10.
LAKE SHAWNEE AMUSEMENT PARK
The Lake Shawnee Amusement Park operated from 1926 to 1966 in Princeton, West Virginia.
It was popular among locals from coal mining families and featured a ferris wheel, swing
ride, dance hall, race track, concession stands, overnight cabins, and more.
Six people died at the park throughout its 40 years in business.
One girl lost her life in the early 1950s, when a delivery truck backed up into the swing
ride while she was on it.
Then, a 9-year-old boy got his arm caught in the drain of a swimming pool and drowned
after his mother left him unsupervised.
The pool was filled in to prevent any more tragedies.
But the site’s connection with death goes back much further.
During the mid-18th century, there was a massacre on the property resulting from a land dispute
between two families.
In the late 1980s, someone bought the Lake Shawnee Amusement Park and reopened it for
a short time.
But it was quickly shut down so archaeologists could excavate a suspected Native American
burial ground.
The team found the remains of 13 people dating back to before European settlers arrived.
Today, the property is popular among urban and paranormal explorers who are eager to
investigate rumors of the park being haunted.
Whether or not this is true, the decaying rides and other fixtures that were never dismantled
are plenty creepy and unsettling.
9.
ODESSA CATACOMBS
Beneath the streets of Odessa, Ukraine, there's a haunting network of tunnels known as the
Odessa Catacombs.
They run for 1,600 miles (2,500 km) and extend 200 feet (60 meters) below sea level.
There are over 1,000 known entrances to the catacombs.
The system’s history dates back to the late 18th century, when underground stone mines
were built as a way to access coquina, a sedimentary rock that was used as a building material
for the growing city.
The Catacombs span three levels and consist of unconnected caves, tunnels, and abandoned
quarries.
Odessa experienced a huge commerce boom from 1819 to 1859, during which time mining expansion
was unregulated.
It was more-or-less a free-for-all, with prospectors digging into the ground at whim.
Mining became so problematic that it was banned within central Odessa after the Russian Revolution
of 1917.
During World War II, the tunnels were used for hiding Soviet partisans.
Different sections of the complex reveal different chapters in history.
The so-called “wild area” features inscriptions, symbols, paintings, and graffiti of unknown
origin and meaning.
Decaying human remains have also been found within the network.
The Catacombs continue to expand near Odessa in areas where mining is allowed, making room
for even more mystery.
8.
TAKAKONUMA GREENLAND AMUSEMENT PARK
Let’s visit another abandoned park.
Takakonuma Greenland is an abandoned theme park in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
Tucked into a mountainous, rural area outside the city of Hobara, the park is reportedly
impossible to find on any map.
It opened in 1973 only to close down two years later, supposedly due to low ticket sales
and so the park could be renovated to attract more visitors.
Locals, on the other hand, reportedly claimed that Takakonuma Greenland closed because multiple
people died on the rides.
The park reopened in 1986 but struggled to remain in business as it competed with newer
and bigger amusement parks, like Tokyo Disneyland.
Takakonuma Greenland closed for good in 1999, and its rides and buildings were simply left
in place.
Urban explorers have captured images of heavily decayed rides, including a rusted ferris wheel
and roller coaster.
The abandoned park’s entrance is covered in graffiti, and overgrowth invades the site’s
remaining fixtures.
Some people claim that the park’s “creepy” and “unknown” aspects are exaggerated,
and that a lot of truths become “lost in translation” due to cultural and language
misunderstandings.
And many allege that the park’s history is well-documented if you know where to look.
But it doesn’t make this seemingly post-apocalyptic site seem any less creepy!
7.
PLYMOUTH
In 1995, the Soufriere Hills volcano began erupting for the first time since the 17th
century on the small Caribbean island of Montserrat.
Several more eruptions followed, spewing ash 40,000 feet (12,192 meters) into the sky.
Two-thirds of the island was destroyed, including the capital city of Plymouth and around 20
other settlements.
Nineteen people died and thousands were evacuated.
The eruptions continued on-and-off for several years, burying Plymouth in ash.
It’s been turned into a ghost town, and the only visible remnants of the city are
the rooftops that poke up from the barren landscape.
Writing for Adventure.com, travel journalist Andrew Eames described Plymouth as “completely
monochrome” against the rest of Montserrat’s “rioting greenery.”
Over 7,000 of the 12,000 people who lived there when the eruptions began have moved
away.
Today, roughly half of Montserrat is a designated exclusion zone.
The volcano has been relatively quiet since 2010, but remains active.
And although Plymouth is uninhabitable, it’s still somehow considered the island’s capital.
The exclusion zone is tightly regulated.
Visits are usually not allowed for safety reasons.
Anyone with permission to go there must be escorted by police and an authorized tour
guide.
6.
DUPONT CIRCLE TUNNELS
The Dupont Underground is an abandoned trolley line located beneath the busy streets of Dupont
Circle in Washington, D.C.
It was built in 1949, but wasn’t in service for long.
In 1962, the system was shut down in favor of buses while the area’s subway system
was developed.
The 75,000 square foot (6,968 meters) Dupont Circle station was prepared as a fallout shelter
in case Cold War tensions erupted into nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet
Union.
In 1975, the tunnels were permanently sealed off and abandoned.
A developer bought the eerie property from the city in 1995 and built a food court along
the tracks called Dupont Down Under.
It was shut down just months later for numerous reasons.
The ventilation and lighting were poor, employees were miserable working in the dark and dank
conditions, and the idea of eating in a dingy, dreary, basement-like food court did not appeal
to many customers.
Understandably so!
In late 2016, the Dupont Circle station and its tunnels were reopened to the public.
It’s currently open for tours and is being transformed into an artspace.
5.
MEMORIAL MOUND MAUSOLEUM
Clyde Booth was a grave digger with a big vision.
He wanted to give the public a unique alternative to traditional burials.
Booth turned this dream into a reality in 1992 when he opened Memorial Mound, an underground
mausoleum built into a hill in Bessemer, Alabama.
The visitors’ area consisted of a chapel, a computer that visitors could use to view
pictures and videos of their lost loved ones, and a marble wall where people left items
in memory of the deceased.
There was also a casket sales room.
Behind the marble wall was a warehouse-like room filled with metal racks for holding caskets.
This area was off-limits to the public.
Coffins were stacked up to 10 feet (3 meters) high, and the lower slots came with a heftier
price tag.
But Booth’s unique idea didn’t take off as hotly as he thought it would, and not many
of these spaces were ever filled.
Facing imminent financial ruin, he closed Memorial Mound in 1996 after selling less
than a dozen burials in four years.
Relatives were allowed to continue visiting the mausoleum until 2000, when the building
was permanently shuttered.
Vandals looted the site for scrap metal and left it in disarray.
Meanwhile, urban explorers broke in out of sheer curiosity.
In 2014, photos of the dilapidated property surfaced, showing broken glass, embalming
supplies, display caskets, and decaying and skeletal human remains, including at least
one body left in an open casket.
Authorities had known about the building’s neglected state for quite some time, but the
sickening images finally caused them to act.
They removed the remains of seven individuals and took the bodies to the local coroner’s
office so their families could make some long-overdue final arrangements.
By then, some of the graves had been ransacked, and someone even took a human skull as a morbid
memento of their trespassing adventure into the mausoleum.
4.
SARAJEVO OLYMPIC VILLAGE
The 1984 Winter Olympics took place in the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It was the first Olympic games to be held in a socialist or Slavic-speaking country.
Less than a decade later, the country was ravaged by civil war.
Many of the former Olympic venues were destroyed, while others were simply abandoned.
Even worse, some of these structures were repurposed for war-related uses.
For example the Olympic hotel was turned into a prison, and the bobsled track was used as
an artillery stronghold.
After the fighting stopped, nature reclaimed the site, including the bobsled track, a disused
ski jumping venue, and stands that spectators once sat in.
The fixtures are covered in graffiti, serving as the only reminder of a lingering human
presence.
Stray dogs have taken over Kosovo Stadium, where the welcoming ceremony took place.
Abandoned Olympic venues are a common problem among former host countries and cities, who
often have little to no use for the multibillion dollar facilities once the games are over.
If a government can afford it, they will often demolish the structures.
But those who lack the money to do so also typically can’t afford to maintain the buildings,
and instead choose to conveniently let them rot.
3.
PATAREI PRISON
On Estonia’s northern coast near the Old Town of Tallinn, there’s an abandoned jail
known as Patarei Prison.
It was originally built as a sea fortress around 1840 and functioned as a prison starting
after World War I.
From 1944 to 1991, the Soviets used the site as a high-security lockup.
During that time, it was considered one of Estonia’s most terrifying prisons.
Hundreds of prisoners, including hardened criminals and political captives, were housed
there at any given time.
Inmates at Patarei were subjected to brutal KGB interrogations, and many were ultimately
executed.
The prison was abandoned in 2004 when Estonia joined the European Union.
Since then, very little has been done to maintain or restore the site.
It’s open to the public as a museum, allowing visitors to experience Patarei in the exact
state it was left in, minus the toll taken by time and the elements.
Some of the cells even have prisoners’ personal belongings in them, including books and magazines.
Estonian-Canadian sisters Lisa and Kristen Dobbin visited Patarei Prison during a quest
to learn more about their ancestral heritage.
They likened the facility to a Stanley Kubrick film, describing it in a blog for Estonian
World as “a dark psychological thriller about loneliness and lives misspent.”
The sisters also reported feeling overwhelmed with dread and anxiety during their tour.
One of Patarei Prison’s most disturbing features is its operating room, which still
carries a distinctive unpleasant odor.
It contains an old bedpan, glass bottles that once held medical fluids, and obsolete equipment,
leaving one to wonder if any strange experiments went on there.
2.
ST.
ALBANS SANATORIUM
The St. Albans Sanatorium in Redford, Virginia originally functioned as a Lutheran boys’
school.
It’s considered one of the most haunted places in the United States.
Rumor has it that staff encouraged bullying, making the learning environment unbearable
and pushing some students to commit suicide.
The building was repurposed as a psychiatric infirmary in 1916.
Advertisements depicted the St. Albans Sanatorium as a preferable alternative to other asylums,
boasting of a rooftop garden, bowling alley, and a small farm.
But this was far from reality for the patients at St. Albans, who were brutally forced to
undergo experimental treatments without their consent, often leaving them permanently disabled
or worse.
The procedures included lobotomies, when part of the brain is removed; insulin-induced comas,
electroconvulsive therapy, and so-called “hydrotherapy” sessions, which involved draping cold, wet
towels over a patient and leaving them like that for days.
Employees were incapable of handling the thousands of patients who were there at any given time,
and conditions went from bad to worse, driving many to suicide.
St. Albans finally closed during the 1990s, but some paranormal enthusiasts don’t think
that everyone has left the building.
Many have reported seeing and hearing apparitions, shadowy figures, levitating objects, voices,
and other eerie sights and sounds.
And it’s said that the building itself carries a dark and depressing feeling, and that this
alone is enough to give someone chills.
1.
PORT ARTHUR
Port Arthur opened in 1830 as a timber station on the Australian island of Tasmania.
Starting in 1853, the most hardened British criminals in Australia were sent there.
Those who reoffended after their first conviction or who were too difficult to handle at a traditional
jail ended up at Port Arthur, where boys as young as 9 years old were sent.
The prison had some of the highest security measures throughout the British penal system
and was deemed “inescapable.”
Instead of physically punishing prisoners like other penal stations, the staff at Port
Arthur psychologically tortured the inmates.
In what’s known as a Separate Prison System, prisoners were kept as isolated from one another
as possible.
They were forced to wear hoods and remain silent, effectively cutting them off from
meaningful human contact.
This hardlined policy was allegedly designed to give inmates a chance to reflect on the
behavior that landed them at Port Arthur in the first place.
But the sensory deprivation and solitude took a heavy psychological toll, and many prisoners
became severely mentally ill.
The experimental Separate Prison System ultimately proved that cruel treatment is not always
defined by physical suffering.
Consequently, the daily occurrences at Port Arthur were brought to light during a penal
reform movement.
In 1877, the prison was abandoned, and several decaying buildings on the site were auctioned
off.
People didn’t seem to mind seeing the site’s history being erased.
Eager to rebrand the area, they established a new town.
But curious visitors still found their way to the ruins.
During the 1970s, what’s left of Port Arthur fell under government management, and in 2010,
it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, ensuring that the inhumane suffering that went on at
the prison will never be forgotten.
Thanks for watching!
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