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 for service 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, there were still a couple of residential streets in the city, but today Kadykchan is inhabited by only one old man 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 called Gunkanjima, “cruiser city”), founded in early XIX century exclusively for servicing 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 famous city 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 singer Michael Jackson, was founded in 1906 and by 1960 had a population of about 180,000 people. 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. Saltpeter fever in South America was not inferior to the gold one in the North. 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 lack of funding and 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. Famous example- 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 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, no time best resort Cyprus, now a dead city
Disaster victims
Economics and politics are the most common reasons, forcing people to leave their homes and go into the unknown. Natural disasters usually they either raze cities to the ground and immediately reclassify them as “disappeared,” or they don’t 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 United States). The small town was “fed” by the coal industry, and to end of the 19th century 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 century 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 associated only with its uniqueness 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.
Hello, friends!
You, of course, have heard about dead abandoned cities, abandoned villages, villages and towns, of which there are a lot, not only in the post-Soviet space, but all over the world: in the USA, China, Japan, Germany and so on.
Yes, today I want to talk about ghost towns in Russia. And not those that, due to their tragic (or not so tragic) fate, have become part of tourist trails, but those that are not so known to the general public, but are no less interesting.
So, friends, if you are here hoping to find information about Pripyat, which, frankly speaking, has already set the teeth on edge. Or about the tragic fate of Kadykchan or Kurshi, then I will disappoint you - they are deliberately ignored in this article. There are several reasons, and one of them is that it is better to share information and impressions about such cities after visiting them.
Dead cities and tourism
The relatively new genre of “post-apocalyptic” has gained wide popularity over the past half century. This is reflected in films, books, and games. More and more photographers, directors, people of other creative professions, and just thrill-seekers are visiting abandoned buildings.
Some people look for inspiration there; for others, dead cities are a blank canvas on which to create. And someone wants impressions and new emotions. It is now clear that this, whatever one may say, is another direction for tourism. It may not be the most popular, but it is certainly very interesting. Such cities allow you to see another life, to touch something mystical and creepy.
Abandoned settlements of the Central Federal District
Most often, such an unenviable fate occurs in small settlements whose residents worked at one, city-forming enterprise. If it closed, the settlement “closed.” Sometimes everything can be much more tragic, a vivid example of this is Pripyat.
My list is more likely to fall into the first category. These towns and villages "fell victims of the economic recession" rather than natural or man-made disasters. Below are 20 dead settlements in Russia, which are located in the Central Federal District (photos attached).
Not quite a ghost, some houses still have a glimmer of life. The history of this military town is eerily typical: the military unit was disbanded and everything was abandoned. The barracks, hangars, canteen, and so on, all of this is slowly crumbling.
The object is quite well known in certain circles of abandoned junk lovers.
Remember the forest fire in central Russia in 2010? So, this village got in the way destructive force fire. The private sector burned out almost completely; the boiler room, garages and vegetable gardens burned down. People fled for their lives, leaving their property behind.
Only high-rise buildings remained virtually untouched by the fire. As of 2015, Mokhovoye is a completely dead village.
This is Belevsky district. Chelyustino has been allegedly abandoned since 1985. There are 24 houses left in it, no people.
Well preserved. In some houses, even closets with clothes were found.
But this is a residential village. I don’t know what’s sadder - a ghost town or THIS.
Glubokovsky has a typical fate for a working mining village. After the closure of all the mines, approximately 1,500 people still lived in it, but in the 90s of the last century people gradually began to leave.
The proximity of the regional center saves the village from complete extinction, but... how much effort does it take to live in it? After all, this is not even a small town.
Kostroma is a completely extinct settlement in central Russia, of which there are hundreds. This village is not the only one here, there are several more similar ones nearby.
There are several houses left in it, all in disrepair.
The once large village is now living out its life. Some houses are well preserved, this can be seen both from their carved frames and from their internal condition (there are household items in good condition).
Over the past few years, this settlement has been completely deserted. Nowadays Korchmino is a ghost village.
Another of the many dead villages Yaroslavl region. Everything that can be taken from there has already been stolen, everything that cannot is slowly rotting.
The once rich village, with large houses and courtyards (in almost every courtyard there is a barn, bathhouse, outbuildings) is slowly dying.
The exact name is unknown; there is a possibility that this village has a different name. There is another similar village nearby. It is difficult to find them, since the main mentions remain on old maps.
Inside, everything is as usual: several looted, destroyed houses, in which you can still find household items.
"This strange place Kamchatka" has been empty for about 10 years. Once this settlement belonged to the collective farm named after. Chapaeva. The collective farm collapsed, and the same thing happened to the village.
You can’t get to this village (except by tank), so it’s better to go on foot. At the moment, several houses in poor condition remain in Dora, but before, life was in full swing.
The village was connected to the outside world by a narrow-gauge railway built in 1946. At the moment, what remains of it are several destroyed bridges in the surrounding area.
A small village with 10 houses, now only 2 have survived. The village has been completely dead for 4 years now.
We were in the same house (pictured), on the table there was a letter from the mother from the “zone” from her son.
Another ghost village, but in the Belozersky region. Apparently empty since 1995.
Several houses and baths near the river have survived. The houses are of the North Russian type - on a high basement with a vestibule at the rear of the house. Inside are some pieces of furniture and household items. Everything is in bad condition.
A very old village in the Vologda region, founded on a water trade route in the 13th century. The settlement flourished in the 18th century, and in 1708 it became the center of the Charonda region and received the status of a city. The population at that time was approximately 10,000. This did not last long.
In the 1770s, the town of Charonda again became a village, and by 1917 less than 1,000 people lived in it. Nowadays there are a dozen houses left in the village, and the number of inhabitants is 2 (more in the summer). The village is extremely inconvenient: there is no road there by land, there is no electricity (all the poles have long since rotted and fallen into the swamp).
Khmelina is also an old ghost village in the Central Federal District of Russia. It was founded in 1626, there were 700 households, a mill, factories, a collective farm, a school and a store.
However, since the 70s of the 20th century, residents gradually began to leave. As of November 2017, no one lives in the village anymore. The houses are abandoned, only a few are used as country houses.
An almost dead village in the deep forests of the Kostroma region. The condition is average: there are several houses almost untouched by time.
Near the village there are 4 more abandoned villages.
A remarkable place. In the vicinity of this farm, a stone labyrinth several thousand years old was discovered in the late 1980s.
By the way, it is believed that this labyrinth is a place of power.
Some of the houses are mud huts with thatched roofs and look cool. At the moment, the farm is almost completely abandoned.
Ghost villages on the map
The map is very approximate. Firstly, not all villages were mapped onto it, and secondly, those that were mapped may not be entirely correct. You understand that abandoned cities in Russia, and not only, are not always easy to find.
But you can roughly get your bearings; all areas are correct.
That's probably all. I am finishing the list of dead cities and villages. But this is just one of many. I have not included many more areas of our vast Motherland.
P.S. All information about the once populated areas and photos are taken from the site urban3p.ru
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. 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 expelled from the small town of Tawargha in Libya, it remains deserted today creepy ghost, where residents are 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 received its name in honor of Sir Daniel Ross, and was a settlement, but weather were too harsh to live in, 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 been in trouble and better times. Given its remote location and lack of roads, it is not surprising that they passed. The only way to get to the city is on a 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 in 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
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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
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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
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Considered Australia's most violent prison, Port Arthur in Tasmania was built in 1833 but was abandoned by 1877. In 1996, one of the worst events happened here massacres in Australia when a man killed 35 people and injured 23 others. It is a popular tourist destination and is believed to be haunted.
8. Boston Mills, Ohio
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Boston Mills, Ohio, which some call "hell town", is full of folklore and myths, including satanic cults, serial killers and the spirits of children wandering through the forest. Founded in 1806, the city came under government control and became 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
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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
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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
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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
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Pripyat was unlucky enough to be the city closest to Chernobyl during the accident. nuclear power plant in 1986. With a population of 49,000 people, Pripyat virtually overnight became a ghost town as a result of the evacuation, forever remaining frozen in time. Soviet city. 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
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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
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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 have not been kind to 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.
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 Big 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 United Nations centers United Arab Emirates, and it 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 notorious for high levels of violence, which in addition 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 reflect on 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 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 keeping the notorious 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 is still not neutralized and will continue to pollute 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 led Personal diary and mentioned in it his work on these terrible crimes. The investigator's notes were carefully reviewed research assistants 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 main question still remains unanswered... Why did such a modest Canadian town become home to so many brutal murderers 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, those who ideally respect party politics, are still forced to endure daily circumstances that would drive any of us crazy. as soon as possible.
Let's start with the fact that the residents North Korea are required to keep portraits of all the country's leaders at home, including both 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 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 better place. safe 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 moved significantly ahead in terms of development rates, and special attention is paid here 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 magazine The Guardian conducted a survey in Onitsha about what the townspeople think about ecological situation, and most of those surveyed did not consider air pollution to be 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’s 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 process of industrialization of the country continues to increase its pace, it will be simply vital for the country to open waste recycling centers and introduce the habit of responsible attitude towards waste into society. household waste to reduce their number. 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.
The Most Scary Ghost Towns in Russia!
Khalmer-Yu (Komi Republic)
In the 40s, a coal deposit was found here, but attempts to establish a full-fledged settlement here were unsuccessful until 1957. Then a serious one appeared here material base and the village began to grow, turning into a city with a population of seven thousand people. 
In 1993, the mine was closed, people were relocated to Vorkuta, and now there is a landfill on the site of the abandoned city. It was used in 2005 to demonstrate the power of the Tu-160 to Vladimir Putin. Then the president was the co-pilot on board a strategic bomber and fired a missile at one of the Halmer-U buildings. 
Mologa (Yaroslavl region)
Not far from Rybinsk there is the ghost town of Mologa. Once upon a time it was one of the largest shopping centers in Rus' (the city was founded in the 12th century).
But in 1935, the Soviet authorities ordered the construction of the Rybinsk hydroelectric complex, and Mologa was simply flooded. People began to be resettled, and those who remained died. The city has sunk under water, and now that the level is falling, some buildings are becoming visible.
Kursha-2 (Ryazan region)
The city of Kursha-2 was founded at the beginning of the 20th century in the Ryazan region. People came here from all over Russia to take part in the large-scale development of forest areas. In the early 30s, more than a thousand people settled here, but soon almost all of them died. On August 3, 1936, a fire engulfed the entire city - only a few survived. Now there is a huge mass grave near the burnt settlement. The city itself is now completely destroyed, not a soul on the streets.
Kolendo (Sakhalin region)
In the early 60s, development of an oil and gas field began in the very north of Sakhalin. People from all over the island began to come here, and by 1979 more than two thousand people had settled here.
Until 1995, everything was in order, but a powerful earthquake happened, after which the reserves natural resources decreased greatly, and people began to leave the settlement en masse. Nobody lives there now.
Industrial (Komi Republic)
The city was founded in the 50s. All buildings were erected by prisoners, and until the 90s more than 10 thousand people lived here. Life here stopped after the explosion in the Tsentralnaya mine. Overnight, all the workers here turned out to be of no use to anyone. Families began to move to other settlements, and soon Promyshlenny turned into a ghost town.
Neftegorsk (Sakhalin region)
Another victim of the 1995 earthquake was the city of Neftegorsk. Here the level of tremors reached 10 points. More than two thousand people died. The authorities evacuated the survivors, and now Neftegorsk is empty. Its streets still resemble a bombed town - nothing but ruins...
Charonda (Vologda region)
In the city of Charonda on the shore of Lake Vozhe, 11 thousand people once lived. Once upon a time, life was seething here, but at the beginning of the 19th century, all the trade routes that passed through Charonda ceased to exist, and the city turned into a village where only old people live.
Kadychkan (Magadan region)
In 1943, large coal deposits were discovered in the Magadan region. The city of Kadychkan was founded next to one of these. Of course, this settlement was built, as they say, on the bones of prisoners who were sent here in the thousands. Nevertheless, the city continued to develop, and after the thaw, in 1986, its population amounted to 10 thousand people.
The extinction began in 1996 after a terrible mine accident, where an explosion killed more than a thousand miners. After this, the city was almost completely empty, and in 2003, by order of the authorities, the last residents were removed from here and resettled in other cities. Now the village is empty.
Iultin (Chukchi Autonomous Okrug)
The village was founded thanks to the tin deposit found here. Since the 50s, people began to come here. Houses were built here, families settled, but in the 90s the enterprise went bankrupt and people began to leave the village. In 1995, there was no one left in Iultna.
Yubileiny (Perm region)
The settlement was built by miners. The miners of the Shumikhinskaya mine developed the city from the 50s to the 90s. Then the enterprise was cut in half, and those who were left without work were forced to either change their profession or leave. The city emptied very quickly and soon turned into another ghost. Now it is difficult to imagine that life was once in full swing here.
