I watched Over the Garden Wall with my mom and when I caught the brief frame of The Beast illuminated by light it fucking startled me, Mom didn't see it and I had to convince her to rewind. I can't believe they managed to get that into a kid's show.
As someone who live in one of the rare areas in Washington that has trees wherever you look, i can say with certainty a forest can go from looking beautiful to being one of the creepiest things ever.
There is just SOMETHING about your videos This constant emotional buildup, topped off with the very last line, that always menages to drive me on the verge of tears, if not crying outright Keep it up, you are one of the best
One of the creepiest things of the forest, in my opinion, is the noises produced by old or dying trees. Some of them relocate their weight between their roots in soft moistened soil, some are rotting, breaking inside, but not falling apart just yet. Just imagine: you are in the night forest, everything is pitch black save for your light source. And from beyond, somewhere from sylvan depths, a very low sound comes. Very low, resonating between trees, sending vibrations through ears or maybe bones, followed by cracking of opening fissures. FFWWWOOOOOOOOOOWOOOOOOOOOM, krrrrk-krkrkrkrk-k.
There was a forest before us and there is a forest after us. it doesn't matter if we survive to see it ourselves or not. the forest remains and the forest grows and absorbs and preserves history within itself.
I feel another good example would be the game "voices of the void" isolated alone in the middle of a huge forest in Switzerland, wandering the woods fixing ground station satellites, while you have 0 clue about what you might encounter.
Oh oh! First - amazing work as always I have a contribution. Everyone knows Transylvania, the land of Dracula and monsters. Transylvania Trans Sylvus Across the woods.
This video made me think of the show Yellowjackets and how “the wilderness” is a character within itself in the show. One character, Lottie, is seen struggling with mental illness at the beginning of the show. When she and the rest of the soccer team get lost in the woods they try their best to survive. After her pills run out, Lottie has a breakdown and is convinced that the wilderness itself is alive, and requires sacrifices in order to keep them from starving. It sounds supernatural, but it’s never clear to the audience if it’s the characters’ paranoia from the isolation or if there is something magical happening. The girls themselves aren’t even sure. Eventually this faux-religion they develop consumes every aspect of their survival. They crown an “antler queen” who embodies the spirit of the wilderness, and by the end of season 2 this obsession leads to a severe loss for the group. (I won’t spoil anything go watch the show it’s amazing!!!) The wilderness in Yellowjackets is a setting, a character, an adversary, a god, and a part of the other characters.
I live in Colorado, on the front range. It's all prairie. I've been camping more than enough times to know, though, that you Must respect the forest. These trees know more than you and I ever will. Respect the trails. And do not wander at night.
About Blair Witch: They actually had a witch on set that was supposed to be in a scene, but since the actors weren't told about her for an authentic scare, the actor with the camera got genuinely spooked and forgot to point the camera at the witch. So she got cut from the movie. In fact, the actors in the original movie rarely got told what was happening in order to make them genuinely frustrated and to spook them for real.
Oh yeah! That bit where she's going "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" And she's seeing a guy in all white moving around like a ghost. Then he fell in the mud afterwards.
They actually had their food rations cut shorter every day and genuinely struggled to stay mentally fit. AFAIK they had an emergency phone and could have aborted the project at any time, but luckily they didn't.
Personally I believe that the Beast from "Over The Garden Wall" is one of the best depictions of the idea of a forest digesting you. The Beast is the embodiment of hopelessness, his power coming from those who have given up or are too tired to continue on. The reason the Beast can't claim Wirt and Greg at the beginning, during their journey to Adelaide is because they still had hope that their path will lead them home. It's only after their meeting with Adelaide turns out to be counterproductive that Wirt begins to lose hope. Once someone gives up all hope they become claimed by the Beast, slowly becoming an Edelwood, becoming a part of the forest. In a way, the forest is just an extension of the Beast, gripping claws to catch his prey to serve his insatiable hunger.
I see the. Beast as a personification of the forest’s will to survive and how that comes from the hopelessness of those in it. Since the edelwood is needed to fuel the lamp that keeps the beast alive
I agree with all that, but I'd also like to add that the Beast's seem to depict a dual nature. He is both the personification of the inevitability of the forest, but also someone who is fighting tooth and nails not to be consumed by it. Now, I'm not sure, but it always looked to me as if the Beast is leading others to death specifically because he knows the forest would have him if it isn't satiated.
Another story I think is worth mentioning here is the lesser-known Greek myth of Erysichthon. Erysichthon was a king who committed a grave offense against the goddess Demeter, by cutting down her sacred grove in the deep wilderness to collect wood for his new palace, slaughtering her favorite dryad in the process. In retaliation, Demeter had Limos, goddess of starvation, curse Erysichthon with a ravenous, never-ending hunger. Erysichthon ends up destroying his whole life in his desperation to feed that hunger, leaving himself alone and destitute, until he finally devours his own body, leaving nothing behind. All the metaphors you made here about the forest consuming people just made me think of that story, and how it’s a very good metaphor for how humanity’s own greed leads us to destroy our forests, until we’re left without vital resources, and destroy ourselves, while the forest will eventually reclaim us. In the end, Demeter has her vengeance.
'. . . at last hunger compelled him to devour his limbs, and he strove to nourish his body by eating his body, till death relieved him from the vengeance of Ceres'-Bullfinch's Mythology
Isn't there a similar story in the cycle of stories around Finn McCool? It's been like thirty years since I read any of those old tales but I seem to remember a guy eating his own body at the end of the curse.
@@Beryllahawk idk about that but there's a short story by stephen king about a med student smuggling heroin in a plane that goes down. he finds himself on a rocky island and chasing down a seagull for food nets him the bird, but also a broken foot/leg that he treats with his heroin. eventually crippled, starving, and stoned out his mind, he resorts excising his flesh for sustenance.....
@@vulcanfeline Whoa. I haven't read THAT one. Dang!! Trust King to write something like that though. Gotta say, that also seems REALLY believable given what little I know about morphine/heroin addiction. Read "Naked Lunch" sometime. (shudders)
@@Beryllahawk i'd tell you what book title it was in but, due to old eyes not being able to read anymore, i donated my book collection to the library about 15 yrs ago if that helps you find it. i found an audio book for naked lunch. thx for the recommendation
Once my dog ran off into the woods and wouldn't stop barking. It was the middle of the night in West Virginia, and I knew he was stuck out there in the woods. He had ran out there with a leash on him and it wasn't the first time he'd gotten stuck, just the first time it was at night. So I got my little brother, we were like 16 and 12 at the time, and we set out with headlamps. We've lived on this property for years, a decade at least and I've explored these woods thoroughly. But at night, any of the paths you think you know are gone. There's nothing that resembles familiarity besides the distant lights of your house. We wandered through those woods for at least 30 minutes nearly blind. Every shadow felt like it had eyes. Every bush waiting to grab you and pull you in to be loooonnnggg forgotten. He was stuck in a slim part of the woods where our yard nearly meets with the neighbors, but that slim stretch of thicket no longer than a quarter of a mile felt like a tolkein-esque journey. I'll never forget the feeling of stepping out of the woods, of finally leaving that barrier that separates those almost eldritch woods from the controlled land of our neighbors yard. Covered in thorn bush branches and little stick 'ems seeds. I respected the woods before that night, but after that night I never chopped down a tree that seemed too old. I started to excise invasive species and killing the wild grape vines that try and choke out these old cedars.
That's quite a story - must've been one heck of a night. I'm seeing so many other folks telling similar stories and I'm (forgive the pun) stumped by it. When I was very small - about seven years old - we lived in the Catskills for not quite a year. Arrived in fall and left at the end of spring. So I went through late fall and winter on a small farm, nearest neighbor half a mile away. Maybe not "old forest" in the technical sense, but it sure FELT old, and huge - and not JUST because I was a short little brat not even three feet tall yet, ha. But I was never afraid. Not when the bad blizzard came through and snowed everyone in for miles, not when the power went out and we had to huddle together under every blanket and wearing most all the clothes we owned to make it through the night. Not when I ran out into those woods, chasing after a stray sheep, only to find it dying, savaged by a fox, bleeding out all over the forest floor. I've never really felt frightened in the woods. Sometimes I feel very quiet, sometimes I feel a bit lost, but I'm never afraid. Maybe I'm the weird one here, though! I also think the tree-burial thing is wonderful and much better on several levels than traditional embalming and burial.
For real! I watched on a whim. No regrets one of the best show cartoon network as produced. Scared more some horror movies I've watched. Especially the bell episode, dear god.
I find people who didn't grow up near a forest carry a sort of irreverence with them, especially regarding the woods at night. I grew up on stories of lost children and impossible to escape woods because I lived right near one, and my parents didn't want me wandering off without telling anyone and getting lost. My favourite part about this kind of horror or fable is that its rooted in the sincerely real fear of never finding your way back and becoming a part of the mulch floor.
True that. I also grew up right at the edge of a little wood. Throughout all seasons of the years in my childhood I'd go into the woods with friends to play at the creek that meandered down the slope beyond the wooden railing of the trail, wondering how deep the covered up well on a tiny "island" in the middle of the stream might go, or to whom the plow being left there to rust and slowly submerging in the ground might have belonged to. I loved the woods and almost felt as much at home there as I felt... at home. But that was during the daylight hours... I remember vivid nightmares where I was in those woods after dark, all alone, with only the light of the moon providing a minimum of illumination. The creek turned into a mighty brawl of a river, infested with crocodiles and piranhas and other monstrous ideas of animals that weren't native to my home and there was a single bridge spanning over the river. I knew I had to cross it to safely get back home but there was something off about it that always kept me from getting even close to it. It looked too pristine, too untouched, it didn't really fit in there. Any why would crocodiles just wait for me in the ravaging streams of the roaring river, why not also on said bridge? It felt like a dangerous temptation. Of course, that was just a nightmare I sometimes had, the creek was quit small, so small in fact you could easily hop over to the other side at the narrowest point and apart from some amphibians I never saw anything swimming in it. Likewise there wasn't any bridge, there didn't have to be. Still, the forest inspired some potent images in my head, making the forest much larger and more dangerous than it actually was. Nightmares like those can probably only work "best" for people who grew up near a forest and spend parts of their childhood in it.
I live in the woods in Appalachia, during the day you have little to worry about in them. After dark the truth of it becomes clear, trespass not without great care and don't leave known paths. It's a known thing and respected in these parts.
As someone who doesn't live in the Appalachian woods, but has been close to them my whole life, even I know the danger. Most who weren't raised in them can have a hard time even in the day. Though, I don't care *who* you are, It's made well known, you don't go out past dark.
These mountains and forests were here long before mankind was borne. And I'd wager they'll be here long after. Why would they care if a person ever again sees beyond their boughs?
Once my dog ran off into the woods and wouldn't stop barking. It was the middle of the night in West Virginia, and I knew he was stuck out there in the woods. He had ran out there with a leash on him and it wasn't the first time he'd gotten stuck, just the first time it was at night. So I got my little brother, we were like 16 and 12 at the time, and we set out with headlamps. We've lived on this property for years, a decade at least and I've explored these woods thoroughly. But at night, any of the paths you think you know are gone. There's nothing that resembles familiarity besides the distant lights of your house. We wandered through those woods for at least 30 minutes nearly blind. Every shadow felt like it had eyes. Every bush waiting to grab you and pull you in to be loooonnnggg forgotten. He was stuck in a slim part of the woods where our yard nearly meets with the neighbors, but that slim stretch of thicket no longer than a quarter of a mile felt like a tolkein-esque journey. I'll never forget the feeling of stepping out of the woods, of finally leaving that barrier that separates those almost eldritch woods from the controlled land of our neighbors yard. Covered in thorn bush branches and little stick 'ems seeds. I respected the woods before that night, but after that night I never chopped down a tree that seemed too old. I started to excise invasive species and killing the wild grape vines that try and choke out these old cedars.
After work I sometimes fall asleep to your videos because the combination of your soothing voice and the noise cancelling helps me relax. I've probably watched every video a number of times.
@@frisianwarrior2295Oh, the first 2-3 times I actually listen, even while doing chores. There are days where I wake up to my entire playlist being over, though.
You never really know dark until you are in a forest at night without moon or light. Once the sunset has passed, you can understand why there’s so many stories about the woods.
That, plus all the nocturnal life that starts waking up. It could be some random bug or rodent making a noise, but a blind, paranoid person can imagine pretty much anything doing that. Its also because the background noise is completely different from urban life, no buzzing or humming or distant vehicles. Whatever the hell is going on in the trees or bushes is only heard more clearly
Just stopping to LOVE the idea that mobsters would totally try to dispose of a body and get hopelessly lost in the wilderness. In my mind this has HAPPENED. They are so matcho - you can totally see them overestimating their abilities.
If you're ever about to be absorbed by the forest, just say "No". The forest cannot legally take possession of your body without your consent. Amazing video as always, thank you.
This is good timing, as I recently rewatched Over the Garden Wall. To this day, it’s still a phenomenal series. It’s beautiful in every meaning of the word. The Beast is the perfect antagonist for the series. Mysterious, imposing, intimidating, and horrifying. His design, both in the darkness and when exposed by the light of the lantern, is so memorable for all the right reasons.
It really does capture Americana in an absolutely fantastic way. The warm fall colors, the mystery of the rural farms and forests of America. It's a love letter to the settler folklore of the 18th and 19th century.
When in the woods I can feel a pull off the trail, I can feel it trying to lead me off the beaten path into a place I can never return from. One time, it worked. I was walking through the woods alone, and I took a side trail, then another. It was so inviting, it called to me. I got lost in the woods and had to find my way out using only the sound of what I hoped was humanity. I made it out but it was the most dread I've ever felt.
I think that’s why forests are so unnerving there not places like tundras and deserts that give off blatant “you don’t belong here” vibes. They almost seem like they want you to come in regardless of how unnerving or creepy they make you feel as some who lives around a lot of largely intact forest in northern British Columbia I know how it feels to hear that call to walk off the trail that once you cross there is no going back
I feel like bushy and short treed forests feel more comfortable in that regard because the bushes low vegetation subtly act as walls when following established paths. Bare soil forests are full of misdirection
@TheBisDuck I’ve been there. It’s almost funny how quickly you can feel at peace in a place such as that then in a heart beat you are shiting bricks because you either feel like you are going in circles or deeper into it. Then all the trees and shadows start to look menacing then you start to notice how fast the sun starts to fade or move In the sky only adding to the dread felling of knowing knight fall is only a few hours if you are lucky away, When you know you are lost in them woods. Boy dose it smack you in the face like a ton of bricks. Also everything looks the same or different when you head back. Almost as if it plays with your senses when it knows it can. Terrifying to say the least.
I find it interesting how even though I come from an area with many deep forests, pretty much everyone here percieves them seriously. I mean, the fact that a forest is dangerous and can make you disappear without a trace is obvious, but none of the people whom I know, even those who aren't living in the big cities, are really *used to* such an entity being nearby. Aways waiting. We Slavs even have a creature in our folklore whose job is to lure people into the forest, which was obviously made up to make people aware of the danger that it can pose. This means that people here have been treating the forests with fearful respect for centuries. I really like when a video provokes thoughts like that
Him and Curious Archive are my two favorite essay channels on the site right now. They just have absolutely amazing production values and insights into media.
Life After People(The TV Series) Is still one of my favorite shows and this video reminded me of it. No matter what, nature will always devour everything.
oh my god i had completely forgotten about that show until now but i used to love it. the wax museum episode where all the figures melted scared the crap out of me though 😭
@@Illier1The faces on Rushmore would become fairly indistinguishable from the surrounding stone after a dozen years or so. They require an absurd amount of maintenance for a tourist trap.
I can picture a future video where you talk about "setting being the character," and you would start off something like: "In fiction, we always talk about character and setting. But what if setting is the character?" And then you could pull inspiration from SolarBalls with talking planets, and then even Bionicle with Mata Nui being both a character and a place.
In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the ponies have full control over the environment. They move the clouds, they provide food and shelter to the "wild" animals, they manage the change of seasons. They even make the snowflakes one by one. Oh, and they move the Sun and the Moon too. They run everything... except the forest. The forest just does its own thing, and that's why they are terrified of it.
To them it's un-natural how natural the forest is. In a world, where they practically paint the frost on the windows, it must be terrifying to see how the weather and seasons change on their own, without anyone having any control over any aspect of it. Then again, their world must have started off like that, I wonder what made them so obsessed with having to control the natural world at all, then again, they also control the sun and the moon, probably living in a geocentric world, so maybe the world was always static until ponies changed it's natural patterns, then a place which would do it on its own would almost feel eldritch and deeply wrong.
The section starting at 2:03 is not quite right. The decomposition of dead animals always falls to insects or microorganisms like fungi. Trees themselves don't possess the enzymes to break down a body, let alone the need to gain energy through digestion, since they gain that through photosynthesis. Eventually, plants will absorb the broken down nutrients from the decomposed body, but saying that equals the tree eating a body is the same as if a wolf defecated in the forest and then you claiming the tree ate that wolfs' previous prey because it eventually absorbed the feces.
Forests are some of my favorite places, but they can be so tricky to navigate. All the foliage sort of blends in with each other such that it's difficult to keep track of landmarks, not to mention the fact that you'll often hear animals more than you'll see them and especially that potential predators can easily stay out of sight. Add in the dark and you've got the classic horror setting.
Just the way you describe forests here is honestly more chilling than pretty much any horror movie I've seen, especially because I live right on the edge of one. One of your best videos yet imo.
Near where I live is a small village that's almost like a time capsule, you enter this place and you feel like you've gone back two centuries. Within this village is a small forest on a hill and I've walked it many times, as many others do. One time, as I quite innocently was enjoying a little picnic alone in the forest, I suddenly found myself turned around. It was broad daylight, but I was struggling to identify natural landmarks I could use to get me back on the beaten trail. If you head east, you will eventually come to the exit, but in my brief moment of panic, I forgot that and it dawned on me how unprepared as a city girl I was for nature's massive shadow that it can cast over a small human like me. Again, this forest is small, frequented by many daily and I briefly lost my way while enjoying a little picnic on an old log. I left the forest with gratitude that this happened in a place that was small and not far from a town.
I was born on the prairie, in early childhood moved to the Pacific Northwest. Forests felt genuinely Eldritch at first. Trees went from an intentionally cultivated form of security and comfort to an intimidating superstructure. I still remember the nightmares.
I know it’s odd but I find the concept of being consumed by the forest almost peaceful, the idea of finally returning to the earth that birthed me and melding into the complexity of the forest that as a whole almost exists as a living breathing organism with a pulse and a soul is something that I find innately profound and beautiful. Even when I’m walking in the woods after dark when I’m camping I find it peaceful in all honesty the thing I’m most scared about during those times is running into another person. I’m sure if I were dying in the woods I would feel very differently but conceptually my body rotting away in the forest never to be found again only disturbed by animals in search of food is an idea that I find comforting.
I feel the exact opposite about it. The thought of rotting away and feeding vermin disturbing to me that I have considered asking my future children to have my corpse launched into the vacuum of space when I die, so that the earth can never have me and tear me to shreds. I have no idea how you find peace in that, but good for you, I suppose.
Same. I see trees and their connections to each other in the same way a religious person might see their god. They are ancient lifeforms that will outlive us. Even when cut down, they remain through their connections to the forest. Research is being done that suggests that the fungal connections between trees act in ways that show potential intelligence. It's truly fascinating, and I highly recommend looking into it if you're into that kinda stuff.
I would love to see curious archive do a video on the concept of "The flesh is weak".Ive always found it interesting that so many pieces of media like WH40K,Cyberpunk, Murder drones, Lancer, focus on the blurring of lines between flesh and steel.
I kind of want that, but OTOH it would be a depressing video since the owerwhelming majority of stories portray it as neuthral at best, and an "insult to God and all life" at worst.
I hadn't really realized how liminal and frightening forests really were, it is a perfect setting for horror seeing as how it is difficult to not hide if you try to be quiet
I think the game Darkwood derserves a noteble mention in regards to this video. A game that takes place in far easteren Europe, where a small village is getting closed off from the world by the fast growing forest that surrounds it in a very unnatural manner…
I love Over the Garden Wall, the music, the story, the characters, the locations, all of it. I hope one day we get another story set in those woods, to remind us all that the forest will never die.
Man, I love your videos. This one was incredible, as always. Though, I missed mentions about tropical or equatorial rainforests. They also present very unique scenarios. Movies such as Heart of Darkness (the Brando one) and Cannibal Holocaust explore the creepy anxiety of foreign (usually American or European) visitors into the impregnable jungle.
Over The Garden Wall is the best mini series animation of all time. Idk what anyone else says, the sheer ambience and world building in every single 20 minute episode is something beyond incredible, form the animators to the music writers to the voice acting everything is perfect and ends exactly where it should. Masterpiece from start to finish
People who were called witches were also known as shamans and they lived out in the forests because that's where all of the herbs and barks etc to make medicine existed... The people who settled would have had it if they hadn't cut down the entire Forest.
Dzonogwa exists because it's EASY to get lost in the forest and die of exposure or thirst. If you don't have a reliable way of navigating through the forest, the minimal sight distance will confuse the heck out of you, and if you mistake an animal trail for a human trail, you can also easily lose all trace of a useful path. Moss in the deep forest grows wherever the heck it wants, you can't use it to find North. Go downhill and downstream, if you can't find the sun.
As much as I love this videos exploration of the topic of the creepy woods trope in folklore and fiction, the perspective feels a bit… limited? Like, a lot of the examples CA gave were limited mainly to western American/European sources (with the exception of Princess mononoke and Zelda, the latter of which is already heavily influenced by western fantasy tropes). And I was disappointed there weren’t as many forest folketale examples outside of US/European texts. I can’t help but wonder if the forest as a corrosive and hostile, or at least apathetic, entity are as universal as this video may suggest. Or if different cultures and places outside the western world may provide a different perspective…
Perhaps unintentional, but I like how the video both ended and began with talking about Over The Garden Wall, which I feel references the idea that we came from dust and will one day return to it, ending up in the state we began.
In the game Darkest Dungeon, it's rather fitting that the most dangerous and inhospitable of the dungeon biomes you can explore is the Weald. Other dungeon environments are undead-infested ruins, deep underground warrens, oceanside caverns full of Deep Ones, a vast swampy ruined courtyard inhabited by vampires, and a time-warped farmstead corrupted by alien colors. Yet none of the environments are as actively hostile, forbidding, or just outright dangerous as the deep woods and twisting paths of the Weald.
It’s the simplicity of it that scares me most. To go missing all you have to do is fall into just the right spot and you’ll never be spotted. The searchers will walk right past you or even over you without ever knowing.
I heard that Outer Wilds music you tried to sneak in, and it brings up how that game uses forests. On Timber Hearth the trees are a sign of safety and home, having been lovingly cultivated by your woodworking culture, their products supporting everything from the houses to your spaceship. Trees continue to be a point of respite throughout the other planets as they refill your oxygen. But there is one other place of life in the solar system; Dark Bramble is not only filled with living creatures but composed of a massive plant system, and it is the most inhospitable and terrifying environment in the game. Its fog and twisting arms represent the other side of the forest that the Hearthians have long since driven away -- and, disturbingly, one of its seeds has made its way to your world and threatens to transform it, for the eldritch dark is not quite ready to relinquish Timber Hearth. And if I may speak vaguely and as non-spoilery as possible of the ending, the trees of Timber Hearth return, though the comforting sun and starlight is gone. They are still a place of safety, but these woods are final, patiently waiting to take you in and lay you to rest.
this all reminds me of the time me and my family went to visit my grandparents off in montana. they live in some rural-as-dirt strip town out in the middle of an old-growth forest in a massive log cabin with 6 half-wolves as pets (they're all super cute btw). we did a lot of stuff there, but we never visited the surrounding pines. hell, it was never even mentioned as a passing thought, it was simply a given that we were not to enter the forest under any circumstances. then we visited the fire watchtower. the conifers extended right up to the horizon and no doubt beyond it, an endless expanse of needle-leafed dark greens. mind you, these evergreens were fucking HUGE, easily able to fit a closet within their trunks, and to think that those behemoths were so numerous that they stretched as far as the earth's curve would allow me to see, my head could barely even fathom the sheer scale of it all. the only thing i thought then was "oh, that's why i can't go into the forest. i'd never come out."
21:24 - I'm sorry if I just hurt your algorithm, but you've just convinced me to watch the show so apparently I gotta stop now. ^_^ Thanks for that though! Now I'm all excited.
I'm surprised you didn't talk about darkwood. Its forest has that perfect hostile feeling that a forest at night has. Everything within is twisted into something monstrous. A forest that will eat you alive. It's grown out of control and there's no way out. It's almost like you're in the stomach of a incomprehensible creature waiting to be digested.
More to the point: the forest in darkwood is actively impossible to be resisted through violent means. There is no cutting down the forest. Burning it is temporary too. You HAVE to find a way out, but all the roads are gone. Consumed by the woods. Only the last remnants of civilizations provide a brief respite from the ever-encroaching darkness and hunger of the forest. The only paths through the forest are old bunkers and tunnels, made in a time before the forest was all-encompassing, and they too are being corroded by it's influence. The game truly does provide the perfect image of what the forest is in essence: an uncaring, larger than life, larger than humanity's cycles of civilization, being of eternal hunger. An edritch god, consuming you slowly.
Great video. The idea, that a forest could, well, "swallow you whole and eat you alive" and other people might never find you/your remains, gives me shivers. And then there is some derpy kid in the back of my head saying: "Big, dark forest goes nom nom". 🙈
You consistently produce some of the most fascinating, well-written and thoughtful videos on UA-cam! I LOVE Over the Garden Wall, and much of that love stems from how perfectly it conjures both the wonder and the danger of the woods, especially through the eyes of a child.
Deep Survival: who lives who dies and why! By Lauence Gonzalez.... It's real life stories of life and death situations and what people did right and wrong.... Impulse control gets you out of it a lack of it gets you into trouble... Take freeway driving for example, We have hundreds of near-deaths experiencesWhile traveling on the freeway all the time and we're taught to forget them as quick as they happen and move on...That kind of mindset gets you in deep trouble in the forest because you make one bad decision then you panic and make another one and you forget about it and you make another....Now you're lost....Of course exposure dehydration starvation are all factorsut The number one factor Is people give up hope and literally lay down and die... People have made comfortable beds out of pine needles and set up what they had with them around them like a small Shrine and just cashed out.... Then the forest takes you apart and away
hey so "la casa lobo" or "the wolf house" isn’t a colombian film, it's chilean. colonia dignidad happened during the dictatorship of said country. just letting you and others now👍
Man this, and 90% if not more of your videos to be honest, gave me goosebumps. The sort that makes you feel a small sense of dread at the same time as awe or wonder.
I just love the mysterious nature of forests. It's something I want to explore. Something unwelcoming, something unforgiving. And we only make the wonder and horror of the forest harder to experience each day.
How one makes a vignette anthollogy about the woods and their ability to claim, to digest, to torture the psychy of humans, and doesn't mention DARKWOOD, is simply beyond me...
Someone mentioned a cool concept to me ages ago. A forest that acts like the deeps sea, unexplored with trees and animals becoming titanic the deeper you go in and the air pressure changing enough that you'd need specialty equipment to travel deeper and deeper.
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I watched Over the Garden Wall with my mom and when I caught the brief frame of The Beast illuminated by light it fucking startled me, Mom didn't see it and I had to convince her to rewind. I can't believe they managed to get that into a kid's show.
Thats a kids show?
@@SaxoraMcOhn TV-PG implies that.
@@SaxoraMcOhnIt aired on Cartoon Network and not adult swim
say on skibididi 🙏 and let the man outside your home in
@@bungislordifbung5690 skibidi rizz pizza
As someone who live in one of the rare areas in Washington that has trees wherever you look, i can say with certainty a forest can go from looking beautiful to being one of the creepiest things ever.
Bro have you been to the San Juan Islands? They're full of that and it's amazing
There is just SOMETHING about your videos
This constant emotional buildup, topped off with the very last line, that always menages to drive me on the verge of tears, if not crying outright
Keep it up, you are one of the best
One of the creepiest things of the forest, in my opinion, is the noises produced by old or dying trees. Some of them relocate their weight between their roots in soft moistened soil, some are rotting, breaking inside, but not falling apart just yet.
Just imagine: you are in the night forest, everything is pitch black save for your light source. And from beyond, somewhere from sylvan depths, a very low sound comes. Very low, resonating between trees, sending vibrations through ears or maybe bones, followed by cracking of opening fissures.
FFWWWOOOOOOOOOOWOOOOOOOOOM, krrrrk-krkrkrkrk-k.
There was a forest before us and there is a forest after us. it doesn't matter if we survive to see it ourselves or not. the forest remains and the forest grows and absorbs and preserves history within itself.
I feel another good example would be the game "voices of the void" isolated alone in the middle of a huge forest in Switzerland, wandering the woods fixing ground station satellites, while you have 0 clue about what you might encounter.
omg i love that game
Have you ever played Darkwood? If you want to experience the forest, play Darkwood.
Oh oh! First - amazing work as always
I have a contribution. Everyone knows Transylvania, the land of Dracula and monsters.
Transylvania
Trans
Sylvus
Across the woods.
This video made me think of the show Yellowjackets and how “the wilderness” is a character within itself in the show. One character, Lottie, is seen struggling with mental illness at the beginning of the show. When she and the rest of the soccer team get lost in the woods they try their best to survive. After her pills run out, Lottie has a breakdown and is convinced that the wilderness itself is alive, and requires sacrifices in order to keep them from starving.
It sounds supernatural, but it’s never clear to the audience if it’s the characters’ paranoia from the isolation or if there is something magical happening. The girls themselves aren’t even sure. Eventually this faux-religion they develop consumes every aspect of their survival. They crown an “antler queen” who embodies the spirit of the wilderness, and by the end of season 2 this obsession leads to a severe loss for the group. (I won’t spoil anything go watch the show it’s amazing!!!)
The wilderness in Yellowjackets is a setting, a character, an adversary, a god, and a part of the other characters.
That Sopranos episode was a good enough idea im surprised there isnt a movie like it already.
I live in Colorado, on the front range. It's all prairie. I've been camping more than enough times to know, though, that you Must respect the forest.
These trees know more than you and I ever will. Respect the trails. And do not wander at night.
Be3n loving this channel lately. Now everyone listen to "feed me to the forest" by the blood brothers
I have a lot of movies and shows to watch now thanks. :)
A movie I feel is in line with this video is Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky.
About Blair Witch: They actually had a witch on set that was supposed to be in a scene, but since the actors weren't told about her for an authentic scare, the actor with the camera got genuinely spooked and forgot to point the camera at the witch. So she got cut from the movie. In fact, the actors in the original movie rarely got told what was happening in order to make them genuinely frustrated and to spook them for real.
Oh yeah! That bit where she's going "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" And she's seeing a guy in all white moving around like a ghost. Then he fell in the mud afterwards.
They actually had their food rations cut shorter every day and genuinely struggled to stay mentally fit. AFAIK they had an emergency phone and could have aborted the project at any time, but luckily they didn't.
"It's just a prank bro"
more movies should do that, makes it feel real, and to a point, they are.
insane method acting approach
The fact this video came out on the exact day Hulu is taking down Over The Garden Wall is insane 😭
Hi deejus :)
what!?!? damn u modern streaming culture!! arg, i guess its back to the seven seas with me
Turns out is was actually a false alarm and Hulu just had an oopsie 🤷♂
What is deejus doing here?
WAIT WHAT!!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON AT THAT COMPANY?!?!?!?
Personally I believe that the Beast from "Over The Garden Wall" is one of the best depictions of the idea of a forest digesting you. The Beast is the embodiment of hopelessness, his power coming from those who have given up or are too tired to continue on. The reason the Beast can't claim Wirt and Greg at the beginning, during their journey to Adelaide is because they still had hope that their path will lead them home. It's only after their meeting with Adelaide turns out to be counterproductive that Wirt begins to lose hope. Once someone gives up all hope they become claimed by the Beast, slowly becoming an Edelwood, becoming a part of the forest. In a way, the forest is just an extension of the Beast, gripping claws to catch his prey to serve his insatiable hunger.
Is the forest an extension of the beast, or the beast a personification of the forest?
I see the. Beast as a personification of the forest’s will to survive and how that comes from the hopelessness of those in it. Since the edelwood is needed to fuel the lamp that keeps the beast alive
I agree with all that, but I'd also like to add that the Beast's seem to depict a dual nature. He is both the personification of the inevitability of the forest, but also someone who is fighting tooth and nails not to be consumed by it. Now, I'm not sure, but it always looked to me as if the Beast is leading others to death specifically because he knows the forest would have him if it isn't satiated.
i would also like to point out that the show also heavily mirrors Dante's Inferno
Another story I think is worth mentioning here is the lesser-known Greek myth of Erysichthon. Erysichthon was a king who committed a grave offense against the goddess Demeter, by cutting down her sacred grove in the deep wilderness to collect wood for his new palace, slaughtering her favorite dryad in the process. In retaliation, Demeter had Limos, goddess of starvation, curse Erysichthon with a ravenous, never-ending hunger. Erysichthon ends up destroying his whole life in his desperation to feed that hunger, leaving himself alone and destitute, until he finally devours his own body, leaving nothing behind.
All the metaphors you made here about the forest consuming people just made me think of that story, and how it’s a very good metaphor for how humanity’s own greed leads us to destroy our forests, until we’re left without vital resources, and destroy ourselves, while the forest will eventually reclaim us. In the end, Demeter has her vengeance.
'. . . at last hunger compelled him to devour his limbs, and he strove to nourish his body by eating his body, till death relieved him from the vengeance of Ceres'-Bullfinch's Mythology
Isn't there a similar story in the cycle of stories around Finn McCool? It's been like thirty years since I read any of those old tales but I seem to remember a guy eating his own body at the end of the curse.
@@Beryllahawk idk about that but there's a short story by stephen king about a med student smuggling heroin in a plane that goes down. he finds himself on a rocky island and chasing down a seagull for food nets him the bird, but also a broken foot/leg that he treats with his heroin. eventually crippled, starving, and stoned out his mind, he resorts excising his flesh for sustenance.....
@@vulcanfeline Whoa. I haven't read THAT one. Dang!! Trust King to write something like that though.
Gotta say, that also seems REALLY believable given what little I know about morphine/heroin addiction.
Read "Naked Lunch" sometime. (shudders)
@@Beryllahawk i'd tell you what book title it was in but, due to old eyes not being able to read anymore, i donated my book collection to the library about 15 yrs ago if that helps you find it. i found an audio book for naked lunch. thx for the recommendation
Once my dog ran off into the woods and wouldn't stop barking. It was the middle of the night in West Virginia, and I knew he was stuck out there in the woods. He had ran out there with a leash on him and it wasn't the first time he'd gotten stuck, just the first time it was at night. So I got my little brother, we were like 16 and 12 at the time, and we set out with headlamps. We've lived on this property for years, a decade at least and I've explored these woods thoroughly. But at night, any of the paths you think you know are gone. There's nothing that resembles familiarity besides the distant lights of your house. We wandered through those woods for at least 30 minutes nearly blind. Every shadow felt like it had eyes. Every bush waiting to grab you and pull you in to be loooonnnggg forgotten. He was stuck in a slim part of the woods where our yard nearly meets with the neighbors, but that slim stretch of thicket no longer than a quarter of a mile felt like a tolkein-esque journey. I'll never forget the feeling of stepping out of the woods, of finally leaving that barrier that separates those almost eldritch woods from the controlled land of our neighbors yard. Covered in thorn bush branches and little stick 'ems seeds. I respected the woods before that night, but after that night I never chopped down a tree that seemed too old. I started to excise invasive species and killing the wild grape vines that try and choke out these old cedars.
That's quite a story - must've been one heck of a night. I'm seeing so many other folks telling similar stories and I'm (forgive the pun) stumped by it.
When I was very small - about seven years old - we lived in the Catskills for not quite a year. Arrived in fall and left at the end of spring. So I went through late fall and winter on a small farm, nearest neighbor half a mile away. Maybe not "old forest" in the technical sense, but it sure FELT old, and huge - and not JUST because I was a short little brat not even three feet tall yet, ha.
But I was never afraid. Not when the bad blizzard came through and snowed everyone in for miles, not when the power went out and we had to huddle together under every blanket and wearing most all the clothes we owned to make it through the night. Not when I ran out into those woods, chasing after a stray sheep, only to find it dying, savaged by a fox, bleeding out all over the forest floor. I've never really felt frightened in the woods. Sometimes I feel very quiet, sometimes I feel a bit lost, but I'm never afraid.
Maybe I'm the weird one here, though! I also think the tree-burial thing is wonderful and much better on several levels than traditional embalming and burial.
Can you give me a tldr?
@@NickIncompletethey go in creepy forest to get their dog, forest at night is scary and unfamiliar, come out with respect and fear for the forest.
ok go write a drama about it or something
@@NickIncomplete ....Just read it man
Over The Garden Wall my beloved they could never make me hate you my loyal fall rewatch year after year
For real! I watched on a whim. No regrets one of the best show cartoon network as produced. Scared more some horror movies I've watched. Especially the bell episode, dear god.
A modern classic
I find people who didn't grow up near a forest carry a sort of irreverence with them, especially regarding the woods at night. I grew up on stories of lost children and impossible to escape woods because I lived right near one, and my parents didn't want me wandering off without telling anyone and getting lost. My favourite part about this kind of horror or fable is that its rooted in the sincerely real fear of never finding your way back and becoming a part of the mulch floor.
True that. I also grew up right at the edge of a little wood. Throughout all seasons of the years in my childhood I'd go into the woods with friends to play at the creek that meandered down the slope beyond the wooden railing of the trail, wondering how deep the covered up well on a tiny "island" in the middle of the stream might go, or to whom the plow being left there to rust and slowly submerging in the ground might have belonged to. I loved the woods and almost felt as much at home there as I felt... at home. But that was during the daylight hours...
I remember vivid nightmares where I was in those woods after dark, all alone, with only the light of the moon providing a minimum of illumination. The creek turned into a mighty brawl of a river, infested with crocodiles and piranhas and other monstrous ideas of animals that weren't native to my home and there was a single bridge spanning over the river. I knew I had to cross it to safely get back home but there was something off about it that always kept me from getting even close to it. It looked too pristine, too untouched, it didn't really fit in there. Any why would crocodiles just wait for me in the ravaging streams of the roaring river, why not also on said bridge? It felt like a dangerous temptation.
Of course, that was just a nightmare I sometimes had, the creek was quit small, so small in fact you could easily hop over to the other side at the narrowest point and apart from some amphibians I never saw anything swimming in it. Likewise there wasn't any bridge, there didn't have to be. Still, the forest inspired some potent images in my head, making the forest much larger and more dangerous than it actually was. Nightmares like those can probably only work "best" for people who grew up near a forest and spend parts of their childhood in it.
"What else could there be?"
That he asks the question in itself is powerful...in more ways than one...
The remainder of his life? Countless new memories to be made and moments to be had.
I live in the woods in Appalachia, during the day you have little to worry about in them. After dark the truth of it becomes clear, trespass not without great care and don't leave known paths. It's a known thing and respected in these parts.
As someone who doesn't live in the Appalachian woods, but has been close to them my whole life, even I know the danger. Most who weren't raised in them can have a hard time even in the day. Though, I don't care *who* you are, It's made well known, you don't go out past dark.
These mountains and forests were here long before mankind was borne. And I'd wager they'll be here long after.
Why would they care if a person ever again sees beyond their boughs?
Take only pictures, leave only footprints.
Once my dog ran off into the woods and wouldn't stop barking. It was the middle of the night in West Virginia, and I knew he was stuck out there in the woods. He had ran out there with a leash on him and it wasn't the first time he'd gotten stuck, just the first time it was at night. So I got my little brother, we were like 16 and 12 at the time, and we set out with headlamps. We've lived on this property for years, a decade at least and I've explored these woods thoroughly. But at night, any of the paths you think you know are gone. There's nothing that resembles familiarity besides the distant lights of your house. We wandered through those woods for at least 30 minutes nearly blind. Every shadow felt like it had eyes. Every bush waiting to grab you and pull you in to be loooonnnggg forgotten. He was stuck in a slim part of the woods where our yard nearly meets with the neighbors, but that slim stretch of thicket no longer than a quarter of a mile felt like a tolkein-esque journey. I'll never forget the feeling of stepping out of the woods, of finally leaving that barrier that separates those almost eldritch woods from the controlled land of our neighbors yard. Covered in thorn bush branches and little stick 'ems seeds. I respected the woods before that night, but after that night I never chopped down a tree that seemed too old. I started to excise invasive species and killing the wild grape vines that try and choke out these old cedars.
Hell even my dad started letting the yard grow wild, like we're giving the wild back to the land, only taking what we need.
The forest gives, the forest takes. it's the unspoken law of the forest. Great Video !
the forest doesn't give, humans take, and the forest takes back
After work I sometimes fall asleep to your videos because the combination of your soothing voice and the noise cancelling helps me relax. I've probably watched every video a number of times.
His voice certainly is soothing. The content however is too interesting for me to fall asleep to:)
@@frisianwarrior2295Oh, the first 2-3 times I actually listen, even while doing chores. There are days where I wake up to my entire playlist being over, though.
🎶How the gentle wind,
Beckons through the leaves,
As autumn colors fall🎶
🎶Dancing in a swirl,
Of golden memories,
The loveliest lies of all🎶
Sounds good. Is it made by you?
@@matthewboire6843 It's from Over The garden wall
@@fonejunky6306 oh I see, sound good
I love that song so much 😍
You never really know dark until you are in a forest at night without moon or light. Once the sunset has passed, you can understand why there’s so many stories about the woods.
That, plus all the nocturnal life that starts waking up. It could be some random bug or rodent making a noise, but a blind, paranoid person can imagine pretty much anything doing that. Its also because the background noise is completely different from urban life, no buzzing or humming or distant vehicles. Whatever the hell is going on in the trees or bushes is only heard more clearly
The forest: "I don't have to kill you, i just have to wait."
“Just got to wait just to got wait”
“Yes, just sit there in the cold and wait…”
The game ,,Darkwood " is another great example.
@@jonasb6711 flopwood
I believe he has mentioned it in another video before...but I am surprised he didn't mention it in this one.
That is exacly what I thought about. I think it is perfectly dipict forest, or rather woods.
@@Thunder_Star huh
idk what you're talking about it sold 1.5m copies from a studio that's made no other game before and it's really fun
@@jonaut5705 someone doesn't watch pyrocinical, its a joke dude
Just stopping to LOVE the idea that mobsters would totally try to dispose of a body and get hopelessly lost in the wilderness. In my mind this has HAPPENED. They are so matcho - you can totally see them overestimating their abilities.
If you're ever about to be absorbed by the forest, just say "No". The forest cannot legally take possession of your body without your consent.
Amazing video as always, thank you.
This is good timing, as I recently rewatched Over the Garden Wall. To this day, it’s still a phenomenal series. It’s beautiful in every meaning of the word. The Beast is the perfect antagonist for the series. Mysterious, imposing, intimidating, and horrifying. His design, both in the darkness and when exposed by the light of the lantern, is so memorable for all the right reasons.
It really does capture Americana in an absolutely fantastic way. The warm fall colors, the mystery of the rural farms and forests of America. It's a love letter to the settler folklore of the 18th and 19th century.
When in the woods I can feel a pull off the trail, I can feel it trying to lead me off the beaten path into a place I can never return from. One time, it worked. I was walking through the woods alone, and I took a side trail, then another. It was so inviting, it called to me. I got lost in the woods and had to find my way out using only the sound of what I hoped was humanity. I made it out but it was the most dread I've ever felt.
I think that’s why forests are so unnerving there not places like tundras and deserts that give off blatant “you don’t belong here” vibes. They almost seem like they want you to come in regardless of how unnerving or creepy they make you feel as some who lives around a lot of largely intact forest in northern British Columbia I know how it feels to hear that call to walk off the trail that once you cross there is no going back
I feel like bushy and short treed forests feel more comfortable in that regard because the bushes low vegetation subtly act as walls when following established paths. Bare soil forests are full of misdirection
Before the Fae whispers
@TheBisDuck
I’ve been there. It’s almost funny how quickly you can feel at peace in a place such as that then in a heart beat you are shiting bricks because you either feel like you are going in circles or deeper into it.
Then all the trees and shadows start to look menacing then you start to notice how fast the sun starts to fade or move In the sky only adding to the dread felling of knowing knight fall is only a few hours if you are lucky away,
When you know you are lost in them woods. Boy dose it smack you in the face like a ton of bricks.
Also everything looks the same or different when you head back. Almost as if it plays with your senses when it knows it can.
Terrifying to say the least.
I find it interesting how even though I come from an area with many deep forests, pretty much everyone here percieves them seriously. I mean, the fact that a forest is dangerous and can make you disappear without a trace is obvious, but none of the people whom I know, even those who aren't living in the big cities, are really *used to* such an entity being nearby. Aways waiting. We Slavs even have a creature in our folklore whose job is to lure people into the forest, which was obviously made up to make people aware of the danger that it can pose. This means that people here have been treating the forests with fearful respect for centuries. I really like when a video provokes thoughts like that
The Jacob Gellerification of youtube video essays will forever be a thing of beauty
jacob geller rainworld fan real??
but absolutely! video essays are incredible!!
@@the_funky_wandrr holy bingle i remember your from the twisting roads animations :D
@@satellite_panic
rw tr fan in the wild :0
hello! thank you so much for watching and enjoying :]💛💛
Him and Curious Archive are my two favorite essay channels on the site right now. They just have absolutely amazing production values and insights into media.
Life After People(The TV Series) Is still one of my favorite shows and this video reminded me of it. No matter what, nature will always devour everything.
oh my god i had completely forgotten about that show until now but i used to love it. the wax museum episode where all the figures melted scared the crap out of me though 😭
Unless you're the Pyramids or Mount Rushmore, that shit is staying a while.
@@Illier1The faces on Rushmore would become fairly indistinguishable from the surrounding stone after a dozen years or so. They require an absurd amount of maintenance for a tourist trap.
I can picture a future video where you talk about "setting being the character," and you would start off something like:
"In fiction, we always talk about character and setting. But what if setting is the character?"
And then you could pull inspiration from SolarBalls with talking planets, and then even Bionicle with Mata Nui being both a character and a place.
Me when mystery flesh pit national park: (I know it’s not quite a “character”, but I think it should be brought up)
make your own video! that’s such a cool concept!!
@@ensignocean6286 I’ve thought about it, lol!
giving CA an excuse to maybe talk about rain world for the tenth time, perfect!
Not including Darkwood in this video is a crime (but really, give that game its own video, it really deserves it)
In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the ponies have full control over the environment. They move the clouds, they provide food and shelter to the "wild" animals, they manage the change of seasons. They even make the snowflakes one by one. Oh, and they move the Sun and the Moon too. They run everything... except the forest. The forest just does its own thing, and that's why they are terrified of it.
That's....actually a really good point that I never once considered.
Oh shit mlp reference spotted your a king mein fruend
IS THAT WHY IT'S CALLED EVERFREE. IS THAT. IS THAT WHY THEY
To them it's un-natural how natural the forest is. In a world, where they practically paint the frost on the windows, it must be terrifying to see how the weather and seasons change on their own, without anyone having any control over any aspect of it. Then again, their world must have started off like that, I wonder what made them so obsessed with having to control the natural world at all, then again, they also control the sun and the moon, probably living in a geocentric world, so maybe the world was always static until ponies changed it's natural patterns, then a place which would do it on its own would almost feel eldritch and deeply wrong.
The section starting at 2:03 is not quite right. The decomposition of dead animals always falls to insects or microorganisms like fungi. Trees themselves don't possess the enzymes to break down a body, let alone the need to gain energy through digestion, since they gain that through photosynthesis. Eventually, plants will absorb the broken down nutrients from the decomposed body, but saying that equals the tree eating a body is the same as if a wolf defecated in the forest and then you claiming the tree ate that wolfs' previous prey because it eventually absorbed the feces.
Getting on the toilet hoping i can find something quick to watch then seeing another half an hour curious archive video gives me a good feeling.
I solely watch his videos on the big screen, the TV. Everything else doesn't do justice to his quality, especially not the toilet....
Another half hour poop, here we come.
@@jayl5032"1hr ago" How you doing. Did you die on the toilet.
the feeling of a numb ass lmao
You should make video on Analog Horror like The Monument Mythos.
“There is only me. There is only my way. There is only the Forrest, and there is only surrender.” - The Beast from Over the Garden Wall
Forests are some of my favorite places, but they can be so tricky to navigate. All the foliage sort of blends in with each other such that it's difficult to keep track of landmarks, not to mention the fact that you'll often hear animals more than you'll see them and especially that potential predators can easily stay out of sight. Add in the dark and you've got the classic horror setting.
Just the way you describe forests here is honestly more chilling than pretty much any horror movie I've seen, especially because I live right on the edge of one. One of your best videos yet imo.
Near where I live is a small village that's almost like a time capsule, you enter this place and you feel like you've gone back two centuries. Within this village is a small forest on a hill and I've walked it many times, as many others do. One time, as I quite innocently was enjoying a little picnic alone in the forest, I suddenly found myself turned around. It was broad daylight, but I was struggling to identify natural landmarks I could use to get me back on the beaten trail. If you head east, you will eventually come to the exit, but in my brief moment of panic, I forgot that and it dawned on me how unprepared as a city girl I was for nature's massive shadow that it can cast over a small human like me. Again, this forest is small, frequented by many daily and I briefly lost my way while enjoying a little picnic on an old log. I left the forest with gratitude that this happened in a place that was small and not far from a town.
I was born on the prairie, in early childhood moved to the Pacific Northwest. Forests felt genuinely Eldritch at first. Trees went from an intentionally cultivated form of security and comfort to an intimidating superstructure. I still remember the nightmares.
I know it’s odd but I find the concept of being consumed by the forest almost peaceful, the idea of finally returning to the earth that birthed me and melding into the complexity of the forest that as a whole almost exists as a living breathing organism with a pulse and a soul is something that I find innately profound and beautiful. Even when I’m walking in the woods after dark when I’m camping I find it peaceful in all honesty the thing I’m most scared about during those times is running into another person. I’m sure if I were dying in the woods I would feel very differently but conceptually my body rotting away in the forest never to be found again only disturbed by animals in search of food is an idea that I find comforting.
I feel the exact opposite about it.
The thought of rotting away and feeding vermin disturbing to me that I have considered asking my future children to have my corpse launched into the vacuum of space when I die, so that the earth can never have me and tear me to shreds.
I have no idea how you find peace in that, but good for you, I suppose.
Scary ass thumbnail
i will always love the woods
Same here!
Same. I see trees and their connections to each other in the same way a religious person might see their god. They are ancient lifeforms that will outlive us. Even when cut down, they remain through their connections to the forest.
Research is being done that suggests that the fungal connections between trees act in ways that show potential intelligence. It's truly fascinating, and I highly recommend looking into it if you're into that kinda stuff.
The woods are my happy place! 🌳🌲
@Thunder_Star Definitely my proper habitat!
will you do a horizon forbiden west video?
I would love to see curious archive do a video on the concept of "The flesh is weak".Ive always found it interesting that so many pieces of media like WH40K,Cyberpunk, Murder drones, Lancer, focus on the blurring of lines between flesh and steel.
I kind of want that, but OTOH it would be a depressing video since the owerwhelming majority of stories portray it as neuthral at best, and an "insult to God and all life" at worst.
"Darkest forest in fiction"
Laughs in darkwood
Such a good game
I hadn't really realized how liminal and frightening forests really were, it is a perfect setting for horror seeing as how it is difficult to not hide if you try to be quiet
am gonna go live in a forest and help it "eat"
have you seen kaiju No.8?
I think the game Darkwood derserves a noteble mention in regards to this video. A game that takes place in far easteren Europe, where a small village is getting closed off from the world by the fast growing forest that surrounds it in a very unnatural manner…
The rocks are quiet because the trees are listening.
This is the most appropriate place to say that ever
I guess I might be the weird guy, but I miss the Spec Evo videos.
Same
Yummers
In a forest you feel things just slightly growing faster than they decay, but just barely.
This video made me watch Over the Garden Wall. I'm glad I watched it
I love Over the Garden Wall, the music, the story, the characters, the locations, all of it. I hope one day we get another story set in those woods, to remind us all that the forest will never die.
Man, I love your videos. This one was incredible, as always.
Though, I missed mentions about tropical or equatorial rainforests. They also present very unique scenarios. Movies such as Heart of Darkness (the Brando one) and Cannibal Holocaust explore the creepy anxiety of foreign (usually American or European) visitors into the impregnable jungle.
Over The Garden Wall is the best mini series animation of all time. Idk what anyone else says, the sheer ambience and world building in every single 20 minute episode is something beyond incredible, form the animators to the music writers to the voice acting everything is perfect and ends exactly where it should. Masterpiece from start to finish
Most people say the same, and I agree as well. Just such a good series. And it's almost time once again, for the seasonal rewatch...
People who were called witches were also known as shamans and they lived out in the forests because that's where all of the herbs and barks etc to make medicine existed... The people who settled would have had it if they hadn't cut down the entire Forest.
This would be creepy if I didn’t absolutely love the forest
6:36 PLEASE STOP USING SIGNALIS OST, I WANT TO STOP BEING DEPRESSED
Lol, I'm not the only reacting when hearing Signalis ost it seems
looks like someone didn’t remember their promise lol
Mimics Edge Of Tomorrow video is coming?
My scandinavian DNA just can't see the forest as scary
Yeah, I mean speaking as someone in the pacfifc northwest, I am in awe, but I do know the danger and you see the beauty of it
Dzonogwa exists because it's EASY to get lost in the forest and die of exposure or thirst. If you don't have a reliable way of navigating through the forest, the minimal sight distance will confuse the heck out of you, and if you mistake an animal trail for a human trail, you can also easily lose all trace of a useful path.
Moss in the deep forest grows wherever the heck it wants, you can't use it to find North. Go downhill and downstream, if you can't find the sun.
Just go there at night
As much as I love this videos exploration of the topic of the creepy woods trope in folklore and fiction, the perspective feels a bit… limited?
Like, a lot of the examples CA gave were limited mainly to western American/European sources (with the exception of Princess mononoke and Zelda, the latter of which is already heavily influenced by western fantasy tropes). And I was disappointed there weren’t as many forest folketale examples outside of US/European texts.
I can’t help but wonder if the forest as a corrosive and hostile, or at least apathetic, entity are as universal as this video may suggest. Or if different cultures and places outside the western world may provide a different perspective…
Perhaps unintentional, but I like how the video both ended and began with talking about Over The Garden Wall, which I feel references the idea that we came from dust and will one day return to it, ending up in the state we began.
Wow, kinda early
How did you create a video about forests and horror and proceed to FORGET THE GREATEST HORROR GAME OF ALL TIME: DARKWOOD!!!1
Relax.
In the game Darkest Dungeon, it's rather fitting that the most dangerous and inhospitable of the dungeon biomes you can explore is the Weald. Other dungeon environments are undead-infested ruins, deep underground warrens, oceanside caverns full of Deep Ones, a vast swampy ruined courtyard inhabited by vampires, and a time-warped farmstead corrupted by alien colors. Yet none of the environments are as actively hostile, forbidding, or just outright dangerous as the deep woods and twisting paths of the Weald.
Over the garden wall?
Yes
Ye
Y
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It’s the simplicity of it that scares me most. To go missing all you have to do is fall into just the right spot and you’ll never be spotted. The searchers will walk right past you or even over you without ever knowing.
I heard that Outer Wilds music you tried to sneak in, and it brings up how that game uses forests. On Timber Hearth the trees are a sign of safety and home, having been lovingly cultivated by your woodworking culture, their products supporting everything from the houses to your spaceship. Trees continue to be a point of respite throughout the other planets as they refill your oxygen. But there is one other place of life in the solar system; Dark Bramble is not only filled with living creatures but composed of a massive plant system, and it is the most inhospitable and terrifying environment in the game. Its fog and twisting arms represent the other side of the forest that the Hearthians have long since driven away -- and, disturbingly, one of its seeds has made its way to your world and threatens to transform it, for the eldritch dark is not quite ready to relinquish Timber Hearth.
And if I may speak vaguely and as non-spoilery as possible of the ending, the trees of Timber Hearth return, though the comforting sun and starlight is gone. They are still a place of safety, but these woods are final, patiently waiting to take you in and lay you to rest.
This shivered me timbers
this all reminds me of the time me and my family went to visit my grandparents off in montana. they live in some rural-as-dirt strip town out in the middle of an old-growth forest in a massive log cabin with 6 half-wolves as pets (they're all super cute btw). we did a lot of stuff there, but we never visited the surrounding pines. hell, it was never even mentioned as a passing thought, it was simply a given that we were not to enter the forest under any circumstances. then we visited the fire watchtower. the conifers extended right up to the horizon and no doubt beyond it, an endless expanse of needle-leafed dark greens. mind you, these evergreens were fucking HUGE, easily able to fit a closet within their trunks, and to think that those behemoths were so numerous that they stretched as far as the earth's curve would allow me to see, my head could barely even fathom the sheer scale of it all. the only thing i thought then was "oh, that's why i can't go into the forest. i'd never come out."
21:24 - I'm sorry if I just hurt your algorithm, but you've just convinced me to watch the show so apparently I gotta stop now. ^_^ Thanks for that though! Now I'm all excited.
I'm back, I loved it. Now... to see what you have to say ^_^
Pine Barrens is incredible, had me laughing the whole time
I'm surprised you didn't talk about darkwood. Its forest has that perfect hostile feeling that a forest at night has. Everything within is twisted into something monstrous. A forest that will eat you alive. It's grown out of control and there's no way out. It's almost like you're in the stomach of a incomprehensible creature waiting to be digested.
More to the point: the forest in darkwood is actively impossible to be resisted through violent means. There is no cutting down the forest. Burning it is temporary too. You HAVE to find a way out, but all the roads are gone. Consumed by the woods.
Only the last remnants of civilizations provide a brief respite from the ever-encroaching darkness and hunger of the forest. The only paths through the forest are old bunkers and tunnels, made in a time before the forest was all-encompassing, and they too are being corroded by it's influence.
The game truly does provide the perfect image of what the forest is in essence: an uncaring, larger than life, larger than humanity's cycles of civilization, being of eternal hunger. An edritch god, consuming you slowly.
5:03 little nightmares music
YES
can u get lost in my forest curious archive 👉👈
YOOO BRO YOU WILDIN 😭
If I enjoyed!!??? This is nothing short of one of the MOST enjoyable Channels on YT!!!
Great video. The idea, that a forest could, well, "swallow you whole and eat you alive" and other people might never find you/your remains, gives me shivers.
And then there is some derpy kid in the back of my head saying: "Big, dark forest goes nom nom". 🙈
You consistently produce some of the most fascinating, well-written and thoughtful videos on UA-cam! I LOVE Over the Garden Wall, and much of that love stems from how perfectly it conjures both the wonder and the danger of the woods, especially through the eyes of a child.
Deep Survival: who lives who dies and why! By Lauence Gonzalez.... It's real life stories of life and death situations and what people did right and wrong.... Impulse control gets you out of it a lack of it gets you into trouble... Take freeway driving for example, We have hundreds of near-deaths experiencesWhile traveling on the freeway all the time and we're taught to forget them as quick as they happen and move on...That kind of mindset gets you in deep trouble in the forest because you make one bad decision then you panic and make another one and you forget about it and you make another....Now you're lost....Of course exposure dehydration starvation are all factorsut The number one factor Is people give up hope and literally lay down and die... People have made comfortable beds out of pine needles and set up what they had with them around them like a small Shrine and just cashed out.... Then the forest takes you apart and away
hey so "la casa lobo" or "the wolf house" isn’t a colombian film, it's chilean. colonia dignidad happened during the dictatorship of said country. just letting you and others now👍
this is one of my fav CA vids yet
Attempt #38
*Pretty please do a video for the ecosytem from "Made in Abyss".*
Man this, and 90% if not more of your videos to be honest, gave me goosebumps. The sort that makes you feel a small sense of dread at the same time as awe or wonder.
I just love the mysterious nature of forests. It's something I want to explore. Something unwelcoming, something unforgiving.
And we only make the wonder and horror of the forest harder to experience each day.
I really like Forest. Stories about spirits, fays or other supernatural beings like Herne The Hunter is so interesting.
Can you maybe do a video about the other Creatures of ´´the future is wild´´?
LET'S GOOOOO
How one makes a vignette anthollogy about the woods and their ability to claim, to digest, to torture the psychy of humans, and doesn't mention DARKWOOD, is simply beyond me...
Another amazing video :)
Dude, I love the way you format videos and talk about it. I'm glad to see you still upload.
Someone mentioned a cool concept to me ages ago. A forest that acts like the deeps sea, unexplored with trees and animals becoming titanic the deeper you go in and the air pressure changing enough that you'd need specialty equipment to travel deeper and deeper.
That _is_ cool