The Horror in Nature’s Landscape–Trees

There’s just something about a tree. During the day, the tree brings us hope and beauty. They’re perfect to lay beneath and snooze on a hot, sunny day. Even lovers take care to immortalize their love by carving into the bark of a tree.

But then darkness comes.

After dark, the noises made by the rustling of the leaves is enough to scare anyone out of their running shoes, let alone the way their shadows play in the moonlight. Just thinking about talking a midnight walk, leaves me scared to be alone. So many things can hide in and around trees.

Plus, if you aren’t scared enough already, trees come to life in the dead of night. They scratch at your windows with their branches–turned hands–reaching in to snatch you right out of your bed. Like in the Supernatural episode when there was a witch called a Shtriga. Dressed as a tree, they clawed their way into children’s rooms at night to steal their essence. Oh my!

Then there’s the horror film THE GUARDIAN (1990) that features an evil tree, along with an even scary babysitter. If you’ve never seen this movie, I’ll warn you right now, it’s your typical cheesy ’90s movie. If you have no idea what I’m talking about–click the link below and check out the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THRn3GQD20s

And yet one more example of a monster tree can be found in A MONSTER CALLS by Patrick Ness. A yew tree, turns into an ever-growing monster after midnight. Luckily Conor, the main character of the story, is much braver than I. He’s not afraid of the yew tree monster, even gives it a good dose of sarcasm.

So, for those of you who wonder just where horror stories and movies come from…just look outside your window. There is inspiration everywhere.