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Original poster

What places in the UK have weirded you out?

1000 replies

Oollliivviiaa · 14/04/2025 11:37

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.
OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
FlatErica · 14/04/2025 19:11

What’s wrong with Glastonbury?!

Musclewoman · 14/04/2025 19:12

Brighton and Weybridge in Surrey....

Lots of oddballs in Brighton and in Weybridge it always feels like something is about to kick off.....I was waiting for a bus there once and a mad woman started shrieking abuse at me out of her window...she accused me of listening to her conversation...! 😒 on her phone driving of course....she sounded drunk and volatile, there was a tiny reception aged girl in the backseat 😢

Any other times I've been there people just seem angry and on the brink, I hate going there.

CountryShepherd · 14/04/2025 19:14

Shovealoadon · 14/04/2025 19:09

Could have written most of your post @dewfirst! Yes to that stretch of A34 and used to have to drive it a lot but thankfully moved away and much less frequent now, was always a relief to get past that stretch of road. Knowing about the frequency and number of fatalities definitely contributed to the unease especially in bad weather.

Tower of London, literally hair at the back of neck standing up going up the spiral staircase to the towards a small wooden door and sense of sadness. Found out after about the lost Princes in the Tower and made me feel cold/ sick.

Rural East Devon. The house my family moved to was in the middle of nowhere, in v remote countryside. The things we saw there still haunt me, black shapes moving in and out of the house, even in daylight but 10x worse at night. Sense of being watched through windows, we always closed the curtains before dark. None of us liked going to the furthest part of the house (a granny annexe extension) freezing cold (even with heating on), v strange vibe quiet. A figure of a woman was seen down there a few times by different family who had stayed over. I never lingered long enough to investigate that one myself but dealt with enough in the main house. Wild horses couldn’t drag me back!

Edited
Show quote history

I drive that road quite a lot and hadn't noticed but now I will!

MoanasTummy · 14/04/2025 19:15

Hebden Bridge.
It’s like W1A has been transplanted to West Yorkshire.

RockahulaRocks · 14/04/2025 19:15

Hadrians Wall, looking north, when it starts to get dark. The darkness is a bit like a curtain coming down and there’s very little for miles around. You can really imagine the history of the place.

Opposite end of the scale - Feltham train station, accidentally ended up there and just felt like I shouldn’t be there until eventually a train pulled in.

70sShmeventies · 14/04/2025 19:17

Yes to Bath. I love history but something felt ‘off’, unreal and unfriendly.

blackheartsgirl · 14/04/2025 19:17

ClareBlue · 14/04/2025 18:03

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

Nah we have mountains 😂.
it was just the miles and miles and miles of flatness and the deep dykes either side of the road that freaked me out. It has its own beauty i will say that

anyway I’m just over the Welsh border, definitely not flat but we do have people and cars and buildings close to each other

NewsdeskJC · 14/04/2025 19:18

Portmerion. Wanted to go for years. Jeez.
Tunbridge Wells. Worked there briefly. Everyone was utterly obsessed with the 11 plus. Weird
Slough. Everytime I went there I got lost.

VivienneDelacroix · 14/04/2025 19:18

Melonmango70 · 14/04/2025 18:38

I live in Selsey! We moved from Chichester five years ago and I'm very glad we were here throughout Lockdown, that's for sure. It's beautiful here but feels quite isolated at times. We don't go out in Selsey (or anywhere much, anymore!) and it's quite an elderly population, and still very much a village at its heart. Probably a bit rough too as it's quite a poor area. That said, Chichester is no longer the "posh" city it once was, it's also pretty rough these days. The long and winding road on and off is a drag. I love it here but won't be here much longer, I get where you're coming from :-D

Show quote history

Chichester isn't rough, it just has a more mixed social demographic than it used to, but I wouldn't feel unsafe there at night - Bognor and Littlehampton definitely are though!

Becs258 · 14/04/2025 19:19

NewtPond · 14/04/2025 12:02

Milton Keynes. Nothing sinister, but I’m not originally from the UK had only lived in Oxford and London, and had never had any reason to go there until I was reviewing a play in preview before it transferred to the West End — I think I knew it was a new city, but wasn’t prepared for what that actually felt like, or that the Theatre District felt like an out of town retail park, with a theatre surrounded by branches of chains like TGI Friday and Zizi.

The first time I went, I came out of the station and really disconcerted by the wide, tree lined boulevards. It was like nowhere I’d been before. Ten years later I ended up moving there and love it.

Lonelycrab · 14/04/2025 19:20

Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Or Blaenau Ffestiniogogogogog as I like to call it.

Surrounded by some really gorgeous north Wales locations; Betws, Snowdon etc but it just feels incredibly stark and grim. Huge slate piles surround it and some eerie old power station thing too.

Apparently it’s a great place to get into a fight should you venture out for a drink on the godforsaken high street.

Jenkibubble · 14/04/2025 19:20

Oollliivviiaa · 14/04/2025 11:37

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.

Luton
Boston (lincs not US )

walkingnightmare · 14/04/2025 19:21

Bideshi · 14/04/2025 16:47

I was going say the Rollrights - they're on the border of Oxford and Warwicks in fact. Went there with my utterly rational sceptical cynical dad. it was late afternoon and we were the only people there. We just looked at each other and both felt we had to get out immediately. By the time we were approaching the car, we were running.
Hermitage Castle in the Borders is another.

Show quote history

I completely agree with Hermitage Castle - it's the only place I've had to rush out of - it felt like there was some kind of evil presence there. On the other hand, I love the Rollrights!

singlewhitetrashheap · 14/04/2025 19:23

Preston. It was so utterly drab and depressing.

Blackpool. It's shite.

Original poster
Oollliivviiaa · 14/04/2025 19:23

NessieDoesExist · 14/04/2025 14:46

'Weirded you out'

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

But as you ask- Stevenage😂

Have you near heard weirded out? It's a common phrase.
But if you prefer...
"Please tell me about any towns that have made you feel weird"
[Curtseys and backs out]

OP posts:
Icanhearabee · 14/04/2025 19:24

Luton. I went to the University of Luton in the late 90s (now part of the University of Bedfordshire) because I did badly in my A Levels so my choices of university were limited. I met some lovely people there but I didn’t feel safe there at all and used to break down in tears when my parents left after coming to visit me. It also had quite a depressing vibe about it. I will never forget how liberating it felt when I left there for the last time.

Streetsofgold · 14/04/2025 19:24

Holywell North Wales - like Liverpool's toothless brother. There was an air of constant menace about the place.

Purplebunnie · 14/04/2025 19:27

Lonelycrab · 14/04/2025 19:20

Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Or Blaenau Ffestiniogogogogog as I like to call it.

Surrounded by some really gorgeous north Wales locations; Betws, Snowdon etc but it just feels incredibly stark and grim. Huge slate piles surround it and some eerie old power station thing too.

Apparently it’s a great place to get into a fight should you venture out for a drink on the godforsaken high street.

Yeah got beaten up in the pub there. Hell will freeze over before I ever go back

Lonelycrab · 14/04/2025 19:28

Croydon has very dodgy vibes.

Apologies to anyone who lives there.

Half my family is originally from there and I’ve lived there for around a decade of my life unfortunately, it’s as bad as they say.

Coolasfeck · 14/04/2025 19:28

Chunks of Hertfordshire and Bucks. I really like Tring etc….but for some reason - Hertford, Aylesbury, even St Albans…There’s a whole section just outside the M25. It’s almost impossible to explain as nothing bad has happened to me, but they make me feel negative, depressed. I never want to go or stay.

Beeloux · 14/04/2025 19:28

Crazybaby123 · 14/04/2025 19:10

Byker, Byker, Byker ,Byker Grove, Yeah?
(Sorry, couldn't resist)

Show quote history

Hahaha, last time I went there, one shop was getting raided and a bunch of smackheads were piling on top of each other in the middle of the main road. Must have been around 11am. 🤣

blackheartsgirl · 14/04/2025 19:28

Icanhearabee · 14/04/2025 19:24

Luton. I went to the University of Luton in the late 90s (now part of the University of Bedfordshire) because I did badly in my A Levels so my choices of university were limited. I met some lovely people there but I didn’t feel safe there at all and used to break down in tears when my parents left after coming to visit me. It also had quite a depressing vibe about it. I will never forget how liberating it felt when I left there for the last time.

Omg I went to Luton uni too in the mid to late nineties and I had exactly the same experience. I never felt safe there and there were definitely no go areas for students.

I felt I had no choice to go there because I did
so badly at my A levels

left and never went back

Crazybaby123 · 14/04/2025 19:29

Beeloux · 14/04/2025 19:28

Hahaha, last time I went there, one shop was getting raided and a bunch of smackheads were piling on top of each other in the middle of the main road. Must have been around 11am. 🤣

Show quote history

Ive never been, and now I never will😂

WateryBottle · 14/04/2025 19:30

Welshpool. Felt like I’d stepped back in time and not in a good way.

Pigeon31 · 14/04/2025 19:30

MoanasTummy · 14/04/2025 19:15

Hebden Bridge.
It’s like W1A has been transplanted to West Yorkshire.

It's very pretty, and I laughed when I read your post but ... you're not wrong ...

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