An age old classic beginning to any horror movie is a car breaking down in an inopportune location.
In search of help, the car's passengers might find themselves asking to use the phone of a haunted house, in a town inhabited solely by demonic children, or in the woods where a monster lurks.
With this trope ingrained in our brains, finding ourselves with a flat tire or overheated engine is enough to put us on high alert no matter where we’re stuck.
But finding ourselves stranded in a place which isn’t so different from the settings of those classic horror movies will no doubt make our pulses raise and our teeth chatter a little bit harder…
Redditor Squeaky-Fox43 was curious to hear if there were any such places in the US and Canada, where one really wouldn't want their car to break down, leading them to ask:
"What’s the scariest rural place in the USA/Canada for your car to break down?"
Wide Open Space...
"Wyoming."
"It's a really cool place, but there's just nothing there."
"You might as well break down on another planet when it comes to some stretches on the interstate, let alone smaller roads."- cosmolegato
Way More Than Border-line creepy...
"A number of years ago I drove along the Texas/Mexico border and went through a little border town on the US side."
"A buddy of mine was with me and as soon as we pulled into town, we both looked at each other and said, 'what the f*ck is wrong with this place?'"
"But, I was almost out of gas, so I stopped to fill up."
"Went inside to pay."
"Standing in line."
"10 year old buying a candy bar in front of me."
"I suddenly realize that the magazine stand in front of me is completely filled with, anime porn?"
"I still don't know."
"They looked like comic books, but the cover of the one that I happened to be looking at was a p*ssy."
"A very artfully drawn anime p*ssy, but a pussy nonetheless."
"With a 10 year old standing in front of me buying a candy bar."
"Okay, this is weird, but whatever."
"Ten year old pays for their candy bar and exits."
"Guy behind the counter says, 'can you hang on for a moment?'"
"Sure. Whatever."
"I look at the counter."
"The magazine on the counter seems to be a special effects magazine of some kind."
"It's showcasing what appears to be a severed human head lying on the sand of a beach somewhere."
"Me, still not figuring this out somehow, 'huh, this is an interesting magazine, what's the back cover?'"
"The back cover would appear to be a car interior with a dead body and a bunch of blood and, material, everywhere.
"Oh."
"This is a magazine of crime scenes."
"Death porn."
"At the local gas station."
"So we left."
"Pretty sure the next car found themselves in the middle of a Stephen King novel."- kneightx
GiphyAlways Pack A Sweater
"My car broke down in rural Nunavut."
"I’m lucky I had my emergency kit on me."
"Nothing like sitting for three hours while it’s -40C and no heat."- veggienuggets123
Alone In The Lone Star State
"For me, it was west Texas."
"No idea about the people, but it was unnerving."
"I drove through it at mid day-night."
"No cell phone signal."
"No radio."
"No power lines."
"Hot as hell."
"At night you could see occasional flashes of light in the distance of one of those fuel things that spit out fire out the top."
"Then every once in awhile there would be this random small house or run down looking trailer out in the middle a good 10-30 minute drive from the road."
"I always wonder what their story is."
"Cut off from the world in the middle of a desert, though I do not dare to find out lol."- PalwaJoko
Define What You Mean By "Rural"...
"There are two kinds of scary rural: rural so remote you'll die before you reach help and rural where you die because you meet 'help'."- onesadjam
Beware Of Wolves...
"I'd say between Thunder bay and Winnipeg."
"There's like f*ck all between these two places, and I once saw a giant white wolf here."
"Was cool, but I wouldn't want to break down there."- Hawkwise83
Anywhere In Canada In The Winter
"I imagine along the Saskatchewan-Northwest Territories border in the dead of winter would be pretty horrifying."- Zytharros
GiphyTruth be told, it's never fun or convenient when your car breaks down anywhere.
But if one could choose the location, it would ideally be in the midst of civilization, and in broad daylight.
Seeing as we can't plan around that, however, it is always a good idea to get your car checked up before embarking on a long road trip.
Particularly in the winter.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social