Are City Dwellers scared of the forest?

[tomtom]

My question is this. Do you think that townsfolk are generally scared of the woods after dark..

...in my experience it aint just townsfolk!

 

[jakunen]

Jakunen....do you have links to the threads you mentioned by Kath and Womble.... I'd be interested to have a read, my wife is scared of the woods at night and it might help for her to read them?

Many thanks in advance....

Here's Wombles thread, a bit of a long one in the end, O think Kath's bit is probably in there too.
http://www.bushcraftuk.net/community/showthread.php?t=385

 

[Womble]

Ah yes, I remember it well...

As Jak, Tazz, Pfadfinder (hi Baz!) and Monkeyboy will testify, I haven't really had too much problems in woods in the last 12 months. I won't deny, however, that there have been times (esp in the hamock) when I've wondered just what had made that noise, and all of a sudden I'm wide awake again...

 

[jakunen]

Ah yes, I remember it well...

As Jak, Tazz, Pfadfinder (hi Baz!) and Monkeyboy will testify, I haven't really had too much problems in woods in the last 12 months. I won't deny, however, that there have been times (esp in the hamock) when I've wondered just what had made that noise, and all of a sudden I'm wide awake again...

Yep, he's been good as gilt.

Haven't we all done that though Womble? Yer half asleep, just about to drop off completely and an owl hoots, a vixen screams or a vole ends with a squeak and you think "****** hell! What was that? Why is my heart going like a trip-hammer!!! Do I really need to go relieve myself or can I wait until morning?".

 

[Womble]

Yep, he's been good as gilt.

Oho... so I'm only as good as something that looks like gold, but is - in fact - merely a surface layer hiding something cheaper underneath?

<leaves thread sobbing hysterically>

( ): )

 

[bambodoggy]

Thanks Guys, just read through that other thread, it's realy interesting.... I find it so odd as I don't have those fears...I'm not saying I'm hard as nails or anything (I think we all know that phsical prowess doesn't prove anything and I'm not "that" big anyway!) and I do have very real fears of other things but the woods has never held any fear for me and I've always felt happy and in control and at home there.....right from childhood.
I think that's why I find it so hard to understand why my wife won't come and walk the dog in our local woods late at night. I'm like "but I'll be there and Samson's an ex-police dog...what could happen"?....and she's like "It doesn't matter if the whole of Surrey Constabulary was there, I don't like it and I'm not going"....and I just can't understand it.
Reading the thread has given me some more ideas to try to help her along a bit.

I did Outdoor Ed at college and we did a little bit on the Phycology of Fear which I remember finding very interesting at the time but if I'm honest I can bearly remember now.
What is more odd is that as a Climbing/Canoeing (and other activities) instructor I find I can empathise with frightened people and help them through their fears (I almost seem to have a gift for it) but I still do not understand them....odd...work that out!

Have any of you read "Deep Survival" by Laurence Gonzales? I'm on about chapter 3 or 4 now and although I'm finding it fairly hard going it is very interesting and explains a lot about why we do the things we do in survival situations and why some people survive and others don't.

 

[jakunen]

Oho... so I'm only as good as something that looks like gold, but is - in fact - merely a surface layer hiding something cheaper underneath?

<leaves thread sobbing hysterically>

( ): )

Sorry mate, couldn't resist that one. You've a heart of platignum.

 

[falling rain]

I've read Deep survival Bambodoggy an excellent book really enjoyed it
there was a thread about it a while back in the books and media section

 

[Stew]

I think it all comes down to the way in which we are brought up with both experiences we have and what we're told by others.

At night noises are amplified and sounds are different to the day time. I admit to having being scared of a hedgehog walking past before. I was expecting something much bigger to come walking past.

That raises an interesting point. Are the noises louder, or are they just percieved as being louder because your sense of sight is working less making your hearing compensate?

 

[jakunen]

I think it all comes down to the way in which we are brought up with both experiences we have and what we're told by others.

At night noises are amplified and sounds are different to the day time. I admit to having being scared of a hedgehog walking past before. I was expecting something much bigger to come walking past.

That raises an interesting point. Are the noises louder, or are they just percieved as being louder because your sense of sight is working less making your hearing compensate?

Its because of two things:
1) its generally quieter anyway; and
2) Your sense of hearing is heightened as your sense of sight is diminished.

It's amazing how something as small as a hedgehog can sound like a pack of starved heyna when its snuffling thru the undergrowth looking for worms and slugs.

 

[TAZ]

the only time that I have been scared in the woods was the first time I used my hammock at the local scout HQ. The local MOD plod had been round saying they had had a bit of trouble with some people and they may still be in the area. It was then that i realised how close to everything I was and that i was responsible for the safety of the scouts in my charge. But I learnt from that situation that from a little info you can dream-up the worst scenario, and after reading the threads on here the next time that I went away I was fine.
Going away with other leaders is interesting as I notice the fear "tells" that I used to display. If you point out the fox barking or the three owls hooting you can see people relaxing as they learn the sounds are natural and not some axe weilding maniac stalking the woods :shock:

 

[willie]

its not that im scared of the dark/forrest its just that u know that theres weirdos goin about. and me also being a kid also adds the extra weakness kinda thing :?:

 

[arctic hobo]

I remember something I read in New Scientist a while back - an astronomer was going around inner city schools in New York, and one day, after his lecture closed, a child put his hand into the air and asked if the stars he had showed them were computer simulations. He didn't know what to say until he asked later, and found that the children had never seen the stars. :sadwavey:

 

[ronsos]

I wonder if the fear of the dark is some kind of genitic thing-when our ancestors told each other tales of goblins ,werewolves or similar things.maybe this was a form of social control.as for the noise hedgehogs make -I was sure the first time I heard this at night in the woods ,someone had realised a grizzily in my local woods.

 

[arctic hobo]

That's a good point - if it's survived the long journey down the genes, then we have a very good reason to be scared of the woods, as back then we could realistically suppose to find animals more dangerous and with better senses than us in the woods. Hungry ones too. :shock:

 

[ronsos]

I wonder if the fear of the dark is some kind of genitic thing-when our ancestors told each other tales of goblins ,werewolves or similar things.maybe this was a form of social control.as for the noise hedgehogs make -I was sure the first time I heard this at night in the woods ,someone had realised a grizzily in my local woods.

wilderness is not a luxury,but a nessity of the human spirit-ed abbey

 

[tomtom]

im not so sure it stems from goblins probably more likely to have been real creature who hunt by night and might not have said no to a bit of human if they could get it! remember in the darkness out primary sensory organ is significantly crippled by a lack of visible light!

 

[ronsos]

i find that rummaging about the woods at night is a bit like diving-it feels scarey and unnatural but if you relax mentally and watch your breathing ,you get huge dividends re wildlife and your own peace of mind.may your trails be crooked,winding,lonesome,dangerous,leading to the most amazing views.-ed abbey

 

[Viking]

soldiers when fully tactical don't use any light at night!

For a soldier the dark is their best friend because it makes you invisible, so if someone is afraid for any weirdos hanging around in the woods remember that they can´t see you but you can see them.

 

[sandbender]

Having a fear of the dark should be looked on as a positive thing, we all have it to a lesser or greater extent. Its this fear which kept your ancestors alive! no doubt there were many brave young men in aeons past who claimed to have no fear, and who picked up their spear and walked to the cave entrance to find out what that 'snuffling' noise was...

Only to be dragged off kicking and screaming in to the dark..

We are all descended from the ones shivering with fear who kept their back to wall and kept the fire burning high...