Sketchiest place(s) you've visited

dmgtz96

Legendary Member
Jul 13, 2020
3,047 Posts
1,892 Thanked
What is the sketchiest place you've visited?

Somewhere you've felt the most danger, gotten the weirdest vibes (like a remote forest at night maybe), or felt threatened.

I'll start. The sketchiest place for me was a mall next to a bus station in Austin, TX. I was in the area to visit the local university and decided to check out the mall near the station before heading home. ~100m before walking through the main doors, I felt the sketchiest vibes from the guys loitering there. Their faces basically screamed "you don't belong here." Immediately turned back and returned to the station.
I was not surprised when I found out that mall closed down the next year.
 
  • Thanks
Reactions: Jetflag

Jetflag

Legendary Member
Jul 17, 2020
5,037 Posts
4,502 Thanked
In terms of "human" threats:

- Moscow, Russian Federation. There's a suburb a couple of clicks from the Tomilino/Oblast region where your average poor gopnik stereotype lives. I somehow got lost there once, speaking only basic Russian. Fortunatly if I put on my stoic angry face I blend in quite well with the average russian populus so nobody seemed to pay much attention to me, but watching three guys beating up another one in a back alley didn't feel all that cosy.

- San Fransisco, USA, unknown neighbourhood. We where trying to find a place for my wife to go to the bathroom and came across a number of heroïne zombies, one of them taking a shit on the sidewalk in front of us. I told her to hold it till we got out of there.

- The Hague, Netherlands, Schilderswijk. The only time I actually had a knife pulled on me by some rando. The neighbourhood has in recent years improved somewhat.


In terms of "nature" threats:

- There's this one time I got approached by an agressive/hissing seal on Ameland whilst paddling back to shore after we where dropped of for a training half a kilometer offshore. presumably because there was a seal cup around. Those things can leave pretty nasty wounds

- the Autumn Storms of the Scottish isles can be pretty scary, especially if you sleep out in the open.
 
  • Thanks
Reactions: dmgtz96

dmgtz96

Legendary Member
Jul 13, 2020
3,047 Posts
1,892 Thanked
In terms of "human" threats:

- Moscow, Russian Federation. There's a suburb a couple of clicks from the Tomilino/Oblast region where your average poor gopnik stereotype lives. I somehow got lost there once, speaking only basic Russian. Fortunatly if I put on my stoic angry face I blend in quite well with the average russian populus so nobody seemed to pay much attention to me, but watching three guys beating up another one in a back alley didn't feel all that cosy.
Damn
- San Fransisco, USA, unknown neighbourhood. We where trying to find a place for my wife to go to the bathroom and came across a number of heroïne zombies, one of them taking a shit on the sidewalk in front of us. I told her to hold it till we got out of there.
So I've never been to SF, but if you were anywhere near downtown you probably were in The Tenderloin. If you're just hanging out downtown and walk in the wrong direction you can totally end up there
- The Hague, Netherlands, Schilderswijk. The only time I actually had a knife pulled on me by some rando. The neighbourhood has in recent years improved somewhat.
Yikes, I haven't had that happen yet though I was almost robbed mugged in my hometown. Spotted the thief before he could even put his hands on me.
In terms of "nature" threats:

- There's this one time I got approached by an agressive/hissing seal on Ameland whilst paddling back to shore after we where dropped of for a training half a kilometer offshore. presumably because there was a seal cup around. Those things can leave pretty nasty wounds

- the Autumn Storms of the Scottish isles can be pretty scary, especially if you sleep out in the open.
Hadn't considered nature threats at all. Those are good ones.
 
Last edited:
  • Thanks
Reactions: Jetflag

LostLegend

Elite Member
Dec 5, 2020
1,316 Posts
1,680 Thanked
Liverpool, UK
Website
www.beatport.com
My cousin used to play darts for Merseyside county when we were about 18. So I used to tag along occasionally to the various dives around the north when he was playing. Where I'd promptly set about getting as legless as possible while he threw the old arrows about.

On one occasion, we ended up at some proper s**thole pub in Leeds, which was the ringer of the pub in 'Shameless' and may well have been called 'The Murderers Arms' or similar.

It was inhabited by your typical, half-toothless, BO smelling, rollie smoking, rugby top and prison tattoo wearing Yorkshire types who wouldn't have looked out of place working on one of those deathtrap travelling fairs.

The only pints on tap were flat, watered down Fosters or Strongbow. Served by one of those vodka weathered 40-something yo women who dresses like they're still 18. From what I could gather, she'd had kids to half of the clientele in there and given the clap to the other half.

There was a tramp asleep on a bench under the dart board who just swore incoherently at anyone who tried to move him and there were several feral children running laps around the tables. The toilets looked like a level out of one of the silent hill games and the pool table may well have been antique and was covered in an array of very thick looking brown stains.

A couple of hours in and the locals started stabbing each other with broken bottles for no apparent reason, so we hastily retreated back to the b&b.

All in all it was a half decent boozer. 7/10
 

Jetflag

Legendary Member
Jul 17, 2020
5,037 Posts
4,502 Thanked
My ex's bedroom
Overly_attached_GF.jpg
 

Julian Del Agranda

Elite Member
Jul 3, 2020
2,325 Posts
3,182 Thanked
With my first boyfriend, his dad and his little brother, we had a holiday on Tenerife. I was 18, my ex boyfriend 16.

So on an evening we were walking around together. Our hotel was in a busy touristic part. So imagine lotssss of hotels, bars, restaurants. And some Palm trees 😉

At some point we should have seen the various red lights as a hint. A big bold guy, the bouncer, came to us... he basically invited us to “check out the ladies”. Asking us wether were looking for some fun. With a polite “no” we just wanted to walk along. So he says: “inside pussy, you want pussy?”. We ignored him, and he screams “HEY!! YOU DONT LIKE PUSSY?!?!?!”

Maybe this little story counts as sketchy.
 

Jetflag

Legendary Member
Jul 17, 2020
5,037 Posts
4,502 Thanked
With my first boyfriend, his dad and his little brother, we had a holiday on Tenerife. I was 18, my ex boyfriend 16.

So on an evening we were walking around together. Our hotel was in a busy touristic part. So imagine lotssss of hotels, bars, restaurants. And some Palm trees 😉

At some point we should have seen the various red lights as a hint. A big bold guy, the bouncer, came to us... he basically invited us to “check out the ladies”. Asking us wether were looking for some fun. With a polite “no” we just wanted to walk along. So he says: “inside pussy, you want pussy?”. We ignored him, and he screams “HEY!! YOU DONT LIKE PUSSY?!?!?!”

Maybe this little story counts as sketchy.
I would pay a hefty sum just to have footage of you turning back and screaming back in his face:

"NO! BUT DO YOU HAVE COCK BY ANY CHANCE!?!?!!?!?"

and just observe the man's baffled face after that.
 
  • Thanks
Reactions: dmgtz96

MDD

Elite Member
Jul 17, 2020
1,122 Posts
420 Thanked
Uk
1) North Korean and South Korean border, known as the DMZ. It didn't help I was a little hungover.
2) Bucharest, Romania. Was at the Steaua Bucreast football stadium and the head ultra (in the bar) bought me and my mates a few drinks, wanted to swap football shirts. Said we were his mates. He lived opposite the stadium and being polite he wanted to show us the memorabilia, turns out his apartment was full of too notch gear, in a very run down area with fighting videos. Got out of there quick. Felt like grooming of the wrong sort.
3) namely a few areas in the UK, including the London tube.
 
  • Thanks
Reactions: Jetflag and dmgtz96

dmgtz96

Legendary Member
Jul 13, 2020
3,047 Posts
1,892 Thanked
Trancepodium.com
In hindsight, myfreemp3 was very sketchy. Younger me thought there was nothing wrong with downloading MP3s from a shady Russian website that keeps changing location, lmao.

With my first boyfriend, his dad and his little brother, we had a holiday on Tenerife. I was 18, my ex boyfriend 16.

So on an evening we were walking around together. Our hotel was in a busy touristic part. So imagine lotssss of hotels, bars, restaurants. And some Palm trees 😉

At some point we should have seen the various red lights as a hint. A big bold guy, the bouncer, came to us... he basically invited us to “check out the ladies”. Asking us wether were looking for some fun. With a polite “no” we just wanted to walk along. So he says: “inside pussy, you want pussy?”. We ignored him, and he screams “HEY!! YOU DONT LIKE PUSSY?!?!?!”

Maybe this little story counts as sketchy.
Yeah, that definitely counts.
During a trip to New Orleans, LA, my friends from college were approached by a sleazy-looking man about prostitutes. We were all 21+, but that was definitely the sketchiest thing that happened during the whole thing.
I was not there with them, so I cannot describe beyond what I heard.
 

dmgtz96

Legendary Member
Jul 13, 2020
3,047 Posts
1,892 Thanked
2) Bucharest, Romania. Was at the Steaua Bucreast football stadium and the head ultra (in the bar) bought me and my mates a few drinks, wanted to swap football shirts. Said we were his mates. He lived opposite the stadium and being polite he wanted to show us the memorabilia, turns out his apartment was full of too notch gear, in a very run down area with fighting videos. Got out of there quick. Felt like grooming of the wrong sort.
How old were you all?
Expensive stuff in a bad area is definitely a huge red flag. I would assume drug dealer or something.
 

MDD

Elite Member
Jul 17, 2020
1,122 Posts
420 Thanked
Uk
How old were you all?
Expensive stuff in a bad area is definitely a huge red flag. I would assume drug dealer or something.
Korea, my uni mate lived in Seoul, so we paid him a visit. We were probably 25/26 years old
Bucharest, was probably around 30 years old then.

Felt a little uneasy in some parts of Bolivia too.
 
  • Thanks
Reactions: dmgtz96

Archon

Gagi
TranceFix Crew
Jun 27, 2020
4,423 Posts
3,382 Thanked
Ultra leaders in these parts of the world usually mean narcotics of some kind, ties to criminal activities and so on. Some more, some less, but we recently had arrests of one leader and his associates, who are charged with gruesome (think Mexico) murders, possession of weapons and drug dealing. Not sure what's the situation like in Romania, but large groups of "tough" guys prone to fighting over trivial matters, racism etc. don't really scream "ah, these are just intellectuals" in any case. Worse if they are incredibly polite - that just means it's probably a psycho.
 

Archon

Gagi
TranceFix Crew
Jun 27, 2020
4,423 Posts
3,382 Thanked
For me it may just be Rome's Termini (main train station).

Girlfriend and I were ending our holiday, and arrived there around 4 AM for an airport shuttle bus. While walking and looking around to try and find our bus, at one of the corridors there were a bunch of certainly non-Italian, sketchy-looking group of guys inviting us to come their way. I signalled to my GF, who was completely oblivious to everything as usual, to walk ahead and hurry up a bit. That was all there is to it, thankfully.



As I hike, I've been to quite a few places where there are venomous snakes as well, and I have encountered a few. I don't mind seeing them - I am really scared of not seeing them. They shouldn't be life-threatening to me, but they can seriously fuck me up. Plus, if a bite happens deep in the wild, and if there is no signal, and the trail is not easily accessible...that all complicates things quite a bit.


I've been to a few hikes where the overall fear was subjective, as I was in a group with inexperienced, barely grown ups, who grew up in the plains, trying to hike something we have never experienced before. At points we scattered as a group, and I found myself hiking alone on unknown terrain. Then, due to the gruesome nature of the hike (it was a first real hike for many of us, and it's in general considered very difficult, physically), we got caught up in the dark in the wild, trying to find a way down to the village. We lost the trail multiple times, trying to find shortcuts in unknown terrain. Ultimately, we found a really narrow goat trail down a really steep, rocky slope that leads down to the village, but only 2/5 phones had enough battery to use as a flashlight. Boy, my legs started shaking as soon as we came down. We could've just as easily stayed trapped up there - alternatively, just one slip on bad terrain would've been enough for the hike to go really really bad. But it was something I'll always remember, what a great day!


One other time, we were trying to descend down a peak to merge into another trail we wanted to hike. We wanted to avoid going around and using the same trail we used to climb, and wanted to avoid losing a lot of time, so on my maps I found a trail that goes directly down. The reality was a lot different - there were no trail marks, there were patches of snow, lots of rocks, very steep terrain, in a dense forest, without signal, in what certainly looks like bear country. Some snow was dense and ok, and some was soft so the legs constantly fell through. Because the terrain was uneven, we couldn't judge snow depth or density, or what was underneath it, we could all just as easily got injured. I swore, if we survived this, I would kill my brother, a genius with the idea to use this "trail". But that day was honestly one of the highlights of my life. Certainly the most beautiful place I've ever been to. And by the way, all the locals and guides say explicitly that that trail is just too dangerous, even in good conditions - something we heard only later.


And on my first trip ever with my GF, we went to a canyon - beautiful place - but from the start it was clear we were in snake country. Generally an easy hike, but just a perfect place for venomous snakes. Somehow I held my fears, but when I started seeing (and hearing) too much of them, I noped the fuck out, and we went back. We're still together, so I didn't seem like too much of a gigantic wuss at least.