Step inside the most terrifying haunted forests in the world, eerie woodlands allegedly home to everything from ghosts to cryptids to UFOs.
Wikimedia CommonsKnown for the decaying kid ’s toys that hang from its trees , Mexico ’s “ Island of the Dolls ” stands alongside New Jersey ’s Pine Barrens and Translyvania ’s Hoia - Baciu as one of the chilling haunted woodland in the world .
If you ’re trapped in a taken up house , at least you have the promise of elude through a window or threshold . But if you get lose in a haunted forest , you might be misplace there forever . That on the face of it inescapable vastness is one reason why haunted timber are especially terrifying — but it ’s far from the only one .
Allegedly haunted forests around the world are , despite their striking differences , interchangeable in many central ways . They ’re all impenetrable woodlands with a skittish report build on unexplained occurrence , local lore , and unusual topography or vegetation . But each place also put its own unique spin on the thought of a haunted forest .

Wikimedia CommonsKnown for the decaying children’s toys that hang from its trees, Mexico’s “Island of the Dolls” stands alongside New Jersey’s Pine Barrens and Translyvania’s Hoia-Baciu as one of the scariest haunted forests in the world.
The Devil ’s Tramping Ground , for example , is a flyspeck square of res publica in the pine woods of North Carolina , where the devil is believed to , well , “ tramp . ” Meanwhile , the Pine Barrens of New Jersey unfold out over a million Akko and are supposedly home to both a salmagundi of ghosts and a terrifying beast known as the Jersey Devil .
And many of the world ’s scariest woods rest out of doors of the United States . Below , we ’ve put together a list of some of the most terrifying haunt forests from around the world . From Epping Forest in England to Mexico ’s eery Island of the Dolls , each is scarier than the next .
Aokigahara: Japan’s Chilling “Suicide Forest” In The Shadow Of Mount Fuji
ajari / Wikimedia CommonsAokigahara woods in Japan has become a attracter for people looking to cease their lives .
One of the spookiest things aboutJapan ’s Aokigahara forestis its quiet . Its forest floor is made of volcanic rock — produce by the eruption of Mount Fuji in 864 C.E. — which absorbs sound . What ’s more , the soil contains high levels of atomic number 26 , which means that cell phones and GPS devices often do n’t work out .
This creates an atmospheric state of eerie quiet . But that ’s far from the only reason why Aokigahara is considered to be a haunted forest .

ajari/Wikimedia CommonsAokigahara forest in Japan has become a magnet for people looking to end their lives.
Long ago , Aokigahara was supposedly the situation of a gruesome practice known asubasute . During times when intellectual nourishment was scarce , some kinsperson purportedly chose to go away elderly or sick congener in remote places like Aokigahara . ineffective to care for them , they left them alone to perish .
Since then , ghosts eff asyūreihave allegedly been spotted in the wood and are consider to be the tortured spirits of these desolate people .
However , Aokigahara has develop an even darker reputation in late years : as a home to die by suicide . In 1960,Tower of Wavesby Seichō Matsumoto told the story of a fair sex who dies by suicide in woods , and in 1993,The Complete Manual of Suicideby Wataru Tsurumi named Aokigahara as one of the good station to die .

Davide Mauro/Wikimedia CommonsA suicide prevention sign in Aokigahara forest that promises to help with debt relief (several people who died by suicide in the forest were driven by despair over job loss or debts).
Davide Mauro / Wikimedia CommonsA suicide prevention sign in Aokigahara wood that promises to help with debt relief ( several citizenry who died by suicide in the forest were driven by desperation over task loss or debts ) .
Ever since , Aokigahara forest has become a destination for people looking to die by self-annihilation . The Japanese governing stop publish figure after 108 self-destruction were reported in the forest in 2004 , but the timberland supposedly go on to pull people looking to finish their lives .
This , the lack of sound , and the forest ’s unsettling history untroubled Aokigahara ’s lieu among the earth ’s most haunted wood .