Huffington Post: Charlotte a 'weird' and 'bizarre' place to live

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - THURSDAY UPDATE: Our Kristen Hampton took to the streets to fact-check some of the alleged reasons Charlotte is "weird". The Good News? She found out most of the things in the list are a little less than true.

What say you Charlotteans? Is Charlotte a 'weird' and 'bizarre' place to live? The Huffington Post, a popular online media outlet, certainly seems to think so.

A writer for the site's travel section rattled off "15 reasons why Charlotte is the weirdest", and the list with a flat-out condescending tone, has gone viral on social media -- particularly twitter.

Reason #1 according to Carly Ledbetter, the article's writer: 'downtown is called uptown.' She also points to the fact that "no one is from Charlotte", "graveyards are everywhere' and calls our public transportation 'hilarious'.

Don't forget her digs on NASCAR, the city's evangelical roots (she calls out mega-church Elevation) and its non-existent nightlife claiming "the streets are always empty."

Oh, and to add insult to (some would say, major) injury, she ends the snarky list, calling Charlotte 'purgatory.'

"I don't think it's purgatory - that's kind of offensive" said Jackie Wells.

But Wells said she took the article in stride.

"I think it's fun. I think it's meant to be funny."

WBTV showed the online article to other folks in Charlotte.

Belinda Brittain got a chuckle out of "everything is oddly evangelical." She said "no, Charlotte isn't weird to me. Charlotte is - I'd say - more funky, kinda up and coming."

A New York transplant, who was showing a friend from England around said "there's some weird stuff in there but overall it's a nice city... I'm from the big city New York and we like Charlotte."

Three teenagers in NoDa said " it's just surprising because you don't really think about these things until you actually read about it."

Another said "there are times I think Charlotte is pretty cool and it's just for that weird factor."

The third of the trio said "I think if you live here you can make fun of it because I mean we always poke fun of Charlotte."

See the full list here.

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