Lost towns around the globe
Bodie, California, USA
Bodie, California, USA
Houtouwan, China
Houtouwan, China
Tyneham, Dorset, England, UK
Tyneham, Dorset, England, UK
Bankhead, Alberta, Canada
Bankhead, Alberta, Canada
Petra, Jordan
Petra, Jordan
St Elmo, Colorado, USA
St Elmo, Colorado, USA
What’s here today is actually a recreation of the original town, whose structures were mostly destroyed by a fire in the early 2000s. However, the huddle of ramshackle, wood-framed buildings – which include the town hall and a general store – look every inch the Gold Rush-era bolthole, and are just as eerie as if they’d stood here for centuries. Discover more of America’s eeriest Gold Rush towns here.
Belchite, Zaragoza, Spain
Belchite’s bullet-ravaged ruins are an enduring reminder of the horrors of war. The town was all but destroyed in 1937, in a deadly battle during the Spanish Civil War which also claimed some 3,000 lives. Belchite stood devastated and, over the years, Mother Nature has finished the job, further eroding crumbling buildings and forcing greenery into the cracks. See more places where Mother Nature has run wild here.
Belchite, Zaragoza, Spain
It was decided that Belchite would not be razed to the ground – instead, the ruins of the old town would be left to molder and remind prosperity of the brutal conflict. Therefore, little has changed since the 1930s: rubble still litters the streets, bullet-ridden buildings still stand and the haunting site has also been used as a location for several movies. Check out these abandoned movie sets around the world.
Farina, South Australia, Australia
Farina, South Australia, Australia
By the mid-20th century, Farina’s population was in rapid decline and its buildings closed one by one. The town was eventually deserted entirely and its structures were left to crumble away. Ruins of the Transcontinental Hotel, the bakery and other businesses remain a window into a bygone era, and efforts have been made to preserve them over the years. These are Australia’s most eerie abandoned buildings.
Vijayanagar (Hampi), Karnataka, India
Vijayanagar (Hampi), Karnataka, India
Wollseifen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Wollseifen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
The training ground was operated by the Belgian military right up until the early 21st century, when it was finally vacated and folded into Eifel National Park. Now its decrepit buildings, including a creepy abandoned church, sit along a trail that routes through the wilderness. Here are more of Europe’s eeriest ghost towns.
Oradour-sur-Glane, France
Oradour-sur-Glane, France
Old Cahawba, Alabama, USA
It’s hard to believe that this huddle of buildings – with their cloak of Spanish moss and their moldering façades – once made up Alabama’s state capital. Cahawba was state capital in the 1820s, and was dotted with elegant mansions, churches and, of course, a grand capitol building. But the city’s position between two rivers (the Cahaba and the Alabama) meant it was prone to flooding and the decision was made to whisk the capital elsewhere.
Old Cahawba, Alabama, USA
Hirta, St Kilda, Scotland, UK
Hirta, St Kilda, Scotland, UK
Life on remote Hirta was hard: winters were severe and residents survived only by hunting seabirds. Tourism eventually increased too, leading to vain attempts to modernize the traditional island: frail contemporary homes, much flimsier than the locals’ hardy stone huts, were built here in the name of progress. But they ultimately couldn’t withstand Hirta’s ferocious weather. By the 1930s, the last of Hirta’s residents vacated the island, leaving behind their wind-beaten hamlet. Today Soay sheep roam between the remnants of the islanders’ stone houses, as seabirds circle overhead.
Pripyat, Ukraine
Pripyat, Ukraine
The hazardous radiation killed numerous plant workers, and the residents of Pripyat and the surrounding areas were forced to flee. The city they left behind now exists like a chilling time capsule, with tiny chairs scattered in classrooms, peeling posters still left on walls and forgotten dolls strewn on rusting beds. The creepiest site of all is the Pripyat Amusement Park with its creaking Ferris wheel and bumper cars. Check out more eerie images of abandoned theme parks here.
Silver City, Yukon, Canada
Silver City, Yukon, Canada
Humberstone and Santa Laura, Chile
Humberstone and Santa Laura, Chile
There were some 200 saltpeter works here in the region’s 19th-century heyday, and a community with a rich culture called the area home. But the industry began to fold during World War One and the mines closed for good in the 1960s. The people dispersed and today the desert ghost towns are strewn with reminders of both a thriving industry and a tight-knit community: still here are the remnants of a railroad, industrial buildings and machinery, and a town square lined with former businesses.
Craco, Italy
Cascading over a hilltop in Italy’s Matera province, Craco is quite a sight. It seems almost to blend with its surroundings, its windowless buildings the same color as its craggy perch. But though it looks at one with the wilderness now, Mother Nature hasn’t been kind to Craco over the centuries. See more perilous places around the world here.
Craco, Italy
Gwalia, Western Australia, Australia
Gwalia, Western Australia, Australia
Glenrio, Texas/New Mexico, USA
The town of Glenrio was once a road-trippers paradise: pitched as it is across the border of Texas and New Mexico, it broke up the sprawling desert plains and served as a respite stop for those driving the historic Route 66. This dinky town had bars, restaurants, lodgings and gas stations – everything a weary Mother Road traveler could need for a night. However, Glenrio’s fate changed in the 1970s when major Interstate 40 bypassed it.
Glenrio, Texas/New Mexico, USA
As scores of motorists no longer parked up in Glenrio, residents left and businesses closed. Now it remains a creepy ghost town with plenty of nods to its past life. Battered signs still advertise long-abandoned motels and cafés, and an empty diner and gas station sit alongside the shells of unidentified buildings. Discover the eeriest abandoned attraction to visit in every state.
Kolmanskop, Namibia
Kolmanskop, Namibia
The land was aggressively mined and its treasures soon depleted. By the 1930s, Kolmanskop’s jewels were gone and its residents got word that richly stocked diamond fields had been discovered to the south. They wasted little time abandoning the desert town, and by the 1950s it was deserted. Today a huddle of sand-pillaged buildings is all that remains.
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