The world is full of ghost towns, abandoned settlements that appeared as a result of either economic crises or natural or man-made disasters. Some are so far removed from civilization that they have become a real car time, capable of transporting to those distant times when life was seething in them. They are incredibly popular with tourists, although they can be dangerous or off-limits. We offer an overview of the most incredible ghost towns in the world.

Kolmanskop is a ghost town in southern Namibia, located a few kilometers from the port of Lüderitz. In 1908, a diamond rush swept the area and people rushed to the Namib, hoping to get rich. But over time, after World War I, when diamond sales fell, the city, which has casinos, schools, hospitals, and residential buildings, turned into a barren sandy desert.

Metal structures collapsed, beautiful gardens and neat streets were completely covered with sand. Creaking doors, broken windows overlooking the endless desert... another ghost town was born. Only a few buildings are in good condition. Their interiors and furniture have been preserved. However, most are just ruins inhabited by ghosts.

Pripyat is an abandoned city located in the north of Ukraine in the “exclusion zone”. This was once a home for Chernobyl workers nuclear power plant. It was abandoned in 1986 after an accident on it. Before the disaster the population was about 50,000. Now it is a kind of museum dedicated to the end Soviet era.

Multi-storey buildings (four of which had just been built and were not yet inhabited at the time of the accident), swimming pools, hospitals and other buildings - everything remained as it was at the time of the disaster and mass evacuation. Records, documents, televisions, children's toys, furniture, jewelry, clothes - everything that every normal family had remained in dead city. Residents of Pripyat were only allowed to pick up a suitcase with personal documents and clothes. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, many apartments and houses were almost completely looted, leaving nothing of value, even the toilets were taken away.

A futuristic village was built in northern Taiwan as an upscale luxury resort for... wealthy people. However, after numerous accidents during construction, the project was stopped. Lack of money and desire to continue the work caused it to stop completely. Strange buildings in a futuristic style still stand there as a memory of those who died during construction. There are now rumors in the area about numerous ghosts now wandering around the city.

Craco is located in the region of Basilicata and the province of Matera, 25 miles from the Gulf of Taranto. The town, typical of the Middle Ages, is built among numerous hills. Its appearance dates back to 1060, when the land was owned by Archbishop Arnaldo, Bishop of Tricarico. This long-standing connection with the church had a great influence on the city's inhabitants over the centuries.

In 1891, Craco's population was over 2,000. Residents had many problems related to poor agricultural conditions. Between 1892 and 1922, more than 1,300 people moved from the city to North America. Earthquakes, landslides, wars - all this became the causes of mass migration. In 1959-1972, Craco was particularly affected by natural disasters, so in 1963 the remaining 1,800 residents left the city and moved to the nearby valleys of Craco Peschiera. Today it is the stunning ruins of a medieval city that is very popular with tourists.

5. Oradour-sur-Glane (France): the horrors of World War II

Small village Oradour-sur-Glane in France is the epitome of unspeakable horror. During World War II, 642 residents were killed German soldiers as punishment for French resistance. The Germans initially planned to attack Oradour-sur-Vayres, but mistakenly invaded Oradour-sur-Glane on 10 June 1944. According to the order, some of the residents of the French town were driven by the Germans into barns, where they were shot in the legs so that they would die long and painfully. Women and children were kept in the church, where they were shot. Later, the Germans completely destroyed the village. Its ruins still stand as a monument to all those who died, although not far away after the war a new town was rebuilt.

Gankajima is one of Japan's 505 uninhabited islands. It is located approximately 15 kilometers from Nagasaki. It is also called “Gunkan-Jima” or “Armadillo Island”. In 1890, the Mitsubishi company bought it and began mining coal from the bottom of the sea. In 1916 the company was forced to build Japan's first large concrete building. It was a multi-storey building in which workers lived.

In 1959, the island's population increased rapidly. It was one of the most densely populated islands ever recorded in the world. In Japan, oil replaced coal in the 1960s. As a result, coal mines began to close across the country. The island was no exception. In 1974, Mitsubishi officially announced the cessation of work. Today the island is completely empty. Travel there is prohibited. The 2003 film Battle Royale II was filmed here and was also featured in the popular Asian video games Killer7.

Kadykchan was one of many small Russian towns that fell into ruins after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Residents were forced to move to gain access to running water, schools and health care. The state resettled the townspeople to other cities within two weeks and provided them with new housing.

It was once a mining town with a population of 12,000 people. Now it's a ghost town. During the eviction, residents were in a hurry to leave their belongings in the houses, so now old toys, books, clothes and other things can be found there.

Kowloon City was located outside of Hong Kong during British rule. The former guard post was created to protect the territory from pirates. During the Second World War it was occupied by Japan, and after its surrender it passed into the hands of squatters. Neither England nor China wanted to be responsible for it, so it became an independent city without any laws.

The city's population flourished for decades. Residents built real labyrinths of corridors above the streets, which were filled with rubbish. The buildings became so tall that sunlight could not reach the lower levels and the entire city was illuminated with fluorescent lamps. It was a veritable center of lawlessness - brothels, casinos, opium dens, cocaine parlors, food courts serving dog meat - all operated unhindered by the authorities. In 1993, the British and Chinese authorities made a joint decision to close the city as its anarchic mood began to get out of control.

Varosha is a settlement in the unrecognized republic of Northern Cyprus. Until 1974, when the Turks invaded Cyprus, it was a modern tourist area of ​​the city of Famagusta. Over the past three decades, he has become a real ghost.

In the 1970s the city was very popular among tourists. Every year their number grew, so new high-rise buildings and hotels were built. But when Turkish army gained control over the region, it blocked access to it. Since then, entry into the city has been prohibited to all but Turkish military and United Nations personnel. Annan's plan envisaged the return of Varosha to the Greek Cypriots, but this did not happen, since they rejected it. Since no repairs have been made over the years, the buildings are gradually falling apart. Metal structures are rusting, plants are growing on the roofs of houses and destroying sidewalks and roads, and sea turtle nests have been spotted on deserted beaches.

The creepy city of Aghdam was once a thriving city of 150,000 people. In 1993, he “died” during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. There were never any terrible battles in the city; it simply became a victim of vandalism during the occupation by the Armenians. All the buildings are empty and dilapidated, only the mosque, covered with graffiti, remains untouched. Residents of Aghdam moved to other regions of Azerbaijan, as well as to Iran.
If you don’t have any strength to look at dead cities, then it’s better to go on a trip

There are many inexplicable things in our world, but perhaps the most mysterious is the existence of long-forgotten and abandoned ghost towns: most of them appeared as a result of large-scale or natural man-made disaster. We present to you the top 10 dead cities worlds that have almost been wiped off the face of the earth, but have their own amazing history.

10. Badie (California)

The city was founded back in 1876 as a settlement for gold miners, and in just 4 years of its existence the number of residents exceeded 10,000 people. However, the rapid depletion of resources forced the townspeople to leave their homes, and a fire in 1932 destroyed half of all buildings. Currently, the city has been given the status of a Historical Park, and anyone can stroll along the empty streets.

9. San Zhi (Taiwan)

It was originally planned that this futuristic city would acquire the status of an elite and closed city and become a place of residence for wealthy people. However, all work had to be curtailed due to a series of fatal accidents that occurred with workers. No one dared to demolish the “alien” houses, and many believe that it is in them that the souls of the dead builders now live.

8. Varosha (Cyprus)

Once upon a time, numerous tourists came here to relax, but in 1974 the city was occupied by the Turkish army, as a result of which local residents were forced to leave their homes in a hurry, although many hoped to return, but in vain. Now Varosha looks as if time has stopped forever in the city.

7. Gunkanjima (Japan)

This city also became a victim of mineral hunters. It is located on a small beautiful island, which was bought by the Mitsubishi company in 1890. Large-scale coal mining work began here. Soon the density of the working population reached a record high - 835 people per 1 hectare. But when gasoline replaced coal in the middle of the 20th century, the company began to suffer losses and had to curtail its activities. The city is deserted, and today entering its territory is considered a criminal offense.

6. Balestrino (Italy)

It is still not known for certain how this city was formed. The first mention of it dates back to 1860. At that time, only about 850 people lived here, who were engaged in farming and production. olive oil. The earthquake that happened in late XIX century, forced the townspeople to leave the city and move to safer places in terms of geological stability.

5. Centralia (Pennsylvania)

The city flourished until the middle of the 19th century. It was the center of anthracite coal mining, but after the founding companies went out of business, there was no one to control the deposits. The consequence of such “negligence” was an underground fire that could not be extinguished for several decades, and only in 1981 did the authorities decide to evacuate the residents. The fire still does not go out, and according to experts, this process may drag on for another 250 years.

4. Yashima (Japan)

The city was supposed to become a tourist center in Japan: it is located on top of a picturesque plateau, and here was once the site of the Shikoku Monastery, which was a favorite destination for numerous pilgrims. But, as practice has shown, it was of little interest to the European traveler, and all the goods remained of no use to anyone.

3. Agdam (Azerbaijan)

The name of this city was familiar to every lover of strong drinks during the existence of the Soviet Union. Once upon a time it bore the proud name “White Dome”, and now it is called “Caucasian Hiroshima”. Agdam today is a kind of monument to a stupid and cruel war on the territory of the proud but unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh.

2. Neftegorsk (Russia)

May 28, 1995. Sakhalin was shaken by a powerful earthquake of magnitude 10, which killed more than 2,000 people and destroyed a small industrial town, simply wiping it off the face of the Earth. It was decided not to restore Neftegorsk, and today only slabs with numbers carved on them remind of the location of the destroyed houses.

1. Pripyat (Ukraine)

There is probably no person who has not heard about the Chernobyl tragedy. This beautiful and promising city turned out to be the youngest ghost town. Now the population of Pripyat is 0 people, but anyone can sign up for a full-fledged excursion, and there are many of them.

We live in a big and noisy world, and sometimes it is difficult to believe that there are corners of the Earth where the crowd and crush, noise and din are completely absent. And at the same time, these are not at all uninhabited islands or paradise coasts, these are very real cities, with streets and squares, houses and schools, roads and squares. Only people don't live here. The ominous emptiness of the streets, the grass growing through the asphalt... All this justifies the eerie name of “ghost towns”, under which the settlements of the most different countries of our planet. The reasons for the devastation of cities are completely different, but they all evoke horror. And in some, the most creepy places, they even organize excursions, and this, by the way, is very popular. We offer you the ten most creepy ghost towns on our planet.

1. Kolmanskop, Namibia

The city of Kolmanskop in the Namib Desert near the coast Atlantic Ocean known throughout the world. At the beginning of the 20th century, diamond deposits were found here, and a few years later a settlement of diamond hunters precious stones turned into a model German town: houses and hotels, schools and hospitals, a stadium. However, the supply of diamonds quickly dried up, and the residents of the city came to the conclusion that it was very difficult to live here - there was little water, constant sandstorms. Residents began to leave and after a few years Kolmanskop was empty. Today, sandstorms have done their job: even the smallest rooms of houses are covered with sand - this is an amazing and eerie sight. Local residents try to maintain the buildings in good condition so that tourists can admire the amazing abandoned city-museum.

2. Pripyat, Ukraine

The city of Pripyat is located 94 km from the capital of Ukraine Kyiv, and only 3 km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was here that a terrible tragedy happened in 1986 - a nuclear reactor exploded, and the population of Pripyat was urgently evacuated. At the time of the evacuation, about 50 thousand people lived here; it was assumed that the evacuation would be temporary. However, due to the high background radiation, it is impossible to live here; the city is empty. People left the city so quickly that everything remained as it was in those days. Here is the terrifying "Bridge of Death", from which some residents watched the reactor burn and subsequently died within a few weeks. The Ferris wheel in the amusement park looks so creepy that it became a symbol of the world after the apocalypse in the famous game “Call of Duty”.

3. Centralia, USA

In the state of Pennsylvania in the USA there is a small town called Centralia, under which a fire has been raging for 50 years in a row. How is this possible? Let's start with the background. The city was founded in mid-19th century, the main occupation of local residents was work in mining mines. In 1962, a fire started in one of the mines at a garbage dump, it captured deep deposits of garbage and penetrated into the mines under the entire city. It was not possible to extinguish the fire; every now and then, carbon monoxide was released to the surface in different places, which means that the fire was still burning underground. In 1984, local residents were resettled from Centralia, but today there are 9 people living here who are sure that the fire is the result of a government conspiracy against the city’s population. The city became the prototype of Silent Hill from the horror film of the same name.

4. Detroit, USA

Detroit is not a city without a population; today about 700 thousand people live here. But compared to two million in its heyday, this is practically nothing. The city's population is literally melting, families and entire neighborhoods are moving out of here every year. The ghost town status is quite applicable to Detroit. Once upon a time it was one of the most dynamically developing cities in the United States, it was a real “motor city”, and the automotive industry flourished here. The decline began in the 1950s with the onset of the global oil crisis, and the city's population began to rapidly decline. Many buildings in Detroit are abandoned and abandoned, and their appearance terrifies visitors. These are, first of all, automobile factories, as well as schools and hospitals, train stations and museums, theater and art gallery buildings, and even skyscrapers. The most eerie views of Detroit are used in Eminem's "Beautiful" video.

5. Humberstone, Chile

The town of Humberstone is located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. The city was founded as a settlement for workers of a plant for the extraction and processing of saltpeter. In the 1930s and 40s it was a large city, with a dynamically developing infrastructure and a large population. However, due to a significant decrease in saltpeter reserves, the authorities closed the plant, and the population gradually left the city. After Humberstone was awarded the status of a “ghost town” without a single local resident, it opened up to tourism, with excursions regularly organized here. In 2005, the city was included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List; it is a real open-air museum.

6. Hashima, Japan

The island city of Hashima or, as the locals called it, Gunkanjima (“cruiser island”) in Japan really looks like a warship, especially when viewed from the sea. This city was founded when coal deposits were found here, and in its heyday the island was considered overpopulated. In 1974, the authorities closed the coal mines, and the population gradually began to leave the city. When visiting this place, one gets the impression that the city was abandoned by the inhabitants instantly, so much so that everything here reminds of old times. Today you cannot visit the city on your own; you must seek permission from local authorities, or travel with a tourist group. The concrete labyrinths of the city attract creators of music videos and films, as well as computer games.

7. Chaiten, Chile

Chaiten is considered another ghost town in Chile, but the reason for its devastation was not the cessation of work of local factories, as in the case of Humberstone. It was something much more terrible and destructive - a volcanic eruption. At one time, the port city of Chaiten on the shore Pacific Ocean was a developed center of maritime trade. The volcano, which had been dormant for many years, unexpectedly erupted in 2008, and the population of the city was urgently evacuated. The volcanic eruption was not entirely traditional: the hot lava first fell into icy waters mountain river Rio Blanco, resulting in the formation of a liquid gray mass, its properties reminiscent of concrete. Accordingly, she “concreted” everything that came in her way: houses and cars, streets and roads, and even abandoned animals.

8. Spinalonga, Greece

The ancient island city of Spinalonga in Greece served as an excellent place to settle for many generations of people. However, at the very beginning of the 20th century, when a leprosy epidemic hit the country, patients were forcibly sent to this island, making it a real leper colony (a colony for lepers). The sick were sent to the island, the city was surrounded by a wall, food and medicine were delivered to them by boat. If a leper woman gave birth healthy child, he was forcibly removed and sent to an orphanage on the island of Crete. In 1957, a cure for leprosy was invented, and patients were able to be healed. Naturally, those who recovered left the island, and it turned into a ghost town, a kind of historical landmark. Today, excursions are organized here for curious tourists. There is an interesting legend that deities live in the waters around the island, who at one time helped lepers to be healed.

9. Varosha, Cyprus

The city of Varosha on the island of Cyprus has long been a popular tourist resort with excellent beaches and warm sea. In 1974 it was unexpectedly invaded Turkish troops, and the city's population was urgently evacuated. It happened early in the morning, people simply left their breakfasts on the tables, forgot to turn off the lights and did not have time to pack their things. The laundry was left to dry on the lines, and people believed that they would soon return home. However, this did not happen. Before today the city is completely devoid of population, its territory is surrounded by barbed wire, and disputes between the two states over the city territory continue. Varosha looks literally frozen in time: the shop windows still display outfits from the 70s, vintage cars rust in car dealerships, grass and tree roots poke through the asphalt, and turtles rest on deserted beaches.

10. "Pegasus", USA

It is no coincidence that the name of the city that closes our list of ghost settlements is in quotation marks. The fact is that the city does not have an official name. For now. This is not a city that was abandoned by its inhabitants due to the destructive effects of the forces of nature or the lack of conditions for a full life. There is no population here and there never will be. Pegasus is a center of innovation, testing and research located in the state of New Mexico in the USA. It has not yet been created, but is already planned for construction by a large company developing technological innovations. Various new products that are planned to be released on the international market will be tested here: unmanned vehicles, inexhaustible energy sources, anti-terrorist installations, etc. Everything here will be like in a normal city, only there will be no residents. The company plans to spend about $1 billion on building a ghost town for tests and experiments.

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

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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

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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

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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

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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 railway. 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

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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

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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

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It's hard to believe, but Cahaba, Alabama was once the state capital, but because the land is marshy and easily flooded, the capital was moved after a major flood in 1825. The city's situation worsened when the Civil War. 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

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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

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Kennicott, Alaska is another mining town that gained its fame due to the discovery of copper in 1903. Because the location was inconvenient, the mine owners paid workers high wages. wages. 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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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 largest city for the extraction of nitrate (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 covered with 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

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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.

All over the world there are cities and places that once flourished but now lie in ruins. These abandoned cities are often called ghost towns.
Some of these cities have a rich and glorious past, while others have a dark and troubled history.

Abandoned Cities: Sanji-pod-City

Sanzhi Pod City Hotel is located near New Taipei, Taiwan. Construction of this housing complex began in 1978 and was intended to be a resort for US military personnel. After several fatal accidents during construction and an equally devastating loss of investment, the project was cancelled.

Abandoned Cities: Bodie, California

Bodie, California is a real Wild West ghost town. Officially becoming a historic state park in 1962, Bodie boasts 200,000 visitors a year.
The term "ghost town" was first used to describe the entire length of Bodie back in 1915.

Abandoned Cities: Kowloon Wall City

Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated area in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It initially came under Triad control after the government relinquished control. Known for drug trafficking and prostitution, the city had 33,000 residents within an area of ​​0.010 square miles.

Evacuations were carried out by the British and Chinese governments from 1987 to 1993, although the area was destroyed in 1994. Kowloon Walled City Park opened in December 1995 and still contains some artifacts, including its government building and the remains of the southern gate.

Pripyat, Ukraine

Pripyat - evidence destructive force nuclear energy, was a rapidly developing city before the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. A tragic power plant failure caused a sudden and rapid evacuation of the population of Pripyat and the surrounding area. Everything was deemed contaminated and abandoned.

Hashima Island, Japan

Hashima Island, Japan (also known as Armadillo Island because of its shape when viewed from above) is now one of 505 uninhabited islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, approximately 9 miles from Nagasaki. From 1887 to 1974 the island was inhabited and operated as a coal mine.

But as Japan switched from coal to cleaner, more efficient fuel sources, the island's owner, Mitsubishi, stopped mining in Hashima. Now the island and its dwellings are deserted.

Abandoned cities Varosha coastline

Varosha, Cyprus is a suburb of Famagusta and was a leading tourist destination in the 1970s. Varosha became a victim of a major military conflict in 1974.
Residents of Varosha and tourists fled. Residents had hoped to return to their homes after the conflict subsided, but the Turkish government blocked access to the island. The area has remained unchanged since then.

Pyramiden, Norway

Pyramiden, Norway - Russian settlement and coal mining community. Sold by Sweden Soviet Union in 1927, the area was closed and abandoned in 1998 and is now accessible only by boat or snowmobile. Tourists are not allowed to enter buildings - even those that are open - without prior approval.

The statue of Vladimir Lenin, another figure whose ideas were also abandoned, is the visual centerpiece of the city. For those who want to spend a lot of time in this cold and decrepit city, hotels have recently appeared.