Simple Decision. What Would You Do?

[Perpetual Man]

This is more out of interest to see what people would do, but it does tie into my work in progress and might inform some of the things I do.

You have to imagine that you are in your early teens, out with a group of peers and after walking for a bit you come to a local bit of wood land.

It's a bit funny because on the far edge there is a public footpath that leads you to a field, and across the base of the woodland is a river shore, mostly compacted mud that people walk along but...

In clear site, in the woodland itself there is a large sign that reads:

PRIVATE WOODS
KEEP OUT

Now would you go into the woods, or would you stay out?

There is a second part to this question but I'll bring that into play after a few answers are in.

(I asked Mrs Perp, and she said she's stay out. Then I mentioned with her friends when she was younger and the little minx said that they'd have gone in without hesitation.)

 

[Brian G Turner]

Depends on the character.

 

[Venusian Broon]

It also depends on the group of teens I was with - some were more 'law-abiding' than others.

However for the sake of your question, if there was no obvious barrier - like a fence or hedge that delineated a private section, I'd go in.

 

[Remedy]

Those signs have always tempted me, even now. What's so private? Nature is for everyone! ... In we would go.

Plus I love woods.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

My teen said she wouldn't be in the woods cos it's boring but if you were a teen strange enough to go into the woods anyway you'd prrobably trespass too.
Horse's mouth. I have a large memo to enforce some nature walks on my kids.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Only big fences and razor wire etc keeps them out.
Plenty, even some otherwise law abiding ones, would go in if it was easily accessible and no-one to see. Especially to use as a short cut.

There are ones that will make a slat on steel fence where it's less obvious be modified to open.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Adding to the chorus of pro-trespass. As a kid I grew up around private woods and grounds in Surrey including Oatlands Palace and Hampton Court and we always felt those signs were challenges...

pH

 

[Remedy]

As teens, we made rope swings in private woods. Drank, smoked and built fires. We had pine-cone wars and we even built a make-shift shelter one summer (it got torn down by the land owners) - all very stupid and immature, but I have fond memories. The girls in our circle never did seem very impressed by our antics... Or choice of venue. But it beat hanging out in car parks, estates and town.

There was a woodland we never went in though, because of stories of kidnap, and it had a reputation for being the woods where two men hung themselves.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

My shy and law-abiding 18 year old daughter said definitely not if there were houses around or people that might be able to see, but if the coast was clear and the woods looked interesting then yes.

At that age and much younger I wouldn't have been able to resist, in fact the keep out sign would have acted as an invitation!

 

[Nick B]

Early teens, we were always on the wrong side of keep out signs, exploring and messing around. It was the 80's though and we didn't have x-boxes, mobiles or laptops. We had sticks and balls and our mums never knew where we were and had no way to contact us. Times were different...
So to answer - we'd have been past that keep out sign like it was a welcome mat.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Very interesting so far, thanks.

As people have surmised there is no fence or any other means blocking access to the woods.

It's interesting to see how many of you (us - 'cause I would have too) would have actually ignored the sign.

 

[Foxbat]

Some of my finest and funniest moments were in woods. One that stands out was a friend who fell from a high tree. Our horror was replaced by fits of laughter when he fell straight into a marsh (which we'd forgotten was there..hidden by long grass) and, when he got out, left a perfect imprint of himself in the thick mud.

I'm 100% with Quellist - we'd be in there making spears, bows and arrows, swinging from trees, stealing apples, chasing squirrels and any other mischief we could get up to. We'd probably have stolen the 'keep out' sign as well

Oh, happy days.

 

[willwallace]

Definitely part of being a teen was breaking rules, and I have to admit to trespassing many times in my youth into woods that were clearly marked private. Got chased a lot, too, but that was part of the thrill.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I'll reveal my timidity and lack of rebellious nature by admitting that I would not go in.

Is there another way to get to the public area? If so, that's where I would go.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Like Victoria, I would have obeyed the sign. Even if my friends had been urging me to go with them into the wood, I would have refused.


(If I lived in an area where there were woods, I assume there would have been other woods somewhere nearby that did not have keep-out signs. Those, I would have been thrilled to explore.)

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

It actually does depend on the character; however, to make it more interesting a story, I'd have characters completely disregard the sign and go in at their own risk.


However, in real life, I would and do obey all such signs, simply because I am NOT such a risk-taker.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I will point out that those of us who would obey the sign are also those who (should we become, by some magic of the silver screen, characters in a horror movie) would not go down to the cellar where some of our friends had already disappeared, and we would be the ones still alive when the credits rolled, while the rest of you would have suffered grisly deaths.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Yes, ma'am! I'd have been the first down the stairs into the cellar. I could never resist dark staircases into scary places.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Then I regret to say, Kerry, that you have already been killed by an axe murderer and don't even know it.

We'll miss you here when you figure that out, and retire to your own cellar or haunted house to slaughter a few teenagers yourself.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I've no idea really if I personally would have ignored the sign. Perhaps it would have depended on exactly when it was. (not necessarily older or younger). Possibly who I was with.

But is it actually Trespassing if you don't force a passage and don't damage anything? In UK and Ireland you can't be prosecuted merely for trespass, but it's a civil matter. Despite that signs invariably threaten prosecution.

[Kerry] already been killed by an axe murderer and don't even know it

So you accusing a member, well liked, of actually being a Zombie or other undead creature of the night? Well, maybe that's why she likes dark cellars.