40+ Crazy Things That Have Been Found In The Deep, Dark Woods

When you go on a walk through the woods, you likely expect to find a wide variety of flora and fauna. You expect to see a sea of greenery worthy of taking a new Instagram selfie but what you don’t expect to see is a giant robot or a stack of dinner plates that are practically sky-high. Of course, there have been cases where things like this were discovered among the trees and adorable forest-dwelling creatures. In fact, there have been many that are just as worthy of making an appearance on your newsfeed as that bush of wild roses you took a photo of the other day. Luckily for you, we’ve done a bunch of digging and compiled a rather entertaining list of a few of the best, most crazy things that have ever been found within the woods — and we’re going to share the list with you today!

Definitely Haunted

Oh yeah. We’ve definitely seen enough scary movies to know that this, right here, is a very, very haunted mansion. Somewhere in Russia (go figure), this spooky abandoned mansion looks like the setting of every modern horror movie out there.

From evil cults in the treehouse and dead bodies in the basement to malicious spirits walking the halls, this mansion has likely seen it all. It is, unofficially, a no-enter zone for anyone with a decent sense of gut instincts.

Do Not Approach Abandoned Tunnels

“Do not approach abandoned tunnels” is a phrase that we swear by after seeing so many scary movies centered around tunnels that have long been abandoned by humans. If you’ve seen Cloverfield or As Above, So Below, you know exactly what we’re talking about. After all, what’s so enticing about the idea of potentially being trapped inside of a dark, oxygen-lacking tunnel of rock?

Beats us! But still, there are people who, even after seeing those movies, choose to explore the empty tunnels. Whoever took this photo was one of those people, so let’s just hope that he or she managed to take the picture without being eaten by tunnel-dwelling monsters.

Everyone’s Favorite Bear

Let’s be honest here — as a kid, you were probably a big fan of Winnie the Pooh. Even if you weren’t “a fan” per se, it’s probably safe to assume that you knew about Pooh, met Pooh at Disneyworld, or saw Pooh on TV at one point or another.

This crafty little forest find is a testament to those Pooh-loving days and, as far as we can see, has been admired by everyone who’s come across it since it appears to be free of damage or vandalism. Maybe that’s the magic of the Hundred Acre Woods at work?

Do You Carrot All?

According to this Imgur user, they were walking their dog when he/she lead them to this — a giant pile of carrots smack dab in the middle of the forest. Obviously, the first question is why, which is followed by the next question of how.

Honestly, no one really knows either of those answers. One popular idea is that a hunter was trying to use this pile of carrots as bait for deer. Okay, that’s somewhat believable, but it still leaves us wondering why so many carrots were necessary. Does no one carrot all about wasting food anymore?

Litterers Beware

This adventurous hiker stumbled upon one of the strangest things they’ll likely ever find in the woods during their lifetime. You can see that it’s certainly odd but what is it? That’s entirely a matter of personal opinion and debatable!

As far as we’re concerned, it could either be an all-natural tree growth or a soul-sucking demon spirit that wants to punish those who litter in his woods. Regardless, it would be pretty freaky to come across this late at night while setting up camp.

Hello? Anyone There?

Quick, look! It’s the Ministry of Magic’s first rural-zone expansion. Where’s the Doc, though? He must have just run off into the woods in search of the city! He never was really that great with directions of any kind at all…

All Doctor Who references aside and in all seriousness, though, it’s hard to imagine a good reason for the location of this arrant phone booth. It might make sense if there were telephone lines or something in the area, but alas, it’s all trees and greenery.

Reunited

Serving in the military is a noble act — there’s no doubt about that, and while many military members will never see the face of a real battle, there are, of course, many that will. Because anything can happen on the field, deployment is the fear of every military family.

The woman whose husband wore these dog tags, unfortunately, passed away in 2010. We don’t know if it was due to his service in the military or not, but either way, when this hiker brought his dog tags back to her, she was overjoyed.

Sword In The Grass?

The children’s movie, The Sword In The Stone, was popular in the 1960s and ’70s. Back in its prime, the film had millions of adoring fans who thought it was the best thing ever to grace their television sets. Apparently, the movie had a super fan hiding somewhere — even after all this time.

Or, at least that’s what it looks like to us. That’s probably not what’s going on here, but the connection was fun for us to make and, let’s face it, the discovery of a sword hilt-deep in the grass is going to remind just about every one of knights, wizards, and medieval life.

Stairs To Nowhere

You’ve probably heard the rumors of the random staircases that are found in the woods all over the world. Little did you know, though, that these rumors aren’t really rumors after all. They’re actually true, says our source, a rescue worker in the US.

According to her, it’s a strangely common occurrence to stumble upon stone staircases miles inside of the thickest woods. When we say miles in, we mean it — most of these staircases, she says, are found 30 to 40 miles into the mess of trees and brambles.

Plates, Plates, and More Plates

Have you ever wondered what happened to all those plates you broke when you were trying to master being a waitress or waiter? Sure, they get swept up and tossed in the trash, but then what happens to them? Surely they don’t just disappear…

By the looks of things in this photo, they end up in this giant pile in the forest. If you’re not so sure of that, you might want to consider the idea that a plate factory closed down because, otherwise, we have no good explanation for what’s pictured here.

Dinosaur of The Woods

Whoa — we’re definitely impressed with this weird woods find. Not only are we super stoked that someone took the time, effort, and creativity to make a giant masterpiece in the middle of the woods, but we’re also kind of excited by the fact that it’s a giant dinosaur.

Seriously! This dinosaur is fantastic. If you’re not as happy about it as we are, then you must not have seen enough dinosaur movies in your childhood. Dinosaurs aside, however, you have to admit that this discovery is definitely worthy of a spot on our list.

Cashing In These Jeans

Walking through their local woods, this poster wasn’t fazed when he found a pair of dirty, discarded jeans lying among the leaves. After all, it’s a fairly typical sight, seeing as clothing somehow manages to get left behind or lost quite often.

What is unusual and worth a second thought, though, is that the man got the brilliant idea to touch the jeans. Yuck, right? Thankfully, nothing jumped out of them. Unbelievably, the man was rewarded with $43 for his bravery — just enough to buy a few bottles of hand sanitizer to wash the germs away.

Bottle of Moss

If we had come across this find, we’d have automatically thought of reptile humidity hides, but that’s likely just because we love animals a little too much. The person who did find this just saw an interesting social media post waiting to happen.

There’s nothing wrong with that because, of course, it does make for a pretty exciting post. The hole in the glass bottle seems to have been melted in by some intense source of heat before the entire thing was filled with moss and left to captivate those wandering the woods.

Rainbow Bridge Memorial

The passing of a pet can be truly traumatic. Regardless of whether you like to think of the process as merely passing away, or as something complicated and sweet like “crossing the rainbow bridge,” it’s not something that any pet owner likes to think about.

When it happens, though, wouldn’t it be nice to have a memorial for your furry friend? Well, in these woods, that’s exactly what’s happening. Someone created a public pet memorial, where grieving pet parents can hang their pets’ collars and honor their lives.

Moss Covered Boot

There’s something so satisfying about objects encased in a layer of moss. Kind of like the waves rolling in and out, they are just one of those things that, for some reason, we find ourselves fixed on and unable to look away from. Just us? Oh, okay.

Well still! Even if you’re not partial to the fascination of moss, you have to admit that a moss-covered boot does look really cool. For the moss to grow this thick and perfect on the boot, it had to have been there for a long time. But where’s the other one?

Time Machine?

This has to be one of the most unique things on our list. It’s not creepy, but it somehow manages to unnerve us with its complexity and seemingly random existence. We have no idea what it is or how it got into these Wisconsin woods.

The person who found it was probably just as dumbfounded as we are now. The only bonus in their situation is that they were able to capture it in a photo and witness it first hand. If we had to guess what it is, we’d be tempted to say it was a time machine. What do you think?

Broken Baby Doll

It’s every hiker’s worst nightmare. You’re enjoying your day trek through your local woods, admiring the flowers and bird watching as you go. You turn the corner onto a new path, and that’s when you see it — an old, broken doll’s head. Yikes.

If you’re like us, this discovery would have been enough to make your blood run cold and a good enough reason to head back to the car (and quick!). This hiker is clearly braver than we are, and for that, we admire him. After this photo was snapped, though, it seems reasonable to assume that he high-tailed it out of there.

Concrete Boxes

Finding one of these large, concrete boxes in the woods might not be that surprising — in fact, it might not even be cause for a second glance, but finding two might be a little more concerning. Finding four, though? We’d call that downright worrisome.

These could easily be part of some water or sewage system. They could also be electrical boxes. The thing that confuses us is how utterly out of place they are. Given their secluded location, the first thing that comes to mind is tombstones, which definitely isn’t good.

A Cow

It’s one thing to stumble upon a random cow in the woods — after all, the woods is a great place to find an abundance of grass. It’s an entirely different thing to find a cow that’s not real suspended on a small tree and left all on its lonesome.

If it had been left lying on the ground, it might be plausible to think that a child had gone for a walk through the woods with their parents and dropped their stuffed toy. But when it’s purposely stuck on a tree that’s taller than most children, it makes us a bit more skeptical.

Soviet Spaceship

If you like history, you better put your coffee down because the history buff in you will go wild over this one. While on a casual jog through the forest somewhere in Europe, someone came across something they definitely weren’t expecting to see — an old soviet spaceship.

The spaceship was used in Russia’s long-abandoned Buran Space Program, and while it’s obviously a valuable historical find, this vessel has definitely seen better days. It’s probably been sitting in these woods for decades upon decades, and in doing so, it’s lost its pristine paint job and impressive appearance.

Spooky Shrine

During October, it’s not surprising to find spooky Halloween decor sporting fake blood, gore, and monsters. Sometimes, you can even see this decor trend starting as early as September in preparation for the upcoming holiday. Most of the time, decorations aren’t set up in the woods, though, right?

By the looks of this, that’s not right at all. No one knows for sure if this is something more serious or just a silly Halloween setup, but it’s unsettling nonetheless. We’d hate to have been the one to discover it — especially if we had been alone in the woods.

Science Experiment Gone Wrong

There are a ton of crazy things found in the woods, a fact that’s evident from this list. Some are spooky and leave a bad taste in your mouth, while others are somewhat sweet and peaceful. Then, in a whole other group, are the totally confusing ones.

Looking at this PVC and plastic creation, we’re confused. After doing a bit of research, though, it seems like what this hiker found in the Iowa woods is actually a homemade deer feeder. Without this knowledge, we would have settled on it being something like a backwoods science experiment gone wrong.

Smurfs?

So this one is a bit different. It’s still weird but isn’t an object like our other list items. Regardless, we saw this photo floating around on the web and just knew that it had to be included. What is it, you ask? Smurfs! Smurfs in the woods.

Yep, don’t worry — you’re not crazy, and those smurfs are real. They’re people in costumes, obviously, but the question on everyone’s mind is why. Maybe Halloween was around the corner? Or perhaps there was a secret smurf-loving cult meeting in the woods? We’ll never know.

Stone Engraving

Upon first glance, the person who found this probably thought that they had somehow made their way into an area of mourning or an impromptu graveyard. That’s what we would have thought, at least as we gazed down at this stone.

It has a shape similar to that of a gravesite headstone as well as some clear, albeit illegible, writing. The writing seems to be in another language or in some kind of code, which takes this discovery from solemn to fascinating.

Plans To Travel The World

To travel the world by bike would be an amazing feat in anyone’s books. The sheer amount of effort, determination, and physical strength the journey would take would be truly enormous. The only problem is the various oceans…which, we think, is why the driver of this bike abandoned their plan.

As with many of these photos, we can’t say for sure what the idea behind this was, but we do know that as soon as we saw the bike-and-globe combination, we automatically thought of world travels. It also kind of reminds us of the flying bike scene from ET: The Extra-Terrestrial.

A Penny For Your Thoughts

If this lucky hiker was feeling under the weather when they found this log, their mood surely changed when they realized what was decorating it. At first, it’s easy to think that the disc-like objects are saw blades, but upon further inspection, their true nature comes to light.

They’re pennies! There are probably more than 100 pennies decorating this old, fallen log. To get them in there, whoever did this must have had a lot of time on their hands — not to mention a saw for cutting this many wedge-shaped slots.

Forest Treasure

Once upon a time, in a faraway country known as Wales, a hiker found what looks like a giant treasure box in their local woods. The end. Right? Well, not really. See, it’s much more complicated than that because no one knows for sure what this giant box is.

For all we know, it could very well be full of riches and rubies. Or, more likely, it could be something like a heavy-duty toolbox. Either way, it’s still one heck of a thing to find sitting so unassumingly in the forest.

Unidentified Structures

If you go far enough into the woods, you’re bound to find something worth taking a few extra minutes to explore. In this case, the thing worth exploring was these rounded metal buildings. With small windows and a dome-like shape, there’s something about them that screams doomsday prep to us.

They look kind of like a bomb shelter, except that they’re above ground instead of under. The hiker who found them says that one of the structures had a dead chipmunk hanging out in front of the door — and it was fresh. Talk about uncomfortable.

Dinosaur Time

As children, many of us lived for the non-existent day that we’d get to meet a dinosaur up close up and personal. As adults, we understand that there’s absolutely no way that this wish can be fulfilled; it’s just one of the many things that our over-excited childhood brains fantasized about.

Or is it? Because in these woods, dinosaurs are apparently running rampant. You can tell by the way this woman was captured in the bottom half of the photo that she was in shock as she took in the gigantic T-Rex blocking her path. It’s said that there was more than just one dinosaur lurking in this forest.

A Tree With A Lot of Sole

When a man and his wife discovered this soleful tree, they were taken aback. They had walked past this tree dozens of times and never batted an eyelash. It had been like every other tree in the area — until one day something changed.

The tree had been decorated with dozens of pairs of shoes! From trunk to branches, the tree was plastered with them and teaming with color. There’s no real reason why that they could find, so we’ll just say that there was definitely a budding artist in the area who was looking to add a bit of “wow factor” to these woods.

One Odd Find

When you stop and take a long, hard look at this photo, you quickly realize that this might just be the epitome of “one odd find.” Everywhere you look seems to have something interesting to decode. From the cowboy hat and matching red lips to the random toilet and long, tube-like structure protruding from this figure, oddness is in every pixel of this photo.

Our best guess is that someone — who is very, very creative — wanted to, for whatever reason, recreate a figure using the washroom in the woods. It could be just for laughs and chuckles, or it could be a hint to forest services that there needs to be a more abundant supply of outhouses in the forest.

Heavy Lifting

In itself, this rig-like system isn’t all that strange to find in the woods. The large chain grips are often used for rigging heavy loads further down in the forest or inside of deep depressions and trenches. Loggers and forestry workers use these systems.

The thing here that has our eyebrows up is the fact that the tree being rigged is so small. When the user put their system to use, we hope that, for their own good, the tree was able to support the weight they were trying to carry with it. Although it looks like the system was abandoned, so it’s hard to think positively about this one.

Masked

Whoa. What is going on here? Honestly, the scene is more concerning than it is weird. The person who found it was probably startled into place for a few seconds as they took in the array or macabre possibilities surrounding the situation.

The dog mask looks harmless enough — creepy, but relatively self-explanatory. On the other hand, the feet are a whole different story. For the sake of the finder’s sanity, we can only hope that the feet are attached to a life-like mannequin instead of a living human being.

Elmo’s World

If you were a young kid in the late ’90s, Elmo’s World might have been one of your favorite shows. Even if it wasn’t, Elmo probably quickly became a figure that you could easily recognize. With tons of love in his heart and enough educational songs to go around, he was a staple in many households.

Whoever created this masterpiece, though, probably isn’t brimming with quite as much love and affection as everyone’s favorite red monster. Hopefully, the photographer who found this tree didn’t have an Elmo-loving child with them — he or she may just have been scarred for life.

Forest Fortress

There isn’t much context behind this photo. However, the photographer does know that there are a number of outdoor exercise areas in the general area. Maybe that’s what this is supposed to be? It could be possible, but it’s hard to wrap our heads around the idea of this fortress-like jungle gym thing being used to stay fit.

In our opinion, it looks more like a backwoods jail or giant animal cage than a means for getting the blood circulating. Either way, though, the structure is definitely something fascinating to look at with its intricate design and tall stature.

A Coffin A Day

Yikes. There’s something that’s really off-putting about this photo. Could it be, perhaps, the empty grave pictured in the center? Yeah, that’s probably it — actually, that’s precisely it. A grave isn’t something you want to see open, let alone empty.

Luckily, empty coffins aren’t usually a common find. Not so luckily, though, this poor hiker managed to find probably the only one that exists within a hundred miles. The only thing worse than finding an empty coffin would be falling into said empty coffin.

To Open Or Not Open

Freezers are some of the least weird things you could find — unless, of course, you see them in the middle of a forest. Within a matter of a few seconds, the perfectly mundane freezer can become the catalyst for anxiety, nightmares, and unease all because of its location.

Funny how that works, huh? Not really. Not in this situation. Because not only is the freezer found here in the forest, but it’s also taped shut. To keep something out? Or perhaps to keep something in? The latter of the two ideas makes the hairs on our necks stand up.

An Unnerving Note

At first glance, this doesn’t seem like anything weird. Notes fall out of people’s pockets all the time — no big deal. However, what this note actually says is something that, in our humble opinions, resembles something someone who suffers from bad mental health might say.

Basically, the note — which is written upside down and in Farsi — says that the writer wishes for forgiveness. It also says that she hopes the universe sends a number of certain people excellent health, mental stability, and wealth in this world and the one that comes next.

Zesty

Walking through the woods, this hiker managed to find what has to be the world’s most massive pile of zested lemons. The smell is probably what drew the hiker in — after all, a collection this big ought to have a pretty strong citrus smell.

Getting closer, though, the hiker was probably put into a state of disbelief by the sheer number of lemons and the way that they stick out against the foresty green backdrop. There’s no doubt that they wondered how and why this happened, but like many things found in the woods, there’s just no explanation.

Holding The Torch High

If you’ve ever gone on a “new year, new me” kick, you might know what it’s like to get up and out of bed early in the morning to go for a before-work jog. If not, we can confidently say that after years of being a couch potato, this sudden change is nothing short of treacherous.

This lucky hiker was rewarded with a torch for his efforts! In a world of silent victories, this one seems like one worth mentioning and celebrating. Now, if only he had a lighter to light this torch….or maybe not? The jury’s still out on that part.

Spooky Surprise

We’ve never had it happen to us, but if we were to stumble upon a scene like the one laid out in this photo, there’s no telling how we’d react. Sure, we might be shaking in our boots — but we’d probably also be very intrigued.

Honestly, we’d probably react by whipping out the trusty old smartphone camera as this hiker did. After all, this is truly one of those things that no one will believe you when you say you saw it unless you have proof. So, why not get confirmation? A picture can’t hurt…hopefully.

Teepee For The Taking

When you think about finding weird things, you probably don’t think of seeing them in well-traveled tourist attraction areas like national parks. After stumbling onto this forest find, though, this tourist is likely to keep her eyes peeled regardless of her chosen location’s popularity.

She found a stick Teepee! It appears to be handmade and isn’t an everyday attraction put there by park employees. It also happens to serve as the perfect place for an impromptu photo session, a bonus that she took full advantage of.

Snake Skin

What’s the strangest thing you’ve found in the woods? Taking a quick guess, we’ll say that it might have been a dead bird or a weird rock with a face on it or something. But have you ever found snakeskin? Someone out there has.

Okay, while it’s technically called a “shed,” this massive piece of snakeskin was found in someone’s local woods. As expected, the find was a major cause for concern for the residents in the area. Where did the snake go?

Skulls, Skulls, and More Skulls

Taking in all the details of this photo, two things are clear. One, that whoever hung all these skulls up has way too much time on their hands and two, that the person taking this photo has a better stomach than we do.

This poor tree has been turned into an unwilling display of animal skulls, hung up for the world (and all the area’s unsuspecting hikers) to see. The tree didn’t ask for this, and neither did the animals who have been made into this sickening work of art. If we’re honest, the hiker didn’t ask to witness the thing, either.

A Slide From Our Childhood

When we first saw this photo, the child in us went wild. This slide is almost identical to the ones that we, and probably you, grew up playing on. Back in those days, the sweltering hot metal of the slide’s surface was well worth the thrill of shooting off the end.

Today, though, most slides like this have been done away with due to safety reasons. In these woods, one of the many abandoned slides still stands tall. It’s probably a good thing that we didn’t discover it because we might be tempted to try it and, let’s be honest, it probably won’t hold us anymore.