[Music] woodlands and forested areas can be some of the most frightening places to explore from historical tragedies to unsolved mysteries do you dare venture into the unknown join me as we take a look at 15 of the creepiest things ever found in the woods
number 15 missing posters countless people around the world regularly go for walks in their local woods not just because of the exercise but because of the way that through the seasons you never know quite what you'll see next will it be a new outcrop of mushrooms perhaps a rare bird or the trees in full bloom that's why james rankin a local of long island like going for hikes near his home but something that happened in october of 2016 changed all that as he passed by the dense trees of berkeley jackson county park in huntington new york he reached a clearing and couldn't believe his eyes attached to the surrounding trees were more than a dozen missing posters all of which were from real cases in the new york area and all of which have been recently printed and placed in protective plastic they were mainly of women but there were a few men too and to make things even worse there was what appeared to be a shrine in the center of the clearing made up of a series of carefully placed twigs worried that he may have found the hideout of a serial killer or perhaps something far worse he reported what he had seen to the local police department and it was only then that he found out what was happening the posters had been put up and the area cleared in preparation for an upcoming halloween party and within a few weeks everything had been taken down and removed even though he knew the truth rankin has still struggled to be as adventurous with his walk since then and whenever he does he's always slightly anxious about what he'll see around the next corner
number 14 human skeleton people choose to go into the woods for a range of different activities some of which can seem peculiar to most others and one of the strangest and most tragic tales was revealed after a gruesome discovery that was made in a forest in the chatura district of moscow in russia a hiker had been walking near the village of cherusty one evening in april of 2019 he noticed an unusual depression in the forest floor that at the time was covered in leaf litter upon looking closer he saw what appeared to be human remains and unsure whether it was a hoax or not he dug a little further he soon realized that this was in fact a real skeleton and immediately contacted the authorities the find brought an end to a missing person's case that had been active in the region for about two years after ivan kluterev had gone missing in 2017. despite scouring the area no trace of him had been found until this new revelation but in many ways it raised more questions than it answered clutter f skeleton was still chained and padlocked to a tree and a nearby collection of five sets of handcuffs three further chains six padlocks and a book about knots were also found the official explanation was that the unfortunate victim had been training to become an escape artist that something had gone horribly wrong but police at the time also investigated the possibility that this was a bondage activity gone wrong or he had been murdered by a local gang the truth may never be known for certain but if you ever do plan on chaining yourself to a remote tree in the woods it would probably be best to tell someone what you're doing just in case you find yourself in need of assistance
number 13 holocaust artifacts during the atrocities committed by the nazis during the 1930s and 40s more than a thousand concentration camps were built and the survivors from each one told stories of how horrific the treatment there truly was many were turned into museums so the crimes would never be forgotten and the sites where they were as well as the regions around them will never be the same again one of these camps known as was near the modern day town of stuttovo in the countryside of northern poland and was actually the first to be built outside of germany during the war more than one hundred and 000 people were held there with more than 85 000 believed to have been killed and recently a group of hikers exploring the woods many miles from where the camp was made a sobering discovery in the dirt where a large number of shoes prison uniforms belts and other objects that in some places were piled knee-high it's hard to think that they had been there for so long without anyone noticing them and they were almost certainly the possessions of prisoners held in the camp how they ended up there and what happened to their owners will never be known but it acts as a further reminder of how truly terrible humans can be if evil ideas and policies are allowed to take hold
number twelve an alien one night in november of 2015 residents around the san francisco bay area began reporting mysterious lights in the sky and they were moving in seemingly impossible ways this of course began a frenzy of suggestions that ufos were visiting the area and things reached a fevered point when a local also happened to find something bizarre in the nearby woods and shared a picture of it online the lady who found it said that she heard it scream and saw it deflate slightly before it became completely lifeless and despite denying that it could possibly be an alien experts around the world struggled to identify what it actually was even though a reasonable explanation was put forward and it turns out the strange discovery could have well been linked to the light seen in the sky rather than being an attack by extraterrestrials they were actually test launches of trident nuclear missile systems and in some areas would have been accompanied by loud explosions what had been claimed to be an alien in the woods was therefore likely to be the fetus of a deer or a cow where the parent had been so startled by the lights and sounds that it suffered a miscarriage
number 11 booby traps when you're hiking through the woods it's reasonable to expect to have to take a certain degree of care as you trudge through the undergrowth just in case you come across a dangerous animal a precipitous edge or some other type of naturally formed hazard but you probably wouldn't be looking out for human-made objects that are purposefully dangerous that though was what a forestry officer found in april of 2012 on a routine patrol along the big springs trail in provo canyon around 35 miles to the north of salt lake city in utah after spotting a tripwire on the ground he looked up to see a frightening spiked boulder that had been rigged to swing at a victim at head height as well as a second one intended to push a person into a hidden bed of wooden spikes the rock itself weighed around 20 pounds and had the ranger not found the devices they would almost certainly have either killed or severely injured someone just a few days later two teenagers were arrested for setting them up and it was just a matter of luck that their scheme hadn't done what they had intended [Music]
number 10 clothes in march of 2019 david kurota his wife their daughter and a couple of their daughters friends were exploring a strip of woodland behind their home in bergen county new jersey which is next to a major highway that passes through the region suddenly one of them noticed some fabric in the undergrowth and when they took a closer look realized that it was a pile of clothes they did what most people would and pick them up but drop them straight away once they noticed something unusual the jeans bra t-shirt and underwear had all been cut in a way that appeared to suggest they had been forcibly removed from whoever was wearing them and there were signs of what looked like bloodstains they of course called the authorities immediately fearing what may have happened to the owner of the clothes and to this day no answer has been found the police were unable to link them to any missing persons reports or crimes and because of this they weren't able to be sent for testing people have since suggested that the clues could have well been cut by paramedics treating someone this is why they were neatly placed in a pile but on occasions like those the medics would normally be expected to clean up after themselves it remains a complete mystery but one that has led to residents being just that extra bit cautious near the woods just in case something untoward has happened there
number nine sacrificial altar the jungles and forests across south and central america conceal countless historic artifacts from ancient civilizations that once spread across the region and new archaeological discoveries they're constantly being found by expeditions that have purposefully gone to look for them but also by complete accident while these are often new statues structures or ornaments sometimes people come across objects that have a far creepier relevance in 2018 for example what seemed to be a stone tablet was discovered on the guatemalan border with mexico and had been there for so long that the roots of a tree had entombed it and completely grown around it it took researchers almost a year to meticulously remove it from the tree and it was only then that they realized how important to find it was with carvings of the previously unknown king chatuk ichak along with a double-headed serpent this was a mayan altar that was around 1500 years old while it was clean after it was removed however this would have been an altar upon which human sacrifices were performed and it's quite possible that hundreds of people would have lost their lives on top of this seemingly innocuous piece of stone it was undoubtedly a special discovery but a reminder of how dark by today's standards some of the rituals that were performed on the continent truly were
number eight freezer with body parts as a species we produce an almost unbelievable amount of garbage and while most of it is disposed of in a landfill or by being recycled it's not uncommon to see objects simply discarded by the side of a road or in a forest that's what a resident in fairbanks alaska thought they had found in april of 2021 when they saw a freezer sticking out of the snow in a local wood but when they opened it to see what was inside they couldn't believe their eyes the troopers that were subsequently called to investigate it confirmed that it actually contained human remains which were later identified as being those of a 67 year old woman from anchorage who hadn't been seen for more than a year clearly a case of homicide full details of the discovery still haven't been released because worryingly very little evidence leading to a perpetrator was found and with nothing to go on it's already been classified as a cold case
number seven german hand grenade with so much fighting taking place in the country during both the first and second world wars there's actually a specialized bomb disposal squad in germany called the explosive ordnance disposal service said to be the busiest department of its type in the world they're believed to deactivate a bomb at least every two weeks with unexploded ordinance being found throughout the country nothing seemed too out of the ordinary then in april of 2021 when they arrived on a scene in a forest near the city of pasau which is on the border with austria a jogger had found a transparent bag in the undergrowth with an object inside that looks suspiciously like a hand grenade the bomb disposal officers agreed that it looked suspicious and carefully opened the bag to deal with the grenade and checked the other contents too and that's when they realized that nothing was what it seemed the grenade was actually made from soft rubber and was in a bag with a bottle of lubricant and a pack of condoms which means that rather than playing war games in the forest the owners had been having fun of a completely different kind quite why they decided to dispose of their equipment there instead of somewhere else isn't entirely clear but it was surely a better option than working out how to recycle it at all
number six the devil's tramping ground near the harper's crossroads area in bear creek north carolina there's a camping spot in the forest that's become a place of legend known as the devil's trapping ground it's been long known about by local people as a peculiar place that for some reason nothing grows according to the stories the 40-foot wide ring in the ground has remained barren for more than a century and is said to be where the devil walks in circles at night planning ways to bring evil to the world other than being a place where nothing grows objects left in the ring at night have often disappeared by the morning and pets such as dogs often refuse to walk anywhere near it those crazy enough to spend the night camping there will return with tales of strange noises and frightening experiences that are so traumatic they refuse to stay any longer making this one of the creepiest forest clearings anywhere in the united states despite this people often travel there to test the tales for themselves but if any of the stories are actually true would you be brave enough to stay there i wouldn't
number five free hugs hut a few years ago this image began being shared online and it's possibly one of the creepiest things you could ever find in the woods it's a small abandoned structure that has almost been reclaimed by nature and at some point someone spray-painted the words free hugs with an arrow pointing towards the door at first it was thought to be a hoax but further images began to be shared of people who had actually seen it in real life and it captured photos from alternate angles proving that it is indeed real said to be in an unidentified forest in wisconsin possibly near plum city it's surely the type of thing if you saw it would make you turn the other way and run for your life while there are now a few images from the outside it seems as if no one's been brave enough to venture inside for the promised hugs so what's in there remains a complete mystery do you think it's a well-placed joke or is there something far more nefarious at work here
number four 114 year old headstone in december of 2012 a hiker was walking past a woodland area near davenport in santa cruz california when he spotted a carved piece of stone sticking out from the ground that he later mentioned he had also seen more than a decade earlier on this occasion though he decided to take a closer look at it and saw that it was clearly a headstone he contacted the local museum of art and history to tell them about it and if finding the remains of a burial weren't disturbing enough the story behind it takes on a whole new creepy dimension it was the headstone of a prostitute called mary holmes who had lived in the area in the late 19th century said to have been popular in the local community she lived the tough life and finally succumbed to her demons and killed herself in 1897 by drinking a vial of carbolic acid and eventually dying outside of the saloon with several onlookers she was buried at the nearby evergreen cemetery in a ceremony that saw most of the community mourn the loss and according to the newspaper report from the time her grave was covered with countless beautiful floral pieces in the years since though the cemetery has fallen into disrepair and as many as half of the headstones have completely vanished this raises the question of who moved this stone marking holmes's grave and why they left it in the woods near to the highway a mystery we'll probably never know the answer to
number three face carvings at first if you take a walk through stores mill woods near the town of barnsley and england it'll seem like any other but if you pay attention to the rocks and cliff edges that surround you you may just get the feeling that the place is looking right back at you known as the cudworth stone faces it's not known how many there are around the area and they certainly interrupt you from having a peaceful tranquil meander through nature and if you ask a local about them they'll tell you countless tales of how they came to be some say they're ruins that were left by druids thousands of years ago to protect the spiritually significant area that was seen by them as the pathway to the spirit world while others will describe the monks from the nearby abbey that carved them to keep a protective watch over all visitors or even that they were carved to honor the viking warriors that once repelled unknown attackers from the nearby villagers sadly though the truth is nowhere near as enthralling as any of these stories as the carvings were actually only created recently by two local artists called melvin dickinson and billy johnson still if you didn't know this and just so happened to see the faces in the woods it would undoubtedly be a surreal and incredibly creepy experience
number two deteriorating dolls to the south of central mexico city there's a network of waterways that are interspersed by small tree-covered islands and there's one in particular that's probably the creepiest wooded area you could ever visit known as the island of the dolls it first got its name in the 1950s when various dolls began appearing all over the island and since then more and more have been continually added according to local legend the man that used to own the site began placing the dolls amongst the trees and buildings after witnessing a young girl drowning in one of the rivers and believed that he heard her shout out that she wanted her doll terrified he instead picked up the doll that was near her and hung it in a tree and the tradition was born there are now hundreds of dolls scattered across the island and since some of them have been there for decades they've now become covered with cobwebs and insects and are falling apart this further adds to the creepy feel of the place and in a further mystery the man originally responsible for them also died on the island supposedly in almost exactly the same place he had found the young girl all those years earlier since his death the island has become a popular tourist site with thousands of people traveling by boat to see the strange place for themselves but despite knowing what they're about to see almost everyone gets shivers down their spine says the reality of how truly creepy it is finally dawns on them
number one breathing earth woodlands are some of the most biodiverse regions in the world where the rich plant life supports countless animal species and you could almost be forgiven for thinking that the entire place is alive this may not be too crazy a belief though because there's a rare phenomenon that if you ever witness it makes it seem as if the forest floor is breathing beneath your feet it is the sort of thing that has to be seen to be believed but there's plenty of footage of it in action because if you ever to find this happening in real life one of the first things you do is surely record it as proof almost appearing as if there's a huge monster snoring beneath the mossy woodland floor the ground clearly lifts up and down in a way that's almost incomprehensible of course after the initial bemusement and creepy sensation there's an understandable scientific curiosity as to why this happens and it's all to do with the weather it's only ever seen when the wind speeds are high and in regions where the soil is sufficiently loose in the perfect conditions the wind will rock the trees back and forth and this causes their huge tangle of roots beneath the ground to move with them with enough force the whole forest floor including the rocks and debris that sat on it will undulate as well which creates this incredible effect watch our scary playlist for more top 15 videos about the most scary subjects sit back relax and binge watch all of our best videos you