Lisa O
When people hear about creepy spots, some decide to avoid them, while others get excited to check them out. Which group are you in? On Reddit, people are talking about the spooky and unsettling places they’ve been that really stuck with them. Here are some of the creepiest spots in the USA they’ve visited.
Florida, Missouri
It’s been several years since I was there (25+/-), but I’ll never forget the feeling that I wanted to get out of there. It was like a place out of time, but not like a historic town. The dilapidated buildings, the vacant and lethargic look in the few people we saw. Everything seemed to be moving unnaturally slowly, even the animals. Kind of like something was sucking the life out of them.
—PlasticBlitzen
Colorado City, Arizona
I would drive many miles out of my way to avoid driving through Colorado City/Hildale. That place is sinister. Maybe less so now that Warren Jeffs is imprisoned, but still… there’s an extremely rare birth defect called “polygamist Downs” that’s actually far worse than Downs, and because everyone in town is inbred and related, it’s relatively common there: Fumarase deficiency.
—Tim-oBedlam
Wallace, Idaho
I second Wallace, Idaho. My husband and I decided to stop there overnight. We booked a room at the Brooks Hotel. We left an hour later because we could swear someone was watching us… It was downright eerie. We slept in the car that night far from that town. We didn’t even want to stay in the city limits.
—Waytoloseit
Danville, Illinois
I have a friend from Danville. She disappeared for a while and came back completely different, as if she had the mental capacity of a child. She disappeared again and then came back; her family was able to get her out of there, and she slowly started coming back to herself. I wish I knew what was going on at the time.
—Guilty_Critic
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
I was born there. I love going on the haunted tours that actually go into older buildings. Went into this old war hospital one night with a group of 20. I’m not one that scares or frightens easily, but nobody else would go in the basement. I got down to the bottom of the stairs, and that thickness was exactly what I felt. Have you ever been on a crowded train on a hot day with no place to move? Yeah, I felt like that, but nobody was down there but me.
—bannedacctno5
East St Louis, Illinois
East St Louis is insane. Or at least it was ~ 10 years ago the last time I drove through. We saw a car on the side of the road on fire. It was like an actual fire, a full-blown mad max burning car. And people walking by it like it was normal, driving as if it’s a standard Thursday thing to see a car engulfed in flame. I also saw what I think was a mugging, but by then, we were hightailing it out of there, so we didn’t get a great look.
—whitesuburbanmale
Barstow, California
I was once driving on Highway 58 late at night outside Barstow and stopped on the side of the road to pee and let my dog pee. While we were out of the car, a disheveled-looking man with long hair and a beard suddenly appeared out of nowhere, walking toward us quite quickly. He didn’t say anything, just had this super creepy stare. I grabbed the pup and threw the 2 of us back in the car, managing to start the car and pull away just as he reached the rear door. It was a terrifying and creepy experience of my life.
—These-Shower-2746
Ozarks, Missouri
Drove into the Ozarks at dusk on a road trip, headed for a campground that was obscured by darkness and pouring rain by the time we got there and completely empty despite it being early summer. It was located at the bottom of a hill so steep we wondered if our car would ever make it back up again. We kept driving until we emerged again from the darkness hours later and stayed that night at a Motel 6 beside the interstate instead.
—goldenmellowmelons
Camden, New Jersey
My mom got off the wrong exit into Camden on a family vacation when I was about 10 and my sister was 7. My mom was tense, clearly trying not to let on how scared she was, and I remember wondering why all these people were standing around in the middle of the road and why they were starting to drift toward our car. My sister started to whine that she needed to go to the bathroom, and my mom barked at her to wait or pee in the car because we were not stopping.
—absolutelyspiffing
New Orleans, Louisiana
One of my earliest memories is from when I was 3 or 4, and my family was visiting New Orleans. There was this particular pink couch in the room we were staying in, and I remember being terrified of it for no logical reason. It was just giving me hella bad vibes, and I adamantly refused to go near it despite my mom trying to tell me that there was nothing wrong with it.
—CraigRiley06
Gary, Indiana
Drove past it when I was maybe ten or eleven with my mom to visit my aunt in Chicago. Got a small history lesson about why it’s so off and why we didn’t stop there for a potty break. Apparently, it was a body dumping ground for the mob during the prohibition era, or at least the roads near it. Combined with the fact it’s not exactly the most maintained town anymore, it’s just eerie. Also, the Jackson Five were from there. So there’s that.
—mostie2016
Stockton, California
Stockton, CA, is pretty sketchy. I think it’s been rated #9 among the most dangerous places in the US. High murder rates and the highest car theft in the country. My family and I ate at a famous Chinese restaurant (that was not even the bad area of town), took the dog out of the car to go to the bathroom before we left for home, and then I heard 3 gunshots just 3 blocks away. We got out quickly.
—cubedude719
Birmingham, Alabama
There’s just something wrong about that place. It has this feel and appearance like a horrible plague wiped out the city in the late 50s, and the government covered it up. The place is derelict, empty, and creepy. Bad things happen there. I’ve never heard of anything but misfortune occurring in Birmingham, and if you ever go there, you’ll know. That emptiness and wariness you feel from that city. If anywhere is post-apocalyptic before it happens, it’s Birmingham, Alabama.
—Kelvin_And_Hobbes
Raytown, Missouri
A suburb of Kansas City and one of the most ghetto areas in the entire Midwest. My brother is a cop who used to live around there, and he won’t even drive through North Raytown without a loaded gun on his person. And don’t you even think about leaving something in the back of your truck; they’ll steal it, regardless of whether it’s valuable or not.
—Klondike3
Buffalo, New York
I’ve lived in a lot of different places, including a town in FL outside of Tampa where a meth head attempted an armed robbery on a trailer and held a baby at gunpoint… Buffalo still scares the shit out of me. Did I mention one of our carnivals this past weekend is known for multiple stabbings and shootings every year? Yeah, we get the entire police force and a surveillance RV for a tiny carnival with 7 rides. Cool!
—JayEssDee