Naples, Italy
Paris, France
Las Vegas, United States
One traveller argued that timing could make all the difference, suggesting visitors go when a major concert or event is taking place.
“The key for Vegas is you have to go when something is going on. Otherwise it’s just weird and depressing. There needs to be some sort of overarching event everyone is there for at the same time that makes it fun.”
They recalled visiting while BTS and the Jonas Brothers were performing, drawing large crowds into the city.
Outside the neon-lit entertainment district, Las Vegas is a sprawling desert metropolis with large residential suburbs—a sharp contrast to the crowds and spectacle of the Strip.
Havana, Cuba
One visitor described Havana as heartbreaking after seeing the poverty and shortages affecting local residents.
“So sad. It’s evident that at one time it was an absolutely beautiful city. I don’t think people understand the level of poverty in Cuba.”
The traveller said people were kind but often struggled to obtain basic necessities such as toilet paper and soap.
“You can’t just go to a store and buy something,” they claimed.
They also said it was difficult to find running water and functioning bathrooms.
“It was so strange. No advertising anywhere because there’s no private industry. All the billboards were political,” they added.
Cuba has been dealing with a prolonged economic crisis marked by food and fuel shortages, power outages and deteriorating infrastructure.
US sanctions and domestic economic problems have both contributed to the situation, although Cuba still has shops, restaurants and private businesses.
Denver generated some of the strangest reactions, with more than 30,000 people reportedly endorsing a comment about its sinister atmosphere.
Denver, Colorado
Denver prompted some of the most unusual responses, with more than 30,000 people reportedly agreeing with a description of the city as having a sinister atmosphere.
“It’s like the entire city is under a spell or a trance, but unless you have real spiritual discernment, you wouldn’t see it,” one person claimed.
“The entire city just felt really evil, almost like a place where people go to get stuck in a time loop, but something sinister is definitely going on there.”
Another person called Denver a “Hellmouth”, while a former resident said the city had left them with a similar impression while growing up nearby.
“I grew up in a suburb outside Denver and moved away when I was 22. It’s honestly awful,” they wrote.
“There was always something that felt very off-putting about it. The people are off, the vibes are off, it just feels kind of stagnant, and dare I say, evil?”
They later likened returning to the area to entering a “spiritual sinkhole”.
Others questioned whether Denver was worth visiting as a destination in its own right.
“You never go to Denver for Denver. You fly into Denver to go elsewhere,” one traveller wrote.
Denver lies at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and serves as a popular gateway to Colorado’s ski resorts and hiking areas.
The city has faced challenges including housing affordability and homelessness, but claims of a sinister or supernatural atmosphere are subjective.
The Australian towns travellers found unsettling
Travellers have also described unsettling encounters at some of Australia’s most spine-tingling locations.
Closer to home, Australians have named regional towns and historic sites that they found particularly eerie.
Queenstown, Tasmania
The former mining town on Tasmania’s West Coast has a distinctive landscape. Decades of mining and historic pollution left the surrounding hills largely stripped of vegetation.
“I felt like I was in Fallout… the saturation was turned way down. It was like being in a crater on the moon,” one traveller recalled.
Economic decline and occasional drug-related issues have added to the unease. Homes have sold for as little as $80,000, while some locals have said they live there out of necessity rather than choice.
A former resident described Queenstown as “unfriendly, eerie, and just feels… off”.
Aberdeen, NSW
The small Hunter Valley town left one visitor feeling unexpectedly cut off from the world.
“It felt so incredibly lonely and dead, even though it’s not particularly remote,” they recalled.
Aberdeen was also the childhood home of Katherine Knight, who became notorious after a gruesome 2000 murder in which she stabbed and skinned her boyfriend before decapitating him and attempting to cook and eat his head.
Once a thriving West Coast mining hub, Queenstown is now largely hollowed out.
Often described as one of Australia’s most notorious macabre sites, the forest became infamous in the early 1990s as the dumping ground for seven backpackers murdered by serial killer Ivan Milat.
Belanglo State Forest, NSW
Belanglo State Forest is arguably one of Australia’s most infamous macabre locations. In the early 1990s, it became known as the place where serial killer Ivan Milat left the bodies of seven murdered backpackers.
Further tragedy struck in 2010, when teenager David Auchterlonie was murdered by friends and left in a shallow grave.
Visitors have described an eerie silence in the forest, claiming there were no birds or wind. One motorcyclist recalled an especially heavy and unnerving stillness.
“It felt like the whole forest was waiting with bated breath to see if you were foolish enough to enter it,” they said.
Port Arthur, Tasmania
Port Arthur’s historic convict ruins and tragic past have left some visitors feeling uneasy, particularly during night tours.
The site was also the location of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people were killed, prompting major reforms to Australia’s gun laws.
One visitor claimed to have heard unexplained noises during a tour.
‘We heard a chair scraping with no one there, then three slow knocks on the window despite nothing on the other side,’ they recalled.
Others described the atmosphere as oppressive, with one comparing it to ‘pushing through water’.
Today, Port Arthur is part of a UNESCO World Heritage-listed convict site and remains an important destination for historical education and remembrance.
