To ask for your experiences with Bath/strange atmospheres

I’ve lived on various military bases in the south-west and found them very strange places. There is a Facebook group called “haunted married quarters” which is fascinating but you can only join if you are in the military or have a partner in the military.

I only feel “at home” in a few places. Wiltshire, parts of London but not south London. West Sussex and parts of Hampshire.

I start feeling free once you get to the top of Dartmoor heading west. Yes, it's harsh, yes, it's damp, but the bleakness and desolation and sense of millennia relaxes me and I can breathe properly. And when the sun is out and the wildflowers are blooming, it's absolutely beautiful.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but the West Country.

which is a bit shit as we live in London

Interesting about the radon!

I agree with somebody else about Plymouth. I do find Devon and Cornwall rather strange.

Used to live near ish Bath as a child. I remember going on a Sunday after the 1990s recession and it was deserted and really creepy! Or maybe it was before Sunday trading? As an adult I used to live a 10 minute train ride from Bath. Never thought it was that creepy, just really busy!

I don’t like Brighton. It has a strange air. Or Paris.

I felt trapped in bath. I feel trapped in all the west.

I love Orkney though. High radon but is not west!

I always feel hideously depressed any time I have to go to Inverness.

It's too big to have any of the endearing features of small towns, and too small to have most of the comforts and interesting attractions of big cities. Half the city has practically no bus service, impossible to get around by public transport on Sundays etc, yet it just keeps expanding.

It's a truly miserable place that that totally sucks the life out of me.

That Radon map is very interesting.

I lived in Exeter for a few years. I always had a 'funny turn' around Exeter Central station and the shopping centre near there. I would feel very lightheaded and a bit sick in my stomach. I never got this anywhere else in the city.

Don't get the hate for the Isle of Wight though! I love the place, but that's probably because it's where I spent many happy childhood holidays. I go back as much as I can, especially to the Bembridge area.

I've been to Bath lots of times and my son lives there during term time for college - I've never felt the funny vibes, It's a pretty city and I've always enjoyed visiting. My ds loves it there.
I feel a little bit like this about parts of Lincolnshire though - it's all so flat and bleak it makes me feel a bit funny, I couldn't live there. For some reason I find it a bit menacing, not sure why.

Also my godawful ex MIL has positioned herself right near Glastonbury, Cheddar Gorge, Bath etc and she has some of the most disturbing vibes i've ever come across. She is a big fan of The Who and when Pete Townsend was arrested she went around saying "paedophilia is just normal human experimentation".

It's not Radon, after all, it's her.

My friend was at Uni in Bath and it definitely has ‘an air”. Yes it’s beautiful but I wouldn’t want to life there.
IOW is weird but my family come from there so I have always felt part of the strange vibe. It’s one of those places that have a bit of my families past in every road and building. My son hates it interestingly.
I agree about the horrid vibe in Buckinghamshire - Aylesbury, Wycombe area.
I love West Sussex though. Feels open and relaxed.

I’ve always enjoyed Bath when I’ve been there but I find Brighton has a really oppressive and dark atmosphere. I’ve also heard the same said of Leatherhead in Surrey (from Christians in particular) but haven’t spent enough time there to comment.
I kind of get why places which have a lot of historic buildings can feel ‘heavy’.

Wow, that Radon map. I feel really lucky to have lived my whole life in London and East Anglia now.

It does explain why i feel free in the East and sort of dragged down / oppressed in the west - even thoigh i should be enjoying myself.

@Serin I feel exactly the same about St Just. DH was born and bred there and I dread going there to visit as it creeps me out so much!

My daughter was at Uni in Bath and wasn’t happy. I did a course there for a year and became very anxious and quite depressed.

Don’t like Tewkesbury either. It felt unwelcoming and slightly sinister to me.

Bath is beautiful but I do think it has odd vibes.
Stroud is another place which I think has strang unsettling energy and is depressing.
I agree about St Just. I have only been once and hated it.
Gloucester is a truly depressing place with awful energy.
Glastonbury is also weird. Too many unbalanced people around .

I agree Bath is weird. It gives me the heebie jeebies. I also strongly dislike most of the Lake District for no tangible reason.

I visited Windermere in the Lake District and had an overwhelming sense of doom there. Was the strangest thing. The surrounding villages and towns were fine but I almost felt physically sick in Windermere itself. Very odd. My mother had a similar thing when she was young about a small Scottish island to the point that she was sick every time they visited so they had to stop going. Something in the water maybe

Canterbury- it's my closest city and I like it, however I cannot go there on my own. I am fine with DP but if im on my own I get an overpowering urge to leave, NOW and have actually run to the bus station before. I do however suffer from anxiety but i had never considered this before. I dn't get it anywhere else.

Strange quite a few people have mentioned Hastings. I spent three months there in a move that was meant to be long term but I couldn't hack it. I just felt so isolated, probably due to lack of motorway nearby which I wasn't used to. Also the job I had gone to do didn't suit me at all. But I just couldn't imagine settling there long term and was relieved to leave the place (apologies to anyone from Hastings) .

Jane Austen didn’t like Bath! I read that she found it so depressing she couldn’t work there. She said it always rained and she couldn’t wait to get away. So OP you’re in good company. I’ve only been once for the day and enjoyed my visit but that was years ago so can’t comment much.

I can’t stand Plymouth. It’s me, I know! I just find the city a concrete, fugly, depressing post war eastern block style splat. I don’t care about the Barbican or the Hoe which aren’t too bad I suppose. But the grey, drab and dreary wasteland of the rest of the city fills me with eternal horror! I used to visit very frequently as a child due to having relatives there, close family are buried in the main cemetery and my relatives live in Mutley Plain so I still visit quite often. I hate it. Last place God made, except perhaps Morden, Surry

I love Bath and though I've never lived there, I visit regularly.
Glen Coe, however, makes me feel thoroughly depressed.

Waddesdon - a village near Aylesbury. shudder
When I was a child we used to drive through there frequently, on the way to visit an elderly aunt.
Even from 6,7,8, years old the place gave me the willies. We never stopped, only ever drove through, but the place just had a bad vibe.
It was always grim and dull, never sunny or bright, the architecture is gothic (a style I usually like), but so dark and oppressive.
I have only driven through a couple of times since being an adult and I couldn't wait to get out of it.
Oh, and I have never once seen anybody walking around the place either.
Horrid, horrid place.
Picture is an example of the buildings there - I was even shuddering when Googling to get an image (which must have been photo-shopped as there is never blue sky there!)!!

Omg this is the weirdest post?

I grew up in Bath and became a humougous smack head.

Because there is a huge drug problem in Bath.

I moved away 20 odd years ago and have been fine since.

I still visit my parents there and am still fine 👍🏻