In 1947, the Soviet Union used prisoner and slave labor to construct the secret closed city of Ozyorsk, code-named “City 40.”
City 40 became the birthplace of the Soviet nuclear program and housed scientists working at the Mayak nuclear facility.
The area became riddled with radiation after accidents released over 3 times more contamination than the Chernobyl disaster...
...and residents were never told about the risks or allowed to leave in order to keep the site and program a secret.
Today, City 40 and its population of over 80,000 remain encircled by guards and double fences of razor wire.
Residents have reportedly had their identities outside the fences completely erased and cannot leave without permits.
The few activists who have tried reporting on conditions from within the city have allegedly never been heard from again...
Bir Tawil is a 795 square mile (2,060 square km) deserted and landlocked territory between the boarder of Egypt and Sudan.
Created by discrepancies in colonial maps drawn between 1899 and 1902, the “Terra nullius” may be one of the last on Earth.
The no man’s land is considered to be the only habitable land on the planet that is not taken by or recognized by a government.
Neither county wants control over Bir Tawil, as it would mean giving up rights to a more valuable disputed area on the Red Sea.
After several attempts by tourists to visit and claim Bir Tawil on social media, access to the remote area has been restricted...
Prior to 1974, the Cypriot city of Famagusta was a modern and thriving tourist destination on the Mediterranean Sea...
...but during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, residents fled as Turkish forces and Greek Cypriots met in combat in the streets.
The Green Line marked the end of the Turkish army’s advance and forms the present-day border for the abandoned Varosha sector.
Fences were erected around the zone, creating a forbidden ghost town of crumbling high-rises slowly being reclaimed by nature.
The Turkish government continues to hold the Varosha no man’s land as a bargaining chip for future negotiations with Cyprus...
At the conclusion of World War I, over 460 square miles (1,200 square km) of France was designated as “Zone Rouge”...
"Completely devastated Damage to properties 100%. Damage to Agriculture 100%. Impossible to clean. Human life impossible."
Nearly 40 square miles (100 square km) within that Red Zone remain uninhabitable and off-limits 100 years later.
The area is littered with unexploded poison gas shells and the remains of soldiers and animals that were too numerous to clean up.
Soil sample tests continue to show arsenic concentrations as high as 17%, enough to kill 99% of all plant and animal life...
Mercury, Nevada is an “artificial” city constructed in 1950 by the US Atomic Energy Commission within the Nevada Test Site.
It was named after the nearby Mercury mines that existed before the area was taken over for top-secret nuclear weapons testing.
At its peak, Mercury housed a population of over 10,000 nuclear scientists, military personnel, and associated family members.
Access to the city was severely limited, with only cleared staff being allowed to enter or leave with government permission.
Today, the mostly abandoned Mercury has a population of only 500 and is the only known closed-city within the United States.
It is rumored that the former mercury mine caverns are now clad in stainless steel and may be hiding secret UFO research labs...