To think certain places can have a bad energy?

[NineteenThirtyOne]

Lived in our current house for 10 months. Pretty much from day one it felt like it had a dark energy, to the point where visitors would comment on how it felt. It feels dull and the atmosphere is oppressive. It's honestly very depressing to live here but we can't afford to move house just yet.

Not to mention that so many bad things have happened since we moved here

AIBU to think that some places just feel strange? Has anyone else been somewhere and experienced this?

My student house had a really odd feel. Lots of strange house movements and you’d realise that you’d been home alone all afternoon. I hated being alone in certain parts of it. My room always felt peaceful though. One day I lifted the carpet to find someone had gone to the trouble of carving runes all the way round the edge of the floorboards!

Do NOT use sage unless you know what yoiru you're doing with it as it doesn't work by "clearing things" it works by opening a door to encouraging them leave, so to speak. Unless you know how to close that door again, suffice to say you are going to run into problems

Salt circles are a much safer option

I genuinely have no idea whether some of these posts are serious or just taking the piss.
I'm a bit worried about stuffing the turkey this Christmas now in case I misuse the sage somehow, and leave open a portal for evil spirits. That could spoil the festivities somewhat.

I'll just leave this here

curiosity.com/topics/got-a-ghost-problem-it-might-just-be-infrasound-curiosity/

We had this in a holiday villa in Spain a few years ago. Hubby and I were staying in an extension that you accessed via a courtyard and I was terrified to even go into our room alone.

I mentioned it to my parents a while later (we'd gone with them) and they told me one night a book flew off the shelf in their room onto the floor. It was a Spanish dictionary and I'd said that same day about how I'd forgotten to bring mine on the trip. They didn't tell me while we were there in case it scared me

Yes, I seriously believe a place can carry a physical and psychic imprint of emotion that others can sense. A lovely friend who was a spirit medium gave me some advice, which was: if you have a faith, pray or otherwise ask blessing for the place and those who have lived there. You could ask a priest or vicar to come and do a blessing also. If you don’t have particular spiritual beliefs, you could still devise some kind of blessing that suits. I have also heard of feng shui being used where places just don’t feel right.

Yes, I believe it and have experienced it myself. It doesn't necessarily have to be a place where something has happened. Even having a previous inhabitant plagued by depression can taint the energy of a house and make it oppressive and dark.
I suggest you let as much sunlight as possible in, smudge with white sage whilst reading out blessings and wash every surface with rock salt diluted in water. Keep the house very bright, tidy and clean, put out ornaments or hang pictures that make you feel happy, have family and friends around for fun gatherings, burn incense if you like the smell. Citrus scents can uplift the energy of a place immediately. Different plants and crystals can also clean up the bad vibes, you will find a lot of information if you google it. And pets are very receptive to energies and can help point out iffy areas. Good luck OP xx

Yes, my dad had a cottage for a year or two when I was younger. We all felt really uncomfortable in the bathrooom, like something was off, we didn’t mention it to each other until years later so it wasn’t a group of people freaking each other out

I definitely know buildings an have energies - if by which you mean they engender a feeling in you - because I've experienced it. These are rational explicable feelings not anything woo - they relate to simple issues like social conditioning, buidling construction, temperature, light and this type of thing.

Think of a chuch - most churches have a calm peaceful aura. This is partly because they tend to be very large and cool so sound gets lost, partly social conditioning about what you expect in a church, partly other people behaving quietly and respectfully.

What you are refering to as a dark energy will be this type of thing with a rational analysis - odd building angles too subtle to identify but enough to subconciously register as 'off', darkness or poor natural light, narrow corridors or claustrophicly designed rooms - especially doors that barely clear a bath or a built in fitting that you brain expects to collide.

These all add up and its all rationally explained.

My Dad is a plumber and did lots of new builds at one point. He says it would be usual for someone to say, if you're going for your dinner have it in number 2 it's lovely in there, even though they were brand new identical houses.

They won't be identical will they though - a 100 meters east, west north or south will catch the light in a different way and at different times.

Yes OP i understand. My first house was like this. Things happened also. Huge thudding noise upstairs and the bin rattling in the kitchen and just a general feeling of heavy ness. I had it blessed by a local priest. I later met a woman who also used to rent the house prior to me and she felt the same as me and used to come downstairs to find the cellar door open. I was so happy when I left there.

Not sure it’s quite the same but also is. I’ve only been on the m62 between Leeds and Manchester 3 times but all the times I’ve felt really uncomfortable. The last time I was driving and I found it so hard to concentrate and decided I would try very hard not to go on it again. Not sure why just felt weird

Not to drip feed here, but I've actually moved out of the house about 2 weeks ago to my parents. It was only because I was visiting my ex with DS today and spent some time there until I realised how utterly awful the house is. I felt relieved when I was out of it.

Me and ex want to give it another go but I have told him I will not be living with him until we find a new home, because living there with the atmosphere is unbearable.

@Tryingtoslim I bet lots of car accidents have happened there with fatalities and perhaps that's why it feels like that to you?

Little peas
We also live beside a graveyard on the site of an old psychiatric hospital and it’s very peaceful. Asylums were not places of torture- they were built as a place of safety ( hence asylum) away from everyday difficulties. Clearly there would be some tortured individuals but there would also be people who enjoyed the feeling of routine and community.
I did once stay in a house in Cornwall on holiday and there was a room in that house I couldn’t bear to go into . It felt very threatening

There's a belief that certain elements can retain strong feelings or energies or even play back events when conditions are right - the 'Stone Tape' theory. Some researchers believe that water and limestone are stronger at retaining these emotions than other elements and minerals.

Totally don't believe in this stuff.

At least I didn't until we rented this old gite/coachhouse in Brittany, France. I couldn't get over the feeling of dread while staying there. I was breastfeeding at the time and was terrified getting up for the feeds.

The feeling of relief when I left was palpable. Should have really asked the owner the history.

@NineteenThirtyOne very possibly! Freaks me out tho that the Leeds to Hull part doesn’t bother me but past Leeds I can’t stand it, guess it is one of those weird things you just will never understand

I lived next door to a house which appeared to be perfectly nice but sad things happened to 2 lots of neighbours who lived there. Perfectly reasonable I suppose, but it does make you think.
Several years ago I visited Saltburn for the day and I felt the oddest sensation, it really made me feel so eerie and the feeling has not left me whenever I think of it. Likewise I have driven through a certain part Cumbria a few times and it feels like home as if I have lived there before. All very odd.

Absolutely. I can feel emotions (not 100% accurately, and never with the understanding needed to make a lot of it as I'm obviously not psychic) if people touch me and if I know them reasonably well I can feel and identify the emotion within about a foot. Allegedly I'm am empath but I think most people are the same just to different degrees/levels of sensitivity, it's more metaphysics than "woo". Certainly a building can hold that energy but it's just that, energy. Not ghosts or foreboding signs etc. It's tangible energy that can be lightened but I don't know how, sage etc. is a bit far fetched in my opinion but each their own. Can't help at all but yes, definitely it is possible I experience it daily. I'd just ignore it until you learn to tune it out, whatever it is it's passed and not necessary for you to tune into it. That's all I've got, sorry!

Some sounds you can’t hear but cause that eerie feeling. Lots of places which people class as spooky are just the body’s reaction to these sound waves

If you believe in it then try burning sage in each room or ask a local vicar to bless the house

Totally. i remember babysitting at neighbours house that gave me bad vibes.. I felt like there was cctv or that I was being watched in some way.

A week later, the father of the house took his own life.

I think they can, I detest visiting the house I grew up in, my Dad really doesn’t understand why I won’t stay there overnight. The whole place feels really oppressive and dark even though it’s a light, bright house. I never liked it as a child and really don’t like going upstairs even now.

No. There are many conscious and subconscious factors that create aversion to places but just saying 'energy' is bad science.
On a serious note, I've known many people in the hippy/ healer sphere who have abused this so called feeling for 'energies' to get money or influence over gullible/ vulnerable people.

@GoldenRule That gave me the creeps