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The world is dangerous. Whether you're atop a mountain, in a forest, or below the sea, someone or something can strike, scream, whisper, lurk, watch, trap, twist, shatter, drown, burn, freeze, poison, chase, grab, stalk, or even kill you.
Curious about which places top people's anti-bucket lists, Reddit user Hwangster4 asked everyone on the platform to share the creepiest corners of the globe they'd never want to visit—at least not without an Iron Man suit and a battalion for backup.
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#1
Underwater caves would be pretty high up on my list, if not right up at the very top of it!
RELATED:
#2
Nutty Putty Cave
ShiraCheshire:
I don't understand that hobby.
Going into a spacious proven safe cave that doesn't fill with water at any point... yeah okay, not my cup of tea but I see how that's exciting for people.
But going into flooded/near flooded caves, going into caves you can easily get lost in, going into incredibly narrow caves you can easily get stuck in, going into caves that fill with water when the tide changes... why.
Gossameringue 2 weeks ago
I totally thought this was a closeup of some lethal carnivore's mouth...
Of course, the fact that there are many types of places on this list illustrates how subjective our fears can be. According to the DSM-5, specific phobias typically fall within five general categories:
- fears related to animals (spiders, dogs, insects, etc.)
- fears related to the natural environment (heights, thunder, darkness)
- fears related to blood, injury, or medical issues (injections, broken bones, falls)
- fears related to specific situations (flying, riding an elevator, driving)
- others (drowning, loud noises)
#3
The Strid at Bolton Abbey
It's a river in England that looks almost quaint but is anything but.
#4
Not really anything scary but kinda creepy so here goes. There's a coal mining town in PA called Centralia. It's unknown how exactly it happened but the mine caught fire in 1962 and the underground of the town has been on fire to this day. Basically a ghost town with a population of like 5 people. This town also apparently is the inspiration for the game silent Hill.
#5
This is more eerie than scary, but towns that have been flooded to make a reservoir. The idea that there are people's belongings and houses down there, at the bottom of the lake, preserved in the cold water.
Interestingly, the most common specific phobias in the U.S. include:
- Claustrophobia: Fear of being in constricted, confined spaces;
- Aerophobia: Fear of flying;
- Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders;
- Driving phobia: Fear of driving a car;
- Emetophobia: Fear of vomiting;
- Erythrophobia: Fear of blushing;
- Hypochondria: Fear of becoming ill;
- Zoophobia: Fear of animals;
- Aquaphobia: Fear of water;
- Acrophobia: Fear of heights;
- Blood, injury, and injection (BII) phobia: Fear of injuries involving blood;
- Escalaphobia: Fear of escalators;
- Tunnel phobia: Fear of tunnels;
And we can kind of see this list reflected in people's submissions.
#6
The very true out back of Australia. If you're traveling nobody expects to see you for up to a week, nobody expects phone calls or messages as theres no phone service. If you break down it could take a couple days until you are found by a passing car. And if they don't find you in time the dry extreme heat will k**l you, you could never pack enough water to survive as long as it takes for someone to notice you're even missing. It's unforgiving and a horrible way to die.
Not to mention that if you die the heat will decompose you in a matter of days and scavengers will scatter you meaning your family may never know.
Patsy Robins 2 weeks ago
NEVER LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE!!! N° 1 rule. Many people have perished after they broke down and tried to walk out. No matter how thirsty & near death you are, it’s going to accelerate if you're on foot. Plus your vehicle is likely to be found before you are.
#8
Aside from the well known places such as various death camps, prisons and battlefields.
F*****g Poveglia island. Throughout the history it was used as quarantine zone during the plague outbreaks, there are multiple mass graves on site, supposedly it was just a dying ground for the afflicted, where at some places the very soil was purely composed of rotting plague corpses. The fun doesn't end there. Later on someone decided to build a mental asylum right on top of that, in 1922. Countless cases of observed hauntings by the patients, but nobody belived them, since they were supposedly crazy. The headmaster of the institute then later on commited s*****e by climbing the belltower and jumping down.
#9
Haunted forest of Romania and in that forest: a circle where nothing grows. Anything from strange UFO sightings in there to a little girl went missing for 5 years and reappeared, when questioned, she couldn't remember anything between the time she disappeared to the time she reappeared. Even creepier is the circle. A perfect circle where no plants grow and wildlife doesnt go into either. No explanation as to why things don't grow and very strange myths and legends. Personally, I'm not someone to get wigged out on much, but everytime I think, hear or see pictures of this site, hair on the back on my neck stands up. Every time. I get weird vibes from that site just looking at it
Edit: I'm not an expert on this forest. OP asked for scary places on earth known to man. I watched a documentary on this forest. I gave my opinion what I believe to be pretty creepy at least given the stories and such and the vibes I get when I see things related to the forest. So please stop trying to "discredit" my opinion on what I think is creepy for op. The forest is interesting, and the documentary discussed a lot. Again. I'm not an expert. Have a good day guys.
Ace 2 weeks ago (edited)
Did a bit of searching for this, nearly all mentions of hauntings are on tourism guides, which tells you quite a lot. I did find a forest clearing - a bit of farmland in the woods by the look of it - and was amused by the picture on google maps.. https://maps.app.goo.gl/nGBF8J24bFvM9Crd8 Clipboard0...57307f.jpg 
#10
If you are afraid of dolls/mannequins
The silent people(hiljainen kansa)-field in Finland
Its a field of mannequins facing the main road... and somebody goes and changes their clothes once in a while
Its really creepy in spring when the nights are still dark.
Sue Denham 2 weeks ago
I'm intrigued. Do they represent something? Is it okay to swap out an outfit if you see something you'd like?
#11
Hot Tub of Despair
Scientists have discovered a 'lake' in the Gulf of Mexico. Everyone, who enters this pool at the bottom of the sea will suffer horribly.
The water in the 'lake within the sea' is about five times as salty as the water surrounding it. It also contains highly toxic concentrations of methane and hydrogen sulphide and can thus not mix with the surrounding sea.
For animals (and people) who swim into it, these toxic concentrations can be deadly. Only bacterial life, tube worms, and shrimp can survive those circumstances.
#12
Catacombs of Paris.
Whackjob-KSP:
I remember the article about some kids trespassing to explore those catacombs, and they found the body of a girl that had gone missing years earlier. Apparently another group of kids had gone down there, and in all the fun missed that they were sans one. Apparently, she had blundered around, in the dark and silence, before falling down and just dying there.
Ellinor 2 weeks ago
If you don't know your way in and if you loose your light, then you will d!e. And anyway, it's illegal to go down there without a special permit so just don't go anyway. If the police catch you then you'll have to pay 150€, and if you used a tramway path belonging to the SNCF train company then it's 3 750 € and 6 months in jail. Not worth it.
#13
Kawah Ijen Volcano
Constantly spews sulfur in gas and liquid, lit up with bright blue flames, and has a lake of acid with pH down to 0.5.
#14
It depends on what you qualify as scary. Places that come to mind are the marianas trench, chernobyl and if you can count it the kola super deep bore hole in russia.
Marianas trench is so deep its impossible for humans to survive down there in any way IIRC. Yet weird baloon like fish manage to live down there.
Chernobyl is self explanatory, though the radiation has significantly declined over the years its still a very dangerous zone, especially with the radiation mutated animals like something out of fallout.
The kola super deep bore hole was a project by the soviets to try and break through the earths crust and get to the earths mantle. I think the size of it was only maybe a foot wide tunnel dug straight down. But it got to the point where their equipment couldnt operate anymore because of the extreme temperatures, something like 180 degrees celsius or some other high temperature. It was stopped with the collapse of the soviet union and the final depth was about 7.5 miles down. The scary part about it is that these f*****s literally dug a third of the way through earths crust just to see if they could/what would happen and just slapped a cover over it.
Jihana 2 weeks ago
I call BS on the mutated animals in the exclusion zone. There is nothing extremely mutazed running around in those woods. And do you know why. Extreme mutations don't survive for long, most of them aren't even born alive. There are extremely large fish in the lakes, but that's because noone has been fishing there for 40 years.
#15
Boesmansgat
It barely looks like much more than a pond, yet is actually hundreds of metres deep and multiple people have died there.
I read a couple of articles that, whilst fascinating, were also faintly terrifying.
#16
Antarctica, with temperatures that can drop down to -89C, winds up to 300+km/h, thousands of Km from the closest inhabited nation, ultra low population density which the super majority are concentrated at various camps and just a place of ice. Get lost and you're dead.
#17
Mayak nuclear facility in Russia, including the nearby Lake Karachay and the Techla River.
Probably the most polluted place in the entire planet where there have been more nuclear accidents than I’d like to count and the authorities have been dumping nuclear waste into the lake for 50+ years, just converting it with concrete slowly.
They’ve also been dumping water into the river for all that time too and it’s unknown how many people living downstream might have suffered from radiation and poisoning of their water/food supplies.
Storage facilities for high level and low level waste are essentially rotting away and neglected or poorly operated, leading to repeated criticality events and explosions over its lifetime. This place has emitted more radiation into the environment than any other nuclear accident in history; including Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Forrest Hobbs 2 weeks ago
Hey! What about us! You forgot about the UK's Windscale fire! - 1957, one of the world's worst nuclear accidents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire 😬
#18
The blue burrito.
In prison if you go on a hunger strike, or if you are a s*****e risk, they will wrap you up in this blue binding with your hands to your sides. Only your head poking out the top. And throw you in that tiny padded broom closet room.
And leave you wrapped up like this 24 hours a day, for as long as they want. Theyll help you eat, and go to the bathroom, but otherwise you will be completely immobilized.
That sounds worse than death.
#19
The North Korea/South Korea border.
Less of creepiness, and more of direct danger that makes it so you will most likely die within seconds. More than likely there have been hundreds (possibly even thousands) of people that were shot or blown up in that area with their remains never retrieved.
Gossameringue 2 weeks ago
Yet the DMZ, because of this isolation, has one of the more varied ecosystems on the planet.
#20
The ocean, we know more about other planets than we do below the surface of the ocean. Their is an estimated 100 thousand to 10 million species that are undiscovered. "Point Nemo" also know as the loneliest place on earth is located in the ocean. The closest island is the Pitcairn which is still 2,700 KM (1,677 Miles) and inhabited by approximately 50 people. If you were at point nemo and the international space station were to pass over you, they would be the closest people to you. Not only is the ocean lonely and cold, it also has lots of pressure. If you were to be placed at the bottom of the Mariana Trench with no protection you would be crushed with the force of about 50 jumbo jets. Which is around 25,000,000 Pounds or 12,500 tons.
#21
School bathrooms. I’m dead serious about this.
#22
Probably not the scariest on Earth, but to me as an Ohioan, the many dead and dying towns we have here can be pretty surreal. Places where manufacturing and mining jobs dried up, and most or all of the inhabitants just left.
Many still have a few people living there, often 50 or less. In these places, it can feel like you've gone back in time. There are no chain stores of any kind, only old-timey mom and pop places. Maybe a general store, a bar/diner, a post office if they're lucky, and that's it. All of the vehicles are pristine 50s and 60s models, the farm equipment may be from the 1920s or earlier. 90% of the homes and businesses are abandoned, if not more. You may also hear an accent not spoken by anyone other than these few people. I've been to tiny towns here where everyone sounded like they'd been transplanted out of Boston to some middle of nowhere Ohio town. (Due to isolation, stuff like this can happen where an area has so little exposure to other areas that they retain an accent through generations that technically shouldn't exist locally, it's kind of like a type of Founder Effect. Look up Tangier Island, Virginia for a great example.)
Visiting these places can be uncomfortable, because the few remaining residents are often downright hostile to outsiders.
#23
Chernobyl is pretty scary.
#24
Personally the uncontacted tribes that remain on Earrh scare the s**t out of me (while being fascinating at the same time).
The Sentinelese hate all outsiders and will try to k**l anyone within range. ~~Yet it is likely they have never discovered fire.~~ (everyone keeps making a thing of this particular note so i'm just taking it out)
Many others exist in South American jungles and have only been spotted by helicopter/occasional aerial sightings. I've always found that unknown aspect very creepy.
Edit: I am aware that, in the past, people have contacted them successfully. However, any of the most recent attempts to contact them have been met with varying degrees of hostility, which is where my own fear comes from. I'm not saying they aren't justified or have their reasons, either.
2006: Two fisherman k****d when they fell asleep in their boat and drifted too close to shore.
2018: Missionary k****d when he tried to visit and speak with them.
person (i think) 2 weeks ago
That missionary deserved his fate. Stop trying to convert people; leave them in peace
#25
Hoia Baciu forest in Romania is considered to be a haunted forest, some people went missing in that forest (the shepherd who went missing with a flock of 200 sheep). Visitors of this forest also report strange feelings of nausea, anxiety and being watched.
Panda McPandaface 2 weeks ago
Are there any large forests where people have not gone missing at some point?
#26
I live in India, so jungles, in which elephants and predators live, are pretty scary. Days are pretty cool, but after twilight its scary...
ॐBoyGanesh 2 weeks ago
I spent my first ten years living near Mudumalai National Park. Even at that young age I was aware when the news would spread that another person was lost to the jungle. I heard stories of kids eaten by tigers, tho these were probably mostly myths told to young kids from older kids to scare them. At least that’s how I remember it. My mom tells me that it was true people would get lost or go missing in the jungle or that predators didn’t necessarily stay within the confines, but there were no tigers eating children that she was aware of.
#27
The elephant's foot at Chernobyl. I am pretty sure being in the same room as that thing is lethal.
Forrest Hobbs 2 weeks ago
Yes, but no-one's allowed near it and it's all safely contained despite Putin's recent attack on the enclosure... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant%27s_Foot_(Chernobyl) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_New_Safe_Confinement
#28
I visited a place on a tour of WW2 events around Europe that gave me absolute chills. It was in the middle of a woods, a big pit with steps cut into the side that we carefully walked down. It must've been about 20ft deep and 50ft from side to side, empty save for a single wooden post riddled with bullet holes. Horrible, but so were a lot of other places we'd been, but this one was weird. It was in the middle of a forest we'd walked through, full of birds and other wildlife, but here it was silent, completely still. No wind, no noise, nothing grew through the packed earth. It sounds stupid but it was like nature rejected it, it felt poisonous. As soon as we walked away from it all the sounds of nature started again. Freaked me out, that was 26 years ago and I've never forgotten how it made me feel.
#29
In Hawaii, there’s a sinkhole who’s name escapes me. Nobody knows exactly how or why but sometimes, people who swim there are fine one moment before showing signs of panic and are subsequently pulled into the depths. No visible disturbances in the water are present in these cases and many times, people are fine. The locals believe a legendary water monster lives there and have therefore banned any and all swimming in this area.
Most likely, it’s a tidal whirlpool but if this is the case, there would be visible water disturbance on or near the surface and the disappearances in a smaller area of the lake, however this is not the case from what I hear.
#30
After watching the movie The Lighthouse I would be terrified of spending one day there. Just the idea of being in a small rock in the middle of nowhere with no communication and just one small accident from death terrifies me.
#31
The Mariana Trench.
GloDyna:
Just read on it..1960 was the First Time Man Reached The Bottom. Took till 2013 to do it again.. sheesh..7 miles deep.. looked at a few creatures.. Goblin Shark? HAHA NOPE!
#32
Consonno (Italy) is a ghost city, consonno was called “città dei balocchi” in old time because of the “life quality” about the city, after a landslide, the city started to become a ghost town. [here the link if you want to know more](http://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonno)
It’s not “haunted” or maybe it is, but the city now it’s really creepy without any people living on it.
Day Andie 2 weeks ago
Rather interesting backstory: While it was always a rural village, in 1962 some jerk-face named Mario Bagno bought the whole village, displaced the residents and tore it all down. He then built a bunch of tourist stuff that was supposed to bring in big bucks, calling it the "Las Vegas of Brianza" except he did such a crappy job that everything was shortly condemned as being unsafe. Additionally, he caused a lot of environmental damage which lead to landslides. There have been attempts to revive the area as the surrounding countryside is very scenic, but to date this hasn't happened. Just goes to show that having a lot of money doesn't mean your smart, and most people with a butt-ton of money use it to massage their ego.
#33
Any school at night with the lights off. Something about places that are alive with people all day can be the creepiest when you experience them alone in the dark at night.
Edit: I once got left in my old jr high building after a play. I had been playing hide and seek and s**t and when it was over my brother strait forgot to find me to go home. That stage, the auditorium, the curtains, back rooms with costumes. All that s**t in the pitch dark and silence was f*****g wild!
Panda McPandaface 2 weeks ago
Empty theatres are another place that feels odd with no-one in them, nightclubs also.
#34
As an Aussie, I have to say our fire zones.
Kombatbunni 2 weeks ago
Going through an area that’s been burned out is kind of eerie and sad at the same time.
#35
The Island of the Dolls in Mexico
Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Kentucky, USA.
Learner Panda 2 weeks ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_of_the_Dolls and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverly_Hills_Sanatorium
#36
The scariest places are the nearby slums, crack-house and h****n-infested areas. Nearly every major city has one or more. Latin America may have the worst ones but it’s hard to tell.
If you go there and don’t know your way around, you are going to get robbed or worse.
And if you don’t do your research first, it’s easy to find yourself in these areas without knowing. All the physical places are known and easy enough to avoid - Snake Island doesn’t move.
#37
People have limited answers to places we can at least send a probe.
I'm not going to.
I'm nominating the molten core of the planet. Temperatures hot enough to turn liquid metal into gas, but pressures too high to allow even that so it remains liquid.
#38
Black Mountain in Australia
Stories have persisted for years of people disappearing into the interior of the mountain ... and never coming out. Even the Aborigines shun it.
Day Andie 2 weeks ago
No mystery here. The area is very hot and rugged, in places nothing but lava rock boulders--extremely dangerous terrain to try navigate. Put that together with idiots who neglect their livestock, add stupid behavior, hubris, and alcohol, and you get dead people and animals. It's actually a sacred place to the Aborigines, and they don't shun it, they respect it. It's part of their dream-time and there are many native stories surrounding it. The mountain itself is located in Black Mountain National Park, and the Mulligan Highway lies in a low pass to the north of the majority of the lava beds. Rumors on the internet say that navigational signals are mysteriously disrupted around the mountain, but that's a bit doubtful, seeing as the Helenvale Airport is about two miles south of the highest point of the rocky part of the mountain.
#39
Annapurna. A mountain in Nepal where nearly 30 percent of climbers die.
#40
There is an island in Brazil, the island has 1500m length x 500m width. It has at least 45 snakes per hectare. How scary is that?
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