Ghost towns are surprisingly attractive. Their existence raises many questions, such as why were they abandoned, or are they truly cursed? The mystery and danger surrounding them sparks curiosity and creates suspense that we simply cannot ignore. While many ghost towns are perfectly safe to visit and probably boring, it's best to never set foot in the ones we're about to tell you about. They're scary, creepy, and frankly, some of them are dangerous and disturbing. Here are 25 terrifying ghost towns you should avoid.
25. North Brother Island, New York
Uninhabited until 1885, North Brother Island in New York has an unfortunate reputation as a quarantine house that housed Typhoid Mary, the woman who sparked several typhoid outbreaks in the area. People with infectious diseases from Riverside Hospital were quarantined on the island. Until her death in 1938, Mary believed that she was being kept in the hospital by mistake. The hospital was closed and reopened after World War II but is now abandoned. The island is not accessible to the public and is the largest nesting site for common night herons.
24. Tawarga, Libya
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
With some 30,000 people displaced from the small town of Tawarga in Libya, today it remains a desolate and eerie ghost, with residents unlikely to return. What was the reason? The people of Tawargha are believed to have been complicit in murder, rape and sexual torture while supporting the Gaddafi regime.
23. Ross Island, India
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Ross Island was originally owned by the British and was founded in 1788. It was named after Sir Daniel Ross and was a settlement, but the weather conditions were too harsh for habitation and the inhabitants abandoned it. It was later used as a penal colony until the Japanese captured the island during World War II. Today it is completely uninhabited, no one is there except for intrepid tourists.
22. Dallol, Ethiopia
Photo: flickr.com
A former potassium mine near one of the hottest places on Earth, Dallol in Ethiopia, has seen better days. Given its remote location and lack of roads, it is not surprising that they passed. The only way to get to the city is by camel, and people go there exclusively for salt.
21. Thurmond, West Virginia
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
In its heyday, Thurmond, West Virginia, boasted 500 residents and was home to the longest poker game, according to Ripley's Believe It or Not. For a long time, the only way to get to the city was by rail. When one of his famous hotels, Dun Glen, burned down, Thurmond fell into oblivion, never to be reborn. Today there are 5 people living here who are government employees of the park, since the city belongs to the National Park Service.
20. Oradour-sur-Glane, France
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
In 1944, Nazi SS troops entered the French town of Oradour-sur-Glane and captured men, women and children. They killed 642 of them, shot the men, and herded the women and children into the church to then burn them. The abandoned ghost town now stands as a monument to the dead.
19. Terlingua, Texas
Photo: flickr.com
A classic Old West ghost town, Terlingua in Texas was also a mining community that eventually went bankrupt. The city supplied most of the country's mercury needs until the mine flooded and prices for the mineral fell. The city's inhabitants abandoned it, leaving it to rot.
18. Cahaba, Alabama
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
It's hard to believe, but Cahaba, Alabama was once the state capital, but because the land is swampy and easily flooded, the capital was moved after a major flood in 1825. The city's situation worsened when the Civil War began. The blockade and Confederate soldiers squeezed all resources from the city, forcing residents to flee and the city to suffer. In 1865 the city was finally destroyed by flood.
17. Essex County Jail, New Jersey
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Built in 1837, the old Essex County Jail in New Jersey is one of the oldest buildings in the county and is rapidly deteriorating. The building was so dangerous that its occupants were forced to leave overnight, so many confidential documents were left behind. Later, the old prison became home to homeless drug addicts who painted it with graffiti.
16. Kennicott, Alaska
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Kennicott, Alaska is another mining town that gained its fame due to the discovery of copper in 1903. Since the location was inconvenient, the mine owners paid high wages to the workers. The men worked seven days a week for long hours and sent money home to their families. The city's prosperity did not last long. By 1938, Kennicott had become a ghost town, with copper already mined from the ground visible on its streets.
15. Kilamba New City, Angola
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Built by the Chinese in exchange for oil, Kilamba New City in Angola grew to bring people out of the slums, but after the city was built, prices were too high and no one could get a mortgage. Thus, it remains a modern, colorful and well-designed ghost town.
14. Pyramid, Arctic Circle
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Pyramid is an old Soviet mining settlement above the Arctic Circle. Technically, it is located in the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. The settlement was Sweden's first property until it was sold to the Soviets in 1927, who mined minerals there for 70 years. When word came that the mining colony would be closed, the people left so quickly that today they seem to have simply disappeared. Due to extreme cold, the ghost town will remain in place for at least another 500 years.
13. Rhyolite, Nevada
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Beginning in 1904 with the discovery of quartz, the town of Rhyolite in Nevada began to grow rapidly as word spread that the ore could be mined nearby. It went from a small town to a thriving city with churches, schools, hotels and everything you could find in a city. But in 1907, due to a financial panic, the situation worsened, and the city quickly went into decline as people began to leave en masse as quickly as they had once arrived. The strength dried up in 1916, and the city never rose again.
12. Virginia City, Montana
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Once home to 10,000 people, Virginia City, Montana, like many other towns, was a mining town that left as soon as the gold ran out. It's now a popular tourist spot where you can breathe in the old West, but that doesn't make the city any less creepy. Many people believe that some parts of the city are haunted.
11. Govan, WA
Photo: flickr.com
Govan, Washington, was a modest farming community of 114 people. But as a result of a fire that consumed a local business center and US Route 2, the city's population began to decline rapidly. When the post office closed in 1967, the town died.
Photo: flickr.com
There is likely no other ghost town like Centralia, Pennsylvania. Once home to 1,000 people, it is now an abandoned, endlessly burning pit. In 1962, city residents deliberately set fire to the landfill, which was connected to a complex network of coal tunnels. The fire above the ground was extinguished, but underground it continued to rage and reached the center of the city, driving out all the inhabitants. People are now being warned not to go near the city due to the risk of death from suffocation or the possibility of falling into the ground. Experts believe the fire could last for 250 years.
9. Port Arthur, Tasmania
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Considered Australia's most violent prison, Port Arthur in Tasmania was built in 1833 but was abandoned by 1877. It was the site of one of Australia's worst massacres in 1996, when a man killed 35 people and injured another 23. It is a popular tourist destination and is believed to be haunted.
8. Boston Mills, Ohio
Photo: WikipediaCommons.com
Boston Mills, Ohio, which some call "Helltown," is full of folklore and myths, including satanic cults, serial killers, and the spirits of children roaming the woods. Founded in 1806, the city was taken over by the government and turned into a National Park. The houses were boarded up and the city itself was abandoned. Additionally, in 1985, when toxic contents leaked from rusty barrels at the Krejci landfill, causing one tourist to become ill, another myth arose in the "hell city", claiming that the government took control of the land to hide the fact of the chemical pollution.
7. St. College Mary, Maryland
Photo: flickr.com
Returning to Hell, the ruins of St. Mary's College in Maryland go by another name: "Hell House." Opening in 1890 to prepare boys for seminary, the college closed its doors in the 1950s and quickly became a popular place for teenagers to explore and spoil. There were many ghost stories about the place until a fire in 1997 burned down most of the abandoned buildings, adding new stories to the legend.
6. Humberstone, Chile
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Humberstone is another mining town that has gone under. Located in Chile, Humberstone was the largest mining town for saltpeter (sodium nitrate). Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is slowly rusting and falling apart thanks to the harsh conditions of the Atacama Desert.
5. Varosha, Cyprus
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Once a popular Mediterranean resort in the 1970s, the town of Varosha in Cyprus quickly emptied when the Turkish army invaded, causing 40,000 people to flee. The town never came back to life and remains an eerie and quiet crumbling beach town.
4. Pripyat, Ukraine
Photo: Pixabay.com
Pripyat was unlucky enough to be the closest city to Chernobyl during the nuclear power plant accident in 1986. With a population of 49,000 people, Pripyat virtually overnight became a ghost town as a result of the evacuation, forever remaining a Soviet city frozen in time. Decades later, the city has become overwhelmed by the surrounding forest and will likely be completely swallowed up by it in the near future.
3. Kolmanskop, Namibia
Photo: flickr.com
The German mining colony of Kolmanskop in Namibia began its activities in the early 20th century with the discovery of diamonds. The city flourished, attracting families dreaming of wealth, and burst just as quickly. Today, its unique European architecture is buried under sand dunes.
2. Agdam, Azerbaijan
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the city of Agdam in Azerbaijan fell into chaos as a result of the emergence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The war began and the city was shelled. At one time, 40,000 people lived here, but then the city was completely abandoned, and Armenian soldiers destroyed it out of spite. It is now a rubble-filled ghost town that the Armenian military uses as a buffer zone.
1. Isla De Las Munecas
Photo: flickr.com
Leaving his wife and child, Don Julian Santana moved to an island on Teshuilo Lake and claimed that he once saw a girl drown there. To honor her memory, he hung dolls all over the island. Today, hundreds of dolls can be seen everywhere on the island. Weather and time did not spare the dolls, turning them into creepy creatures. Ironically, in 2001, Julian Santana was found drowned in the same place where he claimed a little girl had drowned.
Ghost towns in Russia: a list and photos of dead cities for independent visit
Dmitriy
Hello readers! Ghost towns in Russia are the topic of today's conversation. Have you ever thought about how big our country is? I think not each of us can really imagine its scale. And almost every city, be it Rostov or, is filled with people who often leave their home for various reasons. Every city in Russia has an abandoned corner, and empty villages are scattered throughout the country; many of us no longer remember their names.
Ghost towns of Russia: list of abandoned places
The list is compiled according to my research and likes, and information from various sources - all the places you can, they are real. If you know other ghost towns, it will be interesting to read about them in the comments, and if you have them, upload their photos and names.
Today we will talk about such abandoned and dead places as:
- Nuclear lighthouse at Cape Aniva (Sakhalin)
- Abandoned castle in Zaklyuchye (Lykoshino village, Tver region)
- Hotel "Northern Crown" (St. Petersburg)
- Eighth workshop of the Dagdizel plant (Makhachkala)
- Diamond quarry "Mir" (Yakutia)
- Khovrinskaya Hospital (Moscow)
- Kadykchan village (Magadan region)
- Building of the sanatorium "Energy" (Moscow region)
- Maternity hospital (Vladimir region)
- Ghost town Halmer-Yu (Komi Republic)
- Ghost town Pripyat (Ukraine)
So, let's go. Some places will be illustrated with videos. Let's start with a place like
Nuclear lighthouse at Cape Aniva
it is located in Sakhalin.
The lighthouse was built back in 1939 and, due to its design, became the most difficult structure to construct on the entire coast of Sakhalin. Thanks to nuclear servicing, in the late 90s, the costs of its operation were minimal, but soon there was no money left for this either. Since then the lighthouse has been empty. And in 2006, special installations were removed from it, thanks to which it once shone 17 miles into the distance.
Now it is looted and empty.
You can see the abandoned lighthouse by going to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to the city of Korsakov, and then taking a boat to the cape. You look, and this photo resembles a horror film, and the lighthouse resembles the film “Shutter Island” from. But, to be honest, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.
Abandoned castle in Zaklyuchye
Do you think this is a cursed place or just a superstition that shouldn’t be believed? The castle itself is located in a picturesque forest, on the banks of a small river, just between two capitals, the current and the past. This estate was built according to the design of the owner of the house. The estate surprises with its asymmetry and the fact that it is made of different types of material, which are not used at all together in modern construction.
What's so mystical about this place?
During the day, the estate looks very friendly, especially since it is being reconstructed. There used to be a sanatorium here, so the house cannot be called completely abandoned, but local residents tell legends that people who went into the forest and saw the castle returned from there completely different. I don’t really believe in this, but I myself didn’t dare to stay there overnight.
Although I asked my friend’s mother about this place, just before we wanted to go there on an excursion, she told me that she had never seen a more beautiful place in her entire life; she spent her childhood here. Her father's parents worked at the sanatorium until the day it closed.
Mom helped her grandmother because her parents left her with her for the summer. She felt like a queen, walking along the alleys and by the river. According to her, it was a real paradise with fountains, a large palace, roses, and squirrels. Mom said that there were large flowerpots with flowers at the front entrance, and they were the best flowers in the whole area. Every year the sanatorium received about 200 people, and it closed simply because funding was stopped.
If you have not been there yet and have not seen the castle with your own eyes, I strongly advise you to do so, especially since it is not far from Moscow and St. Petersburg, and you can get there on your own.
By the way! Recently appeared interesting service Vivaster, which allows you to find and take excursions from local residents, rather than travel agencies. This, in my opinion, is much more interesting and authentic than contacting industry giants. In a word, pay attention.
Hotel "Northern Crown"
If you have ever been to St. Petersburg, then you probably know how beautiful and pompous this city is. No, really, it’s not for nothing that it’s called the cultural capital of Russia. I think many residents and guests of the city know about one abandoned hotel, which is located at the embankment of the Karpovka River, 37
Residents of St. Petersburg, who believe in mysticism, claim that the hotel was abandoned for a reason. Just think about the fact that the wiring has already been done, all the plumbing has been purchased, and then one day the project was closed. Locals claim that everything happened after the death of a priest, who was invited to a large banquet in honor of the anniversary of the largest city bank, where, in addition to him, the mayor and his wife were present. After all the solemn events, the hotel owner asked the bishop to bless the guests and invite everyone to a meal, but then suddenly he felt ill and died, right in the middle of the hall. Since that time, this place has been called “cursed.”
Today they are trying to demolish the building, but for some reason no one dares to do it. Even shabby walls, peeling paint and crumbling plaster did not prevent the hotel from maintaining its luxury. Despite the closed doors, you can get into the hotel through the roof, but be careful, the hotel is carefully guarded by the authorities.
Another place of honor in my ranking is occupied by
Military facility - Eighth workshop of the Dagdizel plant (Makhachkala)
They say that many have seen ghosts there.
I haven’t been to this place yet, but I would really like to go there. Maybe some of my subscribers have already seen these places, if so, please share your impressions. Long ago, this was a station where naval weapons were researched and tested. The workshop is located 3 kilometers from the shore, but for reasons unknown to me it has not been used for a long time.
The construction of the workshop took more than one year, someone says that during construction a man died there, and has been within the walls of the building for many years; his body has never been found. The interesting thing is that the foundation was made on the shore, and only then delivered to the construction site. To all lovers of the Caspian Sea and those who want to tickle their nerves by looking at abandoned workshops - go there.
Diamond quarry "Mir" in Yakutia
This place fascinates with its grandeur and beauty. There is definitely some mysticism here, because the quarry can be included in the list of not only the most mystical places, but also the most beautiful places in our country. Open pit diamond mining ended 12 years ago. This is the second largest and longest canyon mine in the world. The airspace here is closed due to possible accidents of helicopters, which were drawn here by a large air flow. The “world” looks so mysterious and unknown.
I was not lucky enough to visit these places, but a friend of mine was once there, he went down almost to the very bottom. He said that at the bottom there was a salt-sulfur lake and it had a very unpleasant smell, like a decomposing corpse. Open-pit diamond mining has not been carried out for a long time, but locals are building a mine that will allow them to go even deeper by several hundred meters. Construction is very expensive because the environment inside is unfavorable for human life.
Khovrinskaya Hospital in Moscow
These are the places in the capital that evoke horror. It is not surprising that people die very often in her area. According to unofficial ratings, this place was included in the ranking of the most mystical and dangerous places in the whole world. The hospital was built on a cemetery, but was never opened. This place already has its own folklore, and urban informals often gather there. But what is paradoxical is that for many years this building has not been saving lives, but on the contrary, it has been maiming and killing. Every day the police come here and tragic events occur.
The mysticism is enhanced by the very sinister external characteristics of the death hospital. If you look at it from a bird's eye view, the main buildings located resemble the international Biohazard symbol of mortal danger.
As I already said, the hospital was built on a cemetery, because of this the land turned out to be ruinous: all the basements were flooded, and the main buildings were slowly being destroyed. According to legend, the police wanted to catch sectarians and Satanists who performed their rituals in basements. When they found and brought everyone out into the street, they blew up the tunnel, but they did not take into account that there were still people there who were hiding from the people in uniform. Some of the Satanists were blown up, but all their remains were never found.
I can say that today the hospital is surrounded by a metal fence made of welded mesh, and on top it is covered with barbed wire. It’s better not to go there, there is plenty of security there, fighters with dogs are constantly on duty. Would you dare to climb into this mystical place?
Closed village Kadykchan
another place on my list.
Translated, it means “valley of death.” I don’t really know who names the cities, but I can’t understand one thing for sure: how can you live peacefully and hope for a bright future in a city with such a name? Apparently the local authorities are not at all interested in mysticism and do not believe in paranormal phenomena.
This city was built by prisoners, and at the end of the work about 10 thousand people lived in it, and by 2007 there were not even five hundred left here. 4 years ago, only one elderly man lived here who did not want to leave. Once upon a time, coal was mined here, which provided energy for half of the Magadan region.
But the explosion at the mine changed Kadykchan, and people began to leave. It's surprising that they didn't even take things with them; here you can find books, magazines, toys, clothes and much more. The city was cut off from heat and electricity, today it is an abandoned place, the streets and houses are gradually being destroyed.
Building of the Energy sanatorium in the Moscow region
occupies the next place of ghost towns in my ranking.
Don’t be surprised, but in our country, working and non-working buildings of the same sanatorium can function on the same territory. In the Moscow region, the Energia sanatorium is very popular, which has been welcoming everyone who wants to improve their health for many years.
There is one next to the working buildings that no one wants to reconstruct, and this is not due to lack of funds. Once the building burned down and took the lives of more than a dozen people; they say that even Energia workers do not enter the burnt building after nightfall. Now there are heaps of garbage, but the mysticism of these places attracts guests and tourists. After the fire, a beautiful staircase, made in a palace style, was preserved; many heard voices here at night. (I wonder what people do at night in such places?)
Maternity hospital in the Vladimir region
There is not enough money in the country to build a normal hospital, but in the Vladimir region there is an operating medical institution that just needs to be renovated, but for some reason the locals are not in a particular hurry to go work there and repair something.
Mystic? It is quite possible, because what could be more mysterious and scarier than an abandoned medical institution? Even a hospital that is working causes unpleasant emotions in everyone, simply due to the specifics of its work, especially since every clinic, even a children's clinic, has a morgue, and such places are already scary.
The building, which was built at the beginning of the last century, houses a maternity hospital. Judging by the documentation, it functioned 5 years ago, but is guarded until today. Much of the hospital remained untouched and locals still do not understand why the maternity hospital stopped accepting pregnant women. You know, only horror films should be shot in such places. Maybe someone has information about this maternity hospital, write in the comments.
In the past, it was an urban-type settlement in the Komi Republic. Translated, this city means “River of the Valley of Death” or “Dead River”. The village appeared when a deposit of valuable coal was discovered here in 1943. A mine was built here, which began operating in 1957; 250 thousand kilograms of coal were mined per day.
But the government of the country, for reasons unknown to me, decided to suspend the operation of the mine. People did not want to leave their homes, and even riot police were used to force them to do so. 11 years ago they began testing bombing technology over the city and the president himself destroyed the village’s former recreation center. Today Halmer-Yu is the “ghost” of our country.
Next on my top
Yes, it does not belong to Russia, but it was once part of the former USSR, and it became a ghost town while still part of the Union. I think everyone who played Stalker will understand why I added this city.
Pripyat is a ghost town located on the banks of the river of the same name, a few kilometers from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. According to the population census, which was conducted in the fall a year before the disaster, about 50 thousand people lived here. It was planned that by the end of the year the number of residents would increase by another 20 thousand. All residents were evacuated in April 1986 due to a tragic accident. Today the city is located in a special exclusion zone. More than one documentary film was made about the accident at the nuclear power plant; it also formed the basis for many performances and computer games.
Today, many residents of our planet dream of getting to Pripyat. Of course, a fraction of a percent of people’s interest was caused by the game “Stalker”, which was played by hundreds of thousands of people. The game completely copies the city, if you have completed it, you probably know where to go in Pripyat.
In conclusion, I want to say that I would be very interested in reading your opinion and finding out your rating of ghost towns in Russia and beyond. I'm also looking forward to your videos and photos. I’m also wondering if it’s worth including points on Google maps in the article so that you can find these places on the Internet yourself? Please write in the comments!
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There are many nice cities in the world where everyone wants to go and where everyone dreams of living, but there are also places from which it is better to stay away. Some of these dark and dangerous cities have a bad reputation for obvious reasons - high crime rates, poor ecology, and so on. But there are also cities that are bad for living for completely different reasons, also intolerable for most people. Although, despite the daily horrors, some madmen and brave people manage to live there all their lives and even enjoy everyday things and the world around them. Horrible facts await you in this collection, so impressionable people should not continue reading. If anything happens, we warned you.
10. Cleveland, Ohio - the city with the highest concentration of serial killers
For some reason, Cleveland is becoming a hot spot on the US map when it comes to serial killers. This is perhaps one of the most dangerous and frightening places in America. And although no one can explain it, everything points to Cleveland as the serial killer capital of the world. It was in Cleveland that the notorious kidnapper Ariel Castro, the maniacs of recent years Anthony Sowell and Michael Madison lived, as well as the early 20th century murderers Jeffrey Dahmer and the never-identified Cleveland Butcher, the main investigator in whose case was Eliot Ness himself, who imprisoned the legendary gangster Al Capone (Ariel Castro, Anthony Sowell, Michael Madison, Jeffery Dahmer, Eliot Ness).
Somehow, new serial killers are constantly appearing in Cleveland, keeping the entire city in serious fear. Some of these criminals are known for dismembering the bodies of their victims and hiding their remains in different rooms in their home, while others, like Ariel Castro, prefer to hold innocent people captive and torture them for days. Some of the killers admitted that their actions were inspired by the examples of criminals of past decades, but this still does not explain why Cleveland has such a high concentration of serial killers. Unfortunately, the most likely reason is that this large city is a very remote and isolated place, simultaneously gripped by an economic crisis, which ultimately affects the general atmosphere and psychological climate of Cleveland.
9. In Dubai, you face arrest if you are raped... you
Dubai is one of the largest and most important centers of the United Arab Emirates and is famous for its very strict and orthodox laws. The strictest attitude here is towards issues related to women and sexual relations, since all this is very clearly regulated by the religious traditions of Arab society. Because of this, some foreign women found themselves in very difficult circumstances during their trip to the city of seemingly entertainment and luxury. The tourists found themselves practically defenseless in the face of local regulations, although initially they relied on the protection of the Dubai police, and not on prosecution by law.
There are already at least two precedents in which European tourists were raped, went to the police with a complaint and were themselves arrested for allegedly inappropriate behavior. The fact is that regardless of whether the sexual act took place according to your will or not, extramarital sex is a crime in the UAE. Both rape victims ended up in prison, and the police announced that the tourists should have familiarized themselves with the laws of the country in which they came to vacation.
The first girl was from Norway, and the innocent tourist was released after an international outcry, although the rape victim was initially sentenced to 16 months in prison for admitting to extramarital sex, albeit against her will. Another case involved a British civilian who was raped in Dubai by two Englishmen. In response to her complaint, this tourist was also sent to prison. Most likely, with the assistance of the world community, she will be released. But you must admit that the idea that a rape victim is sent to prison sounds simply crazy and illogical. What is the point of punishing someone who is guilty only of defenselessness?
8. The largest city in South Africa, Johannesburg, is a real hotbed of AIDS and a place where children are regularly raped 
We have already warned you that there are some very dark stories in this ranking, so further reading is at your own responsibility.
South Africa is notorious for its high levels of violence, which has also led to the massive spread of AIDS. The problem is most acute in Johannesburg, where the FIFA World Cup was recently held. The media seriously raised the issue that visiting athletes and fans are at great risk of becoming victims of rape and contracting a terrible disease during this trip. However, the media kept silent about the terrible fact that most often it is children, and sometimes even babies, who become victims of violence here.
The AIDS problem is further aggravated by the fact that many local residents still prefer to turn to traditional healers instead of real qualified doctors. Sometimes healers advise patients to do absolutely ridiculous and cruel things. For example, they believe that AIDS can be cured by having sex with a virgin or a virgin. It was partly because of this that so many local men began to rape very young children, and sometimes even babies who were sometimes barely a few months old. Desperate patients hope that this way they will be cured and saved from death and suffering.
The incurable disease is transmitted through blood and sexual contact, and it is absolutely natural that, due to the advice of traditional healers, AIDS ends up spreading even more throughout the country and especially in Johannesburg. Unfortunately, no way to resolve the problem has yet been found.
7. Being a street child in Rio De Janeiro is life-threatening
Recently the Olympic Games took place in Rio de Janeiro, and local authorities did everything possible to hide from tourists and athletes that the city was in a terrible state and in complete ruin. Although they almost failed. The city now has a world-famous reputation as a place where robbery is a daily problem, and you need to be vigilant every second to avoid losing your own phone in the middle of a crowded street. Valuable things are snatched right out of your hands here.
However, while we are thinking about the most obvious crimes, not everyone knows what terrible and inhumane measures the Brazilian authorities took to clean up Rio both on a daily basis and before the Olympic Games...
Most often, homeless children become street thieves. Street children, many of whom are barely 7 years old, either beg on the busy streets of Rio or steal from inattentive passers-by. They are simply forced to do this to survive. Of course, it is very easy to consider such children as a social threat, but most of them are lonely and defenseless creatures who just really want to eat. Unfortunately, many street children become drug addicts, because drugs are the only joy in their lives. These guys have no one to look after them, no one cares about them, and they choose the easiest and wrong ways to cope with daily stress and despair.
As it became known, the Brazilian police periodically conduct real raids - they catch homeless children in order to clear the streets of “unpleasant and dangerous elements” and put them in prisons for no reason, where juvenile prisoners live in the most inhumane conditions. Based on anecdotal evidence, the UN commission suspects that law enforcement officers sometimes simply kill street children because it is the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to clear them from city streets. The Brazilian government does not acknowledge this fact, but the country's police have long been known for committing a huge number of murders each year.
The truth is that living on the streets of Rio de Janeiro is very difficult and dangerous. Apparently, even a tourist may find this place too sad and even dangerous if he finds himself outside an expensive hotel or a well-trodden path to the legendary statue of Christ the Redeemer.
6. Radiated wild boars are keeping the infamous Japanese city of Fukushima at bay.
We all remember the tragedy that happened in Fukushima, but many people do not even suspect that this nightmare is far from over for local residents who fled their homes due to the terrible accident. The damaged reactor is still causing problems, it has not yet been rendered harmless and will continue to pollute the environment for many years. The residents of Fukushima will never be able to return to their former way of life.
At the moment, Japanese authorities are convinced that radiation levels in the city are beginning to fall. They even believe that it is possible to announce the cancellation of the evacuation status and return people to their abandoned homes just 6 years after the nuclear power plant disaster. However, some signs indicate that the tragedy is far from over and it may be too late for the city to recover.
The townspeople may no longer be so concerned about the level of radiation, but now Fukushima is suffering from another problem - forest dwellers have begun to arrive in the abandoned area. The forest is practically encroaching on the ruins of orphaned houses, and wild animals have taken up residence in the empty buildings. Many property owners are concerned that wild boars, which have proliferated against the backdrop of radiation, have taken over the homes of city residents and are in no hurry to leave them. These creatures are usually more timid by nature, but it appears that the radiation has made them aggressive and fearless, making returning to Fukushima a rather dangerous undertaking.
To make matters worse, there are a number of conflicting studies suggesting that the radiation disaster affected thyroid problems in local children living here at the time of the accident. Although some scientists believe that the Japanese from this city were in poor health even before the disaster. In any case, life in Fukushima and its citizens will never be the same from now on.
5. Canadian London, Ontario, and the increased percentage of serial killers per capita
Between 1959 and 1984, the small Canadian town of London achieved the status of having the highest concentration of serial killers in the world. According to all available data, London, Ontario has become the most maniacal city on Earth in the history of mankind. At least 29 violent deaths occurred while the place was in the hands of numerous murderers. Only 13 of these crimes were solved, and it turned out that they were committed by three different villains.
A detective named Dennis Alsop, who worked on these cases, kept a personal diary and in it mentioned his work on these terrible crimes. The investigator's notes were carefully studied by researchers at the University of Western Ontario, and they suggested that the unsolved murders could have been committed by four more criminals who were active almost simultaneously and used similar methods. The researchers also say that even if the remaining 16 people were killed by just one serial killer, London still retains its sad title of record-breaking city. Nowhere else in the world were as many serial killers on the rampage at the same time as here.
Criminal activity has apparently died down since then, as all the most dangerous criminals have either died or been arrested, and, fortunately, failed to pass on their life's work to a new generation of madmen. And yet the most important question still remains unanswered... Why did such a modest Canadian town become home to so many brutal killers for several years?
4. Residents of Pyongyang suffer from creepy electronic music every morning
Everyone knows that power in North Korea belongs to a dictatorial dynasty, and the most severe and incredibly inhumane laws reign in this country. Even the most privileged citizens who perfectly respect party politics are still forced to endure daily circumstances that would drive any of us crazy in no time.
Let's start with the fact that North Koreans are required to keep portraits of all the country's leaders at home, including both its current and past leaders. No one has the right to turn their back on these portraits. This, of course, also applies to images of dictators in public places. In addition, the North Korean authorities decided that its citizens need to be reminded every morning of the deceased rulers, who are considered real gods in the country.
Every morning, opera music plays throughout Pyongyang, and the city's residents awaken to the eerie sounds of an electronic version of the song "Where Are You, Dear General" from the opera written by the late Kim Jong Il. The original track doesn't sound too bad, but the electronic version played over loudspeakers throughout the city sounds more like something out of a horror movie. In addition to the dreaded alarm clock, North Koreans are forced to listen to recorded political propaganda all day long. What if someone forgot something or misunderstood something? We need to repeat it. And so all my life...
3. The Mexican city of Ecatepec is a creepy place where women and girls constantly disappear
Residents of the Mexican city and municipality of Ecatepec are accustomed to hearing about constant armed robberies, and recently the Minister of the Interior of the entire country issued a special warning regarding this particular city. When the Pope himself came to Mexico for a visit, he also stopped by Ecatepec to see for himself how bad things were in this place. It’s not for nothing that the city is often called incredibly dirty and disgusting, and it seems that local residents have long resigned themselves to the state of affairs, have completely given up and do not value their home. But the worst thing you should know about this place is that it has the highest rate of deaths and disappearances of young girls in all of Mexico.
Mothers constantly turn to the police for help in finding their daughters and never return home with satisfactory answers. Some parents are told by law enforcement that their child's body was found in a sewer, but the police never provide any physical evidence that it is their daughter who is lying in the morgue. There are notices all over the city asking for help to find the missing girl or to provide the parents with at least some information that will help the family unite again.
Some fathers and mothers are contacted by cartel members and demand a huge ransom for their child. If it turns out that the family does not have the requested amount of money, the girls are simply hanged. Many townspeople are terribly worried that an exorbitant ransom will be demanded for their daughter, and then the child will either be killed or sold into slavery. Most local residents dream of leaving Yecatepec and leaving all its horrors behind, but poverty does not allow them to move to a safer place. The unfortunates have to overcome the hardships of life in this nightmare city every day for the rest of their lives.
2. Onitsha – the Nigerian city with the most polluted air in the world
When we wonder about the most polluted cities in the world, our thoughts usually lead us somewhere to China or India. However, the truth is that it is Nigeria that has become the current leader on environmental issues. The reason lies in the fact that in recent years this country has significantly advanced in terms of development rates, and special attention is paid to industrial production. For nature and citizens, this means large-scale environmental pollution, and Onicha feels this more than any other city in the country. Today the air here is the most uninhabitable in the world. Large and small particles of dust and ash are almost everywhere here, and there is nowhere to hide from them. In addition, sanitary standards in the city are practically not observed, and there are piles of garbage everywhere.
The main reason for the disaster in Onitsha is the rapidly developing industrialization, and in this city there are factories of almost every industrial sector imaginable. Combine this with lax government oversight of quality and safety standards, and you're bound to end up with a city that's simply dangerous to breathe in, and that won't change for generations.
However, local residents are not very worried about this. Perhaps they are simply careless or are accustomed to this state of affairs, although for the most part they simply have no other choice. Recently, the prestigious Guardian magazine conducted a survey in Onitsha about what citizens think about the environmental situation, and the majority of those surveyed did not consider air pollution a serious problem.
However, failure to accept or know about the dangers of industrial emissions does not change the fact that local residents are already suffering from poor air quality. This is especially noticeable in child mortality. Still, it is interesting how talented a person is in psychological adaptation to almost any conditions. For those who have always lived in Onichu, hearing that their city is the dirtiest and most dangerous in the world came as a big surprise.
1. Mumbai - an Indian city struggling with the garbage that fills it
Today, Mumbai is practically buried under mountains of garbage, and the Indian government is desperately looking for a way out of this situation. The problem is so serious that every day hundreds of garbage trucks line up in a long line to take new amounts of waste to the landfill. The landfill is already almost full to capacity, and Mumbai's other two large landfills have long been unable to accommodate the city's new waste. Someone suggested simply organizing new landfills, but there is justifiable fear that this will not solve the problem, but will only make it worse. The thing is that, both in Mumbai and in other Indian cities, a waste recycling system simply does not exist.
Almost all types of waste are constantly loaded onto trucks and taken to landfills. The problem of waste has become so serious that it has started to flood the streets, and some citizens are trying to get rid of garbage by burning it in the middle of Mumbai, thereby only worsening the environmental disaster and further polluting the city's air. Experts worry that if the authorities decide to open new landfills, the crisis will only intensify, since it is necessary to solve the very essence of the problem, and not its manifestations.
Experts believe that if the country’s industrialization process continues to increase its pace, it will be vital to open waste recycling centers in the country and introduce into society the habit of responsible treatment of household waste in order to reduce its amount. Subject to a change in the thinking of the common population and the introduction of appropriate infrastructure, theoretically, even a large and rapidly developing city like Mumbai could eventually win this garbage war.
There are many unexplained phenomena in the world. However, the most interesting and mysterious have always been. There are many nuances and reasons for their occurrence. In one case, these are large-scale disasters, and in the other, inexplicable phenomena. Here are a number of the most famous and interesting ten ghost towns that still excite the minds of contemporaries today.
Taiwan, the dead city of San Zhi
Sometimes even the most ambitious projects become failures due to fate, chance, or inexplicable reasons. This is the city of San Zhi in Taiwan.
It was built as the greatest and unique. The city project was created back in the seventies. A huge amount of money was allocated for the construction, and the architecture itself was amazing. For a decade, construction was in full swing, but there were no customers. Everyone was afraid of this city of glass and plastic. This is strange for us, since nowadays it attracts tourists and rich people who want to relax. At that time, such styles in architecture were frightening.
Throughout the construction, the city was plagued by failures. Mostly these were the absurd and horrific deaths of workers, installers and guides. It is worth saying that the excursion groups could not find a place for themselves and tried to leave the entertainment complex as quickly as possible. Soon the money for construction ran out, and investors abandoned the project. Local homeless people immediately fell in love with it, but they could not live in it for long, since the dead constantly appeared to them.
After lengthy proceedings in the government of the country, they decided to completely demolish the city. However, local residents did not allow this. According to popular belief, the spirits of the dead can, and as long as they have their own city, no one bothers anyone.
In any case, this is probably the most mysterious story, and the city of San Zhi rightfully ranks.
Chernobyl
Number two is one of the most terrible and mysterious cities in the world - Chernobyl, Ukraine.
Chernobyl became abandoned after the disaster that occurred in 1986. The explosion at a nuclear power plant shocked the whole world without exception.
The wind carried radioactive particles. The city was deserted within a month, as the government feared disclosure. People lived for several more days, not knowing that a mortal threat hung over them. The mass removal put an end to the existence of this small town. In those days, Chernobyl was the great pride of the USSR, but in the end it became its biggest disappointment.
It is worth noting that a huge number of films have been shot about him, and computer games have been created. Even at this moment, the phrase “Pripyat is a ghost town” causes trembling in the body. A huge amount of radiation made Chernobyl and its territory both dangerous and popular. Now tourists from all over the world and people calling themselves stalkers go there. They are willing to pay money for excursions and the opportunity to see ghosts caused by anomalies in places where radiation accumulates. Excursions are held daily to the reactor itself, covered with a dome, and simply around the territory of the city, which was abandoned. The guides show apartments with remaining furniture, toys in the kindergarten, etc. Against the general background, it actually looks creepy and unpleasant.
Abandoned Chernobyl will continue to attract tourists and ghost hunters for decades to come.
Famagusta
Among the most famous places in the world is Famagusta, a ghost town on the island of Cyprus.
On the sunny tourist island of Cyprus lies the most famous abandoned city in the world, Famagusta. No one lives in it except the wind. Silence and trees that grow through concrete walls are his lot for many years to come.
The reason for the desolation of the city was the war between two states - Turkey and Greece. They did not divide the right to the territory among themselves. And now Famagusta stands in complete desolation and is covered with barbed wire. It has become the border between two states that are not moving towards reconciliation.
The once successful and prosperous center was completely looted, only a few buildings remained intact, but they had already begun to collapse under the influence of water, wind and sun. You cannot visit its territory, but the abandoned city still attracts a huge and irrepressible desire to visit it.
Villa Epequeen, Argentina
This once wonderful place is now one of the most famous abandoned ghost towns on the planet. The villa was built on the banks of a beautiful estuary and opened as a huge spa, where the rich could recover their health at great expense. However, the city authorities found there were few buildings and clean water on the coast, and they decided to expand the territory by expanding the fresh lake. However, less than ten years had passed before water from the reservoir began to flood the beaches and resort area.
Nature warned that it was not worth interfering with the sequential course of events. However, the authorities of Villa Epequeen decided that it was worth strengthening the city’s borders with dams and dumping excess water into irrigation fields.
Nature could not tolerate this careless attitude and one day completely flooded the city. The water rose 15 meters up, and also mixed with fresh water. Residents had to leave all their belongings and leave. Salt and sun have turned the once prosperous place into whitish ghosts.
Soon a new spa resort grew up nearby, and tourists are gladly taken to the Villa, since it is a local landmark, and former residents are trying to look out for traces of their long-standing stay.
Centralia, USA
If you have ever played a game called Silent Hill or watched the movie of the same name, know that the idea was based on an example - the abandoned city of Centralia in Pennsylvania.
This is a truly scary and creepy place with smoke constantly rising from the cracks in the asphalt and in the houses. Once upon a time, this city was a successful and prosperous settlement of hard workers who mined anthracite coal. It lay very close to the surface. However, the mine was closed, and the residents successfully adjusted their lives and lived quietly, earning a living by farming and other things.
One fine day, the mayor of the city decided that it was time to burn heaps of garbage outside the city, since an inspection would soon arrive. However, he did not take into account how disastrous this would be and turn Centralia into the abandoned city of the world. It turned out that anthracite lies very close to the surface, and even after the workers burned the garbage heaps, it continued to smolder methodically.
The authorities miscalculated not only in this, but also in the fact that they closed the mine, since there was a lot of fuel left there. For a long time, everyone turned a blind eye to carbon monoxide poisoning. Centralia continued to live in peace. The impetus for complete desolation was the increasing frequency of tremors underground and ruptures of asphalt and houses at the most unexpected moments. Coal burns in the depths, and hot smoke needs to escape to the surface. Thus, city authorities evacuated people. However, it still burns to this day. Abandoned streets and houses smoke, and the air is saturated with carbon monoxide.
Neftegorsk
Among the most famous places in the world is Neftegorsk, Russian Federation.
Neftegorsk is probably the most terrible example of an earthquake. A terrible event happened in 1995. The city was founded as a settlement for oil workers who worked there on a rotational basis. However, as the years passed, high wages and jobs turned the town into a developing and successful one. However, it also became the last refuge for most of its residents.
So on the evening of May 25, an earthquake measuring 10 on the Richter scale occurred. Not a trace remained of the city; only a few buildings survived. More than two thousand people were buried alive under the ruins. They decided not to restore Neftegorsk, but only built a huge monument that reminds of the tragedy that happened on May 25, 1995. Thus, he enters the most terrible abandoned ghost towns, which were not just abandoned, but destroyed by natural disasters.
Detroit, USA
The city still exists and is partially inhabited. It is worth saying that it was founded back in the 17th century and was considered one of the most successful. A thriving industry, a huge number of majestic buildings, architecture that amazes the imagination, all this once existed. Now Detroit can be safely classified as an abandoned ghost town.
The first impetus for the desolation was the construction of huge corporations - Ford and General Motors. They are automobile manufacturers. The city is becoming industrial, pollution is only growing every year. The second step is the settlement of Detroit with a black population. Moreover, the majority of them are criminals and low-income people. The city simply began to be robbed. Crime reached unprecedented heights, and the white population simply began to leave.
Gradual desolation and lack of jobs have taken their toll, and now the ghost towns of the world have been replenished with another representative.
Time Beach, USA
A town in Missouri was destroyed by human hands. The small settlement decided to deal with the enormous dustiness of the country roads. In order to improve the situation, the authorities decided to spend money. However, either due to lack of funding or for some other reason, an unknown contractor was hired. Neither his documents nor the means with which he decided to spray the roads were checked.
For a small sum, he successfully completed the work assigned to him. However, after several years the city died out completely. It turned out that the agent the contractor used was dioxide. This is a powerful poison that causes mutations and a host of serious diseases, as well as livestock pestilence.
This is how the town was destroyed, as they say, with his own hands, due to a banal lack of finance. All that was left was dead houses and cracked asphalt.
Chaiten, Chile
The port town of Chaiten completely died out after a volcanic eruption that happened in May 2008.
The main thing is that the authorities managed to evacuate the population and save them from imminent death. Despite the fact that the village is located deep in the mountains. It is worth saying that the volcanic eruption lasted from May to September 2008. The city was completely covered in ash. Only 10% of the houses remain. Everything is covered with a thick layer of ash several meters deep.
Namie, Japan
The catastrophe of our time, which occurred in September 2013, shocked. In Japan, the Fukushima nuclear power plant exploded, turning a successful city with a huge population into an abandoned one.
A big disaster has struck all countries of the world, since Japan has always been considered the most responsible and strict in its approach to electronics and inventions. However, the worst thing happened - a nuclear explosion.
Thus, the city overnight turned into an exclusion zone. No one is allowed to be on its territory, as the dose of radiation reaches unprecedented heights.
Video about the most abandoned cities
What ghost towns do you know? Write to us about them in the comments.
A city is a living organism. It exists as long as blood flows through its streets-arteries, the leukocytes of which are we, the inhabitants. But sometimes people leave - for various reasons, be it radiation or an underground fire, or maybe just the political situation. And the city turns into a mummy: it does not decompose, but dries up, deprived of blood. His arteries are cracking, his eye sockets are gaping with broken glass, and stalkers are crawling out of dark corners. We decided to raise the history of abandoned cities - and understand the reasons for their death.
Dead cities have always existed. Is the legendary Troy dead? Yes, sure. And Babylon? Undoubtedly. And what about the Crimean Chersonese, on the site of which Sevastopol stands? And he's dead. But these cities died a long time ago and, so to speak, “of their own death,” having exhausted their natural resources. Each city has its own time limit. Bukhara and Samarkand are more alive than all living things, despite three millennia behind them. And many of their peers have already been wiped off the face of the earth by enemy raids, climate change, and so on.
The issue of safety plays a significant role. The huge, once half-million-strong Babylon has survived to this day in ruins; it was destroyed in the 1st century BC. By order of Saddam Hussein (Babylon these days was unlucky to be on the territory of Iraq), the city was rebuilt from modern bricks, and thereby removed it from the UNESCO World Heritage List. But Babylon and similar cities of antiquity have not survived enough to be considered “ghost cities.”
Babylon was rebuilt with almost no regard for how the original buildings looked or were located. This “reconstruction” negated the historical value of the city
This is another category - archaeological excavations. There is a clear distinction between a “vanished city” and an “abandoned city” (“ghost”). The abandoned building retains the architectural appearance and infrastructure that existed at the time of the evacuation of residents. The disappeared person may lie in ruins or rest underground.
Let's introduce one more limitation. In the USSR, for example, the gradation “village - town - city” was observed according to the number of inhabitants. In the USA and Great Britain, a city can have 10-15 inhabitants, because the status of “city” is established there according to different principles. For example, in Britain, a “town” cannot become a “city” simply by increasing in size. The “city” status is awarded personally by the queen for the city’s services to the country. We will consider only those settlements that would have the status of urban settlements and above (although we may make a couple of exceptions).
Pripyat, Ukraine: Chernobyl story
If you ask random passersby what abandoned cities they know, 99% will answer “Pripyat”, and then hesitate. In the former USSR, everyone knows about the dead Pripyat - some from history lessons, some from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. This city on the territory of Ukraine was unlucky: it only existed for a decade and a half. Pripyat was founded in 1970 specifically to service the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. By 1979, the village had grown so much that it received city status. Initially it was designed for approximately 75,000 people, by 1985 the number reached 49,400. Everything went as usual until tragedy struck.
Pripyat before the disaster
Pripyat was called “the standard of Soviet urban planning.” Now we understand that the city was gray, boring, filled with standard “boxes”. At that time, Pripyat seemed to be an ultra-modern, to some extent stylish settlement, designed from scratch, entirely, for one-time development. For example, Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, was designed in the same way.
The central square, clear lines of streets with traditional names (Lenin, Friendship of Peoples, Builders, Enthusiasts), a city park with attractions, the city house of culture "Energetik", the cinema "Prometheus" - Pripyat had everything necessary for a comfortable life. The layout was designed for the absence of traffic jams, regardless of the number of cars; free spaces provided visual comfort and natural ventilation of the courtyards. In general, by Soviet standards - paradise. In addition, the nuclear engineers who lived in the city were paid well.
Pripyat, a fairy tale city, a dream city. Clear layout, free space, beautiful nature. Silence
Residents of Pripyat were evacuated on one day, April 27, 1986. They weren’t allowed to take almost anything with them - tourists still pick up plastic ducks and tattered books “in the zone” (although taking souvenirs is strictly prohibited). The city has become a classic “ghost”: sidewalks overgrown with grass, an abandoned Ferris wheel, dead buildings.
What is Pripyat like today? Overall, an entertaining tourist attraction. There are companies that organize trips to the dead city, and such “trips” are a success. They are safe for health: in a few hours the dose of radiation will not exceed the norm we receive in a couple of days in an ordinary big city. There is talk of assigning Pripyat the status of a museum city. There are several establishments in the city (checkpoint, fluoridation station, special laundry). The station's maintenance personnel live in the city of Slavutich, located 50 km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Are there self-settlers in Pripyat? Oddly enough, there is: the author of this material saw them with his own eyes and even talked to them. These are mostly old people who moved to the dead city many years after the accident. The authorities turn a blind eye to them: the self-settlers do nothing wrong. The city is unlikely to ever come to life, but it may well become a museum. And yes - the real city has almost nothing to do with “Pripyat”, shown in games and books. There are no mutants there.
The Ferris wheel in the city center has become a popular topic among the authors of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. project.
Few people remember that there is a second settlement that was resettled after the tragedy - in fact, the city of Chernobyl. Before the accident, 12,500 people lived in it, now - 500, so it cannot be called completely dead. The residents are mainly shift workers working at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and self-settlers who have returned to their former homes.
Interestingly, the first mention of Chernobyl in the chronicle dates back to 1193, that is, it is more than 800 years old! For a long time the city was a famous Hasidic religious center. Chernobyl will most likely be revived in the future: today the local church has been restored and is functioning, and there are shops in the city. So we will live.
In addition to those mentioned, the secret city of Chernobyl-2, which served an over-the-horizontal radar station, as well as a number of villages, was evacuated due to the accident.
A masterpiece of design thought: the receiving antenna of the over-the-horizon radar system "Duga", the city of Chernobyl-2
San Zhi, Taiwan: city of the future
They didn’t even have time to populate the futuristic San Zhi: he died without being born
An interesting ghost town was San Zhi, built in northern Taiwan in the early 1980s. It was built according to a single plan as a city of the future. The original design, strange architecture and layout promised to make San Zhi one of the resort centers of the island. However, accidents began to occur frequently during construction. About fifty workers died.
The city was completed, but by that time its notoriety had become such that there was no one willing to buy real estate in San Zhi. The city stood abandoned for a long time, and since 2008 its gradual liquidation began. True, San Zhi is being demolished to this day - the work is proceeding slowly, since it does not have a clear economic justification.
Victims of the economy
There are several tens of thousands of disappeared cities in the world, about 1,500 abandoned ones. About fifty are located on the territory of the former USSR. Among them there are several quite well-known ones (we, of course, cannot list them all).
For example, Kadykchan in the Magadan region. A working settlement at a coal mine (Arkagalinsky deposit) received the status of an urban-type settlement in 1964. The village gradually grew and by 1989 reached a peak population of 5,700 people. In post-Soviet times, mining was slower, and in 1996 there was an explosion at the mine that claimed six lives. By that time, there was little need for the mine, and the authorities closed it. The only source of work in the village disappeared - and people began to leave. In 2001, the city still had a couple of residential streets, but today Kadykchan is inhabited by a single elderly person who simply has nowhere to go.
Kadykchan was perfectly preserved - this was facilitated by his recent death and the climate - cold and dry. From the outside you can’t say about Kadykchan that there is no one there. An ordinary Soviet village. Just very, very quiet.
Another example is Halmer-Yu in the Komi Republic. Its history is similar to Kadykchan: in the 1940s, coal seams were discovered, a working settlement appeared, reaching its peak (7,000 inhabitants) by 1959. In the early nineties, mining was declared economically unfeasible, the mine was closed, and the residents were resettled to other cities and towns (and they had to be evicted by force). Subsequently, Halmer-Yu was used as a military training ground, many buildings in it were destroyed by air strikes.
Halmer-Yu lies in ruins today
In 1910, on the island of Western Spitsbergen, the Swedes founded a small village, which 17 years later became the property of the Soviet Union and was named Pyramid. At its peak it had 2,000 inhabitants; it has many permanent buildings, a school, a kindergarten.
But coal mining in northern latitudes has proven to be unprofitable. By 2000, the last employees of Arctic Coal left the village. It is now mothballed. Nobody wants to live in the climate of Spitsbergen of their own free will, so there are no self-settlers there. The houses are in excellent condition, and if economically necessary, the Pyramid can be reoccupied.
“Economic disease” is not limited to ex-Soviet cities. Off the western coast of Japan there is the island city of Hashima (popularly known as Gunkanjima, “cruiser city”), founded in the early 19th century solely to service coal mines. The tiny reef, about a kilometer in diameter, had a population of 5,300 at peak times! At the same time, the incomes of local residents were very high, and the “coal kingdom” flourished.
But in 1974, Mitsubishi, the owner of the mine, announced it would cease production due to unprofitability. In just a few days, the city was resettled back to the main Japanese islands; personal belongings, toys, and furniture remain in the houses to this day. Access to Gankajima is closed to everyone today. The Japanese cannot decide what to do with the strange city, which is no longer capable of bringing any benefit.
Abandoned island city of Hashima, Japan
In addition to the coal fever, the diamond rush also gave rise to “temporary” cities. For example, in Namibia there is the famous city of Kolmanskop, located right in the middle of the desert. The city was founded in 1908 by the German Zacharias Leval, who found diamonds in this place and staked out a number of plots for himself. The city grew in just a year: prospectors rushed to Kolmanskop from all over Africa.
But the deposit turned out to be very small - it gave the impression of promise due to its shallow depth. Over the course of 10 years, the city managed to build several dozen houses, a hospital, a school, and a sports ground - and then the diamonds ran out and the miners left their homes. Today Kolmanskop is gradually covered with sand, although it is sometimes cleared a little for tourists.
The Namibian Kolmanskop is gradually covered with sand. A photographer's paradise
Gary, Indiana, hometown of singer Michael Jackson, was founded in 1906 and by 1960 had a population of about 180,000. But bankruptcy and the closure of the steel mills on which Gary's wealth was based meant that today there are barely 75,000 people left. Half the city consists of abandoned buildings, churches, and factory floors.
Gary: birthplace of Michael Jackson
The city of Cairo on the Ohio River (Illinois) is also worth mentioning. He lived mainly on income from the pier of wheeled (and other) steamships. But over time, river trade declined, and the city's population dropped from 20,000 to 3,500 people. The historic center of Cairo is uninhabited and preserved as a historical monument.
The US auto industry crisis has left once-prosperous Detroit with several abandoned areas. Pictured is the famous Michigan Theater, which “starred” in the film “Only Lovers Left Alive”
In general, there are many tiny ghost towns in the USA. For example, abandoned mining villages from the Gold Rush or cattle towns. There are 5-10 of them in each state. The most famous is Bodie (California), founded in 1859 by gold miner Waterman Bodie. By 1880 the city had grown to 10,000 people. Then the gold ran out, the railway was dismantled in 1917, and in 1942 the city lost its post office - that is, it officially disappeared. But the landowners decided not to abandon the city to plunder and hired guard rangers.
The town was preserved, carefully protected and opened as a national park in the 1960s - a historic mining town. Bodie's state of preservation is amazing: not a single glass has been broken, all the furniture has been preserved, and in the local casino there are chips lying on the table. Vintage trucks parked anywhere don't even have punctured tires: wash, pump up, fill up - and off we go.
The town of Bodie, California, has been perfectly preserved, right down to the glass in the windows and the interior of the buildings. But they abandoned him in the 1940s!
But perhaps the best preserved dead city is in Chile - Humberstone. Founded in 1872 on saltpeter mines, it grew and became richer every day. Saltpetre fever in South America was no less than gold fever in North America. The city was beautiful, it even had a large theater with a permanent troupe and a sports swimming pool.
But by the 1950s, saltpeter reserves were depleted. In 1958, the mines closed and the workers left the city. The ghost was almost not plundered due to its distance from other settlements. In 1970, the Chilean authorities declared it a national monument, restored it, and since then Humberstone has been “living” a strange temporary life. There are even fairs for tourists, although there is no permanent population.
In the Chilean Andes there is another equally well-preserved mothballed city - Sewell, founded in 1915 for copper mining. Once a population of 16,000, the town “died” in 1967 when the mine was nationalized, declared unprofitable, and closed. They did not have time to plunder the city: the government immediately appreciated the beauty of the area and declared the dead city a tourist area, a “monument to prospectors.” That's how Sewell stands to this day.
The former mining town of Sewell, Chile, is bustling with people. Only all these people are tourists
War and politics
Another class of “ghosts” includes cities destroyed by war. For example, the famous Agdam in Azerbaijan, the birthplace of port wine of our youth. Before the Karabakh War, which began in 1991, Aghdam had several large factories, excellent infrastructure and a population of about 35,000 people. During the war, the city was completely destroyed - and not during the assault, but after. Of the entire buildings in Agdam, only the mosque from 1870 remains - the Armenian soldiers did not raise their hands to it.
Today, about 360 self-settlers live in the city in rare preserved buildings. You can immediately see from the ruins that a war took place here. Aghdam is still in ruins due to a lack of funding and the ongoing conflict between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.
The ruins of Agdam surrounded by greenery
But the French Oradour-sur-Glane is a deliberately “frozen” open-air museum. By American standards, Oradour would be called a city, but in France it was still considered a village - 660 people lived there in 1944.
On the morning of June 10, 1944, the Germans entered Oradour-sur-Glane, having heard that the partisans were holding a captured Sturmbannführer in the town. Without even checking this rumor, the soldiers of the 1st battalion of the Der Fuehrer regiment drove all the residents into the square. Women and children (445 people) were driven into a church, which was then set on fire, and men (202 people) were shot right in the street with machine guns. In total, 26 people from the village were saved. The village was partially destroyed. Oradour was never restored - a new town with the same name was built nearby (today about 2,000 people live in it). And old Oradour was preserved forever - as a memory of the war.
Oradour-sur-Glane, city-museum, eternal memory of the war
In Spain there is a similar monument - preserved Belchite, destroyed during the civil war of 1937
The political reasons for the conservation of cities also lie close to the military. A well-known example is the Varosha quarter in the city of Famagusta on the border of Cyprus and Turkish (Northern) Cyprus. Until the 1970s, Varosha was the most prestigious, expensive and popular resort in Cyprus. Hotels and casinos were built here, and world cinema stars vacationed here.
But on August 15, 1974, the Turkish army captured Famagusta. Today it is a border town; Varosha turned out to be a “buffer” quarter. It was simply closed; it serves as the border between the two Cyprus. Since the zone is controlled by the military, it was hardly looted. In the bars of Varosha there are still bottles and glasses left there in 1974, and in the shops you can find the most fashionable clothes from 40 years ago.
Varosha, once the best resort of Cyprus, is now a dead city
Victims of the elements
Economics and politics are the most common reasons that force people to leave their homes and go into the unknown. Natural disasters usually either wipe out cities and immediately relegate them to the “disappeared” category, or do not cause enough damage that people have to leave. Cities evacuated after the Chernobyl disaster are rare examples of a disaster that led to the appearance of “ghosts”.
But one of the most famous cities in the world suffered precisely from a man-made disaster. This is Centralia in Pennsylvania (there are eleven Centralias in the USA). The small town was powered by the coal industry, and by the end of the 19th century its population was 2,000 people. The tragedy occurred in 1962: local firefighters cleared the city landfill by burning it out (as they had done more than once) and were unable to contain the fire. The flames penetrated underground - into abandoned coal mines a hundred years ago.
Roads in Centralia are covered in places with smoking fissures like these.
Due to the underground fire, a lot of carbon dioxide began to be released into the air. Residents did not leave the city until the early 1980s, unaware that coal was burning underground. The deterioration in health was attributed to other reasons. When the fire was discovered and it became clear that it was impossible to put out the fire, residents were asked to move out. Most of them left in 1984, the most stubborn were forcibly evicted in 1992 - through alienation of property. In 2002, the city was declared abolished, most of the buildings were demolished. Along with Centralia, several other small towns, such as Byrnesville, suffered and were resettled for the same reason.
Now Centralia is not at all similar to the Silent Hill from the video games, for which it became the prototype. It's basically just a rural landscape with a few ruins, a couple of houses and the Church of the Virgin Mary, half-hidden in the woods. The popularity of the city is connected only with the uniqueness of the natural phenomenon: an invisible fire that has been burning for 50 years. According to forecasts, coal will burn for about two and a half centuries.
Cemetery in Centralia. There are more dead people on it than there are inhabitants in the city
The small town of Craco in the Apennines was abandoned by residents due to regular tremors. Crako was first mentioned in manuscripts in 1060, and until the mid-20th century a population of about 2,500 people lived there quietly. The city had an ancient castle and a monastery - Krako was a typical medieval European town. The city had been “shaken” before, but in 1959 an entire block slid downhill, after which a mass exodus of residents began.
Today Krako is closed to the public due to danger, but tourists still climb the mountain to look at the untouched fusion of 16th-century architecture and 20th-century life. Another Italian town, Poggioreale, also had a similar fate, also abandoned by its residents in 1968 due to seismological danger.
Another victim of the disaster is the Chilean city of Chaiten, which suffered from a volcanic eruption. Usually such catastrophes demolish cities to the ground, but the Chaiten volcano, which began to “play pranks” on May 2, 2008, one might say, spared its city. Pyroclastic flows did not hit the city, but ash fell abundantly, plus a sluggish lahar (mud flow of water, volcanic ash, pumice) reached Chaiten and partially flooded it. The population had already been evacuated by that time.
At the end of the eruption, the ground in the middle of the city parted and gave a new channel to the Rio Blanco River. They decided to rebuild the city in another place. Modern Chaiten looks very interesting: it is about a meter flooded with a gray, viscous, gradually petrifying mass. And silence all around.
The city of Chaiten can be dug up if necessary. True, there is no economic benefit in this
How to conclude this review? Perhaps my advice is to go to one of the ghost towns someday. Either in the American-Chilean tourist one, or in the Russian ownerless one (it is advisable that it is not a closed area - it’s worth checking in advance). Each has its own charms. Remember: cities are like people, they also have a deadline. And sometimes this period is less than a human life.