What's the scariest place you've ever been to?

Macarthur Park, LA, in broad daylight

My cousin and I visited an abandoned asylum in Virginia when we were about 17. We just sneaked in at night, and heard so many strange noises, it smelled horrid, and just a terrible, terrible vibe. I have clear memories of it.

[quote]What's the scariest place you've ever been to?

Me.

This old abandoned house in Alabama near the Mississippi state line. I don’t believe in the supernatural but this place just gave creepy vibes. I was actually more scared some idiot red neck was going to shoot me.

If we're talking energy/supernatural-wise, probably the old Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, MT. My mom grew up in Montana and I have a lot of family there. I grew up on the west coast, but have driven across that state countless times throughout my life. For some reason, when I was a kid, the prison was often a pit stop for us and an opportunity to stretch our legs for an hour. It is a sinister place with extremely bad vibes. As far as tourist attractions go, it is pretty lax and you can freely roam the property. Most of the buildings are open to stroll through.

There is a tower there that you can walk up into which was the focal point of a prison riot that occurred in the 1950s. Two of the prisoners leading the riot died at the top of the tower, one being murdered and the other committing suicide. When you're standing in there, it's a small and nondescript concrete room with a window, but it always unsettled me.

What's even worse though is the maximum security area in the basement of the main prison block, where there are solitary confinement cells that were reserved for the most violent offenders—just stone rooms, no light, pitch black, with hulking iron doors. Walking into those always made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. My brother and I would make a game out of it and dare each other to go inside and close the door to see who got freaked out more. Fucking awful, sickening energy. The women's cell block also has really bad vibes. I've toured it as an adult and still find it just as off-putting, if not more.

My friend’s boyfriend was a cop. We visited his apartment on a sunny afternoon. It was dark and smelled of sweat. He was snorting heroin and snapping at my friend, while making anti-gay comments to me. This guy had a gun with snot on his upper lip.

You'd think someone on heroin would be more laid back

The areas surrounding the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest are like an energy void.

Probably the NY subway at 3:00 a.m.

What was scary about it, R9?

Standing in front of a full length mirror.

[quote]R10 What was scary about it

It’s deserted and you’re trapped underground in a city that has a large criminal/insane population. And the trains are far apart at that hour.

Dachau.

Hell on earth, about ten miles from Munich.

A subway station at 3 AM. I saw a homeless person and a negro!

I had Never Been to Me.

I'd been to Nice and the Isle of Greece where I sipped champagne on a yacht but never there.

Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia. Once the largest psychiatric hospital in the world, now a ruin out of Shelley’s “Ozymandias.”

My bathroom.

I was there, R5, when I took my 2nd cross-country motorcycle trip in 2023. I stayed in the rickety two-story "motel" right across the street, which cost me (!) $140/night. Needless to say, I only stayed one night, and I was on the road the next morning.

I took pics of the prison, but it didn't seem scary at all to me. Of course, I never went in. Perhaps it's better sealed off now.

I had a layover in Karachi for a couple of hours (years ago). They provided buses to the terminal. When we arrived, there were soldiers with AK-47's lining the hallways. We turned around and went back to our plane to wait out the layover.

R9 is not a New Yorker, and has likely never been there. “Large criminal and homeless population” lol, spare me.

125th street and Lexington, Manhattan, East Harlem. I got off the wrong stop. Oops. Never the fuck again.

Upstate new york.

People weirdly defensive about the subway in NYC....excuse us for not wanting to be thrown on the tracks or set on fire or randomly stabbed or shot. Yes I know if you compare it to the total city population it's rare, but IT STILL HAPPENS and you read about it regularly. So people have a right to be scared, especially considering the lack of police around.

The stairway in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago where they kept what they called the "body slices."

NYC 1970s.

A titty bar.

[R9] is not a New Yorker, and has likely never been there. “Large criminal and homeless population” lol, spare me.

^ Thinks vague, cherry-picked, opportunistic “crime is down” proclamations mean no crime.

^ Thinks every corner of NYC in every hour is totally fine and would walk alone in any neighborhood at 3am.

17,965 felony assaults so far in 2025 72,000+ major 7 crimes in 2025 Rape up 21.6%

Datalounge.

Driving through rural small towns in some states - the really economically depressed ones - is just a stare into an abyss of misery that these people can't get out of.

Some states are better than others, but they are all over.

Maybe they're fine there? But I can't believe it's true - it's something they tell themselves because they have few options.

We often forget how hopeless our own lives could be in the US if you're not born in a place with some proximity to options and transportation. To me, it's scary to think about it. Some people are born to a life of misery and few options in the wealthiest country in the world.

I tripped and fell into Chrissy Metz's Snack Purse. I still have nightmares.

My husband's boudoir.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

[quote] Driving through rural small towns in some states - the really economically depressed ones - is just a stare into an abyss of misery that these people can't get out of.

Well, at least you can drive through those areas. Try driving through certain neighborhoods of our cities.

Last weekend in Chicago:

“ At least 34 people have been shot, five fatally, in shootings across Chicago so far this weekend, police said.”

And this weekend will be no different.

The gas chamber at Auschwitz

I had heard about the "body slices" when I was an undergrad in Chicago R24. I decided I didn't want to see them when I went to the museum. I figured they'd be an a gallery, and while I wasn't expecting a giant sign saying "Warning! Cross-Cut Cadavers!" I did think they'd be in some sort of Human Body Room and I could easily keep my distance.

No. They were on a between-floor landing in a random fucking stairwell. You had to walk right next to them. They weren't as terrible as I was expecting, and they were looking decidedly pickled and starting to shrivel. This was back in 83 - anyone know if they are still on exhibit?

R33 - I've lived in NYC and Chicago and other big cities and I've driven through many bad neighborhoods.

Yes, it's depressing - yes, there is blight - but there are buses and trains all over to take them out of it. There are advertisements for schools, colleges, arts, jobs on public transit.

There are programs for under-privileged kids and adults. The rural people have nothing - no perspective, no way to get out.

And you know as well as I do, that 95% of those shooting or murders in big cities are among gangs and people associated with gangs and criminal activity. Yes, there are people who get caught up in the stray bullets who are innocent - and it makes for a stressful environment for those who live there, without a question.

It's such bullshit when I hear people talk about Chicago and the shootings. That's like saying you have to be careful in West Hollywood because there were shootings in East LA or even San Bernardino.

But there are escape routes in these bad neighborhoods you can take on a daily basis or even to completely remove yourself from that environment in the future. No such luck in these rural areas.

[quote]NYC 1970s.

Bad neighborhood? The three years I spent there were part of the time of my life! I'm eternally grateful for my life in the Village and the UWS.

Last January, when I was in Panama City, I got off a bus in an area that was supposed to be a tourist attraction, with many places to buy gifts and souvenirs.

Boy, was I wrong!

I walked down a main street, where there were indeed plenty of shops, but they were full of knock-offs and other cheap stuff I never would have purchased.

But here's the thing: everyone was staring at me. And there were men following me at various points in my walk. Whenever one of them got too close to me, I ducked inside the closest store entrance and waited until he left.

I had heard of the bad neighborhoods in Panama, and knew I was supposed to stay out of them, but this was a tourist bus stop, and I never would have suspected that one of their stops would be so dangerous.

After realizing that the neighborhood wasn't going to get any better no matter how far I walked, I hustled my ass back to the bus stop and waited on the bench until the next bus came. There was a couple on the bench who'd also been on the tour bus who even looked Hispanic (unlike me -- I look 100% German), and they too were scared.

A bad neighborhood is a bad neighborhood no matter what country you're in, I guess.

I was biking in my city a few years and got turned around on the trail. I ended up biking through a homeless encampment and some of them came up to me as I was riding.

R8 I concur about the Bucharest Parliament and the surrounding area. Very dark, heavy energy. It made me dizzy and nauseous.

Upper East Side Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on East 79th Street. It's like a torture chamber for the elderly and the sick.

[quote] A subway station at 3 AM. I saw a homeless person and a negro!

I saw a man who danced with his wife!

[quote] Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia

I went there on a high school psychology class field trip back in 1969. This was when it was in full operation. 9000 patients housed on the campus and another 9000+ outpatients. We were encouraged to interact with patients one on one, at least the ones that were allowed freedom to walk the grounds. I came away thinking if you weren't crazy when you went in there, you surely were when you left (if you left).

Some of those buildings were beautiful. It's sad to think of them just left to rot.

A few years ago, I had to be in Kingston, Jamaica about 4 times one year. My host was a lovely lady, who told me - "when you walk to end of the drive, you can turn right and go see some beautiful shops, restaurants, etc. DO NOT turn left at the end - no matter what - do you understand?"

“I drive through rural small towns in some states - the really economically depressed ones - is just a stare into an abyss of misery that these people can't get out of.”

I used to feel bad for folks in those dried up rural towns, but try visiting or doing anything there (small tourist towns) and the resentment of outsiders is palpable. If you are a minority, double that. Regardless of how depressed an area is, there’s a contingency of people of various socioeconomic levels heavily invested in keeping things exactly as they are. Plus even people who do leave tend to gravitate back because they miss what they know.

And many of those small town residents are retirees who run out any industries that might support job growth or development because they want things to stay the way they are. The town where my grandmother lived in on I-5 only let in new stores and a couple of fast food places if they were on the other side of the highway. Meanwhile the town itself dried up.

This is the MAGA base, petty, resentful, xenophobic, and heavily practiced in keeping themselves mired down in their own misery.

I once got lost when I lived briefly in Knoxville and drove through a very bad white trash neighborhood called Vestal--it was like a nightmare.

[quote]r14 A subway station at 3 AM. I saw a homeless person and a negro!

More like a knife fight.

R45 - I don't disagree - but every poor or working class society around the world has shown those attributes. Dismissing progress, questioning or alienating people who want to get out (what makes you so special?), denigrating further education or speaking in a manner that is more socially acceptable. Stating that their community is a 'real' community that sticks together and has qualities that other places lack.

It's the crab in a bucket mentality - crabs trying to crawl out will get pulled back down in to the bucket by other crabs. Trying to go against the grain among those residents is extremely difficult.

But it makes it even more difficult when you don't see anything different. I truly believe there is inspiration and aspiration when you see people living nice lives, when you see art of any kind, when you see people living and enjoying themselves outside in cities.

Rural people get none of that - except maybe what they see on TV - and potentially on their spotty internet (if they even have high-speed internet). And that's where all these myths about crime and big cities continue to flourish - we've all heard it. People saying shit about big cities - and some of them have never even been there.

I’ve been to the scariest place I’ve ever been to, but I’ve never been to me.

The leaning tower of Pisa. Those well-worn, slippery, steep steps winding around with no hand rail and giant open-air windows... Yikes.

Brooklyn, IL at night.

Next to East St. Louis, yet worse.

Evelyn Couch: I can't even look at my own vagina! Ninny Threadgoode: Well I can't help you on that one honey.

Camden, NJ!

I've been to me, and it's not pretty.

Glasgow. After walking around for 15 minutes and feeling creeped out, we went to our nice hotel room, hunkered down, grabbed a bottle, and prayed for sunlight.

[quote] R20 not a New Yorker, and has likely never been there. “Large criminal and homeless population” lol, spare me.

I wrote “It’s deserted and you’re trapped underground in a city that has a large criminal/insane population.”

What’s wrong with not wanting to encounter criminal and/or insane people in the middle of the night?

The first time I went driving in the Santa Monica Mountains around Malibu. There were points where I was looking over a cliff and there was only room for one car.

Then I suggest you move to nowheresville. Bye.

[quote]R59 Then I suggest you move to nowheresville.

Um, after being in a subway car where a knife fight broke out it was easier to accept I just had to avoid the subway at 3:00 a.m.

Getting lost while driving with my partner in rural, inland Maine in October. It had been a beautiful drive with brilliant blue sky and Fall colors. The light was already getting low on the horizon by 2:00 in the afternoon and it felt dark and creepy. Thick woods, except for a run down shack where people lived here and there. It felt creepy. Some people stared at us in silence when we stopped for gas -- and a pack of cigarettes. I'm from California, but my partner is from Mass and it was he who was the most freaked out. GPS stopped working. No signal. It then hit me that this IS Stephen King Country. My partner was driving like a bat out of hell, on a narrow, windy road which made it worse. Whenvever I pleaded with him to slow down, he just said " 'Smaine". We were so relieved when we finally got to a major road headed South and near the coast. At the hotel bar, the bartender said that we looked like we've been through hell.

We retired to Northern CA. Whenever we're driving on rural windy roads and it gets dark due to thick Redwood groves (I grew up here and am very familiar with the area) we just say " 'Smaine". The worst that could happen would be that we'd be kidnapped by Bears and we're all out of Poppers.

Lottsford Vista Rd in Maryland. Ive told this story before on here but its been a while. one night my late husband,his brother and I decided to go explore an abandoned priest's retirement home ma giant sprawling Victorian pile. We had to park by a high school and cross this series of berms to get to it. Very scary but not too much so. We look around,see the cemetery and abandoned outbuildings then decide to make our way back to the car . As we were crossing I look back and at the edge of the woods I saw a shadow of what looked like a man. My husband was with me and his brother was ahead and all of a sudden, we clearly heard someone say my name . 3 times. Welp that inspired us to run like the wind!

Though I was unnerved I agreed to go to Lottsford Rd wich had a reputation of being haunted. Its a very scary road,sunk between hills and very sparsely populated . We get to one section and pull over. Its pitch black so my husband and i take a flashlight and start walking along. As we were walking he was shining the light randomly and at the top of this steep embankment the light lands on this creature. The best way I can describe it is it looked like the spidery creature at the top of the stairs in Poltergeist ! When the light hit it I grabbed my husbands arm and said "What in the fuck is that???" and I realized he was literally frozen in terror. Every fiber of my body screamed DANGER! RUN!

We were about 15-20 feet from the jeep and to this day I couldnt tell you how I did it but i somehow picked up a 6 ft,220 lb man and ran like the fucking wind ! His brother was at the jeep and I screamed "GO!GO!" as I threw my husband in the car. We peeled out and were so shaken up we couldnt speak for quite a few minutes. His brother later told me we were as white as sheets and he never saw anyone move as fast as i did ! I dont know what that was we saw,but I know this....it was pure evil . My husband refused to talk about any of it and I rarely have since. But I will tell you this,I never again toyed with anything occult oriented.

Downtown Detroit in the mid-80s, lost on the way to Tiger Stadium. Block after block of boarded up and burnt out storefronts with people screaming at each other on the sidewalks and using drugs out in the open. I went through a lot of red lights that day.

Years ago I had to go to a small town outside of Pittsburgh to get some legal documents signed. I flew in, rented a car and went to do my business. Driving back to the airport, I stopped at a cute shop to grab something for my kids. The saleswoman took one look at me and the name on my Amex card and told me to finish up and get back in my car and go, as some people in the town weren't so nice.

Northern Idaho.

I've spent most of my life in the Detroit area and worked in the city for years. There's nothing scary about it. Most of the crime happens in residential neighborhoods between people who know each other. I expect it's the same in most American cities.

Dawson's hole during the 50-load weekend.

[quote]Go back to flyoverstan. I’ve lived all over NYC since the early nineties (including neighborhoods that were considered “bad” back then like Hell’s Kitchen and East Village,) ridden the subway for three decades and have never once seen nor experienced any of the things you hysterics constantly harp on here about, and that’s including during the pandemic. But please do keep screaming about it, it keeps freaks like you from coming to the city, and that’s a major plus.

You're an idiot.

It's not all about YOU.

US cities are crime ridden. That is a FACT compared to the cities of every civilized country.

I lived in NYC from 1974 to '83. Most of that time in Hells Kitchen. I loved the city. I loved living there. I'd go back to living in Manhattan in a heartbeat if I could afford it now the way I could back then.

But none of that negates the fact that the city was terrifying in certain areas, certain places and at certain times of the day. I was assaulted 3 times while living there.

People SHOULD be screaming about the crime in US cities.

[quote]Most of the crime happens in residential neighborhoods between people who know each other.

I don't know about Detroit, but "At least 276 children aged 16 and younger have been shot in Chicago since the start of last year, according to data analyzed by CBS Chicago."

Ya think those children knew there killers?

^their

Florida.

r55 like r49?

r53 You seem filled with rage over a regular discussion. Any chance you're able to get outside for a bit today?

Terrifying? Really? That says more about you than it does about NYC.

Why don’t r71 or r72 even appear in the thread for me?

They shouldn’t appear in the thread for anyone. 🕺🏻

r74 You must be in snowflake mode?

Cabot Cove. At first glance, it seemed like a truly charming town and I met this lovely woman named Jessica. But when she started talking about local murder rate it freaked me out so much that I got into my car and left that very afternoon.

It replied to me again! So how does blocking work anyway? It can see my posts still? It should really work both ways.

I wonder if it’s a MAGAT or just a lonely shut-in of a bitter, toxic queen?

r77 Neither - well, maybe bitter queen, but certainly not magat.

Annnnyway, back on topic.... I do remember another scary place, but it was because I had gotten lost. I was driving in Eastern Oregon years ago, and ended up on a windy country road. I had lost cell service. I finally came upon a busted old house, and decided to just turn around. I pulled in the driveway and within seconds about 5 scary dogs came running out and a creepy shirtless man ripped open the front door. I hauled ass out of there.

R62, you saw the Blair Witch.

It’s still trying to communicate with me 😂

Trump’s America.

R68 is a stealth MAGA by the looks of his other posts.

CRIME! BLACKS! CHICAGO IS A HELLHOLE!

Sit down Grandpa and turn off Fox News.

[quote]I've lived in NYC and Chicago and other big cities and I've driven through many bad neighborhoods. Yes, it's depressing - yes, there is blight - but there are buses and trains all over to take them out of it. There are advertisements for schools, colleges, arts, jobs on public transit.

Yeah, shut up people...you got buses and trains all over to take you out of your misery! A gee...look at those advertisements!

[quote]There are programs for under-privileged kids and adults. The rural people have nothing - no perspective, no way to get out.

Ridiculous.

[quote]And you know as well as I do, that 95% of those shooting or murders in big cities are among gangs and people associated with gangs and criminal activity. Yes, there are people who get caught up in the stray bullets who are innocent - and it makes for a stressful environment for those who live there, without a question.

Ya think?

[quote]It's such bullshit when I hear people talk about Chicago and the shootings. That's like saying you have to be careful in West Hollywood because there were shootings in East LA or even San Bernardino.

Oh... I guess that makes the shootings in East LA...less lethal? Or less what exactly?

[quote]But there are escape routes in these bad neighborhoods you can take on a daily basis or even to completely remove yourself from that environment in the future. No such luck in these rural areas.

They don't even have cars!

R83, I assume big cities are scary places when you're born and have lived your whole life in some two-horse shithole in a square red state and the only people you've ever met are just like your Uncle Cletus and Aunt Lurleen.

R84 - you're just making a fool of yourself MAGA.

Like I said - turn off the Fox News and stop tracking the daily Chicago shootings you constantly post about on this board.

The back-highways of British Columbia. I'd consider BC one of the most beautiful places on earth. But its wilderness is so vast, so impenetrable and isolated, it's easy for something to go awry. No cell service. Hikers have gone missing for months only to have been discovered dead just 50 ft away from the trailhead. A beautiful but moody place.

[quote] is just a stare into an abyss of misery that these people can't get out of.”

Believe it or not if you asked 20 people who have lived in those towns their whole lives they'd tell you they'd rather live nowhere else. Many country folk love the simplicity of living in a tiny little place with no economic opportunity, because that keeps people out they don't want moving in.

Sudden white out conditions on certain Alpine ski slopes. Way above treeline.

A Weight Watchers meeting.

More creepy than scary. In 1971 I visited a friend who moved to NYC and he insisted on showing me the WTC under construction. They were already quite tall and I remember asking him what if there's a fire? He said that there would be a sprinkler system throughout the buildings. I said sprinklers sound too puny. That memory came back to me full force on 9/11.

Brimstone Hill Fortress, on Saint Kitts, is spectacularly situated but also suffused with the horror of slave labor.

I've never forgotten the feeling that something horrible happened there over many years.

The Cecil Hotel water tank!

[quote]Cabot Cove.

Or its British equivalent, Midsomer County.

Franklin, Indiana—just plain weird.

A cemetery in Savannah during one of those Ghost Tours. Our little group started out around 10:30 PM and the cemetery was deserted .Our tour guide was very good, obviously. No sleep that night.

Mar-a-Lago

Sweetie at R68, that was New York FORTY FUCKING YEARS AGO. It is NOT like that now and HASN’T BEEN LIKE THAT for DECADES. Like I said, just keep screaming about it so people like you don’t come. We don’t want you nor need you in the city. Stay in Palookaville where you belong.

R97 - you have NO idea. The horrors I've seen - up close.

It's my Nam, man. And I keep getting called back for tours of duty.

R68 is 100% a MAGA troll, R83. It is not from NY. I’ve seen its posts before and trolldar confirms. Ignored.

Not The scariest but the LA Metro is creepy as hell. The trains are empty. The Hollywood and Vine station has all this artwork commemorating the movie business and there was barely a soul in the place.

R45 speaks the truth.

I've driven on plenty of dark and spooky deserted East Texas roads. I was never in danger, but there is something eerie about being completely alone on empty highway.

Atlantic City off the Boardwalk

R103 - particularly if it's wooded - which East Texas is, I imagine.

R105 yes, but there are some country roads you just don't drive down at night.

[quote]Sweetie at [R68], that was New York FORTY FUCKING YEARS AGO. It is NOT like that now and HASN’T BEEN LIKE THAT for DECADES.

The one who is out of touch is you:

For the idiot at R98

"61% Worry About Being Crime Victim; Half Worry About Their Safety in Public Places"

Siena is the polling organization that collaborates with the NYTimes in their NYTimes/Siena poll.

Any casino. The slots area where people camp in Depends next to their service carts with the remains of lunch. Hour after hour.

Hey everybody, R68 lived in NY in 1974!!!!! He's an expert on everything new and current in the city.

It’s a long story, but friends and I once broke into Herb Baumeister’s house on a Christmas morning.

Quinnipiac University Poll:

"Crime tops the list as the most urgent issue facing New York City say voters of all political parties, races, genders, age groups, and boroughs, according to a Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters in New York City released today. Overall, 49 percent of voters say crime is the most urgent issue, followed by affordable housing (15 percent) and homelessness (12 percent). Of the ten issues voters could choose from, no other issue broke into double digits. - May 04, 2022

It should've been R68 instead of all of the talented AIDS victims who perished instead. It figures that Log Cabin cunt would survive instead.

You all reminded me of a time when my 1st husband and I were moving from Colorado to Florida (pre cell phones) and we got lost and ended up on some back rural highway in Oklahoma . We were getting very low on gas and I was beginning to worry as I didnt see a house ,building or another car for miles and miles. At one point we stopped the truck and got out and looked at the stars .They were so beautiful and so many of them ! We drive on and Im really sweating the gas needle when out of nowhere I see this gas station ! I couldnt believe it as there was no other building in sight . So we pull in and I notice there were several vehicles wich gladdened me as I hoped that meant they were open. I walked in to pay for some gas and it was like some movie. There were about a dozen men there and they all stopped talking and as one turned around and stared at me. Even the clerk ! I was unnerved to say the least but needs dictate . I go up,tell the clerk I need $50 in gas (he never once spoke to me) paid and scurried out . My husband pumped the gas and we left. I told him about the weirdness of the encounter and he started laughing ! I was mortally offended and asked him what was so funny . He said "Baby,what are you wearing? I looked at my outfit and started laughing too . My gay ass was wearing black and white striped satin shorts and a black satin tank ! No wonder they stared at me like I was an alien !

Gee R113....what are New Yorkers so afraid of?:

Manhattan Institute poll, February 13th, 2025

"55% of New Yorkers believe the city has become less safe since 2020, with only 16% stating that conditions have improved."

"A strong 70% support increasing the number of police officers, including 69% of Democrats and 72% of Hispanic voters."

"81% favor a stronger police presence in the subway system."

My mother’s closet.

In terms of atmospheric creepiness New Madrid MO and Old Shawnetown IL tied, the latter featured a pack of barking stray dogs surrounding my car and not letting me leave while drunks stumbled into an operating bar with a collapsed roof across the brick paved street. The former was just plain dirty looks and evil vibes from the people.

But in terms of actual danger, the time I was staying at a motel in Jasper Alabama and truckload of rednecks were outside at 2 in the morning describing how they were gonna kill the fag (they knew what my gay pride sticker on my car represented: this was a time when most Alabamans did not). I snuxk out ar BOUT 4:320 A.M. There was also the time my intoxicated date was driving me to a restaurant in New Orleans at a high rate of speed on a one and a half lane road with hazards everywhere. And the time after sodomy was decriminalized when a crazy evangelical followed me for miles, flashing her lights and waving a gun at me. That was just south of Dalton, Georgia. Probably others too if I could think of them.

The Trees Motel in Bishop, CA. Across 101 from Trees of Mystery.

The biggest mystery is how that creepy, axe-murderer hosting, meth-lab smelling hell hole is still in business.

The toilets have stories to tell.

Pawnee City Hall, 4th Floor

Jamaica outside the walls of the all inclusive I was at. Rented a car for the day and the hotel really tried to talk me out of it. Was driving around a curve when a guy with a mangled arm waved it and jumped out in front of the car. I swerved and almost ran off the road. I’m sure the intention was for me to crash so they could steal anything of value.

Trader Joe’s parking lot

R121 That’s actually a thing. They’re horrible everywhere.

I never knew that about TJ’s parking lots. But my experience bears this out. Why are they so consistently bad? Something about the earnest, liberal, reusable-bag-toting clientele?

The lots are small to match the store footprint. Google is my friend.

Church.

Gettysburg. You can still feel the trauma and pain

Bilbao, Vizcaya, the Basque region of Spain in 1983. Basque ETA terrorist activity had really ramped up in the preceding year and bombings became increasingly directed at civilians. They also became incredibly nonsensical: explosive devices were left in paper bags on streets and sidewalks. In one case, a small boy kicked a bag and lost limbs.

We visited family in the area, staying mostly in Cantabria to the west. Once you went over to Vizcaya, armored personnel carriers were a common presence, as were soldiers carrying automatic weapons on street corners everywhere. I was only 19 and didn't feel unsafe exactly, but it was eerie and people were on edge. The military presence was eye-opening and shocking to me I remember thinking to myself "thank goodness we don't have to live this way in U.S." Who knew that 42 years later... For no fucking reason but to feed the ego of the Worst American Who Has Ever Lived.

The TJ's in my neighborhood has been voted as having the worst parking lot in the city at least once by a local paper. There's an attendant assigned to direct traffic during the busiest hours.

Vacant house in Coral Gables, FL. Realtor wouldn’t even go into the house and told me where to find the key. The weirdest feeling came over me and I literally ran out of that house.

When I was a kid my mom’s car got stuck in the mud at night in Lodi, OH. It was just the three of us, mom, me and my older brother. We were on our way to a campground for the weekend. For those of you who don’t know, Lodi, OH is high Klan Country and this was about 1983, and we are black. So my poor mom was terrified and that scared my brother and. Two nice white guys in a pickup truck helped us out and that was that.

It’s a shame we are so scared of each other.

It’s crazy house places really have intense energies. Bad vibes. You don’t even have to be that sensitive to it. I went into a house for sale once with e realtor. It was day, but the place felt so heavy, so dark, you could feel it. It was unsettling and such a relief when I got out. You just had a feeling something dark happened there.

10050 Cielo Drive Los Angeles.

.....

Years ago, a friend and I were taking a train from Marseilles to Venice. At least that was our original plan. The train broke down (very hot August day) and we sat on the tracks for quite some time before another train came to push into the next town where we all disembarked. We were so behind schedule, we decided to get off the train in Genoa. We found a pensione very close to the railroad. It was clearly a palazzo that had fallen on very hard times and been converted. We had to share a room. There was a shower in the room which was running water - not a full-fledged stream but much more than a drip. I shut off the water. Soon an ungodly terrifying sound came roaring out of the drain, like a lion roaring in the room. Apparently the plumbing dated from the time of the original palazzo, and clearly the drain went straight down into the ancient sewers of Genoa - no traps or anything to be found in current plumbing. I had to turn the water back on to shup up the roar.

Then, wide-awake by now, I looked out the window. There, as casual as life, went a skeleton walking the streets. I'm not talking a thin person. I'm talking bones with no flesh. It was night time and dim, but I saw what i saw. I'm assuming in hindsight that it was some sort of time for a costume party, although it was August and not Carnival time and I was seeing a skeleton costume. Scared the shit out of me. Couldn't wait to leave the next morning.

[quote]The Trees Motel in Bishop, CA. Across 101 from Trees of Mystery.

The Trees of Mystery are in Klamath, CA. Bishop is on US 395 in the Owens Valley, hundreds of miles south of there.

I've told this story before on DL but many years ago, before GPS and Smartphones, a friend and I were returning a rental car to the Newark Airport and got lost in Newark, New Jersey at 11:00 at night. We drove around Newark for over an hour before we got to the airport. I've been in some bad neighborhoods in my life and never really got nervous, but that night in Newark I was truly scared that something was going to happen to us.

The Transbay terminal in San Francisco, 3am, 1988. I was this naive yokel from Flyover and ended-up there (long story). It was like descending into hell. Junkies in allies, homeless passed out and drooling, prostitutes, no Security in sight...

I'm certain every person I saw that night is dead now.

That sounds like the opening of a great comedy, r134.

The toilet sounds, then looking outside to see a skeleton strolling down the cobbled avenue.

Dark and funny. John Carpenter directing.

trump tower and its nearby subway station: portals to Hell. Seriously.

Gettysburg. I went there when I was 18 and it was the first time I felt a vibe that I found disconcerting.

Lots of people have said that about Gettysburg, that there's a bad energy in the air.

Abilene, TX is pretty scary.

"Many country folk love the simplicity of living in a tiny little place with no economic opportunity, because that keeps people out they don't want moving in."

They especially don't want anyone with money or other assets moving in, because it would force them to examine their miserable lives and why they enjoy their misery so much. Too much self-introspection might lead to extremely dangerous thoughts, like why they keep voting against their own best interests and voting for politicians who want to take away their already very meager health care benefits.

Not me but a younger cousin of mine rented an apartment in an old asylum that had been converted. She moved out when her lease was up. She said it always had a bad vibe even with newly painted walls, lighting and carpet. She'd run down the hall from the elevators as fast as she could to her apartment always feeling something would grab her.

When my mother retired she bought some acreage in East Texas. I can attest to some really creepy back roads, rutted and with a canopy of overgrown trees. Once while out exploring in the car we saw this little waifish looking girl with a dog just standing at the side of the road. She just solemnly stared at us going by. When I looked in the rear view mirror she was gone. It was creepy and unsettling as she just looked like a ghost but the reality is she probably lived in one of the creepy, tear down mobile homes back in the trees with meth head parents. Scary places, scary people back in those piney woods.

The back building/converted coach house of a youth hostel in New Orleans, back in 2000 I think. I was driving home from Florida and decided to stay there to save money. I ended up sitting through the night in a kitchen chair rather than listen to wind howl through the slats and bugs skitter around in the bunk room I'd been assigned.

What's the scariest place you've ever been to?

The windmills of my mind

When I was headed to the Biosphere in Oracle, Arizona. I got lost in that tiny town and decided I would pull up into a neighborhood and ask for directions.

Every hood in there was straight out of Deliverance. Every person there was giving me the backwoods evil eye and I thought I'd probably get killed so I just took off. It was scary as hell.

The scariest place can be working in a Pediatric ER. I was in healthcare for over 35 years.

The worst of the worst done to children.

I worked 12 hr nightshifts. And that night I was in ER. ERs are nothing like the Hollywood BS.

Six year old Boy. We could tell he had been starved. And beaten. The RN next to me said “are those bite marks”.? Yes. Bites all over his body. And then we looked at his bleeding hands. His fingernails had been removed AND his toe nails. You could see violently pulled out. The cop who brought him in said the Father had abused him.

There were four of us taking care of him and we all turned to the cop and said this is a Father who is a serial killer!!! We had a big muscular security guard that had to “literally” be restrained because he was going to kill the Father. WE WANTED to let him loose.

One of the worst child abuse I’ve seen and I’ve seen a lot.

A couple more stories. I was so tired I was likely o crash so I found an old motel with cottages on McKnight Rd in Pittsburgh. When I went in at 1 a.m. the clerk was almost naked sleeping on a couch behind the counter. He had one room left and gave me the keey. I went to the little cottage and found the door wouldln't lock so I pushed some furniture against it and went to bed. I woke up at 3 a.M because someone was trying to enter the room by pushing the furniture. I couldn't really see because the headlights from McKnight Rd made a strobe effect. I turned on the light and looked for something to use as a weapon. The person stopped trying the door but circled the cottage, shadow clearly visible, for the remaining hours of DARKNESS.

I was going from the Detroit Airport to Southfield. I took a cab. The driver I guess took me for someone unfamiliar because he went sailing past the Southfield Rd exit, the main drag between the airport and Southfield. I was incredulou, you're going 75 to the Lodge? Yes he was. I said that's absurd. I'm only paying XXX and he pulled the taxi over, now in s rough neighborhood in SW Detroit, and told me to get out he wasn't taking me another foot. So we had a standoff, because I wouldn't gert out, until we finally agreed on a price. But I thought he's gonna pull a gun and kill me and roll me out of the cab..

Mount Weather in Bluemont, VA. Equal parts paranoia and lasting vibrations from a tragedy long ago.

At first you pass a pedestrian bridge, festooned with security cameras. This is part of the big government bunker cut into the mountain. Go a little farther up and there’s a basalt ledge covered in graffiti and ringed with white wooden crosses. Dozens of people died there when a 727 bound for Dulles crashed in 1974. When I drove out to the site, it was late March. There wasn’t a breath of wind or a bird chirping. It was so eerily quiet it freaked me out.

Our teenage daughter's bedroom...