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Places that gave you the heebie jeebies

279 replies

IndependentAdjudicator · 30/06/2025 19:44

There have been a few places have made me feel uneasy but only one place gave me such an immediate visceral reaction that I practically ran out of it… the Time Out Market ladies toilets in Porto.
Yes, really,
Such an odd experience.
It’s situated upstairs of the food market. Down a short corridor but the whole place was painted white. It gave off very clinical vibes, and even though I really needed to go, I just turned heel and literally legged it out of there.
Anyone actually been there and had similar feelings? Or anywhere else that has made you feel physically uneasy or have I been watching too many horror movies?
(Disclaimer: I’m a number one wuss and never watch horror movies!)

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HangryBrickShark · 04/07/2026 04:11

I didn't like the front doors in Malta. When you walked through the streets at night time they all looked dark and foreboding.

I think its because you could never see interior lights on as I believe the families live at the very back of the houses. It was creepy and really raised the hairs on my neck.

Places that gave you the heebie jeebies
JohnBetjeman · 04/07/2026 04:33

Slough

EamonnFyre · 04/07/2026 06:24

IndependentAdjudicator · 03/07/2026 21:38

@EamonnFyre would love to know which room! I've just googled, it looks menacing.

I think it was at the back on the left hand side. There was a small window and the train line ran past on the window side.

OnDaysLikeThese · 04/07/2026 15:48

I didn't enjoy visiting Haworth, it felt so bleak, heavy, depressing and hopeless. It wasn't just the parsonage but the whole area, it was such a relief to leave. I've never felt like that anywhere before. After going there I completely understood why the Bronte sisters wrote the books they did. Wuthering Heights is a book I've never had the desire to read, though I like many of the popular classics. Watching the film was enough!

Incidentally I love York, I've never felt uncomfortable there as some others have.

canuckup · 04/07/2026 22:32

Howarth is exactly as ondayslikethese describes

It's so remote and barren.

I stopped in the Old Silent Inn one night and that was spooky. Someone was knocking on the bedroom door in the middle of the night. Really unsettling. Amazing food though

Pistachiocake · 04/07/2026 22:35

Kirkham Baths. Or any abandoned pool in this state.

baaabaaa · 04/07/2026 22:50

Broughton Gifford. I went to view a house there with my mum and had my son with me. I got the strongest feeling that if my mum moved there then something awful would happen to him. When we left the village my mum said she had a horrible feeling about it too. Needless to save she didn’t move there!

tunainatin · 04/07/2026 23:28

stressedteachersos · 30/06/2025 22:44

Anyone East Midlands based? The old American Adventure site freaks me out with all of the old rides still there.

Uses to go there as a kid - can you access the site then?

Fernticket · 05/07/2026 07:55

IntoTheRoseGarden · 03/07/2026 19:15

Well, the Forest of Dean has some vibes that remind me of some of these US films set in an old mid-west town where little goes on, but everyone knows you are passing through even though you do not see them.

@IntoTheRoseGarden . Any particular parts of the Forest of Dean or was it the whole area?

notgettinganyyounger · 05/07/2026 07:58

I love this thread, so interesting!

permanently · 05/07/2026 08:11

Another vote for Culloden.

LetMeGoogleThat · 05/07/2026 08:12

Downstairs in the Parade shopping centre Shrewsbury, it's the old Infirmary and being in the lower level, I feel like im being watched and followed.

LetMeGoogleThat · 05/07/2026 08:14

Pistachiocake · 04/07/2026 22:35

Kirkham Baths. Or any abandoned pool in this state.

I'm absolutely terrified of empty swimming pools!

IndependentAdjudicator · 05/07/2026 14:58

LetMeGoogleThat · 05/07/2026 08:12

Downstairs in the Parade shopping centre Shrewsbury, it's the old Infirmary and being in the lower level, I feel like im being watched and followed.

That's the stuff of horror movies! 😱

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AitkenDrum1970 · 05/07/2026 16:05

IndependentAdjudicator · 30/06/2025 20:02

That’s just reminded me of an episode of Escape to the Country.
I think it was in Sussex, but there was one house which had a room upstairs that made the man freak out, and had to get out of it.
Does anyone else remember such an episode?
I have tried searching for it a few times but never found it!

I definitely remember that episode. It’s always stayed with me!

Teacup40 · 05/07/2026 18:06

tunainatin · 04/07/2026 23:28

Uses to go there as a kid - can you access the site then?

I think you can, but I dont think the rides are still there are they? I hate theme parks now in general especially alton towers but I have many fond memeories of going to American adventure as a kid.

Auburngal · 05/07/2026 18:36

Any derelict building. Including ruins of castles, abbeys

IndependentAdjudicator · 05/07/2026 18:57

I think I must be desensitised to the empty swimming pool fear, as my old school had one!
And where are you all seeing these empty swimming pools?!

@AitkenDrum1970 It stuck with me too! I’m glad a few of us remember it as I said earlier, I’ve never been able to find that episode. I’d like to watch it again.
Do you remember any details, which county, or the presenter? I think it was Alistair Appleton.

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MrsFrumble · 07/07/2026 20:02

It’s comforting to hear that I’m not alone in being creeped out by empty swimming pools. I wish I could explain why they bother me so much. I saw a video on YouTube of an urban explorer breaking into the old, closed down leisure centre of the town I grew up in. It had an Olympic sized pool with diving boards, so really deep at one end, and watching him walk about in it made my legs feel wobbly and strange.

I’ve just looked at photos of Kirkham baths mentioned above and they had a similar effect.

Beesandhoney123 · 07/07/2026 20:22

Hiking in the cotswolds, lovely sunny day, everyone happy. Fields of wheat, all very nice except as we walked we just all became nervous and on high alert. There was an old house we went past which bothered us all. Everything was overgrown, should have looked pretty, but it was menacing. It was the weirdest experience.

The landlady at the b&b said fred west used to live there briefly and had been abandoned after he and his wife got caught.

dicdicnurse · 07/07/2026 22:28

St Catherines island, Tenby. You can only access it when the tide is out and it’s hot and interesting history but both DD and I just wanted to get out of there. Horrible feeling. DH and other DD didn’t notice anything .

Treesnbirds · 21/07/2026 22:06

hollylou · 01/07/2025 22:23

Porlock in Somerset left me feeling really unsettled. Literally not a soul around but felt as though there were eyes everywhere on us walking through there.

Oh yes! Same here. We went for a walk and came across a natural burial ground in the woods near Porlock, I usually like these kind of things, but the feeling there just felt bad to me, it took me a while to shake it off after, I never want to go back there!

Squirrel60 · 22/07/2026 10:19

Where I live, there's 2 lots of public loos. Men's and women's directly next to each other. Two stalls in each. It's quite nice in there.

The other loos, over the road and around the corner, have 6 stalls in both men's and women's. I don't know about the men's, but there's something seriously spooky about the women's. I used them twice some years ago and never went back. I just use the nicer ones!

Some years ago, at night, I had to pull up to a 24/7 refill station to fill the car. Never been to that area before. As I switched off the engine, I had a horrible feeling, very dark. There was a huge. atmosphere, like before a load of physical trouble starts.

I wouldn't have been able to get to the next station on the little petrol I had, so I basically ran into the station. The shop was the same - weird, oppressive atmosphere; the bloke on the tills was creepy. I grabbed a bottle of Lucozade, paid for it and the petrol, then drove out of there fast.

Three days later, I read on the internet that only about 2 hours after I left, so this would have been about 11 when I drove off, there was a huge mob there, causing trouble and being aggressive, so I think my gut instincts were telling me to leave fast. The creepy till bloke, apparently, was part of the mob when they arrived!

I'm 61 and saw my very first horror movie aged 5, which was Lon Chaney's The Wolf Man, 1941, and I continue to watch the most gruesome horrors, and I've never been affected by them!

IndependentAdjudicator · 22/07/2026 15:56

@Squirrel60 thanks for sharing your spooky loo story - I'm not the only weirdo 😄
Thank goodness you got out of that petrol station fast!

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