Creepy, odd places you have been

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

I have been dying for a good creepy thread for ages so thought I'd start one

Two stand out for me -

Doing the Dales Way with DH, we stopped one night in a tiny Dales hamlet. 2-3 houses, pub, church. That was it. Not much to do and it was a summer evening so we followed a public footpath through a kissing gate and went for a dip in a deep stream.

When we came back the same way about 30 mins later, someone had nailed 3 freshly dead voles to the gate.

Also, on holiday in France, staying in a rural villa, I went for a run early one morning. Ran past a back road signposted to a quaint sounding village. Decided to take a look. Down a narrow wooded road for a hundred yards, quite a dark road, then out into bright August 8am sunshine in a naice little village.

It was the vacances and the place was deserted, but it was just.... off. The cars were on the drives in most cases, but the shutters were all shut. No dog or cat, not even birdsong, just dead. There was a local noticeboard where the most recent notice was from the previous October. It was a lovely day but the whole place just felt dead. I tried to be brave for about 5 minutes and then cracked and fled, back down the dark road, with the strongest feeling that something was right behind me, just like when you're a kid going downstairs in a dark house and you daren't turn round to look back at the landing.

Anyone else have a creepy place story to share?

That photo is so weird. If it hasn't been fiddled with I can't explain it. The man with the beard looks very happy though!

When we were house hunting we viewed a few properties near Basingstoke that if I remember correctly were once a mental hospital and also had something to do with the Canadian air forces possibly war hospital? Not 100% sure on that last one. The houses we viewed were definitely the converted mental hospital ones, anyway I was looking in the master bedroom and the en suite made me feel so odd I ran out the entire building! It was like I had loads of people staring at me it was so scary!

I once did a weekend course at a local private school. We were the only people in the building but were continually interrupted by the door knob turning and the door opening and closing by itself, footsteps walking up and down the corridor and the toilets flushing themselves.

I also felt a presence looking over my shoulder.

Apparently it was a former school master which hated us being on his territory while I couldn't verify that, I have never experienced so much weirdness anywhere.

Waterstones in Manchester, the old one on St Anne's Square which has closed now as they moved into the new Arndale Centre. I was in there with DM, DF and DH.
I was browsing the shelves and a few feet away was a member of staff looking at a clipboard.
Not one else was nearby. A book just flew off the shelf next to me. It didn't fall it moved horizontally then fell down onto the floor. Myself and the staff member looked at each other. I smiled and jokingly said "it wasn't me, honestly"
Staff member replied "Oh don't worry I know that, it happens a lot in this corner."
I must have looked spooked
"it's just the resident ghost, he doesn't mean any harm"
Needless to say I moved away from that corner of the shop sharpish!

Flock, that’s hilarious. That old shop had a beautiful atmosphere about it.

Never seen or been anywhere creepy. I’m so jealous.

Iwasjust yes it was a lovely old shop, I loved that and Barton Arcade.
The revamped Arndale has no character at all.

And such a short walk to John Rylands Library. The loos there are definitely creepy.

Portland Bill, Dorset
Parts of Lundy Island

Solway House which is part of the old Crichton psychiatric complex in Dumfries. The complex is now part of the University of Glasgow and has fantastic, traditional Scottish architecture and a beautiful church at its' heart. I worked for a security company and used to patrol the complex at night and attend to alarm calls. I loved being there and never got creeped out except occasionally around Solway House. I used to dread getting alarm calls from that one building because I always had an overwhelming sense of being watched (I never had that in any of the other, equally old buildings.) During one alarm call there was the sound of banging coming from upstairs, almost like furniture being tipped over. My initial reaction wasn't of woo, I thought someone was still inside the building despite it being 3am. As soon as I went to check the rooms upstairs the banging stopped so I went downstairs to fill out my paperwork. As soon as I got downstairs the banging started up again so, once more I went to check and, again, as soon as I got upstairs the noise stopped. I checked every room, every door and every window....nothing. As I walked back downstairs I had this overwhelming sense of something behind me, something that didn't want me there. Once downstairs the noises started again. I finished my paperwork then went to the bottom of the stairs and shouted, "I haven't time for your nonsense. I'm leaving so knock yourself out."

This isn't 'creepy creepy' but definitely creeped me out.

I was in the south east of Ireland a few years back visiting the folks and we decided to take a drive through the local village one road over ( the folks live in the boonies)
Anyway, myself , dp and dd ( aged 3 at the time) were in our GB reg car that had come on the ferry with us and we were slowly driving through this very pretty hamlet( it had been years since I went through it)
I don't know the locals but as we drove through all eyes were literally following the car and watching us. I turned around to look at the situation as we passed and even people walking along the roads were looking backwards at the car. All the expressions were blank. My dp ( British) and myself to be honest, found the whole thing very unsettling and next time will not drive to rural south east Ireland in a GB registered vehicle. Still lots of issues twords the British in Ireland.

@Bea36 I hated Portland Bill, as did my very non woo husband. We couldn't wait to leave the whole place freaked us out.

So, despite patrolling former psychiatric hospitals and decomissioned WW2 RAF bases in my own in the middle of the night the only place I couldn't bear was HMS Victory. I went on a tour there when I was in the RAF and lasted five minutes before I just couldn't bear it any longer and walked off the ship. I absolutely love anything historical so it should have been right up my alley but I had an overwhelming sense of anxiety and dread and I just couldn't shake it off. I went to Dachau a few months later and I just felt dreadfully sad, but HMS Victory just gave me the fear

An old thread but saw that someone's dug it up so I'll follow.

A couple of years ago I was going to Hastings with a friend. We spotted a place called Pett Level on the way, the name intrigued us so we parked up.

We went to the seafront which felt quite eerie as the beach was deserted, November and cold. The tide was almost out and there were trees, trunks everywhere poking up above the sea, never seen anything like it. Apparently they were from the Ice Age when the sea was a lot lower.

We went into cafe/bar on the front, the only building we could see. Quite a few people in there although we'd not seen a soul on our walk. They all stopped talking when we went in and stared at us, didn't feel welcome. It all reminded me of Twin Peaks ! Creepy.

Quite glad to get back in the car and head for Hastings !

@MsMarshaKlein it's very claustrophobic on there, been on a few times

Yeehaw Junction, in Florida. Couldn't work out whether it was an odd tourist attraction, but think the town has stood for a good couple of hundred years. Has a very strange feeling. Was glad to leave after lunch in the local Inn and a look round the weird old brothel.

@butterpuffed

An old thread but saw that someone's dug it up so I'll follow.

A couple of years ago I was going to Hastings with a friend. We spotted a place called Pett Level on the way, the name intrigued us so we parked up.

We went to the seafront which felt quite eerie as the beach was deserted, November and cold. The tide was almost out and there were trees, trunks everywhere poking up above the sea, never seen anything like it. Apparently they were from the Ice Age when the sea was a lot lower.

We went into cafe/bar on the front, the only building we could see. Quite a few people in there although we'd not seen a soul on our walk. They all stopped talking when we went in and stared at us, didn't feel welcome. It all reminded me of Twin Peaks ! Creepy.

Quite glad to get back in the car and head for Hastings !

Have to reply to this as I know Pett Level and the surrounding areas well and we used to camp at a campsite in fields very near there in the 80s!

The beach is more popular in summer but even so sometimes it's not or wasn't busy. The trunks are a common sight. The nearest pub to the beach when we went in as a family we were begrudgingly allowed to use the 'snooker/family' room - this was back in the days when very few kids were allowed in pubs or even pub gardens.

I can vaguely recall the cafe/bar (the bar might be the same as the pub/bar I recall!) and if so, yes they generally make you feel unwelcome.

Funnily enough - certain parts of Hastings - especially old Town in summer - you can nip down certain back streets and up hidden stone staircases and it felt a bit off/otherworldly there sometimes - even though the beach front and arcades etc area and fishing area is always very busy.

I recall not far from Pett Level in Romney Marsh area my parents were viewing an old (very nice) farmhouse to buy - but again - it seemed a bit remote and I was quite pleased when they bought a seafront flat in St Leonards on Sea instead!

I just found this topic and I have always wanted to share this unsettling experience and find out if anybody else has experienced the same.
So about 8 years ago I, my exh and two daughters aged 15 and 16 visited Mammoth Lakes in USA.
It was the height of summer and we were staying in an old, run down ski resort with no other guests.
Our wooden chalet was dark and had such an awful, sinister feeling. I couldn't bare to go in our bedroom alone as the hairs on my arms would go up and I felt constantly watched by an evil presence.
I didn't mention anything to my family as I didn't want to scare my girls or my h to mock me. My daughters spent the few evenings we were there in the jacuzzi outside our. chalet and seemed to enjoy themselves.
It wasn't until we were leaving that one of my daughters mentioned seeing a dark figure staring into my bedroom when they were in the jacuzzi.Which disappeared when they tried to look more closely at it. My ex h ( very unwoo person) admitted that he hated the chalet and had felt too scared to sleep each night. He had felt that someone had been hurt or murdered there. He was so convinced of this he searched the internet for murders in Mammoth Lakes, but found nothing

New Lanark makes me feel uneasy and I have no idea why. Its a really beautiful and popular visitor attraction but I really don't like it.

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Ive been to a few (a lot) of abandoned asylums and hospitals as I photograph them.
Most unsettling was a mortuary in Glasgow, could still smell the antiseptic really strongly and just did.not.like.it. Felt very uneasy in there.
The other odd place was Birkwood in Lesmahagow. We were in there alone and it was a still day but there were doors banging down the end of one of the corridors as if being slammed. We got downstairs and were sitting and reading some of the patient reports which were all stuffed in binders behind a false plaster wall which someone had knocked through. When we left the room there was a really REALLY pungent smell of fresh cigar smoke in one part of the hallway. Both smelled it, and my friend asked me if I'd been having a crafty cigarette (no). The smell got stronger and as we were about to climb out of a window to leave, there was this really weird and virtually indescribable rush of something coming. Nothing visible, not like a breeze, just this wall of GET THE F OUT that felt almost like it was going to crush us if it hit. We both bailed out of the window at the same time into a heap the other side and didnt move for a few minutes as we were both well freaked out.
Took a scout round the exterior of the building and there was nobody else on the site to explain the cigar smoke. I have no idea what that exiting sensation was, never had it before dont want to feel it again.

Blackburn Royal infirmary, same friend and I were climbing through a window and looked into the room to see a man walking from right to left past us. My friend said "oh hi sorry" and assumed it was another photographer. Once we had both climbed in and got upright, the guy wasn't there, and the direction in which he was headed was just a wall, no way through. Equally there was a load of glass plaster and debris on the floor, he should've been crunching it underfoot but it was a silent image. Weird weird, but didnt feel unnerving in any way. We just carried on.

Verv
What a gloriously creepy post! And a fascinating hobby.
Had other people reported ghostly events at these places too ?

I once (many years ago) became friendly with a couple who were spiritualists and went to a number of their meetings. There were no payments of any kind involved so there would not have been any point in their scamming people. We sat cheek by jowl in a tiny room where the temperature dropped very suddenly when the seance began. It could not be explained by simply turning the heating off. Without describing in detail what happened there were "messages" from the other side and things happened that I cannot explain by any rational means.

I did not become a believer - I prefer to keep an open mind on things like ghosts, psychic phenomena etc.

@millypeggyandpandora

Verv What a gloriously creepy post! And a fascinating hobby. Had other people reported ghostly events at these places too ?

I found out later when Birkwood "collapsed" (thought to be an insurance job) that it was said to be haunted and others had experienced the cigar smoke smell. Ive not read or heard anything about BRI. The morgue that I mentioned is about 2/3 way down this page, quite unimaginatively titled "morgue" www.flickr.com/photos/120082695@N07/

The Birkwood photos are mixed into my photo stream but here's the fateful hallway and a ward photo.

Verv
What beautiful and unsettling photos ... particularly "pramvista" Thank you for sharing !