What Was the Last Place You Visited That Made You Cry?

Some of my most indelible memories are of crying, but that doesn’t mean they’re all sad. There have been times and places in my life that have produced such heightened states of emotional intensity that they can only be described as moments of pure feeling—which is just a fancy way of saying that I’ve seen places that have made me weep with joy.

It’s admittedly a bit cliché, but the last place that made me cry was a bleak, black sand beach in Iceland. While hiking to an abandoned plane wreck near the shoreline, I found myself standing in a driving rain, looking out across a landscape unlike anything I’d ever seen. In every direction, the craggy beach stretched on into the mist. It felt, momentarily, like I was no longer on Earth. The landscape had a kind of peaceful emptiness that truly touched me. Unexpectedly, it felt so lonely and so beautiful—all at once—that I began to tear up while taking it all in. What I’m trying to say is that I think that was the moment I finally understood the music of Sigur Rós. Sigh.

Have you, too, had an experience like this? We want to hear about the places that made you weep (even a little)! Fill out the form below to tell us about the last place you visited that made you cry. And if you have pictures from the spot, please email those to eric@atlasobscura.com, with the subject line, “The Crying Places.” We’ll share some of our favorite submissions in an upcoming article. Don’t be shy. Tell us where you (happily) cried.

If you have a story of a place that made you cry to share, head over to our community forums and tell us about it!