This small patch of fenced-in forest sits in the middle of Ichikawa, just outside of Tokyo. Entrance is strictly forbidden—legend holds that anyone who steps into these woods will be spirited away.

Strange clusters of stones freckle this forest in western Latvia. People have been drawn into these woods for ages, lured by the mysterious rocks and their alleged powers.

Warped trees fill this forest, their skeletal figures twisting and spiraling as though they’re reaching out and touch you. An eerie silence fills the air, interrupted only by the footsteps of unseen figures. It’s no wonder the Hoia-Baciu Forest is said to be one of the most haunted forests in the world. Some even call it the "Bermuda Triangle of Romania."

The Gespensterwald ("Ghost Forest" in English) is located in Nienhagen, Germany, right next to the Baltic Sea. During the day, the forest is filled with dappled light and the sounds of woodland creatures. But at night, the trees look like they could have been pulled straight from a horror movie. Wind, salt, and humidity have molded many of the trees into strange forms.

Near the Serbian village of Šalinac, a cluster of centuries-old trees stretches toward the sky. At least 200 trees fill the 47-acre plot of land. Most of them are at least 200 years old. Many are now dead. This protected patch of old-growth forest is a rare gem within the Balkans—the trees are the last survivors of the oak and ash forests that once stretched across the region.

Between the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon, on the Kruglaya Dune of the Curonian Spit, there is a forest where the pine trees seem to be doing the twist. Dozens of trees in the Dancing Forest of Russia have trunks that are contorted into rings, spirals, and other loops and squiggles, and the reason for this mysterious malformation is not known.

The woodlands that surround Pluckley, allegedly the most haunted village in England, have been the subject of much local folklore for centuries. The ghost of a highwayman robber who was captured and killed by angry villagers in the 18th century is said to wander the woodlands, along with other spirits. But the most terrifying stories about this woodland are the modern ones, which don’t involve ghosts but rather disturbingly unexplained deaths and disappearances.

Where once a railroad line punched through the wilds of London's Haringey and Islington, a scenic walking path has taken its place and the crumbling, abandoned stations and tunnels are now home to local superstitions, graffiti, and some whimsically unsettling decorations.

The enigmatic wood carving at the edge of a small wood in the tiny village of Otterden holds a world of mystery in her inscrutable face. This expressionistic figure of a pregnant woman is carved from a solid piece of oak—nearly nine feet tall—and is a striking surprise for hikers who stumble onto her. The sculpture stands alone just off a public footpath, surrounded by a shroud of secrecy, as no one knows for sure who the artist was, or how long she has been here.

In 1700, a massive earthquake in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Its effects rippled across the water, touching Japan and the Pacific Northwest. In studying this earthquake, scientists found a clue in the form of a forest of dead trees not far from Copalis Beach. These red cedars were killed off by an inundation of salt water that left a grove of ghostly grey poles in its wake.