Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a town in New England that had an abandoned mental institution in it. It was about the size of college campus, dozens of large brick abandoned buildings. Very creepy.

It’s not far from Waltham, MA, right?

Are there really that many? I just posted and asked if it was Norwich, CT....

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a town in New England that had an abandoned mental institution in it. It was about the size of college campus, dozens of large brick abandoned buildings. Very creepy.

Norwich, CT?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Driving Rt 33 in West Virginia. Talk about dilapidated, sad, and creepy.

You could film the next season of True Detective anywhere around there.

I agree, and there are parts of WV that have even less economic activity.

Yep, what I see from the car is just a snapshot and I cringe thining that there are more/worse areas out of eye-sight (those off shoots from the main road for example).

Willingboro, NJ and Levittown and Bensalem, PA - but this was decades ago. Hopefully they have improved.

Anonymous wrote:Driving Rt 33 in West Virginia. Talk about dilapidated, sad, and creepy.

You could film the next season of True Detective anywhere around there.

I agree, and there are parts of WV that have even less economic activity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cumberland, MD. Something just feels off and creepy. And this is coming from someone who has spent years driving through western Pennsylvania on the way to my hometown near Youngstown.

I'm so glad that other people feel this way about Cumberland. And I've been to a bunch of other places listed here but none of them have the same Stephen King creepy vibe as Cumberland.

I'll add a place that's pretty obscure but also has the same vibe - Queenstown, Tasmania. Every other place I've been in Tasmania is lovely, but Queenstown was just upsetting and unsettling.

Pretty remote! Never been. I really loved Hobart and all I remember other than Hobart is the nature I saw.

The old town of Valdez, Alaska from before a 9+ Earthquake in the 1950s took it out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about desolate downtowns, creepy abandoned houses, lonely streets and eerie vibes. I'm not talking about poverty, crime, or abandonment so much as a sense of gloom and despair.

I'll nominate Utica, NY.

curious as to why you want to know the bleakest places? What is the purpose?

I find it interesting. I was an American civilization major and still study this stuff, and I find it interesting to cruise through such places still.

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about desolate downtowns, creepy abandoned houses, lonely streets and eerie vibes. I'm not talking about poverty, crime, or abandonment so much as a sense of gloom and despair.

I'll nominate Utica, NY.

curious as to why you want to know the bleakest places? What is the purpose?

I once stayed in this old resort hotel in Portugal in the winter off-season which was set in the mountains. It looked like it was last updated in the Victorian era -- all dark wood and ornate furnishings. I'm sure it would be a fine normal place during regular times but the few guests and the weather gave it a distinctly creepy feel. Certain corridors looked right out of the "Shining".

I joked with my friends that I was traveling with that we would leave the hotel, tell somebody that we had stayed there last night and they'd gasp and say "But that place burned down 50 years ago!" Cue creepy music...

The gated community in Scottsdale where I got lost on a walk and the sun was setting. I couldn't get my bearings, my phone died, I thought I might be lost forever.

Going through Butte, Montana on a greyhound bus.

Downtown Detroit on a Saturday night in the 90s. No people and so much steam rising from the streets.

Detroit, Michigan. It is chilling.

Driving Rt 33 in West Virginia. Talk about dilapidated, sad, and creepy.

You could film the next season of True Detective anywhere around there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Youngstown, OH

Really depressing

Gary, IN is super scary too.

Gary is so spooky. Literally 3 miles separates it from Chicago (14th biggest economy on the planet) but it just feels dead. At least what I saw.

This. I used to drive through Gary to and from Chicago, when I lived there, and it always gave me the creeps. I can still picture the distillation towers.

Anonymous wrote:Cumberland, MD. Something just feels off and creepy. And this is coming from someone who has spent years driving through western Pennsylvania on the way to my hometown near Youngstown.

I'm so glad that other people feel this way about Cumberland. And I've been to a bunch of other places listed here but none of them have the same Stephen King creepy vibe as Cumberland.

I'll add a place that's pretty obscure but also has the same vibe - Queenstown, Tasmania. Every other place I've been in Tasmania is lovely, but Queenstown was just upsetting and unsettling.