The Innsmouth Look, or, Creepy Places I Have Been

In My Humble Opinion
1

Probably the creepiest place I have ever been is a roadside convenience store just off the interstate between Atlanta and Montgomery, Ala., on the Alabama side of the border I am relieved to say. (Though honesty compels me to admit that it could just as easily have been on the Georgia side.)

I went there for a bathroom break, and the bathroom was the dirtiest, most unsanitary I had ever seen … including my own! The floors had a layer of water on them, with bits of wet toilet tissue festooned everywhere, but not gaily festooned, oh, no, more like the remains of some ancient ship foundering.

Glad I was that this was a stand-up bathroom break. This was not a floor you wanted to drop trou on.

What’s more, the bathroom was build over a steep hillside that adjoined the road, and stood on high pilings so that it creaked and shifted a little every time you took a step. It was hard to imagine the building code that could bless such a structure, but easy to imagine the corrupt inspector letting it slide for a few hundred.

The even creepier thing about the place was its attendant, who stood at his cash register with what I think of as “The Innsmouth Look.” It was not that stereotypical redneck “You’re not from around here, are ya?” look, but more a distant stare as if he were surprised to be seeing human beings at all. Well, only partly surprised. There were also elements of ‘nonplused’ and ‘vaguely disappointed’ in there, too.

Of course, given that the place was only a few hundred yards from the Interstate and had other people in it at the time, you’d think the proprietor would be accustomed to the sight of people, but he sure didn’t give that impression. And giving it in the form of a distant stare was what really made an impression.

I’ve seen that look on one other occasion, when my wife and I were doing a few garage sales and we went to one on a hilltop overlooking the Chattahoochee River in a toney neighborhood in north Atlanta. People with that kinda money don’t often have garage sales, but here they were, with all sorts of odd junk stored in their basement, allowing just anyone to walk through, and three of the home’s putative residents standing near a wall, staring at us all as if they were expecting us to sprout tentacles at any second.

Definitely some weird stuff going on there, but I’m betting it was the [ Lovecraft mode ] decayed [ /Lovecraft mode ] branch of some wealthy family sinking in social and financial status until they finally merged with whatever unspeakable horror had its hold on them. Either that, or they did it just for a lark.

Anybody else have any creepy experiences to report as Halloween approaches?

2

As far as “The Innsmouth Look” goes, I wouldn’t rule out drugs. Hard drugs.

3

Yes! Somewhere between Aberdeen and Olympia (Washington). First hubby and I were coming back from a weekend at the ocean and we decided to explore back roads.

We were in the middle of nowhere and passed by a dilapidated ramshackle two-story house with broken windows. Falling down outbuildings. Ratty furniture on an open porch, junk implements (with sharp edges) and big containers (barrels) all around the yard, and a gangly man wearing overalls but no shirt standing and staring at the road.

If I’d been in Wisconsin, I woulda thought it was Ed Gein’s house.

I swear, the place had an aura. My stomach churned and I broke into a sweat. The road led to a dead end. We had to turn around and go back the same way. If we’d had a flat tire, I would have left the car and just run.

4

There’s a bar or sumthin out in the middle of no-where in CA called something like “Owls inn”. Many many owl things. Creepy patrons, who started at us like they had never seen a stranger- or were measuring us up for the sausage vats in the basement. :eek:

5

I just remembered another one. An abandoned prison in Deer Lodge, Montana. Some of the prisoners’ belongings are still in the cells, and the platform used for hanging (gibbet?) is still there too. It’d be a great setting for an episode of Supernatural.

When my daughter and I finished touring the place (without a guide – there’s nothing worth stealing), we were standing outside and heard low moaning sounds-- whooooo whooooo. Scared outselves silly until we looked up and saw the owl.

6

Come to think of it, I once had a very Innsmouth-like experience. I was working at a convention in Savannah, Georgia. I brought my bicycle down so I could get some riding done 'cause Savannah is a really great place for biking. Early one morning I went down to the waterfront touristy area and rode over the cobblestones to the point where the shops ended and the real docks began. I noticed a road that led up behind the shops and I turned up into it. Now the thing about the riverfront shops in Savannah is that theyare located inside old cotton and slave warehouse that were built into old bluff that used to stand well above the river. The old warehouses had two floors, the bottom one that fronted the river and the upper one that fronted the streets of Savannah. The alleyway that runs behind the old warehouses therefore is more of a tunnel than a street, since much of it is covered by upper-story patios connecting the warehouses with the streets of Savannah. That made for an interesting ride. But what made it a little creepy was all the old homeless guys (maybe sailors between ships?) sleeping in those caveilke alleyways. Most of them never knew I was there, because my bike was a very quiet machine, and they were sleeping off the previous night. Still, I totally had not expected it, so it had my hackles up for a bit.

7

La Grange TX is the creepiest place I have ever been. I was driving from Dallas to Corpus Christi with my fiance and as we drove up to the town we both looked at each other and simultaneously locked the doors. I can’t explain it, but the place seems to ooze creepy evilness. Lots of it.

8

Oh geez, here’s another one. Latimer, Iowa. My daughter and I drove through Latimer on a weekend afternoon, on our way to somewhere else.

Both of us noticed how tidy everything was and just for the hell of it, we drove around the town looking for something that wasn’t clean and shiny. Couldn’t find anything.

It was totally Stepford. Lawns mowed. No litter. No weed patches. No houses needing paint. No junk cars. We saw one tire swing and it looked like a new whitewall.

I don’t know why perfection should have creeped us out, but it did. It was unnatural, and we imagined people being horribly punished if they left a lid off a garbage can or flicked a cigarette butt in the street.

9

At the fair in a small town, there was, in a corner of the park, a sculptural tribute to Loretta Lynn. Scenes from Lynne’s life were dramatized with store mannequins, dressed like her and important people in her life. Music blared through cheap speakers. The mannequins were dressed in clothes that weren’t completely clean. Sometimes, the mannequins were obviously made of parts of several different figures, so their arms were at the wrong angles, or their heads the wrong sizes for their bodies.

If you walked through this little diorama, at the far end of it was a Life of Christ created in the same style, including a babydoll infant Jesus. “The Old Rugged Cross” blasted fuzzily while a smiling blonde Mary wrapped in a blue sheet stared vaguely at her baby doll, and a happy male model hung on a short cross.

I wish I’d had a camera, because I felt like I’d walked into a horror movie. It went way past creepy.

10

I once stayed in a creepy hotel, in New hampshire, with my ex wife. the place was barely staffed, and looked like it was stuck in a time warp 91970). When we went to the dining room, we were the only patrons! halfway through the meal, a little dog wandered in, took a look at us, and walked out!

11

Several years ago I went on a cruise to Bermuda with my sister.* Above the city of Hamilton is Fort Hamilton, long abandoned and now a tourist attraction. I went up there solo to check it out, forts are fun. Turns out, going solo meant REALLY going solo, there wasn’t another soul to be seen up there at the time I went.

First was walking around the moat, which was dry, but filled with lush jungley vegetation, and creepy crawling critters, just beyond view. Then was the underground tunnels. Lit by widely spaced small lamps, it was dim, damp and dead quiet. Only my own footsteps to keep me company. Around every corner I thought an axe murderer could be waiting, and I’d never know 'till it was too late. Each little alcove and side room was another hiding place for Jason Voorhees.

Boy, was it nice to get topside again, where they had flower gardens, manicured lawns, old cannons, and a beautiful view of the city and ocean.
*Brother in law was at a business boondoggle to Hawaii and sis couldn’t let that go by without taking her own trip somewhere, and I was more than willing to go to a gorgeous tropical island.