When driving around on a long trip, you're liable to pass through towns of all stripes. You'll wind through big cities, inspiring earthly landscapes, and small, unknown little dots on the map.
And those tiny little towns can seriously pack a punch.
You might only drive through for about 15 minutes, maybe fill up the gas tank and grab a drink from the corner store, but that's all it takes to catch a vibe.
There's something about the buildings, the people, or the desolate quality of the entire place that's enough to make your skin crawl.
Some Redditors took a moment to describe the towns that freaked them out completely.
sorvivordemigod asked, "What are some of the Scariest Small Towns in America?"
Plenty of people described the places that legitimately seemed haunted. Some people even treated readers to the backstory and broader context of the creepy place left behind.
Other times, they could just tell.
People Explain The Worst Thing That's Ever Happened To Them On Their Birthday
Reddit Users Share Their Best 'It's A Small World After All' Experience
Creepy Kids
"Carpenter, WY. It's a super tiny town. I've only driven through once, so I can't say it's super scary, definitely creepy though. The one time I was there there was nobody outside except this little girl outside the town hall that just stared at us while we drove by, shaking her head the whole time."
"On the way out of town we did see a kid playing basketball in his backyard, so that mitigated the creepiness of the little girl."
-- oneandonlyE
A Mix of Influences
"Samoa, California. I've been in some weird places. Nowhere has ever creeped me out like that little village of the damned."
"Imagine Stephen King and David Lynch fell asleep playing Silent Hill, and shared a fever dream directed by John Carpenter."
"Anyone who's been there feel free to back me up. There's a straight up evil energy there."
-- fishsupper
Remnants of a Cult
"Rulo, Nebraska. The town has a real haunted vibe to it. Lots of abandoned buildings with no one around."
"Plus it was home to a Christian Identity cult lead by Michael Ryan in the early 1980's that tortured and murdered several members. Ryan was sentenced to death for the murders but ended up dying in prison before the sentence was carried out."
"Rod Colvin wrote a book about this cult called 'Evil Harvest.' "
Lived In, But Empty
"Yellowdog, PA. Here's one account."
"I guess it's not super scary, but one of my elementary school friends grew up there and I probably stayed there every other week for like ten years. They eventually moved out. It took maybe five years later and the whole place was abandoned."
"We went to visit not that long ago and it's fu**ing creepy. There are still toys and stuffed animals just lying around. The houses are in bad shape but they're all still standing, and you can absolutely just go in and have a look around."
Icons
"Hillsville, PA aka Zombieland. Some crazy local legends brewed up about that place over the years. Involving lighting a torch in the woods to begin your journey, a haunted bridge, graveyard & murder house."
"Was really fun to go there back in High school. Theres a really creepy underpass decorated in hundreds of statues of mother Mary before going up what seems a 90 degree incline to actually get up into the hills."
-- BerserkMike
Other people explored creepy towns that drew their horror from more secular sources. The actual behavior of people and other man-made entities can sometimes be as scary as old legends or haunted ghosts.
A Fleet in Pursuit
"Colorado City, AZ if you are not known there, you will be followed by several white SUVs." -- brockdaywatch
"First place that came to my mind! You get a weird vibe driving through and seeing all these half built compounds and people just stare at you as you drive by" -- libtech1776
Just Something Awry
"Orangeburg, SC Had to spend a week there for work once. From the moment I arrived, I felt uneasy. The town was eerily quiet when I drove in. I felt like I was in a post-apocalyptic movie of some sort. I'm a pretty happy guy and I loved my job but I felt depressed all week and don't think I smiled once while I was there. Not one person I worked with that week seemed happy either."
"The hotel I stayed at gave me the creeps. There was quite a bit of drug activity going on in the parking lot which made the situation worse. I had to move to another hotel in the middle of the night because I didn't feel safe. The week went by so slow. On my departure day, I woke up early and booked it tf out of there. Once I was on the highway headed to the airport, I felt such relief."
-- aarogar
Let It Burn
"My GPS re routed me through Gary Indiana last week. There was a literal car fire in a neighborhood it routed me through."
"Seemed to have been burning for a while...no one around. 👍"
-- PleasehaIp
Aimless
"Cairo, Illinois."
"Protected by levies. Mostly abandoned."
" 'What is it, would you say, you actually do here?' "
-- Harai_Goatse
Constantly Watched
"The area around Manly, Lousiana. The town was nice, great Mexican food. But once you're out of town...it's 30 min on bad roads to the highway. I was sent out there for a job. Nothing is paved, 'county roads' are gravel or dead end into gully's, wild dogs roaming, and random houses are just abandoned in the woods. Locals from town won't go into some of the areas like Coushetta. Nothing matches the map, and there was no cell service. I passed an abandoned hospital? Or something, it was a sign and then foundations in the woods."
"The creepiest part was I was talking to some locals and a guy tells me out of no where 'oh yeah, I saw you by the lake, figured you weren't from here' I hadn't seen him there at all. It was a one lane dirt road. He kept talking and it turned he knew where I'd been all day. He and his friends had kept tabs on me. And his smile scared the hell out of me. I've never left a town so fast."
"I feel like this comment doesn't fully explain the weirdness and creepiness of the abandoned houses, wild dogs and locals keeping tabs on me all day."
Guardians of the Tunnel
"Hawthorne Nevada was a very strange place. It has a navel base in the middle of the desert and a lake called walker lake that's rumored to have a tunnel for subs to go to the pacific."
"When I drove thru and stopped for gas there everyone wouldn't stop staring and it just gave me a vibe."
Finally, some people could point to a very true, historic reason for the way a place turned out. Natural disasters and other mass tragedies laid the groundwork for total eeriness.
The Influence of One Man
"Skidmore, MO. The whole town cowered down to a bully, Ken McElroy for years as he stole, raped, and intimidated the residents. Then one day they had enough and gunned him down outside the local bar."
"I visited the town several years later while in the area on business and I got the weirdest vibe from the townsfolk. Perhaps it was because I was an outsider and they were probably sick of the notoriety and unwanted attention. Whatever it was, I couldn't get out of there fast enough."
Too Pristine
"Newtown, MO. Part of St Charles I'm pretty sure. Place is eerie. The trees line up too perfectly. No noise. No dogs barking. No kids playing. Nobody just waking around."
"The houses are all less than 10 years old but nearly identical and made to look like 1910s-20s bungalows. Landscaping is pristine. Then 'downtown' there are frikkin massive animal statues and the buildings all look like the Parthenon."
"It feels like those videos demonstrating the effects of a nuke, if a place could feel like that."
Toxic Ruins
"I'm surprised no one mentioned Picher, OK."
"When the Tornado went through in 2008, it destroyed a majority of the town. However, it was known for their piles 'chat' a residue that comes from Zinc mining. Little did the realize how incredibly toxic this was as it was used for building roads, sidewalks, and sandboxes."
"Kids of the area would even play in the piles unbeknownst to them the dangers associated with it. Eventually there would be an influx of cases of children having learning disabilities and a school guidance counselor sought to have the tests done to check for lead poisoning. The town became a toxic waste ground and the EPA had to force residences to evacuate the area."
"Going into that town know, it's nothing more than a grave-site - this video shows a documentary filmmaker (Dan Bell) walking through the town and showing what remains. Truly scary and at the same time depressing."
Dried Up
"Cairo, Illinois. Drove through a few times with my boyfriend when he was a truck driver. Had a very spooky and dark feeling to it. Only place open was a subway.. and all the lights in the parking lot were out."
"I looked the town up and apparently a flood had come through and destroyed most of the town years before. What was left was probably the most unwelcome, eeiry place I've had the dissatisfaction of visiting."
There's no doubt you've passed through just such a town in your day.
The question then becomes, did it pique your interest enough to go back, or spook you so much you never will?
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
- People Divulge The Worst Things To Happen In Their Small Town... - George Takei ›
- Redditors that grew up/live in the country what’s something every city kid should know?edditor - George Takei ›
- People Explain Which Culturally Accepted Things Get Creepier The More You Think About Them - George Takei ›
- People Divulge The Opinion That Is The Smallest Hill They're Willing To Die On - George Takei ›
It pays to know another language. Being bilingual can open many doors.
It's also pretty useful for eavesdropping, not that we're endorsing that.
As a Spanish speaker—hooray for growing up in a bilingual household!—I have always been rather humored by moments when people were talking about me... under the impression that I didn't know what they were saying.
Imagine their faces once I proved them wrong!
Those who speak any other language have undoubtedly had a similar experience at least once.
People shared their stories with us after Redditor 64eight asked the online community,
"Multilinguals, what's your 'They didn't realise I could understand their language' story?"
"I was in Germany..."
"Am ethnically Chinese but grew up learning German."
"I was in Germany for student exchange and attended a dorm party one night. Two German guys at the party started flirting with me and openly discussed who would be able to sleep with me that night."
"Played dumb and rejected both their advances. A week later at another party I conversed with other friends in fluent German in front of them. Their expressions were priceless."
howlingowls123
I bet they were shocked! What a power move.
"My dad was down the aisle..."
"Very innocent comment towards my Dad, but regardless they clearly didn't think I could understand them. I once overheard some middle aged guys say that my Dad looks like "the oldest kid from The Brady Bunch if he grew up" in Spanish."
"My dad was down the aisle getting something and I was manning the cart and they were semi near me. I just start laughing because my mom had a crush on Greg from The Brady Brunch as a kid,so it was perfect! Even my Dad's name is Greg!"
"No one was offended, but the guys did look scared for a minute."
complexismygame
I bet they were scared. Must have given you quite a laugh!
"I responded in Spanish..."
"It happens to me all the time because I look middle-eastern when I'm really Hispanic. I was working at a coffee shop and two hispanic men came in talking mad s**t about our food and confused about the menu."
"Right in front of me the guy's like "Lets ask this guy" "This guy? What's this camel gonna know about anything here" (I guess camel is a slur for middle eastern or something?). I responded in Spanish and it was back-pedal o'clock."
Serves them right, if you ask me. Hopefully they learned a valuable lesson.
"In high school..."
In high school I spoke Spanish fairly well. It was not common for that time and for my area."
"A family was buying groceries, and as I was ringing up the items the father said "he has not seen the stuff on the bottom, don't get it."
"I rang up what was on the belt, and sat there, after a few moments I asked about the stuff on the bottom. They would not look at me for the next 2 mins or so of the transaction."
cmichael00
Few places can inspire interactions like this more than the supermarket checkout line!
"I took a youth group to Six Flags..."
"I took a youth group to Six Flags. We had extra tickets from a couple of no-shows, so I decided to scalp them."
"A Korean family walked up and I made my pitch. They conferred together in Korean. I'm a white guy, but I lived in rural Korea for a year and bargained with a lot of shopkeepers, so I knew their counter-offer and what they were willing to pay before they announced it in English."
gud_speller
A secret skill! Look at you go. Oh to be a fly on the wall and see their reactions!
"I was in NYC..."
"I'm French. I was in NYC, on top of the Empire State Building and a young couple was standing next to me admiring the view, the guy turns to his gf and says in French "ahh I need to s**t so bad". I couldn't not laugh."
OliviaRowe
Can't blame you! One of the best things about knowing another language is catching moments like that.
"I was solo traveling..."
"I was solo traveling in Morocco. I'm 22, female and speak Arabic enough to understand conversations, basic words and phrases, etc. I was trying on clothes at a small shop and there were two women helping me choose what to try on."
"They started talking about me in Arabic, saying how I would be a great wife for one of the lady's sons. They were going on and on, and as I was leaving I responded in Arabic, "No thank you, but I appreciate your help," and they were stunned."
mynameissarah
Good thing you could speak enough to get by! You could have been in an awkward situation!
"Oh, the cooks..."
"Oh the cooks at my job still don't know I'm fluent in Spanish. Yes, I know everything you're saying, Alejo."
[deleted]
Restaurants must be full of juicy drama and you have heard all of it!
"My wife is Indian..."
"My wife is Indian and her family speaks Gujarati. I've spent many years trying to pick it up and have found it to be very difficult as there are no great resources that I am aware of to learn it. You just have to listen and try to guess the context."
"Anyway, over the years I've gotten pretty good, and when my wife's aunt was visiting from India she went right in to my wife about how much weight I'd gained and how bad my diet must be."
"I understood every word and stopped her about two minutes into her rant. Turns out it didn't stop her from continuing."
[deleted]
She didn't even stop? Boundaries much?
If you happen to know another language, you pretty much have a secret superpower at your disposal! People will think twice about what they say around you, as they should.
Have stories of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!
Everybody wants a happy ending in life.
A happy love story ending that is.
But it may take longer to find than we'd like.
And we have to have standards and lines that are not crossable.
Know your boundaries.
Be able to say...
"That is my limit."
Redditor arbetarbladet wanted to hear about the reasons people will leave the search for love behind.
They asked:
"What's a dealbreaker when it comes to dating?"
Draw a line in the sand and stick to it.
Start
I Mean Episode 18 GIF by FriendsGiphy"They don't initiate ANYTHING such as dates or intimacy."
Blackcore8
Obsessed
"The date being obsessed with themselves or continually talking about their ex partners."
LMcGenius
"Went on a date many years ago. This was one of my first dates after my wife left me. On this date the woman kept asking about my ex. Probably half of her questions were about the ex."
"Naturally I answered her questions but always tried to move the conversation back to me, her, whatever. Next day she texts and says she didn't think I was ready to date, that I was clearly still in love with my ex because I kept talking about her on our date."
BigPorter
Fixer Upper
"A ‘fix me’ person. I will support you to be your best. But I am not responsible to fix you."
nadanope11
"I think what’s even worse is when they treat you like you’re the fix-me-up. It’s very condescending and humiliating. That’s more of a pet relationship."
sebastianbass740
"I have a bad habit of picking partners who need fixing, it's unconscious really, but it's happened often enough to be an obvious pattern. And even as a person who sought out this trait, dealing with a person who needs to be fixed is exhausting."
L0vely_lacy
Blocked him fully...
"When u notice that they want to change you into ways they like more, subtle hints at start but progressively they get more ballsy."
Draxxony
"I dated a guy who saw me as a lump of clay he could mold to his liking. I told him repeatedly that I was uninterested in attending grad school despite getting great fellowships because I got the job I thought I needed graduate school for."
"He sat me down and told me he could leverage some of his connections to get me into a good program, I told him absolutely not and that I didn't need his help, that I had gotten into good programs,, and he ignored me and just kept on with his pitch. I broke things off directly after this and he vetoed and said he didn't agree so we were still together. Blocked him fully."
SahmiSahm
BRUSH!!
teeth brushing GIF by Michelle PorucznikGiphy"Not brushing your teeth/poor dental hygiene on a regular basis."
Ohyeahimoverhereyeah
Teeth are the key to life.
Stench
spray odor GIFGiphy"Old body odor stank."
Beavshak
"People need to realize that just because you don't smell it doesn't mean other people don't smell it. It's the same sh*t a smoker thinks."
DesperateTall
Earther...
"Flat Earther."
karmaredemption
"I just recently dated a Flat Earther! Didn’t find out until a few months in. Also didn’t find out about his ex being pregnant with his baby several months in, that was the dealbreaker for me but I should have stopped at Flat Earther."
Merskeet
"Or Young Earther."
"A couple years ago I dated a guy for a month before learning that he believed the world was just 6000 years old. The day I learned that, I showed up at the house of my biologist friends who had just been ranting about their college students who didn't 'believe' in evolution. I set down the beer and backpack I was holding and said, 'Guys, he's a Young Earther.' Took them a second to sort it out, and then we all collapsed with laugher. I broke up with him within the week."
firsttimetexan
RAGE!!
"A bad temper."
alval98
"My stepfather had a bad temper. Never violent, but I could never understand why my mother married him. Never date, much less marry someone with a bad temper."
MissNightTerrors
Not a Weapon
"Using their mental illness as part of their identity. No attempt to truly address it and leverage their illness to guilt others."
Toogern
"It's maybe not the best thing to talk about during a first date. But it's the kind of thing I would want my date to know beforehand. I'd rather be told that she's not interested because of my mental illness than not telling her and letting her discover this side of me."
OnTheDevilsGrave
Adults Only
Gary Coleman 80S GIFGiphy"As someone who doesn't want children, dating someone who does is a dealbreaker. Suffered a couple broken hearts over having to make this decision."
_JazminBianca
"This is so important! And, to add, believe someone when they say they don't want kids. Don't take it to mean that they don't want them right now, or any time soon. If they firmly don't want children, that's not likely to change."
pspisy
Deals to the self are important. Stay true...
At the end of a long work day, many of us can't be bothered with the daunting task of cooking.
While ordering out every night is not a financial viability for most of us, what else is there to eat that doesn't always involve nuking a frozen dinner entree?
It turns out there are plenty of options on our home menu.
Curious to hear what some of those might be, Redditor AdamIsAnAlias asked:
"What is your go-to 'I don’t want to cook' meal?"
Chances are, your fridge has enough ingredients to throw together a surprisingly tasty, quick meal.
Wrap It Up
"Throw sum sh*t into a tortilla wrap it up and eat."
– NebraskaIsntRealu
Dinner In One Hand
"When I have tortillas in the house, this is the answer every time. Chicken patties and salsa? Beef and broccoli noodles? Leftover chili and chips? Why not put it in a wrap?"
– Panda_Satan
When all else fails, throw these in a bowl.
Convenient All Day
"There's never a wrong time of day for Cereal."
– Zoelings
Life Saver
"When I was in high school and dealing with seasonal depression, cereal was basically the only reason I survived, lol. Morning, afternoon, 2 am...cereal was always there."
– I_DRINK_ANARCHY
Add It To Ramen
"I felt really clever the day I realized I could cut a green onion into the pot with a pair of scissors and not bother with a knife and cutting board 😅"
– aoeuismyhomekeys
Add A Little Kick
"Yes ramen any way as long as you have some 🌶"
– Stuffzenuffs
Going Fusion
"I like a thai twist on ramen."
"Drain most of the water then add the seasoning packet, a spoonful of peanut butter and curry powder to taste. Mmmm."
– debbieae
Basic And Nourishing
"Pasta or soup."
– EeJoannaGee
Ingredients From A Favorite Grocer
"Trader Joe’s . Box of their tomato soup, frozen gnocchi,and a bag of spinach."
"Heat soup, add gnocchi, cook for 6-8 min, add spinach. Done!"
– fledbum
When you don't have the time.
Cheap Like Fancy
"Uncle bens 90 second rice topped with a can of chili. I’ll even melt some cheese and/or add minced onion if I’m feeling fancy."
"Although this was more of a poverty meal and less of a I don’t feel like cooking meal."
– Fizzbytch
A Classic
"PB&J sammy."
– BookMonger101
I always have rice in my rice cooker so that every time I don't feel like cooking, I can just scoop out some rice and top it with egg and natto.
What's natto, you say? Well, they are fermented soybeans that are considered a super food in Japan. They have a foul odor and it is an acquired taste.
But they're packed with protein, fiber, and probiotics and are extremely beneficial for your heart, bones, and immune system.
I stock up on them whenever I hit the local Asian market and it involves no preparation at all for consuming.
Try it. You may have to pinch your nose while you eat it to mute out the intense nutty flavor, but your body will thank you.
When we encounter a homeless person or panhandler, most people will have some spare change or petty cash at the ready to offer them.
Unfortunately, not everyone is as willing to give them even as little as a penny.
In some cases, it might be a safety issue, as they might not carry loose change in their pockets, and don't feel comfortable taking out their wallets.
Then too, in this day and age, fewer and fewer people even carry cash around with them any more.
Whether their reasons are justified or not, many people have a response at the ready should they be approached by a homeless person asking for money.
"How do you usually respond to a homeless person asking you for money?"
No Response Necessary
"Okay so my car is a rusty old beater with the bumpers duck taped on."
"The other day there was a man pan handling where I was stopped at a red light and he asked all the cars for cash and when he got to mine I didn’t even have to say anything."
"He put his hands up, laughed and walked past me. "
"So yeah."- West_Concern_1165
We're Not So Different, You And I...
“I’m one missed pay check from asking you the same thing”- livelaughloaft
Depends On The Location...
"'No, sorry'."
"Literally never had a response back but feel like it's better to acknowledge they spoke to me?"
"Just seems like politeness I guess."
"I'm in Liverpool, UK."
"It was honestly REALLY noticeable the difference between homeless people here, I presume usually people who struggle accessing benefits for some reason or substance addicts, and the cities I've been to in the US, seemingly profoundly mentally unwell and intimidating."
"In my whole life in the UK a homeless person has never said more to me than 'got any spare change?'"
"So I feel comfortable meeting their gaze and saying 'no sorry', or occasionally giving them change."
"But in the US I very quickly learned to look straight ahead and say nothing."
"Especially in Philadelphia, holy sh*t."- Saxon2060
Short And Simple
"I usually just say 'no, sorry'."
"If I give money to everyone who asks me, I'm going to be homeless too."- AngryHippo3920
Choose Your Words Carefully
"I usually say 'sorry dude', but when I said that to a guy in San Francisco he started yelling at us about not needing our apology."
" At that point I just said "sorry, I'm Canadian!" while running away."
"Just for clarity, I hate these jokes. But even moreso that I did it unironically."- fubes2000
Silence Is Golden
"I smile sheepishly while shaking my head and walking past."- LucyVialli
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Being Cashless
"'I don't carry cash', which is true, because I don't carry cash, my phone is encrypted and biometrically locked, and the cards I carry are easily cancelled and replaced."
"Gotta make it so if you get mugged you don't have to do much after handing it all over."- frygod
Alternatives To Giving Cash
"I live downtown in a major city."
"I get asked for money about 5x/day."
"I just smile and keep walking."
"I regularly buy water and food for the ones that sleep near my apartment that I see repeatedly."- knovit
Sorry, WHAT?!?!
"I'm pretty sure a homeless guy tried robbing me."
"He came up to me and held up a knife to my face telling me he was selling it for $20."
"Me not acknowledging the fact this shady guy was holding a knife to my face in the middle of the night just say 'I don't carry cash' and continued walking."
" It was only after the fact I realized that the guy was probably actually trying to rob me."- Shadow948
Being asked for money is simply an uncomfortable situation, not to mention a reminder of one's relative privilege.
If you don't have anything to give, perhaps the best thing to do is imagine if the situation was reversed, and what you would want to hear.