History Main / PlaceWorseThanDeath

* The [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic fluffy pony]] group fic ''The Fall of Cleveland'' has a developer build a theme park for WebOriginal/{{fluffy pon|y}}ies (small, fluffy man-made life forms often kept as pets) in Cleveland, a plan approved by the mayor in a desperate attempt to make ''some'' money for the city. However, the developer has rigged the park to explode as part of a plan to make his creations, "fuzzy ponies", the only biotoy on the market. The story ends with a massive tidal wave of fluffy ponies overwhelming the park, a herd getting into the local nuclear power plant, and Lake Erie swallowing the city.

* ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'': In a parody of Series/AmericanIdol, a judge tells a DreadfulMusician, "You know how when contestants do very well, they're told 'You're going to L.A.' or 'You're going to New York'? Well you're going to Steubenville!"

* One issue of ''Franchise/TheTransformers'' G1 comic book had Scorponok brawling with Starscream and Shockwave. Several humans in New York looked on from across the river when one of them asked if they should call the army or something. The guy standing next to him said "who cares, it's just New Jersey."

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Jorgen Von Strangle lamented how Cosmo ended up stripping him from being a 4-star Fairy General down to 1 star because of his miraculous blunders. First, with the reasoning that he was making it cleaner, he sunk Atlantis.... ''nine times'', erupted Mt. Vesuvius and destroyed the prosperous civilization of Pompeii (to make it warmer), and improved upon the "gleaming utopia known as Xanadu" (and [[RefugeInAudacity all on the same day]]).

* Inverted in Series/ThirtyRock, where Liz visits her then boyfriend after he's moved to Cleveland. She finds it to be far better than New York, including being asked if [[HollywoodHomely she's a model]].

* There is a story by Creator/IsaacAsimov about a man being exiled, with his attorney insisting that the punishment is way too harsh. In the end, it is revealed that he is sent [[spoiler: from the perfectly controlled and conditioned underground cities of the Moon, to the eternally unstable surface of Earth.]]

* Nonspecific, but combines with FateWorseThanDeath in ''Webcomic/ZebraGirl'' as the ultimate fate of [[spoiler: Harold [=DuVase=]]].

* Creator/BrianClevinger's [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/08/16/interlude-00-hes-a-fighter-not-a-webcomic-artist/ opinion of Alabama]] from ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' - [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/03/30/episode-401-civility-before-hostility/ it's hell]]. There's also an in-universe one in Corneria.

--->'''NO! NO, NOT DETROIT! PLEASE! NO! {{ANYTHING BUT THAT}}! NO! NO!"'''

!!UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In one episode, Homer makes a crack about Detroit, and Moe admonishes him, telling him that the people there are "living in Film/MadMax times" so they have it bad enough already.

* ''[[VideoGame/TwistedMetal Twisted Metal III]]'': in [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Minion's]] ending, he [[HellSeeker wishes to spend eternity in Hell]]. [[JerkassGenie Calypso]] obliges and sends him to Hell, Michigan.

!!Other
For mentions of UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}, see also OnlyInFlorida.
[[folder:Advertising]]
* Advertising/BigBillHells: Outright advertised as [[OurProductSucks the rudest, most inconvenient car dealership]] in Baltimore, and makes no further effort to make themselves look any better. In an advertisement that ''begins'' with the phrase "Fuck You Baltimore!", you know it's not going to be pleasant.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': "Nothing good comes from [[EarthThatUsedToBeBetter the Earth]] anymore."
* In one episode of ''Anime/UruseiYatsura'', Mrs. Moroboshi wins the grand prize in a grocery's festival lottery -- an all-expenses-paid vacation for two to Atami. Creator/AnimEigo's subtitles helpfully gloss that this is "equivalent to a trip to Ogdensburg, New York."
* This is how Tomoya from ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'' perceives the town he grew up in, which is actually quite nice. This is more due to his DarkAndTroubledPast rather than the actual town. His opinion changes by the end of the series.
* Downplayed in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''. Batou narrates that Berlin, Germany is the only city to have the "dubious honor" of having been bombed out in all four world wars, yet managed to rebuild after each time.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] is the World Government-controlled supermax prison housing many criminals and where all prisoners are tortured with various methods. It's referred to as Hell thanks to all the (mostly true) rumors floating around. The prison's Levels are based on various interpretations of Hell: the sharp and pointy "Crimson Hell" on level 1, the vicious and destructive beasts housed in the "Wild Beast Hell" on level 2, the scorching desert biome with minimal supply in "Starvation Hell" on level 3, the more conventional interpretation as home to constant inferno, smoldering brimstone and boiling lakes of blood in "Blazing Hell" on level 4, and the slow death by hypothermia and frostbite in the chilled "Freezing Hell" on level 5. There exists a Level 6, the "Eternal Hell" because anyone or anything sentenced there is considered a threat so great, it must be forgotten, and so they are wiped from the record completely and left to waste away. The HangingJudge of Enies Lobby considers issuing a death sentence as a compromise -- looking at Impel Down, it makes sense.
** The New World, the second half of the Grand Line, is widely described as such by the average Grand Line pirate. It's such a hellish place that they call the first half a "Paradise" in comparison, which says a lot when the first half is already considered to be this trope by most pirates from the Four Blues.
* Asuka throws out a line on Germany in the manga of ''Manga/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': since the Second Impact, all she can remark upon is how the streets constantly smell like alcohol and garbage.
[[/folder]]

* British comedians of a certain age often speak this way about the Glasgow Empire, a venue notorious for giving acts very short shrift. Des O'Connor fainted on stage and Creator/MorecambeAndWise were booed off. Glasgow in general often gets this too.

* Hoosier comedian Jim Gaffigan, after listing somewhat cliched boasts for residents of other states, said of his home state, "We're from Indiana and we're gonna move!"

* According to ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s incarnation of Joe Biden, Scranton, PA is the single worst place on earth. In fact, if you went down to the lowest circle of hell, you'd still be 45 minutes outside of Scranton.
* In Creator/RobinWilliams' special ''Live On Broadway'', he talked about the 2002 Winter Olympics, wondering why they were held in Utah.
-->'''Robin:''' "Utah, god, what a great place..." What, was Amish country booked? What happened?

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman1989 Sandman]]'' spin-off comic ''The Dreaming'' had one ''very'' lost character lament:
-->''Hell...I'm in hell...''\\
'''Mad Hettie''': ''Nah, 's London. 's like Hell, but less crowded.''
* At one point the members of ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational Justice League Europe]]'' believe they are going to be relocated from London to Vienna. They universally regard this with horror and dismay.
* When Mockingbird is asked to rejoin the Avengers, she quietly whispers, "Please don't say ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers. Please don't say West Coast Avengers..."
* In a ''VideoGame/DecapAttack'' [[https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Sonic-the-Comic/Issue-97?id=62122#17 strip]] of Fleetway's ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'', the crew are all bustled down into an infernal train station, where the intercom advises passengers bound for the netherworld, hell, and Milton Keynes to change trains.

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* A common RunningGag in the ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' comics is the titular cat's constant attempts to send Nermal to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

[[folder:Film — Animated]]
* According to ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', the main form of punishment for a monster is permanent banishment to the human world, though, given that the monsters believe that [[HumansAreCthulhu humans, especially children, are deadly]], this is justifiable.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}''
-->'''English Bob:''' I thought that you were dead .\\
'''Little Bill Dagget:''' I heard that one myself, Bob. Hell, I even thought I was dead. Till I found out I was just in Nebraska.
* ''Film/InBruges'' regards the title city as such.
-->"Maybe that's what Hell is, the entire rest of eternity spent in fucking Bruges."
* ''Film/Hairspray2007'': "Good morning Baltimore! There's the flasher that lives next door, there's the drunk on his barroom stool; they wish me luck on my way to school..." (Most Creator/JohnWaters films tends towards an affectionate mocking of his hometown, though.)
* ''Film/CannibalTheMusical:''
-->'''Polly Pry:''' You made it to Wyoming, right?\\
'''Packer:''' Yeah, but I would've been better off just letting those people catch me and kill me.\\
'''Polly Pry:''' Why?\\
'''Packer:''' You ever been to Wyoming? ''[cut to Packer in a lonely, barren wasteland]'' Heh-hello??\\
'''Polly Pry:''' Oh god, it sounds horrible!
* Marty and Doc invoke this in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', faced with an alternate 1985 ruled by [[JerkAss Biff Tannen]].
-->'''Marty:''' It's like we're in Hell or something.\\
'''Doc:''' No, this is Hill Valley, though I can't imagine Hell being much worse
* In ''Film/DefendingYourLife,'' [[Creator/AlbertBrooks Daniel Miller]] asks if he's in Hell. His defender explains that there is no Hell, but he hears UsefulNotes/LosAngeles is getting pretty close.
* In ''Film/WaynesWorld'', Wayne and Garth use a backscreen that's flashing exotic locales to which the two make fun of the stereotypes associated with those places. Then the backscreen flashes Delaware, and the two can't think of ''anything'' associated with Delaware.
* In ''Film/EasyA'', Olive's narration commenting on a character's punishment for contracting a venereal disease:
-->"Due to his 'condition,' Micah was sent on an extended visit to his grandparents in Palatka, Florida. And if there's one thing worse than chlamydia, it's Florida."
* In ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', Hoggle is terrified of being banished to the Bog of Eternal Stench. Unlike many of the other places on this list, the audience actually does get to see it. Perhaps fortunately, however, [[TakeOurWordForIt we don't get to smell it.]]
* In ''Film/AlienResurrection'', Johner half-seriously says that he'd rather face the Aliens than go to Earth.
* As James Gandolfini's character in ''Film/InTheLoop'' so eloquently said, while talking about WarIsHell: "This is the problem with civilians wanting to go to war. It's terrible, horrible, and once you've been there you never want to go again unless you absolutely fuckin' have to.... It's like [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys France]]."
* In the film ''Film/{{Disclosure}}'', Tom Sanders is offered a transfer to Austin, Texas. This is later described as similar to "a duck making a lateral move to 'à l'orange'", or in other words similar to being roasted and eaten. Part of this may have less to do with any general shittiness of Austin, and more to do that Sanders knows that the transfer is a thinly veiled plot to get rid of him. The Austin branch is due to close in six months, meaning that the company could transfer him, pay him six months of salary and then quietly let him go, instead of having to handle the messy sexual harassment suit he is caught up in.
* The [=LeQuint=] Dickey Mining Company in ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' is a mining company infamous for its cruel treatment of their slaves, such that Stephen, the head house slave of Candyland, considers being sold to them worse than being castrated, whipped to death, thrown to the Mandingos, or even ripped apart by Stonesipher's dogs. [[spoiler:Django narrowly avoids winding up there after the Candyland shootout]].
* Mr. Barron from ''Film/MissPeregrinesHomeForPeculiarChildren'' considers Florida to be this.
-->'''Mr. Barron''': I had to spend ''three weeks'' masquerading as a therapist in ''Florida''! Have you ever ''been'' to Florida?!
** Later on, he adds Wales to the list.
--->'''Mr. Barron''': I had to spend two- no, ''three'' days, in ''Wales'', pretending to look at birds!
* ''Film/InstructionsNotIncluded'': During the trial to see if Valentin is fit to remain Maggie's father, it's mentioned that his job (stuntman) is one of the three most dangerous jobs in the world. The other two are construction worker and bus driver in Mexico City.

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1'' Arthur Dent says, "When I was little I used to have this nightmare about dying - all my school friends went to Heaven or Hell and I was sent to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southend-on-Sea Southend]]!"
* Much sport of the city of Milton Keynes is made in ''Literature/GoodOmens'' (both the angel and the devil claim it as a success for their side), while [[AffablyEvil Crowley]] is particularly proud of his work with Manchester.
* The ultimate example may be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna Gehenna]], an area near Jerusalem so unpleasant that it actually ''became the Hebrew word for Hell''. Any time Literature/TheBible refers to "Hell", it's probably been translated from "Gehenna". It's only referenced as such in the Bible because, when Israel was pagan it was where [[HumanSacrifice children were burned alive to Moloch]], which caused the place to be considered UnholyGround. It's not actually a bad place for any other reason; in modern Jerusalem it's actually a very pleasant little valley.
* [[Literature/TheBible "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"]] (John 1:46)
* The mock-atlas "Our Dumb World" by Website/TheOnion (which was created in Madison, Wisconsin) has a part entitled "Minnesota: Land of 10,000 Retards"
* There is a story by Creator/IsaacAsimov about a man being exiled, with his attorney insisting that the punishment is way too harsh. In the end, it is revealed that he is sent [[spoiler: from the perfectly controlled and conditioned underground cities of the Moon, to the eternally unstable surface of Earth.]]
* In the Literature/AgentPendergast novel ''Literature/BookOfTheDead'', Agent Coffey threatens the prison guards with termination and transfer to North Dakota. When everything comes crashing down on him, Coffey is heavily demoted and transferred to North Dakota.
* ''Literature/TheDevilsDictionary'':
** Man spreads so rapidly as to conquer "the entire habitable Earth and Canada".
** It was the fool who founded "theology, philosophy, law, medicine and Chicago".
* In the children's picture book ''The Moon Lady'', the narrator tells her two granddaughters a story about her childhood in UsefulNotes/{{China}}. She attended the Moon Festival, and (because she was unsupervised, bored, and not content with staying still as she was expected to do) snuck into the kitchen and messed around with [[{{Squick}} eels that were meant to go in the soup at dinner]], and got her brand new outfit covered in eel blood. Her nanny found her, and after making sure she was okay, said something along the lines of "Your mother is going to banish us to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunming Kunming]]!" The narrator, however, was excited to go, because of rumors that Kunming was a wild place, ruled by flying monkeys.
* ''Literature/{{Domina}}'': In a WretchedHive most of the world won't even touch, Acheron is still considered one of the worst parts of it, populated by nothing but traitors. And then there's Nishrek, the Fifty Battlefields, which is hated even more [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking for its stupid design]].
-->'''Robyn:''' Where is it?\\
'''MC:''' Nishrek. In Acheron.\\
'''Robyn:''' ...I hate that place.\\
'''MC:''' ''Everyone'' hates that place.
* ''A Field Guide to the Jewish People'' by Creator/DaveBarry, Adam Mansbach and Alan Zweibel states that some Jews believe that "the souls of the not-so-awesome" are posthumously delivered "to a kind of purgatory realm called Gehennom, She'ol, or the Department of Motor Vehicles, where they spend a year being tormented by the personal demons they created within each sin, joining the righteous in heaven thereafter."
* ''Sh*t Towns Of Australia'', a parodic travel guide which takes the reader through "all the best places not to visit or, heaven forbid, live" in Australia, going into great detail about the banal attractions, unpleasant features and awful locals who can be found in the titular awful communities. The observant reader will quickly detect by the merest glance at the contents that an entry on [[SelfDeprecatingHumor pretty much every town or city of some significance in Australia can be found within its pages.]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
-->'''Spike:''' Am I in Hell?\\
'''Lorne:''' No, you're in Los Angeles, though a lot of people make that mistake.
* ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'':
** Nina asks Annie if she wants to talk about her experience of Purgatory:
--->'''Nina:''' Annie. You were in purgatory.\\
'''Annie:''' Yeah, I know. But I've been to the Isle of Wight so [[TakeThat it's not really that much of a culture shock.]]
** After rescuing her from Purgatory, Mitchell tells Annie that they've moved to a home in Wales. Annie jokingly replies that she'd rather go back to Purgatory.
* In ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', Season 3 ends with Jake and Captain Holt being forced to enter witness protection in Florida. It's pretty much portrayed as a hell of tanning beds, firearms, corn dogs, [=ATVs=], and far-right conservatives. Jake refers to the state as "America's butt".
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E1Castrovalva "Castrovalva"]]:
--->'''Tegan:''' What's a Zero Room, anyway? Doctor said something about non-interfaces.\\
'''Nyssa:''' I suppose it's some sort of neutral environment, an isolated space cut off from the rest of the universe.\\
'''Tegan:''' He should have told me that's what he wanted. I coulda shown him Brisbane.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E3TheUnquietDead "The Unquiet Dead"]]: The Doctor explains to Rose that he's landed in the wrong place and time, and she's so taken with being in the past that she keeps saying "I don't care". Then he says "It's Cardiff!" and she stops dead in shock. Later in the episode, the Doctor himself is disgusted that he's "gonna die in a dungeon! In ''Cardiff''!"
* Creator/JossWhedon recycled the ''Angel'' joke in ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'':
-->'''Topher:''' Do you know where you are?\\
'''Priya:''' I'm in hell.\\
'''Topher:''' You're in Los Angeles. I can understand the mix-up.
* ''{{Series/Firefly}}'': [[SchoolForScheming The Academy]] is this to River.
* ''Series/HistoryOfTheWorldPartII'' has this:
-->'''Todd Lincoln''': I'd follow you to the gates of hell!\\
'''General Grant''': Well, we're going to something worse than that: West Virginia!\\
'''Todd Lincoln''': [[BigNo Noooo!]]
* A running gag in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' is the gang (especially Barney) poking fun at Robin for being from Canada. This comes to a peak in "Return of the Slutty Pumpkin", where Barney is horrified to discover his paternal grandmother was born in Canada, making him one-quarter Canadian. HilarityEnsues.
-->'''Robin:''' Guys, I have a very important announcement to make. I was on Facebook, [...] and I just happened to be friends with Barney's [[LongLostRelative long-lost father]]. And guess who thought my status update on Manitoba was so interesting because his ''mother'' was born in Manitoba?\\
'''Barney:''' What?\\
'''Robin:''' Which means...your grandmother...\\
'''Barney:''' No...\\
'''Robin:''' Which makes you...\\
'''Barney:''' Don't say it.\\
'''Robin:''' One quarter Canadian! Welcome to the tribe, hoser!\\
'''Others:''' ''(cheering)''\\
'''Barney:''' [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack No...that's not true...that's impossible!]]
* In one episode of ''Series/TheInbetweeners'', Mr Gilbert threatens to sabotage Will's university prospects so that it's "Goodbye first-rate education, hello University of Lincoln."
-->'''Will:''' Now this was serious. I've been to Lincoln, and it's a shithole.
* Inverted in the second season finale of ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen'', when the dim-witted and sheltered Tubbs, faced with the possibility of death, asks Edward, "Will heaven... be like Swansea?"
-->'''Edward:''' Yes, Tubbs. Only bigger.
* Often happens on '[[Series/MockTheWeek Scenes We'd Like to See]]':
-->'''Hugh Dennis:''' Bracknell, twinned with Hell!\\
'''Ben Norris:''' You are leaving Croydon. Well done!\\
'''Frankie Boyle:''' Both of you, [[SelfDeprecation welcome to Scotland!]]\\
'''David Mitchell:''' Welcome to Butlins!\\
'''Frankie Boyle:''' We had only been in there a day, [[YearInsideHourOutside but to us it felt like 15 years]]. That's Birmingham!\\
'''Andy Parsons:''' Welcome to [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Mordor]], twinned with Swansea.\\
'''Russell Howard:''' Please, don't take photos of the natives, because they believe you're taking part of your soul. Apart from that, enjoy Norwich.\\
'''Frankie Boyle:''' Of course, you have respect local customs. On the right-hand side, you'll see [[BurnTheWitch a woman being burned at the stake]], and on the left, Dundee Town Hall.\\
'''Kevin Bridges:''' We have now arrived into Sheffield. Could all passengers in first class please pull down your window blinds and take a look at the real world!\\
'''Andy Parsons:''' For Middlesborough, take the exit marked "Hell", and then lose the will to live.\\
'''Angela Barnes:''' Now there is a big mess on exit 16 on the M4; Swindon!
** The same programme has also had this:
---> '''Frankie:''' (''Question: If the answer is '27' what is the question?'') 'In Dundee, how long does a day seem to last?'\\
'''Dara Ó Briain:''' Is that 27 hours, or 27 days?\\
'''Frankie:''' Just the number '27'; they have not come up with the concept of either hours or days in Dundee. They live in a timeless pit.
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': The "Election Night Special" sketch has a series of jokes about the "swing-o-meter", which ends up leading into a joke about how "Wales is not swinging at all; no surprise there."
* John Betjeman wrote the poem "Slough" to trash its transformation into a dreary factory town, inviting bombs to obliterate it in the first stanza. This was one of the reasons the town was chosen as the setting for the original ''Series/TheOfficeUK.'' The DVD packaging includes the poem. David Brent also gives his [[ComicallyMissingThePoint analysis]] of the poem in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x1knZBDEQM series proper]].
* ''Series/RedDwarf'': "What's death like?" "Ever been to Swindon?"
* Played with on a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch in which a group of white nationalists are describing their perfect world, an agrarian society devoid of any ethnic minorities. A newcomer interjects to point out that they had just perfectly described Vermont. Overlaps with DamnedByAFoolsPraise, since the white supremacists mean it as a compliment InUniverse.
* One episode of the American ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' had as a Scene From A Hat "Versions of Hell without fire or brimstone". Greg presented it as driving eternally in Mississippi. They've also made jokes about Fresno and Seattle.
* As police commissioner Burrell says of his city during ''Series/TheWire'': "It's Baltimore, gentlemen. The gods will not save you."

[[folder:Music]]
* 1960s/70s folkie Dion Dimucci managed to zing four cities at once (none of them Cleveland or Milwaukee or Philadelphia, interestingly), in his song ''Sanctuary'':
-->There might be war in the core of Baltimore, A breakdown in L.A.\\
They bring me down in the heart of Memphis town, And people look the other way\\
Well, if the lights burn cold in New York City, It's sad, but, god, it's true
* Axl Rose, and by extension, Music/GunsNRoses, have had a lot of bad beef with St. Louis, and especially the municipality of Riverport. Not only was it the place where Axl gained notoriety in 1991 for having a concert halted midway due to poor security refusing to take down someone allowed to have a camcorder in the audience and indirectly sparked a city-wide riot, which the blame was then laid onto the group[[note]]According to eyewitness accounts and offhand stories from staff at the time, said person with the camcorder had ties with security, allowing him to sneak it through. Axl and the band were going to go back on stage for the audience, but the cops and stage management refused to let them on.[[/note]], but Axl also had some messy experiences in the town, including nearly getting raped by an ice machine repairman who hitchhiked him to a nearby hotel when he visited the city as a runaway teen. As such, the reason why Use Your Illusion I & II has the nice hidden message of "Fuck You St. Louis".

[[folder:Radio]]
* In the skit "Last Will and Temperament" by the Canadian radio comedy troupe, Radio/TheFrantics, the will ends with the deceased leaving "my entire estate of 10 million dollars to the people of Calgary so they can afford to move somewhere decent."
* In ''Radio/TheMenFromTheMinistry'' Outer Hebrides (where all civil servants too incompetent [[ReassignedToAntarctica are reassigned]]) are considered the worst possible place to go; apparently bowler hats will get moldy in a week and the climate is so cold that even germs can't live there.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* Mel Brooks's original opening for the musical version of ''Film/TheProducers'' was Max Bialystock's horrible spoof of Oklahoma, titled "Hey Nebraska". The entire song was essentially this. Lyrics include "Oh, what a terrible morning/Oh what a terrible night,/Things in the state of Nebraska/Never will ever go right" and "Hey, Nebraska- You suck!"
* London, according to ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'':
-->There's a hole in the world like a great black pit\\
and the vermin of the world inhabit it\\
and its morals aren't worth what a pig can spit\\
and it goes by the name of London.
* Often seen in farces with do-it-yourself-dialogue in the script along the lines of: "I shall put a curse on the lot of them, and doom them to live in [unpopular town or state]".

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': "You should be grateful, I could've sent you to Hoedown Town. It's awful. The music, the dancing! Oh my!"
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'': "Solstheim? A terrible place, I've heard. There's a boat from Khuul, if you have any reason to go."
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'': "That's the old passage to Ravenholm. We don´t go there anymore." This isn't so much a joke, but rather serious commentary about the living conditions of Ravenholm. The player will later find out that the whole city has been completely overrun by Headcrab Zombies, and that nobody actually can live there anymore.
** The [[EldritchLocation Combine Overworld]] is considered this, if not the [[AnotherDimension entire dimension]] it exists in. Both citizens and soldiers are threatened with "[[ReassignedToAntarctica Permanent Off-World Reassignment]]". Humans need [[MalevolentMutilation invasive medical procedures]] to even survive the transfer, while [[SuperSoldier Combine Soldiers]] have already had them. When soldiers in [[HellholePrison Nova Prospekt]] are told to kill or capture [[OneManArmy Gordon Freeman]] or be transferred to the Overworld, they [[AttackAttackAttack relentlessly attack into his defensive position]] until every soldier in the sector is killed.
* The entire ''world'' in ''VisualNovel/SwanSong''. A massive earthquake strikes the region on Christmas, while in the middle of a massive snowstorm that lasts for days on end. It just becomes so much of a CrapsackWorld where people are struggling to survive, that some comment that those who died in the initial earthquake were the lucky ones.
* Occasional mention is made in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' of Promethea, which is said to be the only known planet where life is even more miserable than on Pandora, and Pandora is pretty damn bad. ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'' would show that Promethea is a modernized civilization with a very ''hard'' divide between the rich and the impoverished. Promethea is apparently so bad because the majority of the population just can't afford ''anything'' to live with.
-->'''Morningstar sniper rifle AI:''' [[YouBastard There are children on Promethea who can't afford ammo, you know!]]
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2'': It's hinted at through the radio that the city is on the verge of complete chaos. Poor Dean Frantz has had his car stolen five times in as many weeks.
* Omega station, built on the core of a mined-out asteroid, has this kind of reputation in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. The place is a WretchedHive where there is no law enforcement, no government, mercenary gangs run amok, [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil batarian slavers can wrangle victims out in the open]], Collectors routinely abduct "interesting and rare specimens" for experimentation, bartenders poison [[FantasticRacism people of a certain species]], short-lived but sentient people are treated as vermin with "cleaners" advertising themselves, burlesque acts are implied to involve on stage [[BestialityIsDepraved taming of beasts]], [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Ardat Yakshi]] can openly hunt for [[OutWithABang prey]], and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking newbie storekeepers are forced to sell high by well-established competition.]]
* ''[[VideoGame/TwistedMetal Twisted Metal III]]'': in [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Minion's]] ending, he [[HellSeeker wishes to spend eternity in Hell]]. [[JerkassGenie Calypso]] obliges and sends him to Hell, Michigan.
* [[Franchise/SamAndMax Max]] gets a twofer in ''VideoGame/PokerNightAtTheInventory'' as part of his anecdote about Artie Flopshark getting assaulted by Flint Paper for seeking payment from a person he'd taught to play a game that Flint believed didn't exist. When [[Webcomic/PennyArcade Tycho]] pressed him for the name of the game, Max replied that it was the name of 'someplace horrible', suggesting either Omaha or Topeka.[[note]]Omaha Hold'em is a real poker variant, like Texas Hold'em[[/note]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Nonspecific, but combines with FateWorseThanDeath in ''Webcomic/ZebraGirl'' as the ultimate fate of [[spoiler: Harold [=DuVase=]]].
-->"Wherever he doesn't want to be... that's always where he'll go."
* In ''{{Webcomic/Overside}}'', Surya: a frozen wasteland where criminals and dissidents are exiled.
* In ''Webcomic/BlueYonder'', [[http://www.blueyondercomic.net/comics/1393082/blue-yonder-chapter-1-page-45/ Black Dog is told his pilot, if lucky, is in the rings of Saturn, and if not -- Edinburgh.]]
* Creator/BrianClevinger's [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/08/16/interlude-00-hes-a-fighter-not-a-webcomic-artist/ opinion of Alabama]] from ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' - [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/03/30/episode-401-civility-before-hostility/ it's hell]]. There's also an in-universe one in Corneria.
-->'''Princess Sara:''' Well, the poll only had two choices: '''One''', be ruled over by [[TheCaligula King Steve]] forever, '''two''', get a sword through your head. We lost '''52%''' of participants.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Multiplex}}'' they are discussing the source of the zombie invasion of [[ShowWithinAShow the movie theater]].
-->'''Franklyn:''' So what if the projector is opening a portal to hell, or, uh, whatever.\\
'''Tease:''' Hollywood?
* ''Webcomic/LightAndDark:'' New Hadden, the main setting of the comic, has a bad reputation for being a hellhole run by a corrupt mayor, where crime rates are high and gangs run amuck.
* ''Webcomic/TerminalLance'': The suck that is deployment to Twentynine Palms has apparently reached memetic levels within the Marine Corps. However, according to the author's dispassionate analysis, Camp Lejeune is actually ''worse''. While Lejeune is just as hot and the surroundings just as inhospitable as Twentynine Palms, the heat at Twentynine Palms is dry, and Twentynine Palms is within a couple of hours' drive from both Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Lejeune is stuck in the swampy ass-end of North Carolina nowhere and the humidity is murderous.
* In ''Webcomic/AllSaintsStreet'', Australia is part of Hell's territory.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [[http://www.theonion.com/content/news/visiting_gore_calls_pennsylvania_a Visiting Gore Calls Pennsylvania 'A Hellhole']]
* The Literature/BastardOperatorFromHell does this with Luton.
-->'''BOFH:''' Well, coverage in the third world is always a bit dodgy...\\
'''PFY:''' Really? Where did you go, Luton?\\
'''BOFH:''' Luton, Hull, and Glasgow. A package hole-iday\\
'''PFY:''' You didn't drink the water, did you?\\
'''BOFH:''' Hell no, my interpreter warned me about that!
* The Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses [[WebVideo/TGWTGYearOneBrawl Anniversary Brawl]] begins with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic singing an ode to Chicago, (Oh what an adequate morning!) loaded with {{Take That}}s to Chicago that make it sound like this.
-->"Corruption's as high as an elephant's eye... and the meters cost $74.25..." ''(Rob Walker is shown angrily kicking a parking meter)''
** Malachite, who was banished to a Starbucks {{Expy}} after being defeated in the third year anniversary of Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.
* [[http://www.cracked.com/forums/topic/81481/contest-2.18.11-tourism-ads-undesirable-destinations-no-hell-or-mordor/0 This forum]] is full of this trope. Some specific examples listed above. [[http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_170_14-tourism-ads-destinations-nobody-wants-to-visit/ 14 of them]] were selected by Website/{{Cracked}}.
* {{LetsPlay/Helloween4545}} says that [[RunningGag Swindon, England]] is this.
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'':
** In the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "mini-golf", Strong Bad gets an email signed from "Somebody No-one Cares About in Iowa", to which Strong Bad quips "Also known as, everyone in Iowa."
** "[[Recap/HomestarWhereTheCrapAreWe Where The Crap Are We?]]", a short originally included as an Easter egg in Macromedia Central, has Strong Bad [[OverlyLongScream freaking out]] on realizing the "blue fadey land" he and Homestar were trapped in [[ThisIsntHeaven isn't heaven]]. Then Homestar chimes in with "Yeah, you're right. I think it's Massachusetts."
* Creator/RoosterTeeth's Burnie Burns [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iSAkF1CKJ4 apparently feels this way about Houston]] (which is just a freeway away from the company's headquarters in Austin).
* A [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/youre-going-to-brazil meme created around the middle of 2020]] features characters dreading the prospect of being forcibly sent to UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, often in over-the-top violent ways. Allegedly, the meme was the end result of internet celebrities being tired of Brazilian fans ''demanding'' they visit the country. Although the fact that Brazil is a notoriously violent country that was being hit ''hard'' by the 2020 pandemic around the time the meme popped up certainly helped things along.
* ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'': In the first episode of their ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' playthrough, Arin and Danny jokingly compare [[FirstTown Dirthmouth]] to Pittsburgh, and Hallownest/the Crossroads to Columbus, OH.
* God in ''WebVideo/PuppetHistory'' freely admits to crafting some of the worst natural catastrophies on Earth, but also includes creating "Tampa, Florida, and also the ''rest'' of Florida" with this list.
* In Diva of ''WebVideo/MusicalHell''[='=]s review of the 1986 MadeForTVMovie version of ''Theatre/BabesInToyland'', she is spectacularly unimpressed by the characters' fanatical pride in their hometown of Cincinnati, expressed in song form. When the song is reprised and protagonist Lisa's hometown pride ''counters the antagonist's magic'', a disgusted Diva asks, "Have you ever actually ''been'' there?" and cues an unflattering picture of an inner-city street as she adds the scene to the film's sin count. As one of the film's punishments, "for singing the praises of a very un-praiseworthy city", she condemns the late Leslie Bricusse (who composed the new songs for the adaptation) to an extended stay there.
* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': The episode ''Seeing Stars'' has Octavia run away to the human world in an attempt to see a meteor shower. [[HellHound Loona]] is able to determine that she went to Los Angeles based on the scent of "urine and desperation''. Blitzo comments that LA "doesn't look much different from Hell".

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSamAndMaxFreelancePolice'': In "Dysfunction of the Gods", Max accidentally opens Pandora's box in the middle of a Las Vegas casino.
-->'''Sam:''' You've just unwittingly liberated all the ills and horrors of society!\\
'''Max:''' It's Vegas, who's gonna notice?
* ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'': The short "Equal Time" has Dot doing a news report on the 2020 primary election in Iowa, which is depicted as a backwater farm covered in half-melted snow with no one around but a single bored cow. She also describes Iowa as "the one state we pretend to care about one January every four years."
-->'''Dot:''' I'm cold and lonely... just like everyone else in Iowa!
* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "A Room with a Moose," Zim threatens to send the entire class into the titular room with a moose, a dimension that simply consists of a white plane with a giant moose noisily and graphically munching on walnuts, which apparently is worse than both a dimension of pure dookie and one of pure itching.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** In "The Cryonic Woman", Fry wakes up from a second round of cryo-stasis and finds himself in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic Earth in the year 4000. Turns out he was only frozen four days and he was really in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles in his own time period. When he tries explaining that there were ruins and children with guns, the other characters reply that L.A. is just like that.
--->'''Bender:''' He just won't stop with the social commentary.
** And Utah gets it in the episode "Mars University".
--->'''Fry:''' I'm impressed. In my time we had no idea Mars had a university.\\
'''Professor Farnsworth''': That's because then Mars was an uninhabitable wasteland, much like Utah. But unlike Utah, Mars was eventually made livable when the university was founded in 2636.
* In ''WesternAnimation/GodTheDevilAndBob'', God needs Bob to talk Satan out of his funk...which means Bob has to go to Hell. "You've been to Branson, Missouri. It's not that different!"
* The ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "Devil's Feud Cake" (also known as the "Satan's Waitin' Segment in ''The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie'') involved Yosemite Sam going to {{Hell}}.
-->'''Sam:''' It's powerful hot here. Is this Dallas?\\
'''Satan:''' No, but you're close.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark:''
** In "Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!", when Cartman and the boys go to visit his grandmother they pass a sign that says "Now leaving Colorful Colorado," on a mountain background with a rainbow. The scenery changes abruptly to a gray sky ([[VisualGag that is literally split on the state line]]) and [[CornyNebraska seemingly-endless corn fields]] and a new sign reads "You are now in NEBRASKA. ...Sorry."
** There's also an episode where Kenny gets hit by a bus but doesn't die, instead ending up carried under the bus all the way to Mexico. In the next episode, Kenny manages to call his friends, and when he describes the place he wound up (i.e. drinking the water gives you bloody diarrhea), they're convinced Kenny is in Hell. In the same episode, Jesus decides to punish Cartman by sending him to a place "worse" than Hell. [[BrickJoke Guess where?]]
** And:
--->'''Mr. Garrison:''' And where are you from, Damien?\\
'''Damien:''' The seventh layer of hell!\\
'''Mr. Garrison:''' Ooooh, that's exciting, my mother was from Alabama.
** When going to the Worldwide Recorder Concert in Arkansas, the sign when they entered declared "Yes, we ''are'' a state!".
* In one of the episodes of the short-lived ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'' TV show, two teams of engineers are competing, and the losing team will be transferred to Albany, NY -- which is shown as being incredibly cold on ''the first day of summer''. When the episode's BigBad -- no, not the boss but the rival team's leader -- is decapitated, her head comments "Well, better this than Albany."
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In one episode, Homer travels to Winnipeg, Canada, and the road sign on approaching the city proclaims "We were born here. What's your excuse?"
** And in the episode where they move to Cypress Creek:
--->'''Scorpio:''' By the way, Homer, what's your least favorite country? Italy or France?\\
'''Homer:''' France.\\
'''Scorpio''' Heh heh, nobody ever says Italy.
** For Lisa Simpson, any university (and that is '''ANY''' university) that is not Ivy League is seen as an example of this. The very thought of the possibility that only Brown University will accept her if she doesn't ace a random test drives her to cheat on the episode [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E7LisaGetsAnA "Lisa Gets an "A""]].
** In another episode, Marge stared in a musical version of ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' with a song that said some pretty bad things about New Orleans. This caused an outcry from quite a few actual citizens of that city, so much that Bart's chalkboard gag in an episode a few weeks later read "I will not defame New Orleans."
** At the end of [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E19KillTheAlligatorAndRun "Kill The Alligator and Run"]], the Simpsons are [[PersonaNonGrata banned from ever returning to Florida]]. In the final scene of the episode, Marge is standing next to a map of the United States, with 48 of the states crossed off, leaving North Dakota and Arizona as the only remaining states where they haven't been banned from yet. Bart gives good reasons why they should never go there in the first place, and she crosses them off too.
** In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E17LisaGetsTheBlues "Lisa Gets The Blues"]], Marge plans a family vacation to Gainsville, Florida. After immediate protesting by the family, the first thing she notices when buying plane tickets is that going there only costs $19. Getting out costs $999, much to Marge's annoyance. The airport employee consoles Homer after learning where they're going. Homer then incites a riot on board the plane, because nobody else wanted to go there either. This results in the plane landing in New Orleans instead.
* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' had Mooslevania, a place so bad that people would vacation there because afterwards any other place seemed like a vacation. It was also the subject of a territorial dispute between the US and Canada; Canada said it was part of the US, while the US said it was a part of Canada. Mooslevania almost became a real place thanks to a nationwide campaign. However, it was cut short due to the visit to Washington D.C. coinciding with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
* ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'': In the episode "Dan Vs. Burgerphile", the local Burgerphile manager Jeff is terrified of the prospect of being sent back to Maryland.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** In the episode "The Most Interesting Man in the World", Peter gets smarter from visiting America's smartest cities, so his family [[WeWantOurJerkBack turns him back to normal]] by sending him to America's dumbest city: Tucson, Arizona. There, the people are giggling, snaggletoothed dolts who beat each other up, their philharmonic consists of wet t-shirt contests with chocolate milk, and the movie ''{{Film/Battleship}}'' is still playing in theaters. (and apparently, this wasn't the first time Creator/SethMacFarlane [[https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2014/04/14/seth-macfarlane-and-his-peculiar-distaste-for-tucson took shots at Tucson.]])
** In the episode "Into Harmony's Way", Peter and Quagmire go on tour as a singing duo; the first place they go to is New York, but it turns out to be a thin painting of New York over the road, with Delaware on the other side. The sign outside the state reads, "Sorry we had to trick you. This is how we get visitors."
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
** In "Minstrel Krampus", one of the songs Krampus sings has him lament his ex Sheila standing him up in "dirty-ass Baltimore".
** After Krampus is killed and Stan's dad takes over as the new Krampus, Jack is then shown holding a steady job as a bus driver in Baltimore, and he's quick to rag on the city.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' gives us Starbase 80. Not much is known about this place, but mentioning the place is certain to put people like MilitaryMaverick Beckett Mariner in line. When it's finally seen (albeit briefly) after Mariner is unjustly sent there, it's a rundown hellhole that drives her to resign her commission.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses]]. A RunningGag is Star dreading being sent there for causing trouble.

[[folder: Comic Books]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': [[TheHero Gary Goodspeed]]'s reaction when he learns that the KVN Network is located in "The place formerly know as Wisconsin" on that abandoned version of Earth pretty much screams this trope. Later on ''Bolo'', [[BigGood of all people]], [[EveryoneHasStandards has a similar reaction]].

* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': [[TheHero Gary Goodspeed]]'s reaction when he learns that the KVN Network is located in Wisconsin (or, as the show puts it, "the place formerly known as Wisconsin") pretty much screams this trope. Later on ''Bolo'', [[BigGood of all people]], [[EveryoneHasStandards has a similar reaction]].

* According to {{LetsPlay/Helloween4545}}: [[RunningGag Swindon]].

* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': [[TheHero Gary Goodspeed]]'s reaction when he learns that the KVN Network is located in Wisconsin (or, as the show puts it, "the place formerly known as Wisconsin") pretty much screams this trope. Even ''Bolo'' [[BigGood of all people]], has a similar reaction.

* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': [[TheHero Gary Goodspeed]]'s reaction when he learns that the KVN Network is located in Wisconsin (or, as the show puts it, "the place formerly known as Wisconsin") pretty much screams this trope.

* ''Series/{{Chucky}}'': In the episode "Goin' to the Chapel", this s Chucky's reaction to the start of the heroes' attempted exorcism on him:

* Omega station, built on the core of a mined-out asteroid, has this kind of reputation in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. The place is a WretchedHive where there is no law enforcement, no government, mercenary gangs run amok, [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil batarian slavers can wrangle victims out in the open]], Collectors routinely abduct "interesting and rare specimens" for experimentation, bartenders poison [[FantasticRacism people of a certain species]], short-lived but sentient people are treated as vermin with "cleaners" advertising themselves, burlesque acts are implied to involve on stage [[BestialityIsDepraved taming of beasts]], [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Ardat]] [[DeathBySex Yakshi]] can openly hunt for [[OutWithABang prey]], and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking newbie storekeepers are forced to sell high by well-established competition.]]

** The New World, the second half of the Grand Line, is widely described as such by the average pirate. It's such a hellish place that they call the first half a "Paradise" in comparison.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] is the World Government-controlled supermax prison housing many criminals and where all prisoners are tortured with various methods. It's referred to as Hell thanks to all the (mostly true) rumors floating around. The prison's Levels are based on various interpretations of Hell: the sharp and pointy "Crimson Hell" on level 1, the vicious and destructive beasts housed in the "Wild Beast Hell" on level 2, the scorching desert biome with minimal supply in "Starvation Hell" on level 3, the more conventional interpretation as home to constant inferno, smoldering brimstone and boiling lakes of blood in "Blazing Hell" on level 4, and the slow death by hypothermia and frostbite in the chilled "Freezing Hell" on level 5. There exists a Level 6, the "Eternal Hell" because anyone or anything sentenced there is considered a threat so great, it must be forgotten, and so they are wiped from the record completely and left to waste away. The HangingJudge of Enies Lobby considers issuing a death sentence as a compromise -- looking at Impel Down, it makes sense.

--->'''NO! NO, NOT DETROIT! PLEASE! NO! [[AnythingButThat ANYTHING BUT THAT]]! NO! NO!"'''

* Any film set or created before Rudy Giuliani and the Disneyfication of Times Square casts New York City as a WretchedHive the protagonists must endure and/or escape from (e.g., ''Film/TheOutOfTowners'', ''Film/TheWiz'', ''Film/AmericanGangster''...).

* Played with on a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch in which a group of white nationalists are describing their perfect world, an agrarian society devoid of any ethnic minorities. A newcomer interjects to point out that they had just perfectly described Vermont. Overlaps with DamnedByAFoolsPraise, since the white supremacists mean it as a compliment InUniverse.

* A common RunningGag in the ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' comics is the titular cat's constant attempts to send his [[ViewerGenderConfusion nephew]] Nermal to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

** When ComicBook/SpiderMan goes on live television to say that he's switching sides during Comicbook/CivilWar, he says that the prison that unregistered heroes are being sent to is in the Negative Zone, which is like New Jersey... but ''worse''.

* In ''FanFic/KingdomHeartsTheShortAndHonestVersion'', we had the rather brilliant BaitAndSwitchComparison below.

* ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' did a skit about words being removed from the dictionary and Detroit is one of those words.

* The [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic fluffy pony]] group fic ''The Fall of Cleveland'' has a developer build a theme park for fluffy ponies (small, fluffy man-made life forms often kept as pets) in Cleveland, a plan approved by the mayor in a desperate attempt to make ''some'' money for the city. However, the developer has rigged the park to explode as part of a plan to make his creations, "fuzzy ponies", the only biotoy on the market. The story ends with a massive tidal wave of fluffy ponies overwhelming the park, a herd getting into the local nuclear power plant, and Lake Erie swallowing the city.

* In the second ''Literature/PercyJackson'' movie Luke had to go through the depths of Tartarus to find Kronos's tomb....and [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking Cleveland]].

* Inverted in Series/ThirtyRock, where Liz visits her then boyfriend after he's moved to Cleveland. She finds it to be far better than New York, including being asked if [[Main/HollywoodHomely she's a model]].

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' DLC "The Pitt", the city of Pittsburgh has become a radioactive and highly toxic center for slavery.

* The ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]'' spin-off comic ''The Dreaming'' had one ''very'' lost character lament:

* In a ''VIdeoGame/DecapAttack'' [[https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Sonic-the-Comic/Issue-97?id=62122#17 strip]] of Fleetway's ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'', the crew are all bustled down into an infernal train station, where the intercom advises passengers bound for the netherworld, hell, and Milton Keynes to change trains.