Not that you would be able to tell if you were near one though…
LUCY AND KEEGAN: ONE: SCP 1000 SCP 1000 is a nocturnal, omnivorous ape, which
ranges from 5 to 10 ft in height, and weighs between 200 and 600 lbs.
They often have grey, brown, black, red, and occasionally white fur and possess large eyes
with good vision, with intelligence that is on-par with the common chimpanzee.
Now, SCP 1000 evolved alongside humans, up until 10,000-15,000 years ago, when an extinction
event eliminated all but 1-5% of their population.
This event was triggered by SCP 1000 contracting an anomalous pseudo-disease which is classified
as SCP 1000-f1.
This disease is passed on at the genetic level and affects every present-day instance of
SCP 1000.
Now, the effect of SCP 1000-f1 is as follows: any humanoid that directly, or indirectly,
observes any instance of SCP 1000 has a minimum 2% chance of being instantly killed through
anomalous means via permanent cessation of brain function.
Meaning, if you cross paths with an instance of SCP 1000 while alone in the woods, you
have a high chance of biting the dust.
All media reports related to SCP 1000 are to be examined for potential verifiability.
And all organizations and individuals investigating SCP 1000’s existence are to be kept under
surveillance by Mobile Task Force Zeta-1000 and discredited or administered amnestics.
Well, there we have it!
Do you guys agree with our list?
Are there any creepy forest lurking creatures that we missed?
Leave us all your thoughts and feelings in the comments down below and perhaps we can
do a part 2.
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And until next time, see ya later.