Most adventurers would tell you that traveling to and exploring places you’re unfamiliar with can be very exciting. Though it can be scary, too, especially when you’re not ready for what awaits you there.
Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community have recently shared their stories about being frightened to death in different parts of the world. They did this after one user asked them about the scariest cities they’ve ever been to, and while some answers proved to be more common than others, people have seemingly experienced spine-chilling things in places all over the world. Scroll down to find their stories below, but be aware that some of them might be rather disturbing.
Below, you will also find Bored Panda’s interview with Dr. Frédéric Dimanche, Director of Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Toronto Metropolitan University, who was kind enough to share his insights regarding how to keep yourself safe while traveling in different cities.
#1
I have traveled lots of places in this world. The most scared I have ever been was lost in downtown Baltimore at night on a weekend. I had made a series of mistakes trying to go around the city, and had accidentally taken a spur that put me right into the downtown. I have no clue what area of town I drove through, but the only human beings that I saw out and about at 3:00 in the morning looked like zombies. It’s really hard to describe, but the way that they moved, the way that they looked at me as I drove by, it was very scary.
Out of desperation (this was way before cell phones did anything more than phone calls and basic texts, I was still using a paper atlas) I stopped at a 7-Eleven. I was waiting in line to ask directions, and a guy went out of his way to ask me what I was doing there. That’s how much I stood out. I told him that I was trying to get directions to get back onto the highway, and he told me that he was an undercover cop, things were about to go down right there, and I needed to leave. I told him that’s what I was trying to do. He thought about it for a second, told me to get in my car follow him and try to keep up. He would get me to an on-ramp and then go back to the store.
He drove like a bat out of hell, and did get me to the freeway and then busted a u-turn and flew away.
I have no clue how bad my night would have continued to be if he hadn’t been there and guided me out of there.
Image source: BeardsuptheWazoo, freepik
#2
Bagdad or Baltimore at night. Shot at in both places at least in Bagdad I was also armed.
Image source: Big_Coastie50, freepik
#3
Johannesburg. When you stop at a red light you have to be ready to punch the gas as there are broad daylight carjackings at intersections.
Image source: sneakysister, freepik
#4
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. At the height of the Iraq war it was still listed as more dangerous. The gangs ran the city, driving around in technicals with mounted machine guns. Hotels had 6 foot thick concrete walled fences with razor wire, and armed guards. For an added cost they offered “r**e cages”, a cage that would drop down over your bed when a sensor was triggered to protect you from being r**ed if people broke in.
Image source: Okaynowwatt, PoppyPix / freepik
#5
Juarez, Mexico….I’m an Irish/Mexican. Red head. Went with cousins to see my Aunt and Uncle. My family members were in a cartel. There was a cartel war going on. Had armed men all around at all times. For all the money, and cars, and opulence at their home, it was like being in prison. The tension in the air was thick. I was treated like a king, but that whole week, I was terrified inside. Different world. Was told, no matter what happens, do not call police. They worked for the other guys. I was told that if s**t kicked off, and anyone made it through the gates, to grab a gun and shoot myself. That would be the best possible outcome. I haven’t been back.
Image source: ElGrandeRojo67, Alejandro Rosales / Wikipedia
#6
Cairo in Egypt. As a white non-Muslim female, the amount of sexual harassment I experienced was unprecedented. It’s interesting because I didn’t necessarily worry about someone attacking me or stealing from me, but I worried about other things happening.
The entire country is impoverished and corrupt. At one point, I saw a police officer hold a child (like 7yrs old maybe) at gun point because the child was acting out and he thought it was funny. At another point, a person got hit by a car and a couple bystanders were doing everything they could while most kept on walking as if nothing was even happening. I was at a restaurant near there and it took over 30min for an ambulance to get there…I’m unsure if he made it. I can’t even tell you how many homeless children I saw begging for food/money with no parents anywhere to be found (I’ve been to other countries where this is a common “scam tactic” but this was totally different).
The reality is that when a country is that corrupt, public safety goes out the window. That is actually what scared me most about it.
Image source: elementalbee, wirestock / freepik
#7
East st Louis
I, a white guy with my gf in the car, stopped there for gas and a cop pulled up behind me asking what I thought I was doing there.
I replied getting gas and he tells me that I’m not safe and told me he’d escort me to the highway and also not to stop at any red lights until we get to the exit.
Like, I could tell that was a sketchy gas station to stop at when I pulled in but didn’t realize it was that bad.
Image source: TexanInExile, freepik
#8
Juarez around 2007. They told me that the cartel had some heads hanging from a bridge for everyone to see and they didn’t get taken down until several hours later.
Image source: Beginning_Cry_5531, travelarium / freepik
#9
I once accidentally crossed the wrong boarder from Thailand, travelling to Laos. I ended up in a place called the Special Economic Zone of The Golden Triangle. No data, couldn’t speak the language, nothing. I ended up in some weird hotel that looked like a jail cell. I managed to book a 36 hour bus journey out of there for the next day. That evening, I went for a walk around. I was offered child [escorts] and when I realised how extremely dangerous this place was. I went back to my room and went to sleep. The next morning, police raided my room with guns pointed to my head. I later learned, the only real reason any westerner would ever travel there is because they haul mass amounts of [illegal substances] out of there, so I was a suspected d**g dealer. Also, I accidentally pissed some guy off why I assume was a gangster. So I don’t know if that had some part to play. Terrifying. Now, I sometimes get questioned at airports because of my travel history.
Image source: MustardKingCustard, RDNE Stock project / pexels
#10
Overtown and Liberty City neighborhoods of Miami.
I lived not too far from there 20some years ago. Drove a coworker home one night because she missed the last bus. She called some guy on her phone to tell him to let people know not to mess with the blue Focus about to come down the street.
I felt like I had a hall pass from danger.
Image source: Shirtwink, andrewminsk123 / freepik
#11
Furnace Creek, Death Valley. Beautiful, lovely, calm- but if you wander away during the day you will die every which way, including the meat of your feet cooking like chicken breast until you keel over, unable to walk or survive.
Image source: Miss-Indie-Cisive, Abby Kihano / freepik
#12
Was in St. Louis with my cousin and we crossed that bridge.
East St. Louis has gotta be the most dangerous feeling place I’ve ever been. Streetlights busted out at night, everything run down/abandoned, bullet holes in the stop signs, etc. We pulled up GPS and got the f**k out of there real quick lol.
Image source: Forward_Grand_7260, mr_tigga / freepik
#13
Tijuana.
I saw a dead body on my way to the bus terminal, just laying on the sidewalk. There were people standing around him, smoking, drinking, and just having a good ol time while dude is just dead, like dead af, stiff, purple, and blue.
Wildest s**t I’ve ever seen. No one gave a single s**t.
Image source: lostinthecapes, katy_81 / freepik
#14
Bahnhofsviertel in Frankfurt Germany. I’ve lived and worked in some of the roughest places in the US (Baltimore, Detroit, etc). That section of Frankfurt is the only place that has legit scared me since moving to Europe 15 years ago. Open air d**g market, [illegal adult services], addicts, scammers, pickpockets. Wild place.
Honorable mention to the cab driver in Belgrade who sussed out I was American and took the scenic route to my hotel to show me all the buildings that were blown up by American bombs like it was my fault.
Image source: thenewmain, anatoliy_cherkas / freepik
#15
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Every property surrounded by solid fences topped with razor wire, and if you can afford it, patrolled by armed guards and guard dogs. As a visitor, you should never use a local taxi, or walk outside your hotel compound at night.
Image source: primeribfanoz, Mateus Andre / freepik
#16
Port Moresby, New Guinea.
Ex pats live in compounds with massive walls topped with broken bottles.
Even my mother, who was a missionary who has lived in a variety of countries throughout SE Asia and the Pacific, couldn’t live there for more than 3 weeks.
I had warned her not to go, having been there twice myself.
Image source: DifferentDebt2197, Victor Moragriega / pexels
#17
Kingston, Jamaica
I switched hotels to one more secure. Early on my last morning, I was going to the airport and my original hotel was on fire.
Image source: pc9401, azerbaijan_stockers / freepik
#18
Delhi the capital of India, you can’t trust anyone, it’s horrible. Filled with goons, unsafe for women, high level of pollution, crazy traffic congestion and everyone trying to swindle everyone else. Scam call centers operate from this place. R**es statistics is crazy
Image source: xerxes_dandy, EyeEm / freepik
#19
Rizhao, China. Not scary so much like the others – China is insanely safe – but extremely creepy. I felt like I was on a movie set.
First off, it’s a city of 500,000 but it’s built for a population of 10 million. But it’s not like those ghost cities out west where there never was anyone. It seemed like it was actually a big city, but everyone just left suddenly. The beaches were well maintained and empty. The buses ran frequently and were empty. The streets were lined with all the usual Chinese stuff and were empty.
We went into a breakfast restaurant, and the food was great but we were the only custom and the staff seemed surprised to see us. We asked for directions to the famous fish market. No one there could tell us where it was. It turned out to be about 750 meters away. It was massive and filled with vendors selling huge quantities of incredibly fresh fish. It was mostly empty.
Also, almost everything was open until the wee hours of the morning, if not 24 hours. This is unusual even in the biggest Chinese cities, let alone this abandoned town.
It was just an unsettling experience all around.
Image source: dongbeinanren, mali maeder / pexels
#20
Johannesburg. It’s the only place I’ve been where the pilot tells you before landing where to go and not to go. What to do and not to do if you don’t want to get robbed, mugged or [end up dead]
Image source: 64-matthew, DC Studio / freepik
#21
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Almost got robbed literally 100 feet outside the airport walking to a cab. Luckily I saw police and my instincts made me shout hard which made the police aware and the thieves fled the scene. Almost lost my brand new Nikon back in the time.
Image source: Zoe_dream22, freepik
#22
I ended up driving through this tiny town in the middle of Nevada that I assume used to be a mining town. It looked like a steady paycheck hadn’t been seen in this town for 20 years, the houses were all dilapidated, and the locals looked just as worn out. Bullet holes and burn marks could be seen on pretty much every building. The only reason I drove through the town instead of just sticking to the main road was to top up on gas, but I couldn’t find anything, not even a small convenience store. It must’ve been hell for those folks considering the closest town with an actual store and gas was around 70 miles away.
Edit: I took a look via Google Earth at some of the towns people mentioned and I found it! Gabbs, NV. Definitely not a place I’d want to go back to.
Image source: BeatriceLily, wirestock / freepik
#23
Juba, South Sudan. I saw a military transport with child soldiers, a firefight with artillery across the White Nile from where I stood, and someone tried to rob me at the actual airport.
Image source: Long-Draft-9668, Agustin / freepik
#24
Nuevo Loredo Mexico
Not all, but whatever part of San Bernardino I got off the freeway at night to stop at a gas station to call my sister for directions. When I told her my cross streets she said “get back on the freeway RIGHT NOW”. I looked up and the crackheads were circling my car and tapping on my window.
Image source: Wildlynatural, EyeEm / freepik
#25
New Orleans, I loved it. But right outside the touristy areas gets a little sketchy. Including the guy on d***s that broke into our hotel. Also cut himself crawling through the glass window and bled all over the hotel trying to kick peoples doors in. Food was good though.
Image source: frizzlefraggle, EyeEm / freepik
#26
Albuquerque, NM. I dropped off a Uhaul there and got an Uber to a sketchy hotel, chosen for it’s proximity to the airport. Not having my own transportation had me very anxious. At the hotel the line of people (methheads I assumed) in front of me couldn’t provide a credit card for a room so the line got short real quick. The small, weird elevator had bloodstains nearby so I took the stairs. I’d given my Uber driver ten bucks to let me stop and get food so I wouldn’t have to leave until it was time to go to the airport. I went to the room with my bags and food and locked everything and wished for more locks. The food was great. I lived in the South side of Atlanta for four years and never felt this sketched out. Though I did get my carry permit in ATL.
Nothing like East St. Louis apparently but that’s my story.
Image source: Ok-Caterpillar1611, freepik
#27
Port Au Prince…saw a newly shot woman on the sidewalk and the next day, a human finger in a trash heap.
Image source: AllBlowedUp, cottonbro studio / pexels
#28
St. Louis
It was weird for a few reasons but the scariest was when I was leaving the hotel myself, my mom, and my 2 large dogs were staying at, we saw a man messing with my car, like hood was propped! As I started raising my voice and approaching with my large barking dogs, he ran. I made sure to push the hood down so it would latch, or so I thought. We loaded the car up and drove away as fast as possible. As soon as we got on the freeway, the hood blew up and almost hit the windshield (i honestly have no idea how it didn’t, maybe a safety feature?) So I had to pull over and re-secure it. M**o obviously messed something up on purpose because he pulled up behind us! I got back in the car, my digs and mom losing their s**t, drove slowish, put my hazards on and my mom called 911. He sped off after taking pics. Weirdest experience of my life. The hotel was so sketchy and my intuition was telling me to leave the entire time. I honestly think the man was in on something with the hotel staff or was hotel staff himself. My two dogs were extremely on edge and they’re generally easy going. Plate numbers were stolen and police couldn’t/wouldn’t doing anything.
Image source: justhere888888, MrDm / freepik
#29
I’m a sucker for scary places. I went to visit Centralia, Pennsylvania when I was in my 20’s. Place was creepy as f**k. Smoke coming up out of the ground all over the place. The whole time we were there, I just got this dreadful feeling like we didn’t belong there.
For my 35th birthday, my best friend and I went to take a tour of Pripyat and Chernobyl. Without a doubt, the scariest place I have ever been.
Image source: PermanentNirvana, James St. John / flickr
#30
Kandahar – a bit. Baghdad – a bit. Phnom Penh – a bit scary too. But hey – not all travel is about having a safe armchair experience. America in general is a bit scary. I guess a big difference is in the 3 cities I mentioned up top, a person can get shot for a reason. In US cities, a person can get shot for no reason.
Image source: renb8, nastyaaf / freepik
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