Some places just feel off. It’s a feeling that is hard to describe until one actually experiences it. The one that gives the heebie-jeebies and makes it impossible to shake off the suspicion that something is wrong.

America seems to be particularly full of such locations because when redditor _Persona-Non-Grata asked netizens what are some mysterious, cult-like, bad-vibes towns across the USA, more than 7K of them shared the most creepy sites that have left a lasting impression on them.

If walking through the local cemetery no longer fazes you, then you may want to check these small towns straight from a horror movie below. Who knows, perhaps they’ll inspire you to take a spooky road trip and see them for yourself.

#1

Seabrook, WA. It is idyllic. Perfectly idyllic. Too much so. Strong Stepford Wives vibes. I read somewhere that it was inspired by the town in The Truman Show.

checkitbec:

My niece got married in Seabrook. I just kept thinking, this is where serial killers live. So damn creepy.

Image credits: lotsalotsacoffee

#2

Moscow, Idaho has an actual cult with thousands of followers. Their leader, a self-ordained pastor, has publicly stated he wants to take over the town and turn it into a theocracy. They are deeply misogynist (marital r*pe isn’t possible) and have a history of sexual abuse within their group (the leader defended a student of their “college” who raped his host family’s daughter, excommunicated the daughter, and then presided over the r*pist’s wedding). Their members keep running for local office and failing, but they are buying up all the property in town and moving in people from all over the country to attend their private school, theology “college” and church. Moscow also happens to be the town where the 4 University of Idaho students were murdered in 2022.

Image credits: Dessert_Hater

#3

Colorado City, AZ – Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints stronghold. Lots of inbreeding.

pigeontakeover:

I’ve driven by there dozens of times to get to Vegas from Colorado. It’s such an eerie and scary drive. 

Image credits: thebadhedgehog5

America’s history is rich with tales guaranteed to send shivers down your spine. Some of its towns and cities have a connection to the eerie and supernatural like Massachusetts, Louisiana, and New Orleans which are known for their witch trials and voodoo subculture (religion connected to nature, spirits, and ancestors).

They are rich in significant and spooky events from the past, but can these places hold onto the negative energy that makes us feel the heebie-jeebies or is it just a figment of our imagination?

It turns out that our surroundings may not be as neutral as we might think, explaining the goosebumps and tightness in the chest one may experience in abandoned homes, towns, or sites where violence or hauntings took place.

#4

I can’t explain it but Ithaca, NY gives off old money, we-are-very-nice-and-well-educated-progressives-who-happen-to-hold-a-yearly-lottery-to-see-who-gets-sacrificed-to-appease-the-ancient-one vibes.

Image credits: mister_sleepy

#5

Centralia, PA is still on fire though they ruined the graffiti highway. I don’t know if anybody still lives there today, when I went last there were a handful of hangers on.

 CurrentTadpole302:

I believe it has a population of 4 currently.

Unusual-Dentist-898:

The town is quite literally built on top of the equivalent of hell.

Image credits: faceeatingleopard

#6

Ocean Grove, NJ. They call it “God’s square mile on the Jersey Shore” so at least you know it’s culty going in. Lovely old houses with the creepiest Stepford vibe I’ve ever encountered. They close the beach on Sunday mornings and actually enforce it, or try to. The whole town was founded as some Christian camp and to this day there are tents that families use as their summer homes. I think they’re owned by the church but the right to rent them is passed down from generation to generation.

I live across the lake in Asbury Park, which is known for having a raging case of the gay. There are footbridges over the lake connecting the two towns but Ocean Grove put gates on their side that they lock at night to keep us deviants out. You can still get from one side to the other but you have to either walk along the boardwalk or go all the way out to the main road.

Image credits: everylastlight

There are three main theories to explain this phenomenon and the first one is the emotional residue theory. According to it, emotions have the potential to infect the physical environment even when its source is no longer there.

Several psychological studies have found that the human nervous system can pick up on chemical signals left by sweat and tears. For example, a Dutch study in 2012 found that women who smelled sweat from men who felt fear or disgust reported sensing these emotions.

#7

Gallup, NM. Drove through on Rte 66 from L.A. to Chicago and stopped for gas for 5 minutes and almost got robbed. Gallup on through if going that route and get gas before or after. Creepy vibes pulling in. Later found out it has one of the highest per capita crime rates in the country.

Image credits: average_dudereino

#8

i had a panic attack in a hotel in Barstow, CA because every ‘human’ I interacted with was so unsettling and erie I was convinced my organs were going to be harvested.

I went to mcdonald’s before getting a hotel. In the drive thru, there was a homeless man standing directly in front of the menu just staring at us. thought he was going to ask for money, he didn’t. just stood 3 feet from us and stared.

i asked the mcdonald’s employee which town we were in, as i had been driving all day. She said “You’re in Barstow CA, the crackiest of the crackiest! Enjoy!” That was the most normal interaction i had there. The employee at the second window looked completely -empty- i mean nothing was in his head. Employees behind him also just looked so uncanny and off. I didn’t eat the food. I didn’t trust it.

Hotel check in was awful, same just weird uncanny blank stares and a couple of words.

I went to the bathroom once i got in my hotel, i went to wash my hands and the water was RED. I smelled my hands and it just smelled like the strongest odor of pennies and ammonia. I turned on the shower, same color, whole bathroom engulfs in the awful smell. Ran out to my car and used an entire bottle of hand sanitizer just to try to get the smell out. it didn’t.

Went back to my hotel and had a panic attack.

Image credits: shadow_wolfxvx

#9

Vidor, Texas. A well known sundown town. My step-mom (half black, half mexican, but looks black) and my dad made the mistake of stopping there in the evening for gas. Went in to use the bathroom, and as soon as they walked in, the guy at the register slammed a shotgun on the counter and told them to get out in not nice terms. The whole town is that way.

Image credits: Pitiful_Nobody_Poo

Another theory is the “geopathic stress” which proposes that Earth emits energy that can cause poor health in humans. Supposedly, geological faults, mineral deposits, and underground waters are points where certain energy vibrations erupt from the ground.

Advocates of this theory say that people should avoid spending too much time near them or they might suffer from fatigue, headaches, insomnia, and overall negative feelings. Hence the uneasiness people may feel when visiting these eerie sites.

#10

Powers, Oregon. Stopped in the diner for coffee once on a drive thru. I s**t you not, like straight out of a movie, the other patrons just turned and quietly stared, not touching their own plates, until we left.

Image credits: SkylieBunnyGirl

#11

Man this was years ago, but it was around 1998 or 1999, when I was 9. my family drove us to Mount Rushmore from Denver.
We stopped off the highway in a random Wyoming town with a population of just over 100. We had a choice between two restaurants and entered one.

Straight from a horror movie, when we walked in, the entire restaurant, packed with most of the town, fell silent. We ate and everyone was staring at us. My sister and I believed they were going to murder us.

We left and it turns out our parents also thought we were going to be murdered.

Image credits: Starbucks__Lovers

#12

Clearwater, Florida

I had known it was the HQ for Scientology, but had never been there.

Last month, I was visiting family in Florida and my best friend lives a few towns over from Clearwater.  He took me to a place that entailed driving through downtown Clearwater. It is impossible not to notice that every building had brand new paint, all the shops looked sparking clean, and there was not a soul to be seen.

All the neighboring towns had hundreds of people milling about, but Clearwater looked like a ghost town.  It looked like the set of a Twilight Zone episode.

Image credits: PirateJohn75

But despite the two theories, our expectations and associations could be even more powerful. If we anticipate feeling a certain way (happy or sad), that can influence our perceptions. So the old and empty house across the street might not be haunted, even if it makes you uneasy when you’re near it. It could just mean that you’re from a neighborhood with few neglected buildings and tend to link them with negative connotations.

#13

Cairo, IL is creepy af. At one time it was a very important commercial center because of its river location. Now it’s practically deserted and has really creepy energy. You can still see glimpses of how it might have been bustling and charming back in the day.

Image credits: jendickinson

#14

Collinsville, OK, has a diner named Karen’s Country Corner (formerly Kountry Korner) where the local chapter meets or used to meet every week. Used to have racist signs on the edge of town. One the most racist places I’ve ever had the misfortune of finding myself.

Image credits: blackforestham3789

#15

I am probably misunderstanding the assignment but Tonopah, Nevada. The Clown Motel, located next to the Tonopah Cemetery, is a popular place to stay because of all the reports of being haunted by “ghost clowns” and miners who were killed in the 1911 Belmont Mine Fire.

MollyKnope:
 
This is exactly what I thought of when I read the question.

We did a roadtrip from Reno to Las Vegas and stayed a night in Tonopah at the Clown Motel. We stopped at a bar to try to eat dinner and as soon as we walked in, the place went quiet and everyone just stared at us. They didn’t serve food, so we left, but we both thought it was a very odd thing. I’ve never felt so uncomfortable walking into a public place in my life.

We did stay in the “It Suite” with no issues, but we won’t ever be doing that again.

Image credits: F*ck_You_Downvote

#16

Lynden, Washington. A HIGHLY Christian town comprised of mostly Dutch families.

No liquor stores. No weed stores. Illegal to mow your yard on Sundays. I’ve lived maybe 10 minutes away from it for about 20 years now and only go out there for the fair.

Image credits: RankedAverage

#17

Another Florida candidate: Cassadega, an old Spiritualist community and now “the psychic capital of the world,” full of supposed mediums, clairvoyants, and other metaphysically-gifted types. I haven’t been there in a long time, but my parents used to live in nearby DeLand, so I used to visit occasionally. Pretty little town with a lot of yard signs advertising psychic readings.

Image credits: suzycreamcheese260

#18

Severy, Kansas. I grew up there. It was basically a ghost town then. 30 yrs later it looks like something out of a horror film. All of the houses are half falling apart. The school closed down and someone lives in it now. The lot where the hardware store burned down in like 97/98 is still vacant. The only grocery store that was in town closed. Both the small gas station/mechanic place and the truck stop just on the edge of the town all closed. The only thing open besides the government places like the post office, fire station and town hall is the junk yard. The co-op and maybe the bar. Other than that everything is closed. The whole “town” covers just one maybe 2 of were being generous square miles. The rest is all farmland. The entire town reaks of decay.

Image credits: Ipatches89

#19

Let me introduce you to the Flathead Valley in Montana. Have you ever played or know the game FarCry 5? Set in a “fictional” Montana town where a religious cult takes over?

Well! Fresh Life Church owns half of the town of Kalispell Montana, and their pastor, Levi Lusko, is treated like the ***actually resurrected Christ*** instead of the pastor of a church. Then, down the road in a place called Lakeside, there is a Christian ~~slave camp~~ mission group called Youth With A Mission, or YWAM, pronounced why wham. This group gets Christian youths (shocker) and makes them work there for several years.

They perpetually brain wash these kids with things like literal multi hour long prayer sessions, give them ***literally zero work or life experience*** and don’t pay them. They are making generations of people who cannot think for themselves, can’t go work anywhere else, and depend on the organization for food and lodging.

There are people in their ***thirties*** who ***literally*** can’t get jobs anywhere else. These people have kids of their own! They can’t support the kids…the church does.

It’s only a matter of time until FarCry 5 is just literal reality in that valley.

Image credits: KhaosElement

#20

Lumberton NC is so weird David lynch used it for a movie setting.  I get similar vibes off State College PA, where the University is the ultimate power and final say.  Cult of Paterno?

Image credits: yallknowme19

#21

New Town Saint Charles Missouri. It looks like a Truman Show set. It’s in the middle of a plane, surrounded by farmland. Imagine A UFO sliced and scooped a piece of a town up and dropped it somewhere. The edges of town just.. stop. The roads and sidewalks just stop at the edge. The “main street” has shops with living space above them. There’s only a one lane road in and one lane road out of the town.

Image credits: Stalvos

#22

Opp, Alabama.

This town is well-known for closing all local federal buildings (besides schools, this includes libraries, banks, courts, etc) and local businesses on Wednesday. This town was popular during the slavery era as it has a train that runs through it. Each Wednesday, the city square would be packed with visitors and locals to buy slaves. To give “honor” to the tradition, the city still closes and shuts everything down on Wednesdays.

I should mention that I haven’t lived there since 2014.

Image credits: CailousCancer

#23

Island Pond, Vermont. It’s home to one of the Twelve Tribes communities. Twelve Tribes is a fundamentalist Christian cult known for its misogyny, racism, child abuse, and workplace exploitation. They operate the Yellow Deli restaurants.

Image credits: cwthree

#24

Skidmore, Missouri.

kenan__rockmore:

Hands down the most DEPRESSING town I have ever driven through. There’s this feeling you just can’t shake while you’re there.

Image credits: CrispeeSock

#25

Let me tell you about a little town you may not have heard of – Rexburg, Idaho. It’s a small town of almost 40,000 people (it has actually doubled in size the last 20 years). It is estimated that 95% of residents are Mormon. The town has a Mormon university there called BYU-Idaho which is basically the little brother to BYU Utah.

And you think BYU Utah might be strict for Mormons? BYU-Idaho is even more strict. Some people call it the Saudi Arabia of Mormonism. You’re not allowed to wear shorts, capris, flip-flops and men can’t have beards. There are stories of men being sent home from class for 5 o’clock shadows that are too long. And of course all the other Mormon stuff applies – no coffee, tea, alcohol, caffeinated beverages of any kind, strict early curfews, no opposite sex people in your dorm/apartment etc. Heavy Mormon indoctrination throughout all aspects of life.

Think you’ll find any diversity in Rexburg Idaho? Nope try again. The place is almost all white – the Mormon church is historically incredibly racist and didn’t allow blacks to hold their priesthood until 1978.

Oh, and have you followed any of the Chad and Lori Daybell stuff – the wackos that chopped up and burned their 2 children? Yep, they’re Mormon and lived in Rexburg, getting most of their crazy ideas from doomsday Mormon thinking.

If you want a little trip into the twilight zone you should check out Rexburg Idaho at some point.

Image credits: Dreadful_Pear

#26

Mora, NM is pretty damn scary to outsiders. Lots of rural mountain towns that are isolated from tourists can be strange. I’ve spent alot of time in WV and Arkansas but rural NM is probably the most hostile place to outsiders I have been.

Image credits: Marcoyolo69

#27

Sandpoint, Idaho. Went there with my Phillipino brother in law. They thought we were Mexican and you could just feel the creepy “we don’t want you here” vibe.

Image credits: Firree

#28

Crestone, Colorado.

It’s easily the most bizarre place I’ve been to in the US. Lots of shoe-less hippies, “spiritualists”, cult members/followers, and the like. Just a weird vibe all over. Some of the people are nice, there are some good artists there, but there’s also a main square/park where you’ll almost always see these desperate, strung out people with an overloaded Geo Prizm just sitting in the park like “well I’m here, what next?” Realizing they just drove across the country with $2 and a dream of getting high every day and chanting only to find a still expensive Colorado weirdo town of barely a couple hundred people, nowhere for them to live, and no jobs to be found. There’s a weird, tents only “neighborhood” there that’s really something to see. There’s also an alien landing site nearby, or at least that’s what it claims to be.

Image credits: BrandonLouis527

#29

Stopped at a bar in Elko, Nevada on a road trip. Seemed like a fun place from the outside. Some woman walks up to us and goes “Hi! I’m so&so…. What are you doing here? You’re not from around here….” Got lots of stares. Went to a casino across the street to escape. Casino was completely empty, but lit up. Almost post-Apocalyptic except for one janitor. We noped the hell out of there fast. Felt like something really bad was going to happen. We decided not to find a local hotel and bounced. This was 2010.

#30

Amboy, California.

Was a route 66 boomtown, with a railroad stop. When I-40 was opened, bypassing Amboy it withered and died. Only it didn’t give up the ghost. There are some famous murders that occurred in town (If you can call it a town, it’s only three buildings at a crossroad). Legend has it that Charles Manson and the Manson family would frequent the diner in the 1960s as it was the closest part of civilization to their nasty little hippie commune. Last time I was there was about 25 years ago, driving through. There’s not a lot of traffic that drives through obviously, but there are people that live there and as God is my witness, every time Ive driven through, those people are outside in the scorching Mojave heat of the day staring you down as you drive past.

Image credits: Resident_Job3506

#31

Morenci, Arizona.. company town, all houses owned by mine owner. If decades old memory is accurate they also own all the stores, basically everything. 

#32

I’ve been through a few towns in eastern Ohio and western PA where I’ve seen an uncomfortably large number of lawn signs that’s just block text of a weird bible verse, not the ‘jesus loves you’ kind but the ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’ kind. By the seventh or eighth of them, I’m looking for the welcoming green of an interstate sign.

Image credits: Oatybar

#33

Breezewood PA. I got stranded there once after wrecking the family car on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

It’s the town from the meme about how awful American urban planning is… basically just a series of stroads and strip malls.

I went into the hotel bar where we were staying the first night and this shirtless redneck was so drunk he could barely stand. He had his trashed wife and two crying kids there with him. Some truckers at the bar were talking about where to score meth. I walked up to the bar’s jukebox out of curiosity and the shirtless redneck threatened to kick my face in if I played any nonwhite music. Except he used more offensive language.

#34

Honestly… It’s not the mysterious ones that are trouble. It’s the ones who wear exactly what they are on their sleeve.

I used to live in a town (Deep South, yay) where I was told before moving that it was “a bit of a racist town”. That was the understatement of the century. There were flyers up all over town advertising the KKK and their family friendly activities (!), and signs up everywhere where they’d flat-out just sponsored every stretch of road they could.

Every time I saw a POC in that town I worried for them. Some of the a******s would literally glare anyone who wasn’t white out of the room, no matter where they were.

So glad I got out of that place.

#35

Hoquiam, WA kind of creeped me out..

NotAnotherFriday:
 
I came here to find this! In 2013 my wife and I did a road trip to the coast from Seattle. We stopped in the Hoquiam/Aberdeen area, and it immediately set off both of our creep sensors. The thing is, we both didn’t tell each other until we were through the town. As we pulled out of the area, the heaviness lifted and everything felt normal again. For the longest time we couldn’t remember what the name of the towns were.

#36

Elmore City, OK. It’s the town that Footloose is based in. If feels like you’re stepping back into the 1950s when you go into the town. In every aspect if you know what I mean. There’s been rumors for years that there is a huge KKK group there.

#37

I’m convinced that despite having been there and eating at the diner there Whatley Massachusetts does not exist and was brought into this plain of existence during a Steven King coke binge some time in the 90’s. It’s super surreal and I can’t explain why or how.

#38

Redding, CA and the Bethel Supernatural Ministry Cult. Redding is situated at the northern most point of the Sacramento Valley in NorCal. For the past 20~ years, the Bethel Mega Church (11,000+ as regular attending members) has slowly taken over the town with their vast amount of money and influence. They control most seats in local government, own the only convention center/entertainment venue in the county, taken control over most large city-wide events through the McConnell Foundation, bought up most of the city’s single room/studio housing to house international members, and contribute almost nothing to the city outside their interests of bringing about the eventual resurrection of Jesus and a fully Christian-led country. This mega “church” claims to grow back fingers, have angel feathers and angel dust appear from thin air to rain down on the congregants, focuses on creating musical media for recruitment (huge part of the Christian music apparatus in America), bring babies back to life, and run their Bethel School of *Supernatural Ministry* as if it was a legitimate college. Just some of the weird s**t: **-Grave soaking** (“…the school garnered criticism for a practice among some students termed “grave soaking” or “grave sucking”, where they would lie on the graves of deceased revivalists in the belief that they would absorb the deceased’s anointing from God.”) **-Prayer for resurrection** (“Bethel Church gained national press coverage in December 2019 over a campaign to pray for the resurrection of a worship leader’s deceased two-year-old daughter. The mother, Kalley Heiligenthal, a recording artist with Bethel Music and worship leader at the church, posted to Instagram asking for her large social media following to pray that her daughter Olive Alayne would be raised from the dead. This spawned a global hashtag with thousands of posts.”) **-CHANGED Movement** (“The CHANGED Movement was started by Bethel pastors Elizabeth Woning and Ken Williams in 2019 for people who “once identified as LGBTQ+ and through encounters with the love of Jesus, have experienced His freedom in their lives” and is led by the Equipped to Love ministry at Bethel. Both Woning and Williams used to identify as homosexual. Woning claims she changed after 18 months when “the Lord was able to displace my sense of belonging as a lesbian with my sense of belonging as a daughter of God”. Williams credits his change to undergoing five years of weekly therapy which he claims resolved his same-sex attraction as well as addiction to masturbation and pornography.”) -**Lay on hands** (They send out young members (16-20~) to ask strangers if they can lay hands on them in prayer to heal them. This isn’t little boo-boos either. My own wife is in a wheel chair, and the amount of times they’ve offered than been astonished that she didn’t leap from the chair is astounding.) Examples: 1. “2008 lawsuit over attempted faith healing: In 2008, a man fell down a 200-foot (61 m) cliff in Redding after drinking with a group at the top. The two others that were with him, including one student at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, believed he was dead and tried to find him for six hours in order to raise him back to life, rather than calling 9-1-1. The man survived, but was paralyzed from the fall, and later unsuccessfully sued the student in the group.[44] The incident is often brought up as a criticism of the church’s teachings, which includes that believers may raise people from the dead with prayer.” 2. “Student activities in Redding As a part of the student’s education, they get assignments, such as to find strangers in Redding to heal. News articles report that students seek out people in wheelchairs and crutches to pray for in grocery stores and parking lots. Reportedly, the students are banned from prophesying to tourists around the Sundial Bridge after incidents and they have similarly been kicked out of local stores. Another regular practice is “treasure hunts”, where they believe God gives them clues that match people they are to find and attempt to heal or prophesy to.” — There is so much more that goes into all this, including being complete sh**s during COVID, but reading the wiki along with some other articles shows just how far the spread their influence through back-door dealings and inserting themselves into local politics and the police department. The only funny thing about it all is that the Qanon/MAGA people and the Bethel people have been at each other’s throats the past couple years in trying to be the main power in the city/county. Between recalls, dubious dimissals of city council members, and naming themselves as mayor or city council, the two extremist groups have done nothing but make Redding an even worse s**t hole than it ever was before by competing for who can be the f*****g worst.

#39

Colorado City, Arizona. It’s the home of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the polygamist cult offshoot of the Mormons. They literally control everything in the town, including the law enforcement.

#40

West Memphis, AR. My husband and I stopped there to eat and fuel up on a trip. The restaurant we went into was busy, and everyone glared at us the whole time we were eating. The crowd at the gas station wasn’t as obvious about it, but it was clear we weren’t welcome. This was early 2000s. I hadn’t heard of the West Memphis Three at that point, and years later when I saw the documentary I realized that was the weird town in Arkansas!

#41

Coalwood, West Virginia. I took a pilgrimage out there in 2016 because I absolutely adore the October Sky trilogy of books and, uh, it’s fallen on hard times. Buildings in disrepair, no one in the streets, and people sticking their heads out the doors of their house to stare creepily at me as I drove past. There were some weird altar things on some of the old rocket launch sites, too. Gave me the heebies. I’ll never go back!

West Virginia in general is just a really weird, creepy state, but Coalwood is the epicenter of it all. It’s really too bad.

#42

My city next door to my hometown: Clearwater. It is just infected with Scientologists. SOO creepy.

#43

Years before the Twilight books came out there were rumors of a vampire cult in the area around Forks, WA. Not actual vampires, just a group of people who thought they were vampires. A buddy of mine actually met a guy claiming to be a part of the cult one time at a bar in Moclips. The guy explained his whole religion about being descended from Lilith and not cursed with Original Sin like the children of Eve. It was a wild story.

frankalope:

Grew up near Seattle and was always warned about satan worshipers in Forks. I’m sure the baby sacrifice was embellished but it was a known area in the region.

#44

Taos, New Mexico. 

Went there for a long weekend because we heard it was artsy, fun and charming with great Southwest style. 

The main plaza and virtually abandoned, there were missing persons signs everywhere and countless, and I mean countless storage facilities on the outskirts of town.

We were so bored we decided to Zillow nearby mansions or expensive homes to find a ritzy neighborhood to go for a walk it and marvel at the homes. Came to find out those home didnt exist, the photos were fake and the house listings were bait to lure people out to the backwoods of town. 

10/10 would not go back

#45

Portland Oregon is basically one giant polycule. I’d imagine it’d be like the Borg collective but kinky.

#46

Mention should be made of Kiryas Joel, New York, with a population of 40,000 consisting almost entirely of Hasidim. They’re not actually hostile to outsiders but rarely interact with them, and maintain self-sustaining communities that exist largely apart from the mainstream.

Fun fact: Yiddish-speaking Kiryas Joel is by far the largest community in the US where the main language is other than English or Spanish, well ahead of Tuba City, Arizona or Fort Kent, Maine.

#47

My husband was finance director for the county that included Colorado City and Hillsdale. He had some amazing stories about the fraud there. I accompanied him on a site visit. It was such a sorrowful, backward area. So many people living in the 1800’s. So many sad women and children. Since Warren Jeffs’s incarceration, there has been a new influx of non-FLDS people and the regulations have replaxed. Women now hold positions in city governments.

#48

Bolinas, CA, a tiny little town. The locals seem to have a policy of shunning strangers. When the highway department replaces the sign that points to Bolinas at the turnoff it just gets stolen again. The last I’ve heard they stopped replacing it.

#49

This will probably get buried under all comments but it’s one of the strangest small town experiences I have ever had. I don’t know the name of it, I was driving in my state on a main highway, traffic was bad and I thought I’d take a back road to get to the old trucking highway (a small “highway” in the rural sense, meaning it’s a long road going through a good portion of the state) and go north from there, at the time I didn’t have Spotify premium so I listened to the radio. I was following my maps and it took me down some weird back roads, then I lost cell service but was confident that my next move was to stay on this road until it hit the 37. I kept driving and the radio station faded out, I changed it over to another station and it was a Christian hymn station, not unheard of in rural Michigan. I kept going through all the stations my car could receive, religious talk radio, more hymns, there were only 3 or 4 stations I would receive. As I kept driving I came into a small town, and immediately the vibes felt off. I had left my radio on the Christian talk radio station just to have something in car and the signal was fading, but another signal was coming through. It was still christian talk radio but this pastor was very traditional fire and brimstone. Ranting and raving about the need to repent and beg God for salvation, all the different reasons I’m going to hell, and what awaits me there.

As I was driving through I entered into the down town, it was what you would expect from a small downtown strip but there were no people out and about, no cars on the road, I even tried to glance into the shops and restaurants but I didn’t see anyone! Then the church bell started ringing so I checked the time, thinking it must be a new hour (some small towns still have a bell that rings on the hour to let you know the time) but it was 3:15.

As the bell rang I noticed I could faintly hear it through my radio, which freaked me out a bit, because that would mean that this is a live broadcast from inside the church. The part that terrified me the most was hearing this pastor stop his sermon, and say “god has brought us a visitor, welcome to our paradise friend, please stay with us a while.”

I tried to brush it off as a coincidence, fully expected to hear another voice on the radio, but it was silent, then I heard a hymn that I was not familiar with being sung in the background. I figured that was enough of that, I’d stop at the gas station at the end of the downtown area, get some gas, and ask for directions. As I pulled into the gas station the pastor then said “we all need to refuel ourselves on the journey God has set for us”

I have never left a town so fast in my life. I didn’t care if I’d run out of gas, it would have been better to be 30 minutes down the road, than spend another minute in that town. As I was driving away, looking in the rearview, I noticed there were people downtown, a large group, standing in the middle of the road, walking.

I made it to the highway and stopped for gas. Since then I’ve tried to look for this place on Google maps, but I have yet to find it. If you’re ever in the middle of nowhere, and all the stations are local church radio, I hope you have enough gas to get where you’re going!

#50

I once tried to take a random trip to Couer d’Alene on a Wednesday in July. The days before and after were fine for lodgings, but that one specific day had no vacancy in any airB&B, hotel, hostel, you name it. The entire town was booked.

I wondered what was happening on that day. I googled for hours and couldn’t find anything. I found the town calendar, and it was super thorough. But nothing was marked on it for that day.

You can’t tell me that wasn’t the serial killer convention from The Sandman.

#51

Hildale, Utah, is where the FLDS is based. They’re a polygamist offshoot of the Mormon church. Their leader is currently spending a life sentence for r*pe. The Netflix documentary Keep Sweet and Obey covers the sect and their crimes.

#52

Moscow, ID, home of the University of Idaho.

1/3 college students, 1/3 hippies, 1/3 Christ Church cult.

The recent college knife murders don’t help the vibes either.

#53

Everyone here is mentioning medium to large sized towns. That’s all wrong. The right towns for this have very few people, are in the middle of nowhere, and have weird traditions. I point to Ravenden, Arkansas.

I myself have never been, but my girlfriend took a wrong turn driving through the state and stumbled into this place. In the dark of night, she came across its defining feature: a 12 foot tall statue of a raven. If you look up this statue on its own, you’ll find it has been burned down twice but they keep rebuilding it. Again, I have never been, and by all means it seems nice on Google Maps street view. But the history is a little funny and if my girlfriend is to be believed, the statue can be a bit freaky late at night.

#54

Lifelong Ohioan here. I’m from Belmont County, one of the weird southeast ones near Wheeling, WV.

I could list so many towns that are just strange here…some that I’ve personally been to:

– Smithville

– Perrysville

– Glenmont

– Twin Lakes

– Dogtown (in Guernsey County, I don’t know what it’s actually called)

My great aunt and her family used to live in Xenia, which is the setting for the movie Gummo. I’d say it’s about medium accurate.

The absolute weirdest one to me is Holloway. It’s a tiny, and I mean tiny, town/village by where I grew up. You can stand on a hill and overlook the whole thing, it’s so crammed together. The tiny streets still have badly rusted white signs, the houses all look pre-1900 with few signs of updating, and overall it looks completely abandoned, except people still definitely live there. There’s a post office and what appeared to be a functioning bar.

Every time we drove through Holloway, anyone on the street (never more than a single person at a time) would stare directly at us, angrily, like we should be fully aware we aren’t welcome there. It has the vibes of the Goosebumps episode “Welcome to Dark Falls.” It’s not a cult type vibe, more like churchy people who still think it’s 1700.

#55

I grew up in coastal New England in the 90s…not necessarily bad vibes but definitely some weird events.

My mother had bad insomnia so many nights during the summer she’d drive along the coast, sometimes just park and watch the ocean at 3 AM. 

She’d tell me these stories of this cult like group she saw maybe 2 or 3 times over the years late at night. Old beat up van that several hooded robe wearing people would get out of and walk down the rocks to the shore. I think it spooked her as she never really watched for too long. 

At first I didn’t know what to make of it but then there starting being reports of small animals being mutilated a mile or two down the shore at the park. 

In fact, for whatever reason that park had some weird stuff happening over the years. Numerous times human feces was found right in the middle of the bike and hiking paths. No idea the motivation here but just some prolonged sick act of s******g where someone would step on it. 

Next was a serial flasher. Yes, just some dude that would just pop out of a bush and expose himself to a random female bicyclist or hiker. This went on for YEARS, often in the newspaper and other than a vague description I don’t think they ever caught the guy. 

A few bodies washed up here and there too. Definitely some weird stuff happening around that time. 

#56

Waco just has a weird energy about it.

Pretty common sentiment. Born in Waco and for a while when people found out where I was from they would just make joke, call it Whacko and have a smile. But after the cult fiasco, people began to get creeped out if you told them you were from Waco. So now in casual conversation I just tell people I am from Austin, it makes it easier to keep the conversation going.

Lelabear:

Don’t get me wrong, I agree it’s a creepy place and I left as soon as I could and never went back.

#57

Myrtle Beach, SC. For those who don’t know it’s a major tourist destination on the coast. Beaches, hotels, tourist c**p, etc. Like Gatlinburg or Branson or Wisconsin Dells. For our Canadian brethren, like Niagara Falls. For our British friends, like Blackpool or Skegness. Millions of people go every year. Sun and fun. Except… it’s got a dark vibe. I can’t describe it. It seems fun during the day but once it gets dark it starts feeling like Santa Carla in The Lost Boys. Off season is even worse. The streets are deserted except for a few sketchy people just wandering or hanging around. It’s not a cult thing, just creepy. And it’s just the main drag in Myrtle, Ocean Boulevard. There’s tons of little towns up and down the coast that are peaceful, sleepy little beach communities that are warm and friendly after dark.

#58

Trio of towns in northeast Florida; Lake Butler, Raiford, and Starke. It’s where most of the major state prisons are and unfortunately since that’s the primary job source it reflects on their culture severely. It’s very racist and backwoods and you feel very unwelcome. It’s unfortunate because that part of the state is actually quite beautiful, it’s heavily forested and there’s a lot of rivers and lakes. But the people make it very unwholesome and unwelcoming.

#59

Bad vibes – Chester, California. Showed up to the Mexican restaurant in town one night and got stared at non stop by the people working there. Something bad is happening there

#60

Wichita Kansas.

The Koch brothers and the Steven’s family run that town.

#61

Wells, Texas. It’s a tiny little shithole in the middle of East Texas, that you pass through to get to Lufkin. But it’s *also* home to a cult, named the Church of Wells.

They’re best known for disrupting a service at Lakewood Church, aka Joel Osteen’s “Church”. They’ve previously delayed reporting the death of a 3-day old infant, members tend to leave their families and friends behind to join the church, and of course they’ve allegedly drugged and kidnapped someone. Oh and who can forget, they violate **child labor laws by having children work a saw mill**.

Not a ton is known on them, because they’re in the middle of nowhere, East Texas.

#62

Serenbe, GA. Definitely witch occultism or something going on in that tiny, polished mini community.

#63

Crescent City, CA felt like the birthplace of serial killers.

#64

Murphy, NC. Infamously remote, clannish (i.e., private, familial), and the hiding place of (at least one) the FBI’s most wanted 1990s criminal.

#65

Central Oregon.

I moved out here 5 years ago I swear sometimes the people around me aren’t real, simply for how stupid everyone is.
Everyone looks like they just got dropped off on earth and have no idea how to be normal humans.

#66

Grey Cloud Island township in Minnesota. Something’s happening there but no one knows what because GCI residents run you right back out of town – on the one road in or out of the place – as soon as you cross that bridge. They herd you up and out of town in these creepy non-descript white trucks that seem almost self-driven. There are eyewitness stories of ghosts, aliens, cults, kkk rallies, and just an eerie/foreboding/discomforting feeling of evil (or just the sense you’re being watched) when you’re there. Every story I’ve heard ends with the visitor being chased out of town.

*Edited to add* The population of Grey Cloud Is. is only 300, but it’s surrounded by suburbs with 30-40k populations.

#67

Truth or Consequences NM Drove through during the day and something didn’t feel right and drove back through at night and through Hatch back to Phoenix and there was almost nothing for miles. Half of me wanted to get out and look at the stars, the other half was screaming at me to drive and DO NOT GET OUT OF THE CAR. I’m sure it’s lovely, but for whatever reason my hair was sticking up the whole time through that area.

#68

I don’t remember the details too well, but there was a guy motorcycling across America. He was going down a road in a small town that seemed to be empty. The whole town just seemed to be that one road with houses on each side. The road dead ended and he turned around. Coming back the same way, there were people on the porches of those homes, just staring at him as he rode by. That would be absolutely terrifying.

I once exited the highway driving through Utah. There was a sign saying “no service” but I ignored it. Right off the exit was a small town. People were just looking at me like I did not belong there. I decided to get back on the highway.

Another Utah story. Just passing through and it started snowing. I decided to find a hotel instead of getting stranded miles away from everything. So I am checking in to this small hotel and the guy looks at my drivers license. He apparently noticed that I was marked as an organ donor because he asked: “what organs are you donating?”. I kind of laughed and said: “why, do you need something?”. I literally barricaded the door after checking in, woke up early, and got out of there.

#69

Eagle, NY Probably one of the saddest towns I’ve ever been in and Gainesville, Georgia which has a haunted lake and smells like soup when it rains because of the chicken factories.

#70

Rifle, CO (now better known as the home of Lauren Boebert). My bf and I stopped here on a road trip pre-Lauren Boebert notoriety. Thought the Rifle theme to the town was going to be tongue in cheek and kitschy – it was not. Dude literally flagged us down to ask us some incoherent question about guns, the Rifle-themed pub and restaurant was not kidding, Lauren’s campaign office and slogans were papered all across the town. Dystopian

#71

Ima put up the WV hollars. Not all of them are bad, but make a wrong turn into some of them and you’ll be facing the business end of a shotgun before you can role your window down. 

#72

I live in Western Washington, which is generally very high on the creep factor. But no place has weirded me out more than Wasilla, AK.

Conscious_Tourist163:

Let’s put every new development on one side of the railroad tracks. Add a dozen stoplights that aren’t synched. Put gravel everywhere, but scatter a few junk cars here and there. And finally, we’re all gonna do m*th.

#73

Lynchburg, Tennessee.

As a person of color, I’ve never felt so out of place in the U.S.

#74

Dubois, Idaho. Stopped at gas station. A middle- aged woman at the counter called my mixed race daughter “a cute little mulato”, the dude with missing teeth and a gun rack in his truck stroked her hair. Never drove that fast out of the sticks in my life.

#75

Gather round kids, I’ve got a story. Noxon Montana. Father of a 6 year old and thought we’d try a Easter egg hunt in a place we’ve never been and do lunch. Pretty big hunt with lots of eggs. Well organized and overall kinda awesome. After the kids bring the eggs they found to the front and exchange for candy. I’m in the line with my excited little guy answering a ton of questions and generally just trying to keep my bundle of squirrels in check. Wasn’t paying attention much as we worked up to the table. I look up as the kid hands his eggs up… to a lady in a Daily Stormer hoodie. Daily f*****g Stormer. She listened as he chatted away with sincere kindness. After the eggs were counted it was off to the candy exchange. Her husband maybe? Giving the kids high fives and passing out heaps of candy. SS lightening bolts up both sides of his neck. Some runes on his hands but by that time it was apparent we were in the wrong neighborhood and it was time to go. Plastered a smile on my face, grabbed hold of a little hand and we scooted. On the way out signs were everywhere from conversations to dress to cars in the lot but I had missed everything. Happy Neo-nazi Easter everyone! tl;dr We crashed a neonazi Easter egg hunt in Noxon Montana.

#76

Dixon Montana
I would drive by the tiny town on my way to and from Hot Springs Montana (another strange town) visiting friends and staying to soak in the natural hot springs. Finally stopped on my way back to Missoula at this bar in Dixon that always had a for sale sign on it. Figured it was such an old place they’d probably make a good Caesar and had interesting decor. I parked and walked in and it had a long bar but was also someone’s living room with 10 cats and a really old woman watching tv in a recliner. It was immediately apparent that this hadn’t been a bar in decades, nothing was for sale and I needed to leave immediately.

The place is still there right off the freeway with the open sign and for sale sign out front.

#77

Vidor, Texas, just east of Beaumont. It’s still a sundown town. 

Local infrastructure vendors, ie telco, power, know to send only white workers to that town for safety. I’ve been through once, and it just feels off, but I was also traveling with a black friend.

#78

Red Mountain and Johannesburg/Randsburg, California. Creepiest towns to drive through in the Southern California desert on 395. Seems like the spot to go if you are trying to get away from society.

Similarly, the Salton Sea towns like Bombay Beach, Slab City, Salton City.

#79

Cocke County, Tennessee. Known by Esquire as the nicest place no one wants to go. Fun fact: The first home microwaves there came from a stolen shipment. They quit letting the KKK have permits to march and all of the schools are integrated now, so… Progress? And they’ve now made it almost twenty years without a large portion of the police force getting arrested by the FBI or TBI again and no one’s reported having a cross burned in their yard in about the same amount of time.