Why do certain places just feel wrong?

[purplepoppy]

I'm an ourdoorsy type of girl and feel relaxed and comfortable walking down a deserted country lane alone at night. Moorland, woodland, hill and valley I'll cross day and night. But there are spots I feel distinctively uncomfortable in, they look no different to the surrounding area but have an uneasy feel about them. It's like when you put someone else's coat on, even though it's same brand, size and identical you get that "something wrong" feeling. In one spot I can't even walk a dog as he'll refuse to enter it yet to the eye is nothing more than a small hollow in a field.

So why are there certain spots that just feel wrong, one's where you never hear birdsong or where your dog refuses to go? Places you feel you shouldn't be there. Are they sites of past evil deeds, spots where unseen forces lurk or is there a scientific reason behind those spots?

[Levin]

Hmm, you're probably more sensitive than you portray, if you pick up on those things.

A scientific/rational answer would probably be along the lines of stereotyping. Like for example, certain areas, rationally but subconsciously, you know to avoid. Might be past negative associations, shady area, drug takers, you're aware that it's an obscure area where it would be difficult to get help. You're just working with the own internal patterns you've created. It's a biological impulse of keeping us safe and alive so we can propagate our genes, yadayada. Dogs are more sensitive to emotions, therefore, they may be picking up on your distrust of the area.

What you say about your dog and the reaction of other animals implies that you believe there are potential spiritual forces at work.

You're better off asking someone with ESP. I can feel places in my house that always feel 'bad'. You have to keep your awareness. Walk through them unconsciously, and all the shit in your subconscious activates. You can also make yourself more sensitive to these things through meditation. Whereas, worldly people, who make themselves more worldly - have worldly thoughts and occupations, cut themselves off from this sensitivity. TBH, I have had quite a few 'spiritual experiences' that make me believe in a spiritual world. However, I don't really have ESP. I can just be quite sensitive.

Are you referring to urban or semi-urban areas? I'm quite fortunate in that I live in a suburban area. I get an overall feel for things. That's why I'm attracted to living in the countryside. I feel spiritually connected. I mostly always feel good in the countryside. The same in certain suburban areas, you get a better overall 'feeling'. If I go into certain urban areas or less affluent, I am definitely more on my guard. However, the rationalist would argue that it is just pattern matching based on past experiences. Urban areas tend to be less safe in general.

[Levin]

Also, let's say you went into the countryside, which theoretically should be safe, would you get 'bad feelings' about specific spots there? Or is it where there is human activity such as disused factories, buildings, etc?

[Levin]

The other thing is, human beings are associated with corruption in general. Take pollution, fumes, littering. We know pollution affects peoples' health directly. But internally, inwards, it's not a far stretch that it makes us *feel* like shit also. Compare the air quality in the countryside to that in urban areas near traffic. All these forces impact on how we're feeling.

[purplepoppy]

As an atheist I don't buy into spots having some evil spirit. But it doesn't change the fact that some particular innocent looking places just feel wrong. I've talked to people from all over and it seems to be a common phenomenon all over the world. I know as a farmer a gate open at the wrong angle can spook livestock, or a warning cry of a bird changes the behaviour of unrelated species.

[Levin]

What's your theory then.

[Levin]

I do think we subconsciously pick up on peoples' emotions. Some people have 'good energy' and kids and animals are happy to be around. It's like when you startle people, you can feel their fear and it startles you, even though you know that particular thing didn't startle you. You're just picking up on their emotions. If that makes sense. Probably not.

[purplepoppy]

I get that the imagination can play tricks, particularly where a spot has an alleged sinister history or local folklore. But many times its just a non descript area. As a farmer I know a gate at the wrong angle can spook livestock or a warning cry of a bird has a knock on effect to other wildlife. I wonder if at a genetic instinctive level we're picking up on something our logical minds are ignoring. That we're reacting to a danger that no longer exists

[Levin]

Warning cry is explainable rationally though. For example, in India, when Tigers prowl, all the wildlife effectively signal to each other. That's a basic survival instinct/imperative. Are you saying we're picking up subtle cues that we may not be consciously aware of, but never the less, are explainable rationally?

The only thing I'd say is that humans should be wary of thinking they have everything figured out. But there's not actually any evidence for what I'm explaining, so I understand the predicament. Definitely think the mind can play tricks on us. We're often wrong when we're going off instinct or hunch, for example.

[monkeynutts]

All Psychological, you go to a war torn country and you could have a sniper hiding in a fertile grassy meadow, but the town next to it has been utterly destroyed, it's not of any tactical use to the enemy anymore, it's rubble and looks like a danger zone, but really no one is their that will cause you harm.

[MrOracle]

A lot of very real and quite normal things are outside of our human perceptions, but animals/bugs/etc. can pick up on them, and causes them to stay away - and we can pick up on the fact that they've all gone silent, even if we don't realize what the problem is - we instinctually notice that something is strange.

Example: perhaps the soil has naturally-occurring poison in it - like arsenic - so creatures avoid that area. Or maybe natural gas is venting through a crack in the ground. Natural gas has no scent in nature - municipal-delivered natural gas has an odorant added to it so that we humans can detect leaks, but that is an additive, it's not natural. There could also be a magnetic field in that area - meteors are iron and nickel and perhaps one crashed into that area hundreds or thousands of years ago, but it's big enough and dense enough to disrupt the magnetic field in that area. We know many creatures are sensitive to the patterns of Earth's magnetic fields, and an anomaly might cause them to avoid an area.

And just as YOU get a weird feeling in those areas, so do animals like your dog. If bugs and such are staying out of an area, or if they can smell something that you can't smell, etc., then they'll stay away too.

[Kurαȷ]

Because they probably trigger a variety of our self-preservation mechanisms.
Dark areas make threats harder to spot so it makes sense to suspect that it is exactly where threats would want to be, claustrophobic places would make it harder for you to run away from threat, places that are unusually silent can give off the impression that whatever may be in there is perhaps trying to remain silent on purpose.

It's probably these small things that our subconscious is scanning for all the time so that we don't get killed by something.

It's like a cat getting spooked by a cactus or a plush toy that it has never seen before.
It's unfamiliar and thus potentially dangerous.

[Walrus_au]

There's a reason. But it's not about the place, it's about our brain and cognition. Our pattern seeking mechanisms.

Some places (and it is often different for different people) trigger certain memories or cautions. It's probably nothing that you could point to specifically, but a combination of things that make us think about something that we don't like or feel the need to be cautious of. It could be anything, light quality, how much sky you can see, how many trees, how much leaf coverage, bare patches of ground/dead grass, and so on and so on. it's not about the place, but the patterns our brains unconciously see and assemble.

[Ianto]

Your example gives the explanation. You notice "someone else's coat" from subliminal clues; different scent, different wear patterns, ... Similarly you pick up subconscious aspects of a place or situation. What those clues are, and what they portend may vary, but frequently they correspond to valid primal fears that we are wary of for atavistic reasons.

[MrCommodore]

I know of one such place in Ireland, where a lot of people now avoid after many incidents over decades.
The general belief is that terrible things had previously occurred there.

[Lliam]

Those are the enchanted abodes of fairies and leprechauns. People who enter are never heard from again.

[Agape93]

In my experience, it’s because you’ve entered a domain. It’s not inherently bad or good, but it is wise to be cautious and respectful of what is there.

[Agape93]

We have those up here too

[Savage_Wisdom]

What you probably sensed was the realm of the demon. I'd be very careful in places like that if I were you.

[drsatan]

Probably because a predator like a fox or badger had pissed all in that area. It's either that or ghosts and the devil or some shit 🤷‍♂️

[DanOh2018]

There's more to the world than a sane mind can fully comprehend. Just leave those places and don't dwell on the feeling.

Suffice to say I've seen some similar sites.

[coffeewithcream]

No idea, but I liked the rhythm of the writing of that piece, above.
You should try writing, Purple.
You got talent.

[kyliesz]

it might be your gut feeling telling you not to go there and your dog is probably right.

[BoxySama]

😎😎😎😎🧙‍♂️ I did not read it any of your post, I just wanted to post a picture on this phone

[Twalli]

If your dog won't go somewhere outside, don't go there. Dogs will go virtually anywhere outside

[Shamalien]

Hard to say, but some things do linger...

[ask4any]

Great question!! Very intuitive.