The Forest of Fear

Generally, city forests are popular places, as most other chapters of this book will show. Yet, like all forests, they also have a ‘darker’ side. Jones and Cloke (2002) mention that ‘places of trees’ can be places of fear as well as of exclusion. In his account of his childhood in Des Moines, Iowa, author Bill Bryson (2007, p. 159) characterises local woods as follows: “The woods were unnerving. The air was thicker in there, more stifling, the noises different. You could go into the woods and not come out again. One certainly never considered them as thoroughfare. They were too vast for that.”

This chapter focuses on the different fears that have been associated with forests, as fear has been an important element of ancient links between people and forests. Fear is an important part of landscapes and of the tension between place (home, safety) and space (the unknown, the adventurous and maybe unsafe). Jones and Cloke (2002) mention two strands of fear associated with forests and woods: the fear of what woodlands might contain or conceal, such as criminals, dangerous animals or mythical beings, and a ‘deeper’ fear, for example reflected in a fear of getting lost. At the outset of this chapter, the latter, ‘primeval’ fears of forests are dealt with.

In their account of safety and perceived safety in Dutch forests and nature, Van Winsum-Westra and De Boer (2004) distinguish between social and physical (un)safety. Partly based on this distinction, sections of this chapter consider forests as venues for criminal behaviour, as well as in terms of dangers associated with ‘wild’ nature. Finally, the often narrow divide between fear and excitement is used to demonstrate how forest fears can be managed and even used for the better.