What places in the UK have weirded you out?

[Oollliivviiaa]

I know Glastonbury and Bath always come up but where else have you been that just felt "off". Not scary or unsafe as such, just made you feel unwelcome and want to leave. And logically, WHY do you think they do?

Mine are

• Glasgow Centeal station. I've been to lots of stations at all sorts of times but this station always makes me uneasy even during the day when it's busy. Maybe it's because it's such an odd station and easy to get disoriented in.

And

• Berwick on Tweed. Really, really weird vibes there. People were nice enough but it felt a bit like there was some sort of sinister undercurrent. Why? I actually don't know. All I can think of is that it feels quite isolated and a bit like the edge of the world. Maybe the history of the place, means it feels like a no man's land? I know lots of people really like it.

And

• Holy Island. The history, bleakness and again, isolation I think. Plus when we went, all you could hear was the wind and seals which is a bit spooky. I liked it there though.

Two good things in Wolverhampton - KK's and the indian restaurant opposite!!!!

Seconding (thirding maybe?) Saddleworth, when we used to drive back home from family visits "down south" the car temperature gauge always used to go through the floor on that section of the M62.

I like driving over Shap though - always feels a bit on the egde of the world!

Stoke is a dump. I find it really depressing.

The Magna Science Adventure Centre in Sheffield. It really gave me the creeps. It was like somewhere you'd go in order to be murdered.

Beachy Head.
We were on holiday nearby and my husband went for a walk to Beachy Head. I won't go in to detail, let's just say my husband is a sensible, no nonsense sort of person, but he had a horrible experience up there and was freaked out.
He was really quiet when he came back....

Blackpool - it's not so much that I don't like the place, it's more that the thought of probably never having to go anywhere near it ever again, and my DC possibly never having to go near it either, makes me feel really, really happy.

I've had several experiences like that when driving to Newhaven to catch the ferry. The approach road into Newhaven is like a roller coaster and you constantly drive in and out of pockets of thick fog. When it's dark it's really creepy. Not to mention stressful when there is some juggernaut up your backside, rushing to make the ferry.

We went to Folkestone to use the Eurotunnel recently. It was an evening crossing and I had heard that Folkestone has been regenerated and is a artsy and interesting place to be now, so we decided to go into the town for some dinner and have a look around before getting on the shuttle.

We ended up in some multi-storey car park which was like an island on a one way system, with a covered walkway linking it to the shopping centre on the other side. Going into the car park it felt like a scene from some post-apocolyptic movie, unkempt and really poorly maintained, it looked abandoned, with weeds everywhere. There was rubbish dumped all over the car park, it was clearly used as a sleeping place for homeless people and we were practically the only car in there.

While DH went to get a car park ticket I tentatively stuck my head through the door into the stairwell and OMG, it was like the worst sort of crack den. The window to the stairwell had been smashed in, bottles had been hurled at the walls of the stairwell, there was drugs paraphenalia lying around, blood on the stairs and the walls, fast food containers and leftover food chucked all over the floor, filthy clothes and sleeping bags strewn everywhere, vomit, piss, shit, you name it. We would have had to walk through that to get out the other side and I didn't dare call the lift and see what the state of that was - that's if it was even working, which I doubt.

I went straight back out into the car park and said to DH 'Don't bother. I'm not even leaving the car alone here for 20 minutes with all our stuff in it, let alone a couple of hours.' And we left.

So that, folks, is my abiding memory of Folkestone. I don't care what the rest of it is like, if it feels like a scene from a horror movie before I've even left the main car park then it's not for me thanks.

Another place with a witchcraft history.

I didn't like Portree on Skye for no reason I could put my finger on.
I like Skye but not Portree.

This was absolutely my first thought too.

The lead mines at Cwmystwyth have a similar feeling, you can imagine Z for Zachariah or something similar being set there.

I'm fine with Whitby Abbey, but St Mary's Church right next door to it though - it is really sinister, I got the serious creeps in there and had to leave at high speed.

Very specific one from me - the Royal Berkshire Hotel near Windsor.

Went there for a wedding fair to look at it as a venue and was really looking forward to it. Looked a beautiful venue with gorgeous grounds.

Felt a bit odd walking round the gardens, but was still struck by how pretty it all was and could imagine wedding photos there.

Then I went into the main building and the main reception room in particular. Can't describe how I felt other than to say there was an instant wave of panic and I just desperately needed to get out.

I'd seen plenty of venues before and after, but that was the only one I had that reaction in, so it definitely wasn't a case of wedding nerves. Even my Mum asked me if I was OK because I'd gone really pale.

Needless to say we didn't get married there!

Same. I know it very well and don't get the love for it!

I once had to go to Peterbrough and it stinks

It was like every single person in the uk had stood in the city centre and farted at the same time

And it lingered-I was walking around trying not to gag

Dp then pointed out that every single person seemed to have tattoos

Nothing wrong with a tat,but I seemed to be the only person without one

Then a fight broke out between a family (with a small child) and the little ones father as we where sat in a bench eating our lunch

We where trying to get away in case we where dragged into the fighting,when a shoplifter was taken down (and me with him) by the security guards of a supermarket nearby

The locals all walked past giving us the death stare (or so it felt like) and most where rude

Never again

Yes. I will never go there again. Too dangerous for me. Best not say any more than that.

Oxford. The High Street is so grim and uncomfortable and the disconnect between the college wealth and beauty, and the grotty town is so odd. Then on top there is the overwhelming number of tourists with the all forced Harry Potter related enjoyment. It feels fake and important at the same time.

Also it's in a dip so it always feels like there is lid of smog keeping everything down. It's really oppressive and something is sort of festering and not right in the air.

'Weirded you out'

What an odd turn of phrase. Not the best grammar.

But as you ask- Stevenage😂

I never get the ones about Bath - I lived there six years, as a uni student and then I got my first grad job there. Lived in the studenty suburb of Oldfield Park, then in the city centre. Loved it! Beautiful, lots of greenery, parks, lovely architecture… no creepy vibes for me!

Someone said Milton Keynes - I work there and used to live very close by. It’s a bit soulless but I’ve never felt unsafe there. It’s quite green and clean, easy to navigate. Bland I admit, but good shopping and connected.

Someone else said Northampton - I live on the outskirts now in a very dull, quiet suburb. It’s fine here but boring. The town centre is unspeakably ghastly and exactly what you’d expect of a poorly governed ex-industrial town. It’s not a nice place at night. Or in the day really.

I went to Cheltenham last year. I'd heard it was full of lovely Georgian architecture so I was expecting it to be nice, and a bit posh. It wasn't. It was run down, boring, disappointing and drab. It didn't give me the creeps as such but it was just a massive anti-climax.

I live near Charlton Down. It's all converted into flats now but it still has a really grim feeling. You catch a glimpse of it from the main road and I don't even like to look at it. I made myself go down into it for a look but I will never do that again.

Immingham.

That is because its not sure if its supposed to be in Yorkshire or Lancashire

Couldn’t agree more.

Wareham in Dorset. Full of staring unfriendly people

I agree about Chertsey. I lived there when I was newly married and it was a pointless dump of a place - too far out of London to be on the tube but not rural enough to be nice.
I loved Avebury - something very magical about the stone circle that you could walk right up to, unlike Stonehenge.
I love the flat bleakness of Lincolnshire. Holidayed there with relatives as a child.
Coventry was like a bleak wind tunnel, still with a 70s style shopping precinct although I love the 2 cathedrals linked together.

Completely agree. I went to Oxford city centre a couple of years ago and really didn't like it. I was expectiing it to be beautiful and very similar to Cambridge, which is so lovely and green and pleasant to walk around. But it felt dirty, far too busy, grungey and not a very nice vibe. Like an inland Brighton.

@LightDrizzle 🤣