Creepiest, bleakest places you've ever been to

[Anonymous]

Came on here to say Romania late 90s was depressing as hell..as was Bucharest and surprisingly, Prague

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whittier, Alaska. Rainforest, but the town has two large buildings (basically) -- one of which is completely abandoned.

+100, Whittier has the grimmest playground imaginable, sitting right in a parking lot.

[Anonymous]

Budapest in January

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Corpus Christie, and basically most of coastal Texas. Weird combination of scorching sun, ever-present wind, and tobacco ads on every corner. Found a nice place to swim one day and DD got stung by a jellyfish. Nice guy appeared out of nowhere on the beach with a medicinal jar of pickle juice.

Place was weird af.

I lived in Corpus for a couple of years, and although there was a lot I liked about it, I can see why people would feel this way. It's pretty isolated - once you leave town there's pretty much nothing.

There are some very nice areas, but parts of it are very grim. Plus yeah, it's always sunny, usually hot, and the wind blows all the time. I feel like buildings got weathered and dilapidated more quickly there than in places with better climates. Decay, and plants with thorns, all around. And people loved to go to the beach that was near downtown, which always seemed grungy to me.

[Anonymous]

toledo, ohio

[Anonymous]

Wichita, KS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18th St NE a bit further away from Union Station. It was 2008, I was on a work visit to DC, and went to a shoe store that I thought carried some wheelies that a friend asked me to bring. I didn't know what I was getting into, taking public transit and walking, with my orange Furla purse and a matching silk scarf! I must say everyone was nice to me and some nice older black ladies made sure I took the right bus which took me back to Union Station.

so black people are creepy?

Are you dim? Black people I spoke to were the only non creepy “element” there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Chernobyl.

Also, Soviet era apartment blocks and apartments in Ukraine and Russia.

I know it will sound weird, but I grew up in one of these blocks and they are nostalgic to me. In fact there is a FB community where people post pictures of Soviet era landscapes, so I am not the only one.

Wow, that's interesting. We were posted in the region for work, and in the first year were talked into taking an apartment in a Soviet building that was minutes' walk from work. It was the entire top floor of a Khrushchyovka, and the apartment itself had been fully renovated and looked great. But outside the windows and in the rest of the building itself, it was bleak as hell. The crumbling walls and general run-down look, plus the filthy, dog waste-strewn land childrens' "playground" areas outside the blocks were super sad, especially because there were often empty alcohol bottles and cigarettes thrown into the childrens' sand pits or under the swings. I made friends with a local family who lived in a non-renovated little flat and you could hear EVERYTHING from the neighbours above and around them.

We moved into an expat type building after that one year.

My parents still live in a Khrushevka (of a "better" type but still) and it's very odd to see my childhood home with the eyes of an adult who has traveled the world somewhat.
What you describe is very familiar. I am seeing it with the eyes of child so to speak...

You know what they say, you can take a girl out of a krushevka.

Now try telling this to someone from Anacostia, watch what happens next. Not funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18th St NE a bit further away from Union Station. It was 2008, I was on a work visit to DC, and went to a shoe store that I thought carried some wheelies that a friend asked me to bring. I didn't know what I was getting into, taking public transit and walking, with my orange Furla purse and a matching silk scarf! I must say everyone was nice to me and some nice older black ladies made sure I took the right bus which took me back to Union Station.

so black people are creepy?

DP. I was a summer intern in NYC in late 90s and my roommate was a girl from Kazakhstan interning at the UN. One night she got invited to a party and took a wrong bus that brought her to upper Harlem. So there she was, alone in upper Harlem, late at night, with questionable English skills, having no idea where she was. She sat down on a curb and started bawling her eyes out. A patrol police car noticed her, picked her up and drove her back to our apartment near Columbia. And she was still sobbing uncontrollably as she came through the door.

So my point is, maybe, PP with a Furla purse is also not from around here, and it can be quite a cultural shock visiting certain urban areas of the United States.

I am the Furla PP, yes I was visiting the US at the time. But isn’t it shocking to someone from Bethesda as well? Not the black people, but the conditions they have to live in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18th St NE a bit further away from Union Station. It was 2008, I was on a work visit to DC, and went to a shoe store that I thought carried some wheelies that a friend asked me to bring. I didn't know what I was getting into, taking public transit and walking, with my orange Furla purse and a matching silk scarf! I must say everyone was nice to me and some nice older black ladies made sure I took the right bus which took me back to Union Station.

so black people are creepy?

Also...18th St NE isn't near Union Station so ???

I am sorry, it was H street NE! Duh!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18th St NE a bit further away from Union Station. It was 2008, I was on a work visit to DC, and went to a shoe store that I thought carried some wheelies that a friend asked me to bring. I didn't know what I was getting into, taking public transit and walking, with my orange Furla purse and a matching silk scarf! I must say everyone was nice to me and some nice older black ladies made sure I took the right bus which took me back to Union Station.

so black people are creepy?

Also...18th St NE isn't near Union Station so ???

I am sorry, it was H street NE! Duh!

This makes me even more confused. H street is right behind union station. I agree that area has been pretty creepy in the past—like any area behind a train station—but not clear why you would need to take a bus to find your way back? Unless you walked down H street a long ways? I agree 18th and H NE was not great 10-20 years ago. That area has revitalized so much.

I used to take the greyhound bus from DC a lot in the 90s and the short walk behind union station to get to the greyhound station was very creepy. Anytime you have an urban area segmented by highways and rail tracks, it becomes creepy. There’s an area in New Haven like that too. It’s why good urban planners try to avoid a city being bisected in this way. It creates dead space that invites unpleasant activity, plus you just always feel like you are walking in the shadows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:A hotel in Inari Finland in January. I was a 20yo woman and everyone else at the hotel was a burly older man. I don't speak Finnish. All TV was in Finnish or Russian. I just stayed in my room. I went to the Sami museum though and that was great--it was just the hotel at night that was bleak.

I also got a weird vibe in Molokai. It was beautiful, and the tour of Kalaupappa was fascinating, and I didn't get a sense of hostility from the people I met, but I felt like I would not understand anything even if I lived there for 30 years. It was like half of what was said was a lie/inside joke/myth/historical reference and 50% was not and I couldn't tell which was which. It also felt like a place where it would be so easy to die in the sea or some remote area and never be found, or to be killed and have nobody fess up.

And a Microtel in Syracuse NY. I wish we'd gone with our initial plan of camping even though it was chilly.

I lived in Helsinki, so I just have to ask. How in the world did you wind up in Inari?!

Lol, I was visiting a friend who was doing a Fulbright in Helsinki. We did some stuff together in the city, but since I didn't want to overstay my welcome with her (she had a small apartment with a roommate) I did some other side trips--Stockholm, Estonia, etc. I thought it would be cool to see northern Finland and the train ride was overnight so it was like transportation + lodging. I took a train to Rovaniemi, where Santa Claus Village was closed, and then took a bus to Inari. Spent the night in the aforementioned hotel, saw the Sami museum, and did the journey back. I'm glad I went, and it wasn't any colder than Helsinki (there were days when I was there that the high was like 2 degrees F) but the hotel creeped me out!

Did you know Santa’s Office would be closed or was it like Chevy Chase Wally World style? Knocking on the door and Santa’s closed for the day?! Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but we took our 2 year old there and it was so magical! My mom was able to watch it from Arizona on the “Santa cam,” and it was pretty perfect. We can’t wait to take him back to Helsinki one day. It’s such an off the beaten path city. It sounds like you enjoyed your trip, aside from said hotel, and that makes me happy! Kiitos for sharing about your trip!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18th St NE a bit further away from Union Station. It was 2008, I was on a work visit to DC, and went to a shoe store that I thought carried some wheelies that a friend asked me to bring. I didn't know what I was getting into, taking public transit and walking, with my orange Furla purse and a matching silk scarf! I must say everyone was nice to me and some nice older black ladies made sure I took the right bus which took me back to Union Station.

so black people are creepy?

Also...18th St NE isn't near Union Station so ???

I am sorry, it was H street NE! Duh!

This makes me even more confused. H street is right behind union station. I agree that area has been pretty creepy in the past—like any area behind a train station—but not clear why you would need to take a bus to find your way back? Unless you walked down H street a long ways? I agree 18th and H NE was not great 10-20 years ago. That area has revitalized so much.

I used to take the greyhound bus from DC a lot in the 90s and the short walk behind union station to get to the greyhound station was very creepy. Anytime you have an urban area segmented by highways and rail tracks, it becomes creepy. There’s an area in New Haven like that too. It’s why good urban planners try to avoid a city being bisected in this way. It creates dead space that invites unpleasant activity, plus you just always feel like you are walking in the shadows.

Yes I walked quite some time along H street.

[Anonymous]

almost anywhere in PG County

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents have a condo in Indian Rocks Beach, FL and the drive across the "peninsula" (is that what it's called?) from the Tampa airport to the beach is always ...interesting. Four lane "highway" with strip malls and endless chain restaurants. Oh look, a 55+ senior trailer park community. Cracker Barrel. Pain management doctor's office. Five more strip malls. Walmart. Publix. Apartment complex. Another strip mall. Disheveled sunburnt shirtless man pushing a shopping cart along the sidewalk. Another strip mall. DENNIS HERNANDEZ HARVARD LAW SCHOOL GRADUATE AND PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER billboard. TJ Maxx. A group of boys who look to be about 14 walking down the road (it's 11am on a Tuesday). Mobile home community. Another personal injury lawyer billboard. Bible Bob's Christian Academy. iHop, CVS, Golden Corral, Chipotle, Olive Garden, McDonald's. Pet store with sign stating "all puppies and kittens 50% off today only!" Baptist Church. Drive up motel. RV park. Another Publix. Public elementary school. Dilapidated house with a car on blocks out front. Gas station. Souvenir shop. Denny's. Aaaand we've made it to the beach.

I feel like every single lower to middle class area in suburban Florida that I've ever been to follows this exact pattern. WHY?!

In-laws live in one of those mobile home parks on the way to Indian Rocks. DH thinks it would be "fun" to go there for a week or two (in-laws didn't make it this year). I can't imagine. It's not even on the beach, but pretty close to a Target. Ugh. We are not going but he's disappointed and thinks it would be a nice break to spend a week or two in their double wide trailer 15 minutes from the beach near many of the strip malls you describe. Just no.