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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask for your experiences with Bath/strange atmospheres

543 replies

AliceInBlunderland13 · 18/02/2020 13:11

Semi-regular poster but I’ve name changed for this as the details could be quite outing. Also not really an AIBU but posting for traffic and all that…
There have been two periods in my life when I have lived and/or worked in the city of Bath, Somerset and I’ve experienced problems with my mental health on both occasions. The first was right after I finished by undergraduate degree in London and I moved to Bath to do a Masters at the university. I started in the October and by Christmas I was experiencing terrible panic attacks and depression. I did manage to complete the course but as soon as I finished I ended the tenancy on my flat early and moved back home. I then worked in my home town for a few years, during which time I had no problems with my mental health. Then I decided to do a PhD and took a position again at the uni in Bath. This time I didn’t move there but instead moved to a nearby town and commuted in. Yet again within a couple of months of being there I began experiencing daily panic attacks, terrible anxiety and feelings of dissociation, and depression. I tried to stick it out (had counselling, on meds etc) but I still felt utterly miserable so I recently quit the course and found a new job in another town.
Even after having counselling, I’ve never truly got to the bottom of what triggers these episodes. Logically, it could be stress related as both a Masters and a PhD are obviously a lot of work but then I dealt with the stresses of my undergraduate course just fine, and the job I had between my Masters and PhD was high-stress and I loved it – in fact I used to think I worked best with a bit of pressure.
Then the other day, I was reading an old thread on here (bored while I wait to start my new job Grin ) about places people found creepy. Several people mentioned that they didn’t like Bath or that it had an odd atmosphere – I think one poster described it as ‘melancholy’. Now normally I’m very rational and logical (except when the anxiety takes over Confused ) and wouldn’t give it a second thought, but I couldn’t help wondering if anyone has any experience of feeling anxious/down in a particular place, or if anyone else has felt this ‘atmosphere’ in Bath? I know some will say it’s a load of pish but I guess I’m just interested in other people’s experiences really…

OP posts:
FREEM · 20/02/2020 23:21

I get weird vibes in the Scottish borders. places like hawick Melrose etc.
I think it's a historical vibe. v odd

AdoptedBumpkin · 21/02/2020 00:33

My cousin lived in north Powys for a while, it wasn't exactly 'woo' but he said there was a sadness about it. In his words, a rainy day there was more depressing than elsewhere.

Allcrimps · 21/02/2020 01:13

Blackwood in Wales. It's a deprived valley town so fairly depressing anyway, but there are many poor valley towns around these parts that I've never had the same sheer-dread 'get me out of here' vibes from. I've had a visceral reaction every time I've been there. Awful place!

Skyejuly · 21/02/2020 07:26

Betws y Coed is interesting. I didn't know anything about stories attached. When we went we saw a bridge out our window. When we went for a walk there was no bridge where we thought it was.

Alwaysfrank · 21/02/2020 09:10

I love Bath. I've visited a few times over the years but more recently been a bit more as my daughter was at uni there and I took every opportunity for a day trip! I feel really at home, disproportionate to the amount of time I've actually spent there. I've often joked that I must have lived there in a previous life.

The uni campus can be quite a depressing place though especially if it is raining. Her first year hall was rather grim - really narrow corridor, next to no social space. She much preferred living off campus in subsequent years.

pinboard · 21/02/2020 09:10

@FREEM
Have you ever been to the Hermitage, down past Hawick in the Borders?
VERY oppressive, but mostly geographical - a narrow valley and a lowering sky and a caretaker who made Filch look welcoming!

Being aware of the history can make a difference - ie Culloden but i do think some places 'grab' sadness / pain / fear and retain the vibes?

pinboard · 21/02/2020 09:13

'Hawick is an ex mill town that has been run down for a long time and is really quite isolated geographically / culturally / demographically too.
Melrose is quite a smart wee village with lots of incomers and a healthy economy so really different.
But yes the Borders can be a funny place.
I lived for 10 years in a supposedly haunted house there and many villages saw soldiers on bridges / roads /sprites on footpaths etc

ShesGotBetteDavisEyes · 21/02/2020 10:07

She told me that there was a high rate of congenital abnormalities in babies born to Portland families (she was in obs & gynae) and that there was talk that it might be connected to something to do with the base there

I would think it’s much more likely down to the smaller gene pool surely?

Buggeredpelvicfloor2013 · 21/02/2020 10:37

Yes!! Theres a small village near us called Arkwright that makes me feel woo whenever we have to drive past it. And somewhere called Masson Mills in Matlock.

Skyejuly · 21/02/2020 10:39

I burst into tears when I went to at kilda. It was not a bad feeling though.

PurpleMice · 21/02/2020 10:54

Bath's alright. The natives can be a bit uppity compared to Bristol, but that's all. However, I totally agree with Glastonbury Tor & Cheddar Gorge. Both are strange disturbed places.

Teacup34 · 21/02/2020 12:46

Buggeredpelvicfloor2013 I've visited masson mills quite a few times and found it ok. I remember learning about Arkwright's mills for GCSE history it's a bit vague now but I don't think the workers were treated well and a lot of children were put to work, so maybe that's what your picking up on. I find cromford itself a bit off.

managedmis · 21/02/2020 12:51

Stopped in betsw y co-ed in a spooky hotel, can't remember the name of it

silencebeforethebleeps · 21/02/2020 15:01

The Vale of Glamorgan coast - I love the coast and the sea, but the whole area gives me the creeps.
Canterbury, very oppressive, apart from the cathedral which is OK.
Dover. So depressing.

Skyejuly · 21/02/2020 16:12

Dover is really weird. The castle is lovely but the whole place gives off weird vibes

Ormally · 21/02/2020 16:53

Recommendation for the book 'Timpson's Ley Lines' if anyone is interested. It isn't a very woo approach to them but I found his theories quite persuasive (ancient straight lines between sources of water from a time before any thought of maps).
To whoever mentioned Berlin...this was the location of the lowest point of my life (unexpectedly). Lived there for a while, never been so permanently cold. There was (is) a statue of 2 large metal stick men, red and blue, that seem to be fighting in a halfhearted way, that is positioned in the middle of a shallow concrete pool. I had to pass it every day on my way to work with wind/sleet whistling through it and it still remains the stuff of my nightmares. I sometimes imagine at least one of them pushed down under the water but this doesn't really remove the awful connotations they have for me the way I hope.

keepingbees · 21/02/2020 17:12

I'm looking up some of these places on street view, I find it fascinating.
Betwys Y Coed looks lovely on there, sunny and leafy. It's funny how a places vibe can be in contrast to how it looks on paper

DuPainDuVinDuFromage · 21/02/2020 19:18

Completely different area from what has been mentioned above - on a recent visit to Egglestone Abbey near Barnard Castle in County Durham I got the most horrible feeling - I never get intuitive feelings about things but that was so strong! I remember going as a child as well and don’t think I enjoyed it then either.

PostNotInHaste · 21/02/2020 19:34

I’m fine in Bath, Exeter, Glastonbury and Cheddar Gorge.
Don’t like Portland, Exmoor, Dartmoor and Cornwall.

Interesting how different people react to different places.

LivingDeadGirlUK · 21/02/2020 22:04

I dont think I've ever felt woo about a place. Lived in Bath for 6 years and loved it, liked hastings and brighton too. I do think places in the commuter belt like Woking are depressing though, and felt quite unsafe in parts of east Manchester.

LivingDeadGirlUK · 21/02/2020 22:13

Hmmm I seem to like living in places with high Radon too lol

Ohyesiam · 21/02/2020 22:19

I love near Bath and find it quite soulless. I enjoy visits to Glastonbury though.
But the Somerset levels fill me with an indescribable dread and fear. I had to visit a remote farm just outside Glastonbury on the levels and it felt so menacing, i I was genuinely very frightened. Really really weird atmosphere.

Ohyesiam · 21/02/2020 22:23

Ooh yes, and I once got a The Fear driving through cheddar gorge one night .

Artinsurance · 21/02/2020 22:23

I visited Glastonbury in 1997 (so I don't know if that was before the really bad drug problems PP have mentioned) and was so completely freaked out that I had to leave within 10 minutes of arriving.

I've never felt that way about a place before or since.

blueshoes · 21/02/2020 22:54

I really don't like the witch at Wookey Hole