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.

Going from North Wales to Lincolnshire and saying miles of nothingness there and it felt weird. Pot and kettle spring to mind😂

On the other hand I have a weird affection for wandering through council estates which are quite big and spacious, in the height of summer in the morning, when the sun is out and there isn't a cloud in the sky. It's the opening weeks of a world cup or euros and there is a sleepy buzz of expectation about. Must be related to the Italia 90 world in motion video. It's almost certainly the summer holidays.

Trywerin in North Wales was flooded for a reservoir supplying England - was that the place the book was about?

I would agree with that having lived in both places.....

yeah, cos Trafalgar Square and/or Charing Cross station which are the traditional sites of the centre of London are both hugely welcoming and normal...

Just outside central London I should have said.

The Pendle witches were tried and executed (by hanging not burning) in Lancaster.

DGM was saying how she used to collect the coal off the beach 🤣 Hendon Colliery next door is just as grim!

Bishops Itchington.. terrible place.

I genuinely found Wastwater frightening. It's the scree.

I also had to get out of Shankill Road the minute I arrived.

Ladybower Reservoir maybe?

The name alone would put me off.

Byker in Newcastle is also horrendous.

Kilhope Wheel Lead Mining Museum. Went there on a school trip and was on edge the whole time. Spurn Point in East Yorkshire has a weird vibe about it too and parts of the London Underground.

"The Pendle witches were tried and executed (by hanging not burning) in Lancaster."

Yes, this is a common misunderstanding. People convicted of witchcraft were hanged in England, it was Scotland where they were burned to death. Just to inform anyone who was unaware.

Fulham in London. I really find it creepy. It’s like a dead area without soul. It’s surrounded by much nicer and vibrant parts of West London but to me it’s very unnerving. Even the parks are unsettling to me. No offence to those who love it!

edited- I just saw the second part of the question- logically why.
I think it’s simply bad vibes from past associations. But it’s quite overwhelming. I feel low in spirits in Fulham

Oooh yes, Camden. Also Collier's Wood.

I’m very local to Mansfield, and you’re not wrong.

Yes, and it looks so scruffy, too.

@KimberleyClark was it Ladybower?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-62548735

Matlock Bath. Why does it feel like the seaside when it’s firmly inland?!

Nowhere.

Norfolk, or at least the parts of it I've seen. I'm very fond of the part of Norfolk I travel to on holiday once a year because it's somewhere I go to totally chill/unplug, but the sheer flatness of the area spooks me a bit as a pp said, and so do the really winding roads across the fields. Something otherworldly about it imo, but I quite enjoy the difference tbh, makes it feel like even more of a getaway.

See also Parkgate, where you can buy fish and chips, ice cream or shrimps, and stroll along the front like you're at the seaside, despite the fact that there's been fuck all water there since the 18th century. 😅 I do love it, though!

allow me to explain about London - even the centre, be it Westminster or Leicester square, is a village- London is a collection of ‘villages’ and is not a generic whole -
only out of London do people say they live in ‘London’ - so, in London, you are moving from one village to another which are seamless to anyone who doesn’t realise this

eg you would not be weirded out telling us you were going to visit your friend in Richmond, or Dollis Hill, or Clapham, or Highbury? Nunhead? all under the London umbrella of course, but in easily manageable experiences.