Interesting one this. Been ghost hunting for years mostly in urban Manchester and surrounding areas, and I've never personally experienced missing time - but a few mates who do investigations out in the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales have mentioned it more than once.
My thinking is it's probably a mix of factors rather than location being the actual cause:
Light pollution - cities are bright 24/7, you're more aware of time passing, Phone signal - rural spots often have patchy signal, so your phone's clock syncs less reliably, Sensory deprivation - quiet, dark open spaces genuinely mess with your perception, Fewer reference points - no church bells, traffic patterns, shift workers etc.
That said, I do wonder if there's something to the idea that whatever's causing these encounters prefers low-density areas. Less interference, less chance of multiple witnesses complicating the narrative?
I use a Garmin GPS on investigations which timestamps everything, and even that's shown odd gaps in rural logs that I can't fully explain. Probably mundane reasons, but still niggles at me.
Anyone got solid documented cases where missing time happened in a proper city centre? Would genuinely shift my thinking if so.