• Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, animals, Edgar Allen Poe, environment, Halloween, holiday, nature, people, The Birds, The Raven

When the woods is Brothers Grimm scary was sort of far out, fun and freaky, so here’s another peculiar collection where spectacular flocks inspired some photographers to think of Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Birds or Edgar Allen Poe‘s The Raven. Flocks can be beautiful, peaceful but then . . . when the birds are scary? [60 Photos, 2 Videos]

• Tagged abandoned, abandoned amusement park, abandoned asylum, abandoned hospital, abandoned manor house, abandoned prison, abandoned sanitorium, abandoned theme park, adrenaline junkies, adrenaline rush, Andre Govia, art, creepy, creepy dolls, Europe, feature, Halloween, haunted, haunted house, holiday, scary, spooky, urban exploration, urban explorers, urbex, urbexing photography

Urbex guru Andre Govia has an uncanny ability to take the most amazingly beautiful photos of creepy abandoned places. If you like abandoned, creepy, spooky, scary or haunted, then you could disappear for hours into Andre’s photostream. He’s a master of capturing hauntingly beautiful shots of abandoned mansions, hospitals, asylums, industrial complexes, hotels and about anything else you can imagine that might be abandoned across Europe. Andre Govia is on an urbex European madness tour; the fear factor is off the charts and some of the photos could scare the snot out of you. He’s been urbexing all over the globe and in 22 different countries. He and his adrenaline junkie buddies have Fright Night down to a fine art, exploring places caught in a time-warp, locations where history is frozen in time, and capturing ghosts of the past. Interesting at any time, it’s downright spooky to view his artistic photos around Halloween. Be ready to take a trip through some of the creepy, haunted locations. Andre granted Love These Pics an interview and offers tips for urban explorers and secrets to get the killer shots. His photos offer something for everyone, from elegant and hauntingly beautiful, to a scare factor that is the stuff of nightmares. Meet Andre Govia. We love these pics! [47 Photos, 1 Video]

• Tagged art, bizarre, Brothers Grimm, creepy, enchanted, environment, forest, forests, Halloween, haunted, haunted house, holiday, nature, nature horror settings, scary woods, spooky, woods

Ah, the approach of Halloween seems to call upon a special spooky theme, but we’ve covered tombs for Tales from the Crypts, fields of Halloween horror via the corn maze craze, even a Lego Monster Mash before. So then we considered man-made haunted trails that people purposefully visit to be spooked for Halloween . . . but there are other times when a person is totally alone in some eerie forest that seems a bit enchanted. When the woods seem scary, it could be because you let your imagination run wild. It might be local folklore about a foggy forest, or a moody mist attached to legends and claims that the woods are haunted. How we interpret a setting may be our state of mind at the time, but artists of all kinds have taken to the forest for inspiration. J.R.R. Tolkien used Puzzlewood as his mystical, magical muse that inspired him to create the fabled forests of Middle-earth within The Lord of the Rings. In our Fall Fantasy post, we quoted Vincent Van Gogh as saying, ‘Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more.’ Perhaps to truly enjoy these pictures, you may need to think of it like an art game….for each picture, imagine if you were all alone in these woods. We were curious what made the streak of fear strike the hearts of photographers who are out alone in the forest. All of these photos were tagged with words like spooky, dark, scary, foggy, or haunted; on any other day, and different state of mind, these might be interpreted as sweet alone time in nature. But tap into your inner artist and let your imagination run wild to “see” what the photographers saw when these “enchanted” woods seemed “haunted” or “spooky” or just flat-out Brothers Grimm scary. [66 ‘Scary’ Pics] {At least it’s not 666?}

• Tagged adventure, arched bridge, Ash Cave, bridge, bridges, Broken Rock Falls, cave, caves, Cedar Falls, Conkle's Hollow, Devil's Bathtub, forest, gorge, hiking, Hocking Hills, Hocking Hills State Park, nature, Ohio, Old Man's Cave, rock climbing, rocking climbing, rocks, State Park, trails, waterfalls, woods

In Ohio, there is a gorgeous State Park that has undisturbed forests, cascading waterfalls, rugged cliffs, deep recess caves and mysterious gorges. The 2,356-acre Hocking Hills State Park is a place of adventure for nature lovers. It is embedded in Hocking State Forest and its three nature preserves includes Conkle’s Hollow. The park is divided into these five separate sections: Old Man’s Cave, Cedar Falls, Ash Cave, Cantwell Cliffs and Rock House. Hocking Hills State Park is about 3 hours away from Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the 10th most visited U.S. National Park in 2011. Both must be gorgeous in the fall season with the changing colors of autumn foliage, but we were struck by the beauty of the “greeness” at Hocking Hills. [47 Photos]

• Tagged animals, autumn, autumn squirrel, cute squirrels, fall season, funny squirrels, hungry squirrels, nature, photography, seasons, squirrel, squirrels, squirrels gathering nuts, squirrels in fall, squirrels preparing for winter

Fall seems to officially be here, based the feverish pace of squirrels preparing for winter. When we went out and about to enjoy autumn, there was one constant other than the beautiful foliage changing colors, and that was the squirrels gathering acorns and other nuts. Everywhere we went, the squirrels were acting squirrelly, running around with nuts in their mouths, performing ninja-like gymnastics in tree branches, or digging to hide their winter stash. There are about 285 species of squirrels and the antics of these furry cute critters are fun to watch and to photograph. [60 Photos]

• Tagged autumn, environment, fall colors, fall foliage, fall season, nature, quotes, waterfalls

Fall’s season colors the world with every imaginable autumn color from God’s masterstroke of palette and brush. During fall, the beauty of nature is like a dreamworld, a fantasy. We encourage you to get out there and enjoy it while it lasts. You only live once and there is something about being out in nature that can balance a person and put their problems into perspective. We hope you enjoy these fantastic photos of autumn, sprinkled with inspirational quotes and words of wisdom. We love these pics! [40 Photos]

• Tagged ancient trees, bayou, enivronment, Florida, islands, Jekyll Island, Lake Verret, Louisiana, moss, nature, plantations, rivers, Savannah, South Carolina, Spanish moss, swamp, trees

One of the first things to strike you with a sense of wonder when you visit the deep South is the grandeur of beautiful, draping Spanish moss decorating the huge trees. While the hanging moss has a mysterious appeal for people not used to seeing such natural beauty, Spanish moss-draped live oak trees thrive in the southeastern United States. If you don’t live there, then the charming and somewhat spooky appearance of the silver-gray strands, hanging like natural Halloween decorations, summon images of old plantations, bayous and the swamps like seen in movies. The fall season and bright foliage of northern colder climates steal the show during autumn, but for portions of the south, Spanish moss is a show stopper year-round. When it sways in the wind at night, this tangled ‘tree hair,’ as the Native Americans called it, is both eerie and intriguing. French explorers dubbed it ‘Spanish Beard’ as an insult, so the Spanish then named this moss ‘French Hair.’ It’s been used as bedding, stuffing, upholstery, insulation, mulch, medicine and in arts and crafts; it’s even been used as an ingredient in making voodoo dolls. Yet this flowering plant, is is not even a true moss. It’s a distant member of the pineapple family and grows until it looks like it’s dripping from large trees. It can grow over 25 feet long and does not kill the giant, ancient trees. Here’s a look at some stunning, spooky Spanish Moss. [48 Photos]

• Tagged animals, environment, nature, tribute, wildlife, World Animal Day

Happy World Animal Day! Way back in 1931, a convention of ecologists in Florence, Italy, decided that there should be an annual World Animal Day to pay tribute to all animal life and the people who love them. It is also a way to highlight the precarious situation of endangered species worldwide. It was decided that October 4, the feast day of Francis of Assisi, a nature lover and patron saint of animals and the environment, should be chosen as World Animal Day. Some churches will bless animals on the Sunday closest to October 4. We love animals and the environment, and decided to salute animals via an ABC’s of wildlife.
[27 Photos]

• Tagged aerial, aerial photography, aerials, corn maze, Halloween, haunted, holiday, kite aerial photography, labyrinth, maize maze, maze, puzzles

Happy October! Before harvest, and popular in autumn around Halloween, fall festivals kick off a corn maze craze. Called maize mazes in the United Kingdom and labyrinths in Europe, corn mazes are a great way for farms to create income from tourism. This competition factor among Halloween fields of horror are also why these puzzles carved into the corn grow increasingly complex each year. The point is to solve the maze by finding a route from the start to finish, but many have “activities” and “secret” coded clues on dead end routes setup inside the maze. There are usually bridges, overlooking the maze both for viewing and for those folks who are a bit lost and need a little help with directions. Corn mazes range from family-friendly with additional attractions like hay rides, petting zoos, pumpkin patches and play areas for children, to very scary, haunted-house-type corn mazes. The farms decide on themes, the designs start on graph paper and then are plotted over the fields before planting. Farms and orchards grow specialty corn that is taller than most and very dense. These temporary works of corn art are usually huge, up to 45 acres, and are harvested in November. Here’s a look at the corn maze craze past and present, from aerial photos showing the entire theme-design, bird’s eye views from above, to inside the haunted corn maze. [77 Photos]