These real life ruins offer an eerie glimpse into a world without humans. Their dark walls inspire a sense of wonder like I’ve never felt before.
1. Pripyat, Ukraine
Pripyat, a city of nearly 50,000, was totally abandoned after the nearby Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. Due to radiation, it has been left untouched ever since the incident and will be for many thousands of years into the future. Nature now rules the city in what resembles an apocalyptic movie.
2. Mirny Diamond Mine – Eastern Siberia, Russia
The world’s second largest man-made hole, Mirny was constructed by Stalin to satisfy the Soviet Union’s demand for industrial diamond. Further digging efforts were eventually abandoned when it became too difficult to continue digging this massive hole.
3. Farmhouse – Seneca Lake, New York
This abandoned farmhouse in New York state also acts as a graveyard for many vintage cars which are now empty shells of their former selves.
4. Ryugyong Hotel – Pyongyang, North Korea
The Ryugyong Hotel is a true display of North Korea’s madness. Work started on this 105 story hotel only a few years before a massive famine plagued the country. Abandoned for 16 years, work once again began in 2008, when it was coated in $150 million worth of glass.Foreign guests have reported that although the structure now looks complete on the outside, a lot of the interior is still abandoned and incomplete.
5. Willard Asylum – Willard, New York
Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane was built in 1869 and closed in 1995, housing 4000 patients at its peak. More than half of the 50,000 patients who called Willard Asylum their home died within its walls. Making its morgue (pictured above) one of the creepiest places we can imagine. By its closure, most patients were eventually intergrated back into society, but in the facilities early days “people didn’t leave unless it was in a box.”
6. Sanzhi UFO Houses – San Zhi, Taiwan
These homes were intended to be sold to U.S. military officers when construction began in 1978. In 1980, work was halted due to loss of investment.
7. Six Flags Jazzland – New Orleans, Louisiana
Severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, Six Flags Jazzland has been abandoned since. Several of the rides still stand, a testimony to the resilience of New Orleans. Several companies have plans to develop the park, but until then it will remain as the perfect setting for a horror movie.
8. Gulliver’s Travels Park – Kawaguchi, Japan
Constructed in the shadow of Mt Fuji, this theme park opened in 1997. Despite financial help from the Japanese government, it lasted only 10 years before being abandoned.
9. Bannerman Castle – Pollepel Island, New York
Bannerman Castle’s owner, Francis Bannerman VI, built the structure as storage space after buying the American military surplus from the war with the Spanish. After 200lbs of ammunition exploded in 1920, much of the castle was destroyed and the rest abandoned.
10. Disney’s Discovery Island – Lake Buena Vista, Florida
A former wildlife attraction in the heart of Disney World, it is rumoured that the island was left to run wild after bacteria capable of killing humans was discovered in the surrounding water.
11. Aniva Rock Lighthouse – Sakhalinskaya Oblast, Russia
A formal penal island used by the Russians, Aniva was once sought after by both the Russia and Japan. This now Russian controlled territory sits uninhabited in the seas between Japan and the eastern coast of Russia.
12. Canfranc Rail Station, Spain
Canfranc Rail Station was part of an international railway route through Spain and France. An accident in 1970 destroyed a nearby bridge and ended international rail links between the two countires, leaving Canfranc deserted.
13. Chateau Miranda – Celles, Belgium
The castle was originally built by French aristocrats fleeing the revolution. During and after World War II, Miranda Castle was used as an orphanage. It was abandoned in 1980, with the family refusing to allow authorities to care for the structure. Because of its past, this haunting castle remains a favourite amongst ghost hunters.
14. Abandoned Coal Plant – France
15. Eilean Donan – Loch Duich, Scotland
Located in the Highlands of Scotland, the Eilean Donan island sat abandon until 1911, when it was restored by a prominent retired military officer.
16. Hashima Island, Japan
In the past Hashima Island was rich in coal, with over 5000 miners once living on the island. When petrol replaced coal as Japan’s main source of fuel, the settlement was left abandoned. Now the once thriving town is creepily abandoned, with only shadows remaining.
17. Abandoned Mill – Western Quebec, Canada
This mill was originally built by French settlers.
18. City Hall Station – New York City, New York
City Hall Station was built in 1904 and closed in 1945 as only around 600 people used it only a daily basis.
19. Orpheum Auditorium – New Bedford, Massachusetts
This Auditorium opened on the same day that the Titanic sunk, April 15th, 1912. A supermarket now occupies some of the building, but the rest remains beautifully deserted.
20. Holy Land USA – Waterbury, Connecticut
Holy Land USA was a theme park based on passages from the Bible. At its peak in the 1960s and 70s, the park attracted around 40,000 visitors annually. It was closed down in 1984, though the grounds remain intact.
21. Abandoned Power Plant – Belgium
22. Wreck of the SS America – Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
This former United States ocean liner was wrecked in 1994 after 54 years of service.
23. Underwater City – Shicheng, China
Shicheng has been under water for 53 years since the Xin’an River Hydro Plant flooded the area. The city was founded 1,300 years ago.
24. Abandoned Domino Sugar Factory — Brooklyn, New York
25. Red Sands Sea Forts – Sealand, United Kingdom
Originally built during World War II to protect the River Thames, these forts are now lifeless. Except for those that have been claimed by Sealand, a micronation off the shore of England.
26. Overgrown section of the Great Wall – China
The Great Wall is 13,170 miles long and vast sections receive little maintenance because of the enormous cost of caring for such a monumental structure.
27. Michigan Central Station – Detroit, Michigan
Built through 1912 and 1913, Central Station served as the passenger rail depot for Detroit and was the tallest train station in the world. With the closure of the line in 1988, Central Station fell into disuse and all restoration plans have failed.
28. Dadipark – Dadizel, Belgium
A simple playground, Dadipark opened in the 1950s and closed in 2002.
29. Military Hospital – Beelitz, Germany
30. Empty Organ Room
31. Abandoned church with chairs still standing
This church was left to decay with the chairs still standing and a baby’s coffin still visible.
32. Wonderland Amusement Park – Beijing, China
Designed to be the biggest amusement park in Asia, Wonderland was never completed after financial issues. The land has since been cultivated by local farmers.
33. Częstochowa Train Depot – Poland
34. An Abandoned Rocket Factory – Russia
35. El Hotel del Salto – Colombia
Hotel del Salto was built in 1928 for wealthy tourists visiting the nearby Tequendama Falls. Eventually, the waterfall was contaminated and visitors lost interest, leading to the hotel’s abandonment.
36. Christ of the Abyss – San Fruttuoso, Italy
Guido Galletti built this statue of Christ in 1954 and placed it into the water at a depth of 55 feet.
37. Railroad in the Fall – Lebanon, Missouri
38. Eastern State Penitentiary – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Operated from 1829 until 1971, Eastern State was one of the first modern penitentiaries. Now a national landmark, the prison was designed in a revolutionary wagon wheel shape which became a globally adopted style. Eastern State held the likes of Willie Sutton and Al Capone. If only walls could talk…
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