To feel weird in Glastonbury

[Wellsbells]

I moved about a half hour’s drive from Glastonbury a few years ago but have only visited the town itself once. I hated it. It just felt uncomfortable and a bit sinister, and I couldn’t wait to leave. I’ve not felt that way anywhere else, I mean there are places I like more than others of course but this was just a really strong sense of “I want to get out of here”. Would be interested to know if anyone else has felt this way? Or about anywhere else?

@thefemaleJoshLyman

Walsingham in Norfolk. One of the weirdest places I've ever been to. Very eerie, felt cold even on warm summer day. It is a place of pilgrimage but didn't feel the love.

Oh I love Walsingham. I think it has a lovely atmosphere.

Stockport is the place that immediately comes to mind. I went for a job interview there over 20 years ago, and felt unnerved from the time I got off the train to the time I got back on. Never been so glad not to get a job in my life as there's no way I could have spent any considerable time there

I grew up there but I don't blame you. The town centre isn't the best looking place in the world. There are some nice areas in the district though.

Crawley and Croydon are places I've had job interviews in and turned down a second interview based on location. Plus while they are each a bit nearer to home they are much more of an arse to get to than central London.

On our honeymoon, driving along the road and seeing a sign for Charlestown, my husband and I both started to speak at the same time, and we were both saying the same thing.. "Have you ever been to Charlestown, it has a really weird feeling about it".

@ConquestEmpireHungerPlague

I remember the last thread and if you looked at the UK radon map there did seem to be a strong correlation between high concentrations and places where a lot of people felt inexplicably uncomfortable. I don't see why some people couldn't be more sensitive to a radioactive gas than others, so I wouldn't automatically dismiss that as bollocks, but ley lines are, which is a shame because the idea is kind of fun.

There are only two places I've ever felt a real sense of doom. One was Port Appin on the west coast of Scotland and the other was Lincoln. I actually made my DP get up in the middle of the night and leave a holiday home in Lincoln because I was overwhelmed by a sense that something really bad was about to happen, not that it made any difference to anything, because the bad thing turned out to be 3000 miles away. (It was 9/11.) There's not much radon in either of those places though.

I love these threads but a pp mentioned my home town upthread, which is making me feel weirdly defensive!

The main lay line in the UK is supposed to run from Cornwall to Norfolk, and I find it interesting that the radon map of the UK shows high radon levels roughly following that line.

And Cornwall, a supposed high spot of woo, also has very high levels of radon.

Perhaps the people who find some places wrong are simply responding to radon levels, especially if they come from a place with low levels.

I went there yesterday! I absolutely love the place. Went into a book shop to get a book for my daughter and they just said she could have it for free! We then went in a crystal shop and they charged us less than half for all the stones we had! We also went to the Abbey and I fell in love with the place so relaxing. I'm not particularly hippy or anything just think people are nice and can't beat a bit of vegan cake too.

I've read on previous MN threads that Glastonbury has a funny vibe and that people often bump into long-lost friends/ exes / people they're no longer in touch with but had thought about for the first time in ages in Exeter! I want to go to see if I'd meet up with someone from my past but it's miles away :(

I've been to Glastonbury, and Tintagel, and even Swaffham, and not felt uncomfortable in any way (except for aching legs from climbing all the steps at Tintagel). But I got panicky in the Mummy Room at the British Museum and had to leave.

I’ve never understood ley lines. Surely if you draw a line from one place to another it’s just a line so everywhere must be on a ley line? Obviously missing something there ( I’m not woo)

I felt it was weird, too. I went back a couple of times and it felt weird every time. I didn't like it.

@wenning please see my next post -a qualification of my hasty typing. I find many places of Christian worship peaceful, but some are not. No idea why.

@Dogoodfeelgood

I do wonder! I think perhaps we find some things unsettling, not the same things. I wonder if it is some kind of ancestral memory or ties to other things (interests etc). I find in some entirely new places, I feel instantly at home and at peace, like I know them well and others feel jarring and sinister.

Interestingly my first reaction to central Croydon was very negative. I have since got to know it well and do feel different about the overall place, although I don’t think I will ever love it or feel at peace there. The suburban and rural areas surrounding are very pleasant so I think that it is a manmade energy thing from the architecture and some of the more anti-social citizens.

The most weirdest place in the UK is portland Dorset people have stickers on their car saying keep portland weird. The view is nice though. I don't get a weird feeling in Glastonbury there's some nice people their and most are friendly and helpful love the water and the chalice.

@Vulgarlady

I’ve never understood ley lines. Surely if you draw a line from one place to another it’s just a line so everywhere must be on a ley line? Obviously missing something there ( I’m not woo)

Supposedly, ley lines have markers like ancient standing stones, stone circles, and even churches, etc, marking the route. The churches are frequently named after St Michael from the little I've read, something to do with his attributes that I can't remember right now.

Thank you TurquoiseDragon that’s really interesting.

I love Glastonbury and feel very at home there. But I get the creeps in Cheltenham and Woodstock

@Tomyoneandonly

The most weirdest place in the UK is portland Dorset people have stickers on their car saying keep portland weird. The view is nice though. I don't get a weird feeling in Glastonbury there's some nice people their and most are friendly and helpful love the water and the chalice.

Agree about Portland. There’s a small area called Fortuneswell which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Empty shops and winding hilly roads. The prison ship they used to have floating in the harbour probably didn’t help either.

LadyWalsingham. You’re not wrong about parts of the Forest of Dean! . I grew up there.

Found Glasto’ entertaining in a hippy dippy way, but see above. I may just have all my West of England weirdness vaccinations by now.

Sorry, my last remarks addressed to LadyWhisteldownsQuill

@Lovemusic33 I loved your post - made me smile

I got creeped out in St Paul’s Cathedral. Just a really dark, sinister feeling that evil was there. It was packed with tourists who were all fine, so just me freaking out. Couldn’t wait to leave. I’m from a Christian background so not an aversion to churches.

Also felt faint in the Louvre, but I gather that’s pretty common and something to do with the controlled climate conditions around the Mona Lisa

I've been to pretty much every town and city in England, and the only place I thought felt weird was Redcar. It was one of those scorching hot mid-week summer days, and the place was deserted.

My husband gets an erection when we’re near Glastonbury 😂 not sure what that says about him and his energies but it’s happened a number of times and hasn’t happened anywhere else.

I think the shops etc are a bit weird. The place itself is very pretty but the new agey stuff pervades the town. I wouldn't choose to go there again.

The festival, of course, is marvellous but that's a different matter altogether.

I felt the same way about Boscastle which I visited some years ago and it gave me the creeps.