There are many strange places in the world
but contrary to popular opinion, not all of them are in Germany
while most of them are German, and in remote isolated areas
some are human settlements
it turns out humans can live almost anywhere
and build towns and villages in the most bizarre places
that is what we today look at - the strangest towns on earth
in the middle of the Caspian Sea is Neft Daslari
stretching across the water like a metallic skeleton
it began as an offshore oil field but is now a legitimate town
Azerbaijan was the first country to drill for oil
and by the 1940s was drilling deep in the Caspian Sea
over time the number of oil wells grew rapidly
and workers began to live on drilling platforms
today countless platforms are interconnected by 190 miles of roads
it has everything a small town needs
with large apartment blocks, factories, small businesses and even a football pitch
largely unknown to the outside world, more than 2 thousand people still live here
you might think every Japanese town is strange
but that's because you're r@cist
still, there is one Japanese town full of creepy life like scarecrows
with more dolls that actual humans, Nagoro is virtually a ghost town
there are no children in the town and it's population has fallen to less than 20
in response to the falling population
one of it's last residents began to create eerie dolls to replace her former neighbors
they were so life like some initially mistook it for a real person
two decades later, the town is literally full of them
and it is very... very Japanese
high in he mountains of Catalonia, there is a town built entirely on a cliff edge
the cliff is very thin
with houses built scarily close to the edge
so it's a good thing the cliff is a kilometer long
allowing the town to perch atop it since medieval times
why a town was built in such a place is unknown
perhaps it was built with defense in mind
high up and flanked by rivers below, it would be hard for bandits to raid
but I can only imagine how many people have gotten drunk and fallen to their death
one of the world's strangest inhabited islands is Japan's Miyake-Jima
a remote volcanic island, the local volcano is highly active
and toxic gas constantly emits from below
but unfortunately there is a small town on the island
against all odds, more than 2 thousand people live here
but with the island full of toxic fumes
they are required by law to carry a mask at all times
many wear a mask whenever they go outside
the government gave them a choice between a free house in Tokyo
or living on a toxic island
so of course they made the choice any of us would
I would rather be dead than live in California
but in the town of Colma they have the worst of both worlds
in the early 1900s, San Francisco ran out of room to bury dead bodies
so they chose to relocate many of their corpses to the nearby town of Colma
while Colma was a tiny community,
hundreds of thousands of corpses were taken to be buried there
and so Colma came to be known as the city of the dead
the population of Colma is now around 1500
but the town has 1.5 million dead bodies
so the dead outnumber the living a thousand to one
just off the coast of Colombia is the world's most densely populated island
built on that tiny man made island there is an equally tiny town
the size of a football pitch, more than a thousand people call it home
yet the town has no running water and little electricity
the island was built from coral in the 19th century
for no clear reason by the way
and then locals built a ridiculous town there
which, again, seems to me like a waste of time
my main question is that if the island is man made, why did they not make it bigger?
the town of Whittier has two large buildings
one is a long abandoned military structure
and the other is home to almost every town resident
when the military left, most of the towns land was bought by a railway company
so instead of building new homes illegally
everybody moved into one of the empty buildings
today more than 200 people call the building home
with 196 apartments across it's 14 flaws
it is a self contained community, with stores and even a church
the only way into the town is a long tunnel through a mountain
but the tunnel is closed at night
so the town is like something from a horror story
deep within Russia is the mysterious town of Sarov
the center of Russia's nuclear program
it is an incredibly secretive place
and until the collapse of the Soviet Union, few people knew it existed
today Sarov is one of 7 known closed cities in Russia
access to the town is tightly controlled
surrounded by high fences and patrolled by the military
but it's a legitimate town, with more than 100 thousand residents
and the population is always growing
making it ever more difficult for the government to keep things secretive
Wyoming's Buford has long been known as the smallest town in the US
for 2 decades just one person lived here
then in 2012 he regained his sanity and moved away
seeing an opportunity in this
a Vietnamese businessman decided to buy the town
the founder of Phin Deli Coffee, he paid 900,000 dollars for the now abandoned town
he put up a new sign and even renamed the town PhinDeli
news of the bizarre fate of this town went global
generating much more publicity than was paid for
In 2012 the Chinese government unveiled a strange new housing project
known as Hallstatt, it's name and appearance are very not Chinese
and that's because it was modelled on another place in Austria
also called Hallstatt, it's a nice small town
but unclear why the Chinese chose to actually recreate it
amazingly, the mayor of Hallstatt wasn't aware of the new town until it was nearly built
it's part of a bigger trend in China where iconic locations from around the world are recreated
they also have a fake Venice, London, and Paris