Are City Dwellers scared of the forest?

[Adi]

Many years ago I spent a night in the woods near to a very large housing estate with a very ruff reputation and very high crime rate. During the middle of the night I was awoken by a herd of something running through the woods. I thought it was just some deer but the drone of the aeroplane didn’t register with me as suddenly I was surrounded with a group of very keyed up coppers that had been chasing some car thieves through the woods and had been directed to my location by my heat source picked up by the police aeroplane. I had to do some major explaining to why I was there and think if they were not chasing someone I would have been arrested for doing nothing wrong. I did have to walk the two officers that were left with me out of the woods as the were a bit out of there league and lost and probably very scared.

 

[Kvitulf]

Only felt fear of dying, beeing outdoors besides accidents :yikes: were peeing/camping/hiking outdoors in Spitsbergen.
The King of predators, white polar bear is cute, but very deadly :madaxe:
Obligatory Military, especially handling the Optimus(kerosene stove)taught this tenderfoot how to be a happycamper.

Brought up indoors :\ and videogames/video/being indoors/staying put was what my parents tought me :roll:

 

[bambodoggy]

Only felt fear of dying

It's odd but after a canoeing accident 5 or 6 years ago where I very nearly did die (stuck in a weir without my boat or bouyancey aid - long story) I have lost my fear of dying....it was actually a very peaceful experience as I drifted off into unconciousness....

My biggest fear nowadays is fear of serious injury....paralasis, maining and mutilation, brain damage, blindness etc.....

I have upmost respect for those that this happens too...Christopher Reeves and others....I don't think I'd be strong enough to cope with it......

I know it's odd and a bit macho sounding to say I'm not scared to die but I mean it in a very honest and straight forward way based on my own experience.

 

[Kvitulf]

Thank mother nature for giving you a chance each day to follow your dreams and making the world a bether place for others, for each day can be your last.

2 things are for sure in this life. 1 is death, the other is problems.
For coping with this, I believe love/religion in some sort of form is essential!

Buddism/religion and bushcrafting walks hand in hand imho :rose:

 

[Womble]

What happened to taxes...?

 

[TheViking]

My biggest fear nowadays is fear of serious injury....paralasis, maining and mutilation, brain damage, blindness etc.....

I agree.
______________________________________________

-Just think of the woods as day, but without light.

 

[Kim]

People don't fear the 'woods' persay, they fear what they imagine, what they can't see, what they've been fed by the media/movies/stories about what lives in the woods, and what can happen in the woods...because we all know thats where...

murderers/drug users/drunkards hang out
where people bury bodies so that Taggart or Sargent Barnaby can find them
where the above detectives find people who have supposedly commited suicide by hanging themselves from trees
where people from the FBI get abducted by aliens
where devil worshippers and witches hang out, (not together)
where no one can hear you scream...oh, sorry, wrong environment...
:shock:

 

[arctic hobo]

There's fear of the unknown too. According to some top psychologists, this is the primary root of almost all fear - things we haven't experienced. People who've never been to the woods, or never been to the desert, Antartica, wherever, will have a deep apprehension about it. After all it's something you're not adapted to and that anything could happen in. Logic tells us it's certain to be safe, primitive instinct says "this is new territory, be very careful how you go".
As tomtom says, we need a 2p smiley

 

[tomtom]

As tomtom says, we need a 2p smiley

loooook what i got

 

[sandbender]

I'm not the superstitious type and have happily slept in forests in Germany, Hungary, Poland, Turkey and I have noticed that some places seem to have more of a 'vibe' about them than others, Erdély (Transylvania) was one such place, I was convinced something malevolent was prowling around out there.

 

[bambodoggy]

SandyB...do you really think there was something out there? Or do you think that due to you having known the Dracula legend, no doubt from an early age like most of us, that you subconsiously phyced yourself you?

I know I've done it when in the woods alone and let my mind wonder...not from odd sounds or movement etc....just when I've thought about spirits and all that...then I tell myself to behave and I crack on with what I'm doing.

I'm interested as you seem to me to be a pretty well switched on and well travelled person.
Did you make an effort to go look for what was out there? Did you find anything?

I don't care what anyone says and how "hard" people think they are if they are 100% honest they've all had that "funny feeling" at some point in the woods...that's not to say we're scared of the woods just that we have very powerful minds and can quite easily freak ourselves out if we so chose to and as such can most likely do it without us realising it....

What are you thoughts Mate?

 

[sandbender]

Nah! the Dracula thing doesnt wash, because the Scots, Poles, Germans and Hungarians have just as many demonic dog/wolf/bear/hog things, floating scary ladys, walking trees, subterranean elder races, whisperers in the dark and whatnot.

This was the one place where I was genuinely freaked, and it was so with no discernible reason.

Maybe it was something I ate

 

[bambodoggy]

Yer maybe....I'm still not sure...I'm no phycologist (yer right, can't even spell it...lol) but as I said the mind is, as I'm sure you know too, very powerful.... If the subliminal story is in there to begin with and then you're in the place it can easily trigger the fear and foreboding you felt..... maybe not in your case and maybe you wouldn't know that was what was happening...
Possible maybe?

Heck, I'm dead keen to go over there now and have a nose about.... I like to try to run head on at things that freak me.... and so far I'm still here so to me it's proof that there's nothing out there but what I imagined there to be....which, doesn't stop me freaking at the time! lol

 

[Celtic Dragon]

Its noit just "city" types, its also townies. When I was in the cadets, I took a section out at night on a patrol, all was going well until we came to the part of the training area that was pitch dark and partly covered by woodland. 1 of them asked for a torch, when asked why, they said so we can see whats going on, I asked what would be going on, to get the reply I might be attacked by a fox. All but 1 of the rest of the section admited at this point they were all afraid of the dark. So to reasure them I said the only thing I could, and that was that what was going to come near 8 people? all of them carrying weapons that would make enough noise to wake the dead. At this point the dark woodland didn't seem quite so daunting. I kept quiet on the fact I was leading them straight into an ambush!!!!

And yes, I have had that feeling in woodland of I am not alone here.

 

[sandbender]

Heck, I'm dead keen to go over there now and have a nose about....

If your are keen to follow my route, I caught a train to the Hungarian border near Szegad, then travelled to the town of Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca).

The people are great, the food is good, lots of scope for bushcrafty type activities.

Just carry a big stick, just in case....

 

[bambodoggy]

Thanks Mate, info much appriciated..... don't suppose you want to come and hold my hand do you!!!!!!! :smiley-fa

 

[bambodoggy]

Wow...it looks beautiful over there Mate...nice photo :wave:

 

[jakunen]

Thanks Mate, info much appriciated..... don't suppose you want to come and hold my hand do you!!!!!!! :smiley-fa

Nah, just take Gary or PaganWolf with their didg. That'd scare anything away. :rolmao:

 

[sandbender]

Thanks Mate, info much appriciated..... don't suppose you want to come and hold my hand do you!!!!!!! :smiley-fa

Nah! if you have company it will detract from the scaryness aspect, you must face the night alone....

 

[shinobi]

loooook what i got

I wondered what you meant when you mentioned this last night. Can you get it up loaded to the site so we can use it as well ?

Cheers,

Martin