15 mysterious ghost towns scattered around the world
Abandoned settlements exist all over the world - mysterious, spooky, always causes the curiosity.
There are many reasons why a city can become a ghost town: economic downturn, war, natural
disaster, ecological disaster... Here is a list of the most interesting, in our opinion,
ghost towns on Earth.
Usually, such places are completely uninhabited, although there are some ghost towns with a
very small population. Some are not allowed to visit, while others have been turned into
parks or tourist attractions.
1. Kraco, Italy
This area was inhabited by the Greeks around 540 BC, when they moved inland from the coastal
city of Metaponto and named the area Montedoro. For centuries, there was a successful settlement
here, which included a university, four large palazzo and a growing population. In 1656,
as a result of the plague, the population was reduced by hundreds of times. Later, Kracko
gradually faded away - mainly due to poor agricultural conditions. In 1892-1922, most
of the people left for North America. Then, in 1963, there was a severe landslide and
people had to be evacuated. After the earthquake in 1980, the site was completely abandoned.
It is now a popular tourist attraction. Several movies were also filmed here, including "Quantum
of Solace" and "The Passion of Christ".
2. Bodie, California, USA
In the 19th century, a rich gold mine was discovered in this gold-digging town, so Bodie
grew and became a thriving city. In the best times, from five to seven thousand people
lived here, 2,000 buildings were built. At the beginning of the 20th century, the city
began to decline. Today Bodie is a true Wild West ghost town with only 110 buildings left.
It is open to the public and tourists can freely walk along the deserted city streets
and look at the remaining belongings on the shelves of shops and the interior of the premises.
3. Pripyat, Ukraine
Possibly one of the most famous ghost towns in the world. Pripyat was founded in 1970
as the ninth nuclear city in the Soviet Union to support the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power
plant. By the time of the evacuation (the day after the Chernobyl disaster) in the afternoon
of April 27, 1986, the population of the city was 49,360 people. Of course, after the disaster,
the city was abandoned and soon became a ghost town. Nowadays, when the radiation level has
decreased, more and more tourists visit this place, and various Ukrainian companies offer
a tour in the surrounding area.
4. Oradour-sur-Glane, France
Oradour-sur-Glane is an abandoned village in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western
central France. It was destroyed on June 10, 1944, when the Nazis killed almost all residents:
642 people died, including women and children. Only about 30 people of the entire population
of the village miraculously survived that day. A unit led by Adolf Dieckmann forced
all residents to leave their homes. The men were gathered in sheds, where they were shot,
and then set on fire. The women and children were locked in the church, which was also
set on fire. Those who tried to get out of the burning building were shot. After the
war, then French President Charles de Gaulle decided that the village should be turned
into a memorial. A new village with the same name was built nearby.
5. Quarter Varosha, city of Famagusta, Cyprus Today Varosha is an abandoned quarter in the
south of the Cyprus city of Famagusta. And once - by the beginning of the 70s - it was
the number one tourist centre in the whole of Cyprus. This led to the construction of
new buildings, mainly hotels and various tourist attractions. At its peak, Varosha was the
number one tourist destination in the world and saw guests like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard
Burton, and Brigitte Bardot. That all changed with the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974,
when the territory came under Turkish control. People of Varosha fled, the territory remained
abandoned and was under the occupation of the Turkish armed forces. To this day, the
Varosha quarter stays empty and no one is allowed to get in.
6. Garnet, Montana, USA Garnet is another of the abandoned mining
townships in the United States, built in the 1860s. In 1898, the city was inhabited by
about 1000 people. Unsurprisingly, Garnet was abandoned two decades later when the mines
ran out of gold. Despite being badly damaged by a fire that destroyed half of the city
in 1912, Garnet is now one of the best-preserved ghost towns in Montana. It is visited by 16,000
people annually. 7. Hashima Island, Japan
Hashima, also known as Gunkanjima, is an island located about 15 kilometres from the city
of Nagasaki in southern Japan. At the beginning of the 19th century, coal was discovered on
the island and 80 years later, in 1887, coal mines were built. The peak of the population
on Hashima was recorded in 1959, when 5259 people lived on the island. In 1974, when
the coal reserves came to an end, the mines were closed and people left. Until the early
2000s, the island remained abandoned, until interest in its historical ruins arose. Some
buildings were restored and in 2009 they began to let tourists in. In 2015, the island was
declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 8. Kennicott, Alaska, USA
Kennicott was once a central mining camp that connected several copper mines. It all started
back in 1900, when rich deposits of copper ore with a high concentration (up to 70%)
of pure chalcocite were found here. At that time, copper just became extremely valuable
- thanks to the invention of electricity, cars, and telephones. Therefore, hundreds
of people came here to work in the copper mines seven days a week. From 1909 to 1938,
the Kennicott mines produced more than 4.6 million tons of ore, the profit from which
exceeded $ 100 million. By the beginning of the 30s, the deposits of high-quality ores
were depleted and five mines closed one after another. The last train left Kennicott on
November 10, 1938, marking the end of an era, and leaving behind a ghost town.
9. Kolmanskop, Namibia In 1908, in the southern part of Namibia,
10 kilometres from the port city of Luderitz, a worker found a diamond and showed it to
his boss, the German railway inspector August Stauch. This led to the construction of a
town, where German miners came in huge numbers to mine diamonds. They built a hospital, ballroom,
power plant, school, bowling alley, theatre, gym, casino, ice-making factory, and the first
X-ray station in the Southern Hemisphere. Soon after World War II, diamond deposits
began to dwindle and people began to leave. The city was totally abandoned in 1956. Now
the desert is gradually taking its toll and tourists who come here wander knee-deep in
the sand. A special permit is required to enter the city.
10. Dhanushkodi, India Dhanushkodi was once a normal Indian city
full of life and laughter. People could come and go on passenger trains, enjoy the views
of the Laccadive Sea on one side and the Palk on the other. However, everything changed
when cyclone Ramswaram hit the city on the night of December 22-23, 1964. The wind speed
was 280 km / h, and the height of the tidal waves was 7 meters. As a result of the disaster,
about 1800 people died. The city was abandoned by people and declared uninhabitable. Today
this place is popular among tourists. 11. Lifta, Israel
The settlement originated in very ancient times: archaeological remains dating back
to the Iron Age were discovered on this site. In 1945, 2,250 people lived in Lifta, 2,230
of whom were Muslims and the remaining 20 were Christians. During the civil war 1947-48,
and the Palestinian exodus of 1948. Lifta was abandoned by Arab residents. The rest
of the Jewish community left in 1971. The last residents left the site in 2017, and
since then, the village of Lifta has been considered a nature reserve in Israel.
12. Clomino, Poland Clomino was a small village known in the early
20th century as Westfalenhof (in the former German province of Pomerania). During World
War II, the Germans set up a prison camp in the area that housed Polish soldiers, civilians,
and officers of the French army. In January 1945, Westfalenhof was captured by the advancing
Red Army and turned back into a military base - now Soviet - called Grodeck. About 6,000
Soviet soldiers lived there. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Grodek was renamed Clomino
and the government put it up for sale. However, no one was interested in it, and very few
people decided to move there. At the moment, there are 5 residents left in Clomino. Almost
all buildings were destroyed and looted. 13. Kayakoy, Turkey
Located 8 km south of Fethiye in southwestern Turkey in the old province of Lykia, Kayakoy
is a city full of ruined 18th century buildings (although people have lived in the area since
antiquity). Before World War I, about 6,500 Greeks lived in Kayakoy. Almost none of them
remained as a result of the mass murder of Greeks and other Christian minorities in the
Ottoman Empire during the war. Following the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923
(after Greece lost the Greek-Turkish war of 1919-1922), the Greek Orthodox population
was forced to leave what is now Turkey. The Turkish government tried to populate the area
with Muslim Greeks, but they refused, fearing the ghosts of the Greeks killed there. Today
Kayakoy is uninhabited and serves as an open-air museum.
14. Pyramida, Svalbard, Norway A Swedish settlement was founded here in 1910,
and in 1927 Sweden sold it to the Soviet Union. This is how the Soviet mining village of Pyramida
appeared on the island of West Svalbard, where coal was mined for many years. At its peak,
Pyramida had more than 1,000 residents, a cultural centre with its own theatre, library,
art and music studios, sports complex, and a 24-hour cafe. When coal in the last mine
finished by 1998, the village was abandoned and preserved. Today, Pyramida is a tourist
destination. The museum and hotel are open all year round.
15. Great Blasket, Ireland This Irish Island is 4.29 sq.km was inhabited
until 1953, but then the Irish government decided that it could not guarantee the safety
of the population, since the island is difficult to access in extreme weather conditions. Residents
were evacuated and relocated to other places. Today the island is inhabited only by ruins
of the past. Since several Irish writers such as Thomas O’Crohan, Peig Sayers, and Maurice
O’Sallivan have lived in Great Blasket, the place still has cultural value for Irish
people as well as for literature lovers.