Creepiest/Weirdest Place You've Been

[XXX-er]

That would probably be wandering around La Ceiba for a day on the way out of Honduras in 96

in a nice hotel there is an armed government soldier on every floor of the hotel with a defender or AK

At least 2 strange encounters with locals, lots of guns everywhere

I never got over feeling like a meal ... like I was the meal

[iceman]

Maybe they don't like Asian food down there?

[Meadow Skipper]

Maybe they don't like Asian food down there?

More like, it tastes good, but an hour later you're hungry again.

[XXX-er]

Well I dunno if they prefer the white meat down there or what eh?

[Micol]

did a very brief stint in New Orleans after Katrina for habitat. early 06. after dark was all empty gutted houses and boarded up housing projects, no lights in houses, no street lights , no people ( i thought) no stop lights for miles at a time, got hammered at jazz fest, rode a bike at night with no lights from that area headed for the quarter but ended up north at a seemingly abandoned lowes on elysian fields, had bacardi or jaeger small orange party flashing round lights stuck on front and back of my shirt...like a single firefly in a moonless night ------ riding those areas in daylight in car was able to see people sitting on porches surrounded by bars like jail cells , same houses and area that was 100% no lights at night....

detroit - gratiot , woodward not too far from downtown, city airport at night after commercial quit serving that location- landed to automatic weapon fire heard while landing in small piper

on foot at night tenderloin san fran after a dare i went solo on a "field trip" alone from friends home in san jose using public transportation from the end of his street all the way to russian hill

driving by kingsford charcoal plant at night in west virgina in an undependable car

a two lane desert road at night "short cut" somewhere near palmdale ca that was supposed to dump out on i-40 and then continue on to las vegas...i hit i-40 and abandoned the last stretch of the short cut taking a +220 mile detour just to avoid the last bit

[Mr. Multiglisse]

This is a fantastic thread with some great stories. Bmills FTW.

Back around 1980 I spent a week climbing in the Gunks before going back to university, then hitchhiked from there to Chicago to see a girl I had met while canoe guiding the summer before. I was 22, she was 17. That leg of the trip was actually quite awesome, met some great people on the road, slept under an overpass, smoked dope with a truck driver while watching the sun rise, had fun with the girl, not creepy or weird at all. I think she is a lawyer now, oh well.

Things got a little strange on the route back to Canada from Chicago. I think had seven dollars in my wallet. Standing on an eastbound ramp on the I-94, somewhere near Kalamazoo, I saw a big red convertible pull over on the shoulder of the westbound lanes. My memory is fuzzy but it might have been a Cadillac Eldorado. The driver was yelling at me and waving. Innocent Canadian that I was (and still am), I dashed across four lanes of traffic to see what he had to say. He was this 40-something guy with a Fabio hairstyle and white disco shirt, sitting in this ridiculous car. I was a scrawny bearded longhair, looking a bit like Jesus in the church picture. He explained that he would be happy to drive me east, but first had to go home and get something, so why didn't I come along so we could have dinner and a glass of wine at his house? To this day I am relieved that I had the presence of mind to back off and politely say, no thanks, I'll just try my luck on the other side of the road. Did I miss a good meal or escape a date with a serial killer?

As I recall, my next ride was with a preacher. How appropriate. He was going to Ann Arbor, which seemed like a good place to end the day, since thumbing through Detroit at night seemed like a bad idea. I hiked into town from the Interstate, looking for a place to camp. Hey, there's a cemetery! I hiked in, found a nice headstone to stash my pack beside, and went to the local Long John Silvers for dinner. Returning to the cemetery at dusk, all the headstones kind of looked the same, and it took me a long time to find my pack. Oh, ha ha, this is fine, I thought and stretched out my mummy bag on the nicely mowed grass. In the middle of the cemetery. After a sleepless hour or so, I was completely wierded out, so moved to the far end of the property, beside the chain link fence, overlooking a nice suburban back yard, with the sounds of purple-lighted bug zapper to lull me to sleep. The end to a very strange and creepy day in the mysterious flatlands of Michigan.

[Thaleia]

I once stopped at the crappiest motel on i70 in kansas, I just couldnt drive any longer without crashing. One of those places all by itself, 50 miles from the next stop, straight out of the Hills have eyes movie. I was the only car in the lot and It was so fucking bad inside i spent 5 minutes inside and left. i didnt even ask for my 40 bucks back in case Jethro was on his way.

Holiday Express from now on.

Reminds me of a place I stopped off I80 in Ottawa Il. $50 a room? Score! There were other people staying there but by the looks of things they 'lived' there. Guys playing dominos or cards on little tables in front of the rooms, guys just leaning against the wall slowly sipping they booze. All of their eyes on me. Got the 'new guy in prison' feeling and left.

[shroom]

vegas

[Cono Este]

My flat in Chicago.

I woke up to a burglar standing at the foot of my bed staring at me. A few seconds of silence, then I bolted up before he fucking stabbed me and he bolted.

I was so freaked out I nailed my windows shut at 2 am after cops left and now have a dead bolt on my bedroom door. Should have moved the next day.

[fiddler]

In the mid-late 80's my wife and I were driving back to Seattle from Helena during a serious January blizzard. Many inches an hour were falling. In northern Idaho we needed to find a bathroom so got off the highway and stopped at what looked like a little store. The vibe from the two people in there was as bad as could be. They refused to let us use their restroom and wanted us out of there right away. This was an area known for neo-nazi and white supremacy groups and as far as we were concerned we had stepped right into the middle of that. We were happy to get out of there and back into the blizzard.

[ill-advised strategy]

oh geez, I completely forgot this one until this morning:

There was a fire in the restricted area east of Beatty NV. I went to staff the communications unit at the incident command post. When I got to the ICP, it was in an abandoned hotel/casino.

All the units....logistics unit, planning unit, ground support....etc....were all in these hollowed-out rooms in the abandoned hotel. Guys were doing paperwork sitting at the bar in the abandoned restaurant.

I remember the IC having an argument with guys in business suits about how he wasn't going to send firefighters into some area unless they would confirm it wasn't radioactive. We were getting reports of coordinates of areas were were supposed to give to the planning guys so they could map off restricted areas....why are they restricted? No reason. Oh OK.

There were drones flying over the fire, and this was before drones were a normal thing....and it made a problem with airspace management because here are these aircraft violating our temporary flight restriction area.
It was really something. creepy secret government spooks.

[wyeaster]

going back into the dark weight room at autzen to get my gear after the dead were dead and lives were ruined and seeing the neck machine that i had thrown several feet to block the door.

sitting on the roof of autzen in the middle of the night a year and a half later, soul destroyed and tripping on acid, legs dangling over the edge. i looked down on the field and realized the last time i was there was during the shooting.

[skiballs]

Anyone here the somewhat recent Stern called about his hot dentist GF who had the shit breath?

Curious, did this OBGYN have a pristine box or was it a trainwreck? I mean she's the expert. Had to be a well oiled machine, no?

I don't in fact know, on said second meeting I kinda friend zoned her. Which turned out to be the best decision I've made, in regards to women, in a long time. Doctor lady is a liquor drinking, weed smoking degenerate, with a 170 IQ.
She's my new drinking buddy. Let me tell ya, having a female OBGYN as your wingman gives a guy a certian credibility.

[Meadow Skipper]

oh geez, I completely forgot this one until this morning:

There was a fire in the restricted area east of Beatty NV. I went to staff the communications unit at the incident command post. When I got to the ICP, it was in an abandoned hotel/casino.

All the units....logistics unit, planning unit, ground support....etc....were all in these hollowed-out rooms in the abandoned hotel. Guys were doing paperwork sitting at the bar in the abandoned restaurant.

I remember the IC having an argument with guys in business suits about how he wasn't going to send firefighters into some area unless they would confirm it wasn't radioactive. We were getting reports of coordinates of areas were were supposed to give to the planning guys so they could map off restricted areas....why are they restricted? No reason. Oh OK.

There were drones flying over the fire, and this was before drones were a normal thing....and it made a problem with airspace management because here are these aircraft violating our temporary flight restriction area.
It was really something. creepy secret government spooks.

And that reminded me - Los Alamos, the Cerro Grande fire in 2000. Armed soldiers at the suddenly-closed gates and intersections all over town. I was overseeing the fire effort with some other agency folks.

A meeting with LA officials looking at a map "The fire can't go into that canyon." "Why?" Eyes go sideways between the officials, and a hard look comes back, "Repeat, it can't go in there." Ookaaayyy...

Another meeting. "Look, a lot of the firefighters have concerns about radiation poisoning. There are a lot of rumors about dumps in the canyons, and the armed guards patrolling fenced 'technical areas' isn't reassuring." "Well, we can give the firefighters tags that measure radiation exposure that will tell if they've received a dangerous dose." "Yeah, that's not going to reassure them, in fact it will probably cause them to leave." All we got was a stony look.

Los Alamos NM is a weird and creepy place once you scratch the surface.

[ill-advised strategy]

All we got was a stony look.

I ended up pretty glad I wasn't on the line on that one in NV....dodged that bullet in 2000 too, we were running little IAs over in Cimarron.

[goldengatestinx]

I used to install fume hoods and lab stuff years ago. The install at the State ME's building in downtown Murdermore was creepy. It was a retro fit, so the place was open for bis. We also had to work between 9pm and 6am. The tub full of brains, stood out. The crazy looking tile guy was explaining how the reddish brain in the corner of the tub was a head shot, with a shoot gun. Meanwhile he's playing Black Sabbeth loudly, and it's 4 o'clock in the morning. Walking into a 50x40 refrigerator full of dead bodies, is creepy.

This one reminded me about the co-op job when I was in college back in the '80s. Worked for a mech eng firm doing energy audits. Audited an old hospital somewhere in central NY. Had access to the whole place without an escort. Including the basement morgue. I fudged some of the measurements in that area.

[raisingarizona13]

There are plenty of meth infested towns out there that are probably much like any other but for me Springfield Oregon is up there with one of the creepiest, probably because it was my first experience with a meth town. this was 20 years ago so maybe things have changed.

I wasn't familiar with meth back in 1997 so staying with some friends that had a place in Springfield was an eyeopener. To me at that point it looked like a zombie outbreak had taken place. The toothless soulless shells of humans that senselessly wandered the streets or vigorously cleaned there cars in vacant parking lots was like some surreal scene from a sci-fi movie. The bars with nude dancers were incredible though.

This of course was nothing compared to my 12 day stay in Gallup New Mexico a few years back. That place is totally fucked. We were there to work a job at the Hubbell Trading Post doing tree work. My buddy had us stay in Gallup since it was the closest town with bars.

In Gallup we drank a few nights away at the El Dorado just down the street from our hotel room. It was as dark and sketchy as any bar I've ever been to. A young Mexican kid was the bartender that had a bunch of his underage friends come in. In one corner there were the natives who quietly stared us down with hateful eyes. The friends of the bartender were young enough to make very bad decisions and seemed to be from some poor upbringings with a lot to prove. They banded together like gang members to our left and to our right. We were the only three white guys in the place, not that that alone bothers me it was just that you could tell that things were very much racially divided in this part of the world. The walls were black and decorated with two velvet paintings of topless Mexican woman wearing sombrero's firing machine guns.

The second night we decided to stop into the El Dorado was their ladies night, there were a few large woman dancing together to Sir Mix A-Lot's Baby Got Back but other than that it was the same as the previous night. Pete decided to ask the bartender where all the woman were at, he replied with a devilish and plotting grin "Oh you want some woman in here? I'll make some phone calls." and sure enough, a few minutes later two attractive and scantily clad native girls showed up with a massively sized black man wearing a suit and dark sun glasses. The girls approached Pete after the bartender signaled the girls and their friend in the suit hung back in the corner keeping an eye on us. the girls then pulled out a calendar titled Native Curves. The girls showed us the months they were featured in, one of which was of a girl topless in a pool of mud water with two rez dogs fighting over some carcass in the background. I got up to use the restroom and two huge Navajo's blocked my path, I stepped around one and he casually stepped right into me shoving his shoulder into mine. The young Mexican kids were mostly really nice to us except for the two with bandanas hiding their eyes that sat a couple stools down from us that night decided to put their pistols up on the bar while giving us the shit eye. I came back from the restroom and Pete was obviously very drunk and trying to get the girls to come back to our motel room but this was the point where I pulled the cord on them and said that we needed to get the fuck out before things got really ugly.

Fucking Gallup. That place is truly scary. I almost sat on a needle behind our hotel trying to smoke a rollie. the locally featured dish at the restaurants is called a "Nightmare", a sirloin steak topped with green chilli sauce. Good stuff actually but appropriately named for being stuck in that town for 12 days. My buddy Ryan put an eerie halloween/sci-fi movie ring tone on his phone for our alarm clock every morning. When you ask locals about good places to hang out in they seemed to have a rating system based on how much of a chance you had for getting into a fight (often depending on race) in any said location. We would watch the local news at night to get a feel for the place, it was all Albuquerque TV and the stories were nuts, meth rings, cat woman, serial killers blah blah blah. One story about the closest rez town was about a murderer who's lawyer made an argument that his defendant was forced by a skin walker to commit the murder and the argument was seriously being considered legitimate.

During the days we headed out to the Hubbell Trading Post where shit seemed even more eerie. Rez dogs circles us from lengthy distances like wolves planning an attack. The wind blew all day every day and it felt like they carried ghosts with them. The guy running the project or was giving us directions obviously hated us white folks working federal contracted jobs on their land. He watched me like a hawk and scowled at me when I asked him any reasonable question. The creepy goats on the property followed us around every where we went surrounding their fenced off area. I kept seeing weird shit off in the distance, I would spot strange human like forms that would quickly disappear off into the bushes or around some corner. That place has ghosts for sure.

[Skidog]

What, you don't think a slice of tomato pie and a frosty Utica Club are the best things on planet earth?

I don't know I prefer the Syracuse area and a twin trees pie and maybe an old Vienna. Splits. 😀

[PB]

A night in a water buffalo pen somewhere in Rajasthan India hiding from the local whores' "fathers" ......
Brutal shakedown, I didn't score.

[tetzen]

[QUOTE=BmillsSkier;4947832
To my knowledge The Gobbler is still out there.[/QUOTE]

Spent alot of time at the bottom of that mountain. Was this hole in the wall place beside the old Skibarn?

[bennymac]

Birkenau Death Camp in Poland (the death camp that is nearby to the Auschwitz concentration camp). Standing in a place where over a million people were murdered in gas chambers and then dragged into giant ovens to hide the evidence. The gas chamber and ovens were at the end of the train tracks. If you were "lucky" the train stopped here, in front of where I took this picture, and you were sent to live and suffer in the barracks that stretched to the horizon.

[Bobby Stainless]

The drive from Leadville to Minturn on the back road is pretty creepy. Empty homes on cliff sides.

[BmillsSkier]

Spent alot of time at the bottom of that mountain. Was this hole in the wall place beside the old Skibarn?

Not sure. All I know is that it was at the bottom of the mountain on the way out of town. There was fog everywhere and that was the only evening we weren't on top of the mountain.

[raisingarizona13]

Birkenau Death Camp in Poland (the death camp that is nearby to the Auschwitz concentration camp). Standing in a place where over a million people were murdered in gas chambers and then dragged into giant ovens to hide the evidence. The gas chamber and ovens were at the end of the train tracks. If you were "lucky" the train stopped here, in front of where I took this picture, and you were sent to live and suffer in the barracks that stretched to the horizon.

Jeezus, that place is creepy AF.

[sanjuanworm]

Not sure. All I know is that it was at the bottom of the mountain on the way out of town. There was fog everywhere and that was the only evening we weren't on top of the mountain.

on the right halfway to marlinton....i know the place