What is the creepiest place you've ever been to?

[Hatchinganegg]

Was just talking about this with DH earlier. I remember going on a visit to Edgehill as a child and finding it really spooky. We'd been watching videos in school about the Civil War and there was talk of the phantom armies etc, so I think it was a combination of that and how strange it was that all these nice quiet green fields were once a battlefield

The second place was a ruined abbey in Ireland. Lovely sunny day when we visited, but my skin was crawling the whole time we were there and I kept feeling as though there was something peeping at me fron behind the walls

This is potentially outing, but I used to visit a big boarding school attached to a monastery to watch school plays. The theatre was one of the first purpose built school theatres in the country, but had been designed by an architect who otherwise only built churches, so it was rather odd-looked exactly like a church from the outside, and then on the inside there was a large theatre with two long corridors either side, at the end of which were stairs leading down to a basement studio theatre. I visited many times and could never bring myself to go down the right hand corridor or stairs, even though it was a mirror of the left hand ones-it just felt really oppressive and awful down there. The last time I visited one of the monks told me that a few decades ago, another monk had hanged himself down there, off the banister at the top of those stairs.

No real scary stories but hands down Port Arthur was just the eeriest place I've ever been. It's in the arse end of Tasmania. it was a penal colony for years. They didn't bother with big fences to keep the prisoners in as if anyone tried to escape the crocodiles would get them

I've never been somewhere so sunny and lovely by the sea and yet have this weird feeling of foreboding.

A few years before we'd been there there's been a shocking shooting there. But the history of the place was just awful. They used to keep prisoners in isolation - proper isolation. They didn't see or hear anything for weeks months on end and it clearly sent some of them insane.

We did the ghost tour at night. There were so many stories. Footsteps following staff when locking up. And when she sped up in fear, the footsteps also sped up after her.

Two builders stayed overnight once when repairing something. One of them woke in the middle of the night as he heard a loud banging noise. He looked up and found his friend was kicking a radiator pipe struggling to breathe. He said it felt like something was sitting on top of him and holding their hands around his neck.

The tour guide led us to the dissection room. A pitch black basement where doctors were less concerned about the rights of prisoners and more interested in experiments. The guide said a couple videoed him once and didn't see anything unusual but when they played the video back later outside they saw this creepy head emerge out of a wall behind the guide, slowly look from side to side at everyone then slowly slink back into the wall. The weird thing was - the minute he said that I knew I'd seen it. It was on one of those 'amazing things caught on camera' type programmes and I remember how angry the man looked. It seemed so real.

I'll probably never go back as its so far away but it's just the creepiest place.

Wymering Manor. It's renowned for being haunted but whilst most of the building is fine and just needs work there was one particular room where I just felt uneasy and like someone was watching me from a corner. Even now I think about it and I can feel eyes staring into the back of my head.

I don't even believe in woo stuff either. I only went because I was interested about the history.

Primary school trip to the Tower of London (late 70s) i suppose i was 9 or 10. We trooped through the torture instruments display laughing and chatting. I wasn't paying much attention i recall; we were marched past all the 'spikey' exciting looking contraptions and were taking took not a lot of notice. My eye was suddenly caught by the block. Sitting on it's own, just a big square bit of wood with it's axe leaning against it. I stopped and stared and vaguely remember feeling very strange and seeing blood. Lots and lots of blood. On the wood and on the floor. I could hear a crowd baying and had an overwhelming feeling of utter total desperation, despair. Complete misery. Next thing i was laying on the grass outside with a teacher who was shouting for some water and telling me i was ok. I'd passed out cold in there. It sounds very cheesy i know but that's just how it was.

Over active imagination maybe, but there have been lots of times in my life since, that i've felt sudden weight of sadness or panic or dread in places. Sometimes enough to cause a fight or flight response. It's often in places not obviously associated with anything awful at all. (as river story above).

Nevern Church Pembrokeshire.

Old Church by a little stream, surrounded by a dark grove of yew trees, one of which oozes red sap like blood. In the Spring the air smells of wild garlic and lots of the gravestones have my surname! There are a couple of very (5th or 6th Century) stones inside the Church. The place doesn't feel malevolent, just very, very ancient, as though people have been gathering there for millennia and one is somehow joining them.

I can’t believe I forgot Kamloops, Canada. Creepiest place I’ve ever been to - really off.

Isn't that the town from where some nutter claims the Queen and Prince Philip kidnapped several orphans?

Catacombs Palermo!! www.palermocatacombs.com/

Glue, had to laugh when you said Cleethorpes. It's certainly creepy here.

Wordsworths cottage in the Lakes. Went on a trip and hated it as soon as I got over the threshold. Panicked all the way round and couldn't wait to get out. It just felt wrong.

Also William Wilberforces house in Hull. Could have sworn I was being followed round. Asked one of the volunteers on the way out and she just smiled and said "yes, he's still here" ,

Not creepy as such: Bethnal Green Toy Museum - late 70s again, so 9 or 10 (loving this! I've got a lot :))

I wandered away from my group on my own (loved to explore) and found my way to the top floor gallery which was separate from the toy museum bit and seemed to be being used for storage. No one else up there, badly lit, lots of very old furniture. Poking around up there I came across a piece of furniture which i literally couldn't walk past. I was held by it and entranced. It felt as if it was ... resonating at me - i don't know how to describe it. I touched it and i was breathless. God knows how long i stood staring at the thing but by the time i pulled myself away a search had been organised and i was told off!

I've always remembered it so clearly and wondered what it was and where it came from. A few years ago i wrote to the BGT museum and asked about that object (i felt daft, had to just describe the thing say it was 'upstairs' and say the rough year). A very kind curator identified it for me! And this is it:

www.google.co.uk/search?q=Leistler+Bookcase&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPkZnLytTYAhVpLcAKHW10C9gQ_AUICygC&biw=1093&bih=472&dpr=1.25

Look at it! Bookcase!? No. Door to another time i recon One day i'll visit it again. It's in the V&A now.

Place marking to read later

I would love to go to the Catacombs!

When I was 14 I went on a school trip to a village in Germany in the early '90's. Normal hotel, fun activities, no visits to anything remotely disturbing etc. I distinctly remember waking up the first 2 nights drenched in sweat, petrified. I could see piles of corpses on the floor of my room- except I was somehow outside. I've never forgotten it. I have looked at maps since and can't find anything of significance round this place. Similarly my BIL house in Manchester has an awful sense of evil to me. It's just a normal modern house. I hate it though; the sense of doom is overwhelming (to me- nobody else!)

My childhood home. From the dark barking randomly at nothing and her head following something while she was doing it, to lightbulbs unscrewing and dropping to the floor.

The scariest was when my mum was home alone though. She heard banging in the bathroom upstairs. There was a fire escape window so she thought someone must have broken in. She listened at the bottom of the stairs when she heard massive thuds as if someone was running across the landing. The thuds then hit the stairs but no one was there. She ran out of the house and the thuds continued down the stairs.
She stayed out until my sister got home from work.
Lots of scary stories from that house.

When i was older in my own home, there was an old cemetery outside of my house. My living room window framed a gravestone.
There was something about the upstairs of that house that felt awful. I couldnt sleep up there for the first 6 months.
Everyone who entered the house felt exactly the same about the stairs and upstairs.
There was a massive bang up there and 3 of us downstairs (my bf,his bro and myself) when we went up to investigate a heavy duty torch was smashed to pieces over the other side of the bedroom.
Nothing else that couldnt be explained logically seemed to happen really. I woke up early hours and convinced i seen a little girl with pigtails, hid under the quilt for the rest of the night. Leaving the room couldnt work as she was peering around the doorframe

Ooh I've just remembered one.

I stayed in French farm house years ago with my mum and dad. The upstairs was out of bounds and the owner had roped off the stairs, so our living space was the downstairs area. This place was in a hamlet in the middle of nowhere, very few close neighbours. We all felt isolated and a bit uncomfortable as soon as we arrived. I slept in the main room and always had trouble going to sleep there, I felt exposed.

A couple of things happened that were creepy, along with the general vibe of the place. I was cleaning my teeth one night and almost jumped out of my skin because I felt something run across my foot. I didn't see what it was but it was heavier than a spider so I assumed it had been a mouse. It didn't bother me, we were in the countryside.

A few nights later there was an almighty storm and the electricity cut out. I was trying to sleep and my mum came out and told me to get in bed with my parents. I didn't really know why, I wasn't scared of the storm and had just been quietly lying there listening to the thunder and rain.

I drifted in and out of sleep but became aware of a hammering on the front door. It was like 2am or something. Next morning mum and dad said they'd heard it too but there was no way they'd be answering the door in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere.

No idea who it was or why they were out in a storm in the middle of the night, but that place was creepy. I used to stare at those stairs every night and wonder what was up there and with it was closed off. Weird place.

My mum has said since that she didn't enjoy staying there and it's the only place in France we've ever stayed and felt so uncomfortable - even though we've stayed in other remote places.

Honestly, it was the stuff of horror movies!

Think I really need to visit Tasmania and Port Arthur. Sounds fascinating. Plus most other places mentioned here are just too far away for me to visit.

As sad as Auschwitz is the death camp at Mauthausen in Austria was much more shocking in some ways. It is set in beautiful countryside but the things that happened there were unspeakable. There were a number of Jewish passengers on my tour group and they were visibly upset by the place.

We were on holiday in Gran Caneria and the place we were staying in was built into the rock face.
Two bedrooms with me Dh in one and Ds4.5 and Dd1.5 in the other. We travelled quite a lot so kids were good sleepers wherever we went but here they would go to sleep but wake us up every night screaming and hysterical.
On the fourth of fifth night of this I was woken by a noise of the cot shaking so leapt out of bed as Dd began to scream. Got in the room and Ds was sat up sleepily in bed so I asked him why he was shaking the cot and frightening his sister. He said that it wasn't him, it was The Man. I said what man and he just said the naughty Man who comes in.
I shouted my Dh and got the kids down stairs and we checked all the Windows and doors, panicking that someone had got in. But all was secure.
We went back to bed but I went in the other single bed in children's room. We had been having the landing light left on and the door open, although they had never needed this before.
After half an hour I had to close the door as I couldn't sleep so there was just a little light coming from the door frame and off I went to sleep lying on my back as usual.
I was awoken by someone rhythmically touching my feet, it felt like someone rocking against them with their thighs but I couldn't make out my Dh. I thought he was trying to wake me this way without waking Dc. What I couldn't understand was why I couldn't make out a shape of him and thought, is he on his hands and knees, is he ill?
Then I felt him start to crawl up the bed over my legs while making a loud panting noise and angrily thought, "are you for real" .
As he got to my stomach area I suddenly realized that this person was much heavier and bigger than my Dh.

The breathing was snorting and heavy now, like a bull and I could feel it on my face and he was right over me, I pushed on his chest and it felt like leather but with very pronounced muscles on it. (like a gladiator type breastplate)
It felt totally evil and I was terrified.
I felt over towards the lamp on the table but I couldn't reach it, I found all my strength and lunged for it.

The "thing" vanished and by now kids were screaming again.
I got them into our bedroom closed the door and from that night we all slept in the same room.
The next day we got the kids clothes into our room, closed the door and never went in there again. My Dh addled if I wanted to move somewhere else but I said I was ok unless anything else happened.
I couldn't wait to leave that place!

ImListening "I can’t believe I forgot Kamloops, Canada. Creepiest place I’ve ever been to - really off."

I agree with that. I love history and have looked round umpteen old houses, castles, ruins etc, but nowhere has been as creepy as Kamloops. It makes me shudder just to think about it. What on earth can be the cause of the extreme creepiness of that place I wonder.

Isabellasmummy-i was also coming on to say Cold Christmas (it's in herts though). I walk by that church regularly and I always hurry past it and never go off the path. My dp And I saw a woman there once sitting on a grave stone towards the back, and there was something not right about her-we both felt instantly scared, but neither of us said anything to the other until we got home-im still not convinced she wasn't a ghost.
The dogs never go off the path towards the church there either-and everyone knows that Dogs know stuff.

I know this is a very very obvious one but the 9/11 museum in NYC. It's all below ground so there is no natural light and the displays, photographs, videos and memorials lay heavy on almost every one of your senses.

I cried A LOT and felt immense relief once I emerged back into the sunlight.

The Grand Hotel Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka. There was no one there, just like the pictures on the website. It’s like The Shing

The Dashwood family masoleum in West Wycombe. Circular with effigies of the departed - larger than life size and positioned vertically rather than laying down. Felt like they were about to step down and surround me. Couldn't wait to leave!

Yesterday 14:14 Nervousrex

Great thread!

For me it has to be Pluckley in Kent. It is known as "the most haunted village in Kent",

That reminds me... was on a train from London to Folkestone one night in the 1980s as a teenager, meant to get off at Sandling, where I was being met.... fell asleep and woke up as the train was pulling into a station; dark and cold, swirling mists, couldn’t even see the signs to tell me where I was. I was terrified I’d missed my stop, but logic told me to stay on train until it reached a large, well-lit station. Train carriage was empty and for a reason I still can’t fathom, I felt compelled to get off the train, even though I was petrified and every fibre of my being was screaming at me to stay put. Anyway, I got up, opened the train door; one hand on the door handle, one leg in mid-air, about to step down into nothingness when the train jolted and started moving again. I quickly stepped back and swung the door shut. I was still sitting there frozen with fear when the guard walked through; I asked him where we were and he said that was Pluckley, we’ll be at Ashford in five mins- so I hadn’t missed my stop. Had I got off at Pluckley, l’d have been stranded in the dark, probably without a working telephone and no idea where I was, in what I’ve since heard is meant to be a haunted train station. Still gives me chills when I think about it!

Love that Camelot hotel has got a mention here!! I sold them a kitchen once; they came in a nearly closing time, stayed for over an hour so I was there with them alone then, when we'd finished planning and I thought they'd take the plans away to decide, they just said yes to it all and paid in cash... a LOT of cash.
Anyway I did a follow up visit and I'm not normally freaked by anything, I can hold my own. But I wanted out of that place the moment I stepped into it.
They offered me and DP a free stay... I declined!!

The only other place I've felt properly uncomfortable was a weird one. I was in my local and, having had a skinful, tottered outside for a smoke. I went to lean against the porch of the house next to the pub to light up, as I normally did older me is cringing at obnoxious inconsiderate younger me!! and as soon as my arm touched the wall, I pulled away, it felt like I'd leant on a block of ice but it was a warm evening. As well as that cold feeling, which started to spread up my arm and across my chest, I jut felt so gloomy, like something was horrendously wrong. Chucked the cig away and bolted back inside and felt fine again, kind of freaked out but fine.
They found he owner of the house hanging in the porch the next morning. That freaked me the fuck out.

Sorry blueneighbourhood and bluffin I'm really late to answer your questions, but no I never did find out what it was. I was with my boyfriend and he said the banging was probably plumbing (definitely wasnt) and when we went down for breakfast the next morning I was looking at everyone else trying to spot the same terror on someone else's face that I had on mine, but everyone looked normal, happy, like they'd had a good night sleep. I couldn't understand it. I was too shocked to ask the owners anything. I just wanted to get out of there. I wish I had done a bit of digging around now.

Lyceum Theatre in London. I was grand circle supervisor and part of my job was to be the last person to exit, checking the loos were empty etc and giving the 'all clear' before descending a long winding staircase that led all the way to the street. I always felt spooked in the quiet theatre checking all the rows and loos. One night I went back to the office and found one of the managers white as a sheet drinking whiskey. He had, in the interval, been walking down a long corridor that is on the right of the auditorium, from the loos at the back to the door that opens into the grand circle seating at the front right. Down this corridor are 3 rarely used function rooms to the right. The doors are inset a foot or two. He was walking from the loos and a solitary lady was ahead. He assumed she had been to the loo and was headed back to her seat. Instead of turning left she turned right, into the last function room. He jogged to catch up to help her and as he reached the door (in a little alcove) he saw it was chained and padlocked and the woman vanished. He was terrified and didn't tell me until the end of my shift in case I refused to clear the section and left him to do it!