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-Grataasked netizens what are some mysterious, cult-like, bad-vibes towns across the USA, more than 7K people gathered around and 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 out these urban areas straight from a horror movie below. Who knows, perhaps they’ll inspire you to take a spooky road trip and see them for yourself.And while you’re at it, make sure to check out a conversation we had with travel bloggerJenny Miller, who is a connoisseur of macabre and shares tips on visiting spooky sites online.More info:London Dark TourismThis post may includeaffiliate links.

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-Grataasked netizens what are some mysterious, cult-like, bad-vibes towns across the USA, more than 7K people gathered around and 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 out these urban areas straight from a horror movie below. Who knows, perhaps they’ll inspire you to take a spooky road trip and see them for yourself.

And while you’re at it, make sure to check out a conversation we had with travel bloggerJenny Miller, who is a connoisseur of macabre and shares tips on visiting spooky sites online.

More info:London Dark Tourism

This post may includeaffiliate links.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

America’s historyis rich with tales guaranteed to send shivers down your spine. Some of its 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 or sites where violence or hauntings took place.

America’s historyis rich with tales guaranteed to send shivers down your spine. Some of its 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 or sites where violence or hauntings took place.

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

Another hypothesis is called “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 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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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 rpe 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 rpist’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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

To learn more about the macabre locations that surround us,Bored Pandareached out to a dark tourism bloggerJenny Millerwho has a passion for dark tourism and knows a lot about spooky locations.Naturally, we were curious to know how she got interested in it. She told us “I’ve always been interested in the darker side of things. Some people travel to Instagrammable hotspots, and I travel to see old prisons and haunted castles.I love traveling and exploring places that have a long history. For me, it’s the closest you can get to time travel because I believe places hold onto energy from the past - both good and bad.”

To learn more about the macabre locations that surround us,Bored Pandareached out to a dark tourism bloggerJenny Millerwho has a passion for dark tourism and knows a lot about spooky locations.

Naturally, we were curious to know how she got interested in it. She told us “I’ve always been interested in the darker side of things. Some people travel to Instagrammable hotspots, and I travel to see old prisons and haunted castles.

I love traveling and exploring places that have a long history. For me, it’s the closest you can get to time travel because I believe places hold onto energy from the past - both good and bad.”

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

Miller was also kind enough to share with us her most memorable spot she came across during her dark tourism travels. It’s theRagged School Museum- a Victorian organization for the most impoverished children in the East End. In 1877 it was one of the first ever free schools in London, which changed countless lives.She said “Being there right when it opened (hot tip: always go to London museums first thing to avoid the school groups), I was the only visitor in the building except for staff. I was wandering the classrooms when from behind me, I heard the running footsteps of two children, a whoosh of air moved my hair, and I heard a child’s laughter.I turned around - thinking I planned poorly and the school tour groups had already arrived - but there was no one there. I followed the direction in which the children went, and there was nothing. The docent saw my confusion, smiled, nodded, and simply said, “They were happy here. They’re still here.” So it’s not all doom and gloom.”

Miller was also kind enough to share with us her most memorable spot she came across during her dark tourism travels. It’s theRagged School Museum- a Victorian organization for the most impoverished children in the East End. In 1877 it was one of the first ever free schools in London, which changed countless lives.

She said “Being there right when it opened (hot tip: always go to London museums first thing to avoid the school groups), I was the only visitor in the building except for staff. I was wandering the classrooms when from behind me, I heard the running footsteps of two children, a whoosh of air moved my hair, and I heard a child’s laughter.

I turned around - thinking I planned poorly and the school tour groups had already arrived - but there was no one there. I followed the direction in which the children went, and there was nothing. The docent saw my confusion, smiled, nodded, and simply said, “They were happy here. They’re still here.” So it’s not all doom and gloom.”

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.

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

For those interested in trying dark tourism Miller provided some great advice as well.“My biggest piece of advice for other “dark tourists” is to be respectful. If you’re visiting murder locations, go to remember the victims and not the perpetrator. It’s totally normal to be curious about this stuff and where it happened, but when you’re visiting dark locations, make sure you remember and respect the impact of those events.This applies to posting on social media, too - don’t be Justin Bieber at Anne Frank’s house.I think there is a respectful way to honor the past and be a “dark tourist,” and you have to be mindful that these are real people who had very real lives, no matter how their lives ended.”

For those interested in trying dark tourism Miller provided some great advice as well.

“My biggest piece of advice for other “dark tourists” is to be respectful. If you’re visiting murder locations, go to remember the victims and not the perpetrator. It’s totally normal to be curious about this stuff and where it happened, but when you’re visiting dark locations, make sure you remember and respect the impact of those events.

This applies to posting on social media, too - don’t be Justin Bieber at Anne Frank’s house.

I think there is a respectful way to honor the past and be a “dark tourist,” and you have to be mindful that these are real people who had very real lives, no matter how their lives ended.”

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

Clearwater, FloridaI 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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

“Something Bad Is Happening There”: 30 Weird And Cult-Like Towns Across The USA

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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