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.

Right then, the Creature.

I've posted about it before, on the Goatman threads (2022!)

We had a very strange one once, near Stenying. Wooded road, driving along. About to turn right, into a different road. At the road junction ahead, we saw what looked like a person standing on the left. It was like a 2D cutout of black shadow. Thin and tall, with clear long legs and arms, but in proportion. We indicated to go right, and the thing crossed the road, with one leg reaching to the other side, elongating, then the body and other leg followed over. As we left the original road, we then couldn't see it on the right side of the original road, or on the left of our new road. It was sodding creepy, the way it moved, and that there was no detail to is, just a black cut out. We did wonder if it was trying to get onto the car, as when it crossed, we would have been driving right over it, if we hadn't left that road. Crossroads were often chosen as placed to bury those outside societal norms.

There was a tragedy on Slapton Sands during the war IIRC. A bad episode of friendly fire- American troops got confused and fired on soldiers storming the beach when it was actually an Allied exercise.

All of it! Went to a wedding in Munlochy in ‘88 and immediately thought NOPE, had a drive up to Cromarty to see what else was about and couldn’t shake it. Never ventured off the A9 ever since and always feel a relief when I’ve passed that bit. Maybe it’s the witches? Unlikely, as I grew up in another exceptionally witched (and persecuted) place. Or it could be their witches and mine have a bit of a history?

No, it wasn’t just the wrong day.
What was once a busy, thriving town is now a run-down hole. There are some beautiful areas of Birkenhead around the park and some stunning buildings, but the town centre is in a bad way.

St Ives in Cornwall but not in a bad way.

I had to walk through Old Market on my way to and from work years ago and I was always so relieved to get out of there.

Agree with Bodmin Moor and Savernake Forest despite being generally in favour of moors and forests. The Rollright Stones in Worcestershire make me feel a bit weird and Gloucester is downright awful.

Lands end in Cornwall didn’t weird me out in a bad way but I really felt it was such a mystical place. I can’t explain it . I just felt it and it made me quite emotional.

Where does it come up regularly? I have never seen the Savernake Forest mentioned. I'm genuinely interested. What context does it come up in?
Edited to say I've just now seen it mentioned in the post above mine (which I obviously hadn't read when I posted), but I think, even that is with reference to yours.

Buxton. Beautiful place but creepy af.

Totnes. It's meant to be a hippy, alternative town but I find it weird and unfriendly. All the hippies are actually extremely wealthy people in elasticated trousers.

Whenever I walk through the town I always get this sense that everyone around me will suddenly stop, slowly turn towards me, and then silently point at me, as if to alert the other locals that I'm not a member of the Totnes cult. Weird.

Another vote for Holy Island here. All my friends go on about it being a super-spiritual "thin place" and go on pilgrimages there, but I just can't wait to get off the place. There is a real sinister vibe to it.
Also Eyam village in Derbyshire - the place where they got Plague in the 17th century. The feeling of loss and sadness is overwhelming: almost as if the buildings have recorded the feelings of the people who lived there.

There are for me some places that (for me) feel as if you can sense other moments in time there - the Grand very much has that for me you walk in and I can feel other moments in time existing (not saying it makes sense)

other places it is because the history very much has shaped it - castles/forts/battlegrounds you expect it the couple of hotels I have been to that have it don’t

Thetford.

Completely agree. There's lots of 'stuff' there but it's all so utterly pointless and dead inside. It has no soul whatsoever.

Bath is weird! I thought it was only me, everyone seems to love the place. It's all that samey architecture I find a bit disconcerting.

Torquay, gives me the shivers remembering a day trip there one summer holiday. It was the summer holiday but the place was empty, desolate and dreadfully depressing. I will continue to avoid the place like it has the plague, as I wouldn't be surprised if it actually did!

I love Bellingham strangely enough!

Another view for Berwick upon Tweed and I'll add a few more:

Staithes
Ellesmere Port
Buxton (and Doveholes and Chapel - that whole stretch of road gives me the creeps)
Isle of Wight

Pointing out that North Berwick and Berwick on Tweed are two different towns - North Berwick is on the east coast of Scotland and is rather posh, compared to Berwick on Tweed which is on the east coast of England

The Breckland area of Norfolk, something really sinister about it that I couldn't put my finger on. It put me off the county for years but recently fell in love with the North coast, wish I’d discovered that years ago!
Also walking around Glasgow all day as a single woman as a couple of years ago was not fun - but it wasn’t the locals that were a problem if you catch my drift.

Yeah, it's got a strange vibe. I really don't like the Peak District (and I lived on the edge of it for years).
Also, Glencoe.

We once holidayed at Berriedale. It's a beautiful place, but yes, I don't think that unless they've travelled along the A9 that far north - and even further - that anyone from a populous place can really appreciate the sheer isolation of it. It felt like time had stood still to me.

Tavistock. Probably a ley-line thing.

There was a murder in Savernak forest a few years ago. A mother was told to strap her children back into the car ( they were having a picnic) then she was shot dead

Oh and Machynlleth in Wales. But there was an horrific tragedy there a few years ago with a little girl. I don't like getting out of the car there.

Wem. The town that time forgot.

Much Marcle. People stop and stare as though they've never seen a car before. Also the birthplace of Fred West.

Also pointing out that the county is Northumberland. Northumbria is the police force. 🙂