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Original poster

Have you ever had a strange feeling about a particular place?

168 replies

NoGolfForMe · 19/04/2023 10:34

Inspired by the thread "Do you ever get a strange feeling about someone ( or something?)"

Has anyone else ever had a weird feeling (good or bad) or been creeped out by a particular place? And did you ever figure out why?

My weird place was an indoor crazy golf course, in an old warehouse, with all sorts of complex and wacky decor around each hole. Something about the place utterly creeped me out from the moment we entered. It was like the bit in a horror film where you want to scream at the characters "Run away NOW!"
The feeling was an overwhelming feeling that we were in the presence of great evil. I just wanted to grab my friend and run away as far as possible.
However, I didn't say anything and just pretended to be fine and act like it was fun (friend obviously felt fine there and wanted to do the course). All the while feeling this horrendous crushing evil feeling, and just counting down the holes one by one trying to tell myself it was all fine and we'd be out soon. When we got out and away from the place I sat down and cried, relieved and overwhelmed.

I've no idea why I had such a strong reaction to this place, other friends have been there and enjoyed it.

I'm not usually very woo, try to be rational about things, but do find this stuff interesting!

OP posts:
Dancethebluez · 21/04/2023 06:57

We were exploring Scarborough years and years ago and stumbled upon the derelict amusement park that has since been redeveloped. It was possible to walk around and still see some rides, debris, cable cars structure etc. I love exploring and would have thought prior to finding it that I’d be fascinated. I felt chilled to the bone and couldn’t wait to leave. I still think of it. I’ve joked with DP that it was down to watching too much Scooby Doo as a child, as I think they ended up in abandoned fairgrounds.

Peverellshire · 21/04/2023 08:16

blobby10 · 19/04/2023 12:20

My Dad got a real sense of foreboding when he walked near the Witches Museum in Boscastle. He said it was like nothing he had ever felt before and had to move away really quickly. Mum didn't feel anything and even went in!

Me too. Of course ‘witches’ are likely to provoke this, but more than that…

Peverellshire · 21/04/2023 08:18

York.

Also there’s a place that feels other worldly/magical, only one place I have ever known. What’s all that about?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Spooky & paranormal
Peverellshire · 21/04/2023 08:21

MedievalMadness · 20/04/2023 10:59

I hate York. Nasty vibes. I've been once and went down the shambles and encountered an antique shop with Nazi badges in the window and a toyshop with golliwogs in the window opposite.
I was already feeling very uneasy and that just made it worse.

I don’t know why I dislike York because it has everything I love - great architecture, masses of history, lots of little shops, good places to eat. But I have rarely visited, even though I’m only 45 mins away. It has such a strong and heavy atmosphere to me. Ive always felt really glad to leave whenever I’ve been.

I feel very strong atmospheres in many places and have no idea why I feel so strongly - both good and bad vibes. I’m an atheist, not remotely spiritual and am very much when you’re dead, you’re dead and there’s nothing else. I can’t explain why I’m so sensitive to the ‘feel’ of places and buildings.

Yes! To York! Just saw this but had posted independently.

What’s happened in York distinct to other places with ‘history’?

FriendsDrinkBook · 21/04/2023 08:32

The Isle of Wight. I just felt unwelcome and wanted to leave. The place made me feel like crying. I have no idea why because it's perfectly nice there.

AncientToaster · 21/04/2023 08:48

Cannock Chase

My ex lived near there and when staying with him one weekend I went walking there alone as he was called in to a work. Beautiful sunny day. Walking down a path I had the worst feeling of dread and terror I have ever felt. I am an experienced hiker and had walked by myself many times. I felt so bad I ran back to the car. He was new to the area and had moved for work. Meeting his colleagues for dinner that night I told them how odd my experience had been. Turns out a killer had murdered little girls in the 1950’s and buried them on Cannock Chase. It was famous at the time but this was the 1990’s and we had never heard of it.

Years later I had a look online at the case and there was a photo of a path with slim trees, it looked exactly like the place I had that awful irrational fear in. I can’t be sure as was 20 years hence.

blobby10 · 21/04/2023 09:31

Peverellshire · 21/04/2023 08:16

Me too. Of course ‘witches’ are likely to provoke this, but more than that…

Show quote history

when I visited the same place I was expecting to feel the same as dad but honestly didn’t. Dad said it was just an overwhelming feeling of pure evil near the building - it went away when he walked back through the town x

phlaps · 21/04/2023 09:36

@Peverellshire there's a lot of rather unpleasant stuff in the history of York:

www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/norman/the-1190-massacre

MedievalMadness · 21/04/2023 11:07

phlaps. I knew about the Jews in Clifford’s Tower in York and I am from an Orthodox Jewish family but I am the least woo person going, the spirituality of a dandelion and have always been atheist. I’ve been to other places that I’ve found out afterwards that have seen awful treatment of Jews and other minorities but rarely felt such an unpleasant and heavy feeling. I’d love to know what causes these feelings.

Peverellshire · 21/04/2023 11:17

@MedievalMadness poss ‘intensity, is trapped & ‘echoes’ can be felt, time isn’t linear & poss all happens, ‘all at once’. Deep for a Friday morning. Thank you @phlaps

MedievalMadness · 21/04/2023 11:23

Peverellshire. That sounds feasible - time may not work in the way we think it does. I find it so interesting and yes it is very deep for a Friday morning.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 21/04/2023 11:29

I felt very uneasy in Staithes in North Yorkshire. Its an old fishing village and gorgeous to look at but it felt very oppressive. I think it was something about the cliffs rising up around it and felt hemmed in. I didn't enjoy it one bit.

I was going to say Staithes - although my visceral reaction isn't quite as negative as that; more 'special', even other-worldly than oppressive.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 21/04/2023 11:35

Burnham Beeches made me feel really uneasy. A large part of that was when we received a letter in the post a couple of weeks after visiting, telling us off for 'inviting crime' by leaving a bag visible on the back seat (just an old carrier bag with a jumper in it) - and it came from the City of London Police, which is also rather odd. How come they not only have responsibility for it, but also seem to treat it as a bigger crime hotspot, more worthy of their attention, than the actual City?!

There are a lot of reports online of very creepy goings-on there over the decades - no idea if there's any substance to any of them.

elQuintoConyo · 21/04/2023 11:51

Ripoll, a small town in the Catalan part of the Spanish Pyrenees.

Think Appalachians - very isolated, weird abandoned buildings, some place looked like an abandoned orphanage got a real Slaughtered Lamb-type reception when DH and I went for lunch.

Everyone had the same physical features. A man with no teeth eating the biggest hunk of cheese I[ve ever seen, kids circled us on bikes and threw rocks at us 😱

10/10 wouldn[t recommend!

Magnoliainbloom · 21/04/2023 21:58

Ishouldbeoutside · 21/04/2023 03:08

Me too!

Show quote history

So true! I went there for a concert and walked around the town. It had the same empty feeling as Brighton, which gives me the creeps.

CheesyBeanos · 21/04/2023 22:13

I had a really weird feeling in Kinlochleven. I've visited a lot of places, both in the UK and overseas. But I've never felt as uneasy and uncomfortable as I did there. For me it gave an overwhelming sense of foreboding.

I googled it afterwards, but apparently I'm alone in feeling that way about that particular town!

ChiefClerkDrumknott · 21/04/2023 22:39

Bristol. It makes me shudder. Don't know why

@Thesisquibble Me too! I went to a uni open day there 25 years ago and hated it. Have only been there twice since but it makes my skin crawl

BigUpTheOxfordComma · 22/04/2023 10:58

elQuintoConyo · 21/04/2023 11:51

Ripoll, a small town in the Catalan part of the Spanish Pyrenees.

Think Appalachians - very isolated, weird abandoned buildings, some place looked like an abandoned orphanage got a real Slaughtered Lamb-type reception when DH and I went for lunch.

Everyone had the same physical features. A man with no teeth eating the biggest hunk of cheese I[ve ever seen, kids circled us on bikes and threw rocks at us 😱

10/10 wouldn[t recommend!

Yikes. Did you hear duelling banjos?

MissingMoominMamma · 22/04/2023 11:00

Hellocatshome · 19/04/2023 11:45

These threads always end up with people saying Saltburn by the Sea for some reason.

That’s interesting- I’ve always wanted to visit Saltburn, but DH doesn’t!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 22/04/2023 12:27

That’s interesting- I’ve always wanted to visit Saltburn, but DH doesn’t!

Doesn't as in he's just not really all that interested; or as in he's absolutely terrified at the prospect?!

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 22/04/2023 12:40

I had just the opposite reaction to York. On a visit many years ago (more than 40) with my then OH, it was the first time I'd ever been to the city and I declared that, if I ever had to move from the little SW town where I lived, it would be to York. I just loved it and felt immediately at home.

I now live very close to York and still love it!

Mistymoonsinastarrysky · 22/04/2023 12:41

Ishouldbeoutside · 21/04/2023 03:08

Me too!

Show quote history

And me, especially the Christmas Steps area.
I avoid Glastonbury because it makes me very uneasy and it feeds almost malevolent.
We went to Lindisfarne and I couldn’t leave fast enough, it was a warm day but I came out in goose-pimples and felt really ill. Oddly I felt absolutely fine on getting back to the mainland.

Trillie · 23/04/2023 16:00

I love York, but after the pogrom in the 12th century it was considered cursed by Jewish people, perhaps you feel the effect of that. There was forgiveness and reconciliation in the 1970s, though, I’m glad to say.

louderthan · 23/04/2023 18:21

Been thinking a lot about this today. I'm from Brighton which always comes up on these threads. It's my home and I love it and have always felt safe here so it intrigues me that people feel so differently about it.
I love the countryside of the South Downs outside Brighton too but there's one particular valley I ride through that has given me the creeps since I was a teenager. It's surrounded by steep hills and I just feel like something is watching me from the top.
The horses always tense up too and you can feel them looking at things. Once it was so bad that they just wouldn't walk on and we had to turn round, as soon as we were out of the valley they were absolutely fine.

Other places I've remembered as having odd feelings...
Hereford felt very run-down and oppressive.
As a PP said the Lakes are beautiful but somehow so sad. I used to go on holiday there every Easter as a teenager and often felt very tearful in the evenings, although I'd invariably had a lovely time in the day.

stars345 · 23/04/2023 19:49

The coliseum in Rome. The temp that day was close to 40 degrees but when I walked past the little side doors that led to the underground part of the arena I got so cold and visibly shivered. I felt sick and scared looking at the underground part (they had removed half of the coliseum floor so the tunnels underneath were visible).
I took a picture and strange little lights appeared in them.
It was so strong, never felt anything like it before or since.