Nature’s Haunting Presence

Nature is ever-present on the earth humans inhabit, but not something that is always perceived as haunting. When people think of nature, it is often thought of as peaceful, relaxing, etc; a place to get away from the business of everyday life. However, there is a dark side to the beauty; it is something people attempt to ignore until it “hits them in the face”, so to say. Nature can be extremely haunting, whether that be through decay and destruction, haunting developed lands, tales and legends, scenery, and the unknowns of nature. It should be stated that when talking about nature in this essay, it is referring to the living organisms that create the natural world, whether that be tainted by humans or not.

Figure 1. Growth and Decay. Photo taken by Kaitlin Dyck at Springwater Conservation Area (Aylmer, Ontario).

Nature can sometimes haunt itself through decay and destruction, and sound. Noise can often haunt a natural landscape, especially when it is not easy to locate the source of the sound. “Forest sounds are not precisely located; they yield an ambience rather than a coordinated spatial system” (Tuan, 1977, p. 119). This can often be calming, however, it can also be disturbing. This is because when it is difficult to locate the source of a sound, it is also difficult to determine where the possible threat may be coming from. It does depend on the type of noise though, a bird chirp is less likely to be haunting then a growl from a bear. However, in a completely quiet forest, the presence of one bird chirping can disturb, and therefore haunt the space. However, decay and destruction also haunt natural landscapes.

Figure 2. The Fallen. Photo taken by Kaitlin Dyck at Springeater Conservation Area (Aylmer, Ontario).

When walking through a forest a fallen tree can stand out like the proverbial sore thumb. It lays on the ground like a corpse, but unlike how humans have created the ritual of burying the dead, nature takes a different course. The dead provide life for others in nature, that circular system is what helps nature thrive. As Henry Miller says, nature can be a “wonderful and rich expression of life and growth” (RomanyWG & Patrick Potter, 2011). However, even though the fallen tree will eventually rot and refresh the land, as it lays there it has a haunting presence. Maybe humans see it as haunting because of the ritual they have attached to death, the need to hide it. This may be part of a coping mechanism because of the immense emotional complex human poses. People often “emphasize its utter separateness and difference—whether positive or negative—from the human world.” (O'Brian & Imre Szeman, 2010, p. 306). Although nature is a part of humans, both their past and resent, people often see themselves as separate from it. As far as nature goes, it uses what has been left behind. The tree nourishes the soil allowing fresh life to grow (Figure 1), the dead antelope is food for scavengers, even the fallen fruit provides nourishment for the smaller species in the forest. But again, this decay and destruction is hauntingly eerie because of the disturbance it places on the usually peaceful nature of nature (Figure 2). This is especially true when it comes to road kill on the side of the road. Many people swerve to avoid the dead carcass, and probably think to themselves that they wish someone would go clean it up. But although the road kill provides nourishment for scavengers and insects, it haunts the roads with death, the idea of death is what eventually haunts natural landscapes. The death of trees, the death of animals, the death that sits among the life that is nature. That death is also what makes developed lands haunted by nature.

Figure 3. Growing in Despair. Photo taken by Kaitlin Dyck in Aylmer, Ontario.

Nature does not just haunt itself, but rather the developed land humans wander through on a daily basis, living lives that run on routine. This routine is often what blinds people to the way nature haunts the developed lands they walk through without a second thought. When walking down a street, one does not often think about how that street could have been a dense forest before humans tore it down and built upon the remains. The small flowers and plants growing through the cracks of sidewalks and along the edges of developed land are a sad reminder of the beauty that used to make the land its home (Figure 3). Now this land is covered in hard, paved surfaces. These plants that are dispersed throughout developed land haunt it with their presence. The mere presence of these small, fragile living things haunts the space in a rather large way. It is interesting though, how people have become so accustom to their everyday lives that they start to separate themselves from the very nature they stomp on. What is fascinating is that:

“vacation trips abroad are rarely to visit the suburbs of cities, but [rather …] to “unspoiled” nature in the form of beaches or mountains […] or the heart of cities whose chief attraction seems to be that they are dense, walkable, and full of the hurly-burly of human activity” (O'Brian & Imre Szeman, 2014, p. 288).

Although people do not always think about them impacts nature has on them, or the destruction of nature it took to develop the lands they live on, they are still drawn to the idea of “unspoiled” nature or dense cities. What is unspoiled nature though; almost every destination has been trod by human waste and destruction. Why is it that the second choice is dense cities. This could have something to do with the density being reminiscent to that of a forest. People follow nature, and if nature is not present, they follow the concepts of it without even thinking about it. Nature haunts developed lands not only through the small plants that grow in the mere cracks of concrete, but in the minds of the humans who will never be able to completely separate themselves from nature, for they are nature as well.

Figure 4. Hanging Tree. Photo taken by Kaitlin Dyck at the Elgin County Courthouse (St. Thomas, Ontario).

The presence of nature can also haunt a space because of the tales or legends associated with it that were passed from person to person. Now this particular piece of nature is associated with the story that goes along with it, and depending on the nature of the story, can end up being very haunting. For example, there is a tree in St. Thomas, Ontario that is rumoured to be the hanging tree where two criminals were hung for their crimes (Figure 4). The story goes, “claiming it was a logging accident, Welter killed William after John A. Hendershott took out an $11,000 policy on his nephew's life. William Welter and John A. Hendershott, who were hanged in 1895 in St. Thomas for the murder.” (St.Thomas Times Journal, 2010). It is said that the tree resides behind the courthouse that is still standing in St. Thomas. It is haunting not only for the story that lies behind the tree, but rather its placement on the property of a courthouse. A story of death, and justice is living right next to a place where people are convicted for their crimes. Although the story behind the tree has no proof to being completely true, the story still haunts the space to those who have heard it, and those visiting it wonder if this is the place where two men were hung for their crimes. This haunting idea of hanging trees is a relatively popular concept when people have haunting tales of nature. Another example is the Aokigahara forest, located near Tokyo, Japan that is known because of its “quietness [that] hides a more macabre side of it as the Aokigahara is the number one suicide spot for Japanese” (Aokigahara Forest). This spot has become very haunted by those who have taken their own lives, and because of this some people refuse to enter its borders. This already eerie forest was made to be more haunting because of the horror movie “The Forest” that came out in 2016. Now this forest haunts the space because of those who have taken their lives there as well as the fictional haunting story associated with it. In both these instances the nature that haunts the space is eerie because of the tales and legends associated with it.

Figure 5. Surfaces Hide the Unknown. Photo taken by Kaitlin Dyck in San Diego, California.

The unknowns of nature are also extremely haunting, especially to those with immense curiosity. This is not just present in the places humans have yet to reach and explore, but also in the uncontrollable nature of nature. Humans have yet to discover how to control such a brute and powerful force, that it creates haunting thoughts within their minds. “There are animals such as sharks which, until recently, served as emblems for the other nature—the uncontrollable, even diabolical force embodied in extreme weather events such as floods, earthquakes and tropical storms “ (O'Brian & Imre Szeman, 2010, p. 306). Animals and weather forces can be highly unpredictable and destructive, which looms over people on a daily basis. Nature haunts the lives of people because of its unpredictability on a destructive level. Humans are often haunted by that which they cannot control, hence why the idea of a ghost (a being which cannot be touched but can still destroy) is used in a lot of horror films. People are also terrified of that which is stronger and more powerful than them. This is one of the reasons that the unknowns of nature haunts people; because it is entirely plausible that creatures and forces exist, that are stronger than humans, in places that have not been explored yet. This is especially true when it comes to the exploration and knowledge pertaining to space. Some of these unexplored places include the bottom of the ocean, rainforests, space, etc. Some may say that the most interesting one would be space because that is where humans are least knowledgeable, however, the sea is much closer to developed life, and yet humans have still not discovered all of its secrets (Figure 5). The possibility that terrifying creatures live at the bottom of the ocean is high, which is haunting because humans live so close to these bodies of water, in fact they swim in them on a daily basis. That proximity makes the ocean slightly more haunting in the everyday lives of humans than the mysteries of space. The unknowns of nature can be very haunting, especially considering that what is out there may be more terrifying than humans have the ability to imagine.

The vast concept of nature can be haunting in many ways including the disturbance of decay and destruction nature has within its own ecosystem, haunting developed lands with the mere presence of it, through tales and legends, and through the mysteries of the unexplored nature. Most of the time it is seen as a peaceful, relaxing atmosphere where people go to vacation and forget about their daily troubles. However, nature can have a very haunting effect in both fictional and non-fictional ways. To quote Robert Frost “Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; but only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, so dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.” (Frost, 1975).

Note: This blog was started as a school project, and this is the essay I wrote for that. From here on in it will be more about photography and poetry, but I couldn't delete this post as it is what inspired me to start the blog in the first place. So enjoy!!

References

Aokigahara Forest. (n.d.). Aokigahara. Retrieved from Aokigahara Forest:

http://www.aokigaharaforest.com

Frost, R. (1975). Nothing Gold Can Stay. Retrieved from poets.org:

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/nothing-gold-can-stay

O'Brian, S., & Imre Szeman. (2010). Popular Culture: A User’s Guide. Toronto: Nelson

Education.

O'Brian, S., & Imre Szeman. (2014). Popular Culture: A User's Guide . Toronto,

Ontario: Nelson Education.

RomanyWG, & Patrick Potter. (2011). Beauty in Decay: Urbex. Darlington: Carpet

Bombing Culture.

St.Thomas Times Journal. (2010, September 29). Remains of infamous murderers

reburied. Retrieved from St.Thomas Times Journal: st.thomastimesjournal.

com

Tuan, Y.-F. (1977). Space and Place: The Perspective Experience. Minneapolis:

University of Minnesota Press.

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