Every abandoned place, from once prosperous and now deserted hotels to haunted houses, has its own unique story. There are entire "ghost towns", and there are quite a few in the United States. They were built during the gold rush in the 19th century and then emptied. In turn, in Europe there are many abandoned castles and surrounding villages, in which time seems to have stopped.
Individual amusement parks and entire cities can be abandoned by people for various reasons, for example, due to natural disasters or economic crisis. Such places invariably attract travelers who are sickened by the usual holiday in the resorts.
We bring you a selection of 21 abandoned objects around the world.
Hotovan (Shengshan Island, China)
The small village of Khotovan is a favorite place for tourists. It attracts with its quaint buildings, completely entwined with vines.
The village has been empty since the 1990s mainly due to its geographical isolation. Only a handful of locals have remained here, who are always very glad to tourists. If you look into an abandoned hut, you can see the remains of furniture, clothes and other items, abandoned by their owners to their fate.
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Train Cemetery (Uyuni, Bolivia)
The Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia is the largest salt flat in the world. Its area is 10,588 square kilometers. Part of the plain has turned into an unofficial train graveyard, where tons of rusting metal, once locomotives, have found their last resting place.
Trains (mostly British), now heavily graffiti-covered, have been on the run in the last century. Now they have rested here, and because of the harsh salty winds, rusty metal is being destroyed by leaps and bounds.
Pripyat (Ukraine)
On April 26, 1986, an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as a result of which radiation was released, ten times more than after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. About 350 thousand people were forced to leave their homes in a hurry, leaving all things in their places, so that the city seemed to be frozen in time.
One of the most impressive places in Pripyat is the amusement park, which was never opened due to an accident. Rides with "cars", the Ferris wheel and carousels are now rusty and covered with graffiti, are located exactly where they were 30 years ago. The radiation level in the city is still too high, so people will not settle here again soon.
Olympic bobsleigh and luge track (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
The bobsleigh track was built specifically for the 1984 Olympics, held in Sarajevo. The Games attracted a large flow of tourists to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the track was used for other competitions for some time. However, due to the collapse of Yugoslavia and constant military conflicts in the 1990s, the modern sports complex was no longer used.
Now the surrounding area is overgrown with grass, and the track itself is painted with graffiti. The complex has attracted tourists for many years, but local residents warn about the danger of mines that could have remained here since the war.
Ross Island (Andaman Islands, India)
The vegetation has practically swallowed up the remains of Ross Island, which in the old days was considered the "Paris of the East".
Once upon a time, representatives of the British government lived on the island. The British turned Ross into a land of dancehalls, bakeries, clubs, pools and gardens, until 1941 brought with it an earthquake, followed by the invasion of the Japanese. After the capture by the Japanese, the island began to be called both Japanese and British until 1979, when it was given to the Indian naval forces, which built a small base here.
The now abandoned Ross Island is visited daily by crowds of tourists.
Haludovo Palace Hotel (Krk Island, Croatia)
Previously, Haludovo Palace Hotel was considered a luxury hotel, and after the founder of Penthouse magazine Bob Guccione invested $ 45 million in it, it turned into a posh establishment called Penthouse Adriatic Club Casino.
That all changed with the outbreak of the Yugoslav War in the 1990s. The tourist business on the island of Krk began to decline, and now many of the once wonderful hotels on the seashore remain abandoned.
Humberstone and Santa Laura (Chile)
The saltpeter mines at Humberstone and Santa Laura in northern Chile are part of an abandoned city where mining flourished in the 19th century. In the mines, saltpeter was mined, which was used to produce nitrate fertilizer. Industry flourished in this city until the invention of synthetic fertilizers during the First World War. With their appearance, Humberstone and Santa Laura began to decline until they were completely empty. Most of the buildings here are protected by UNESCO.
Olympic Village in Athens (Greece)
The Summer Olympic Games in Athens were held less than 15 years ago, but during this time the Olympic city fell into decay very quickly.
In 2004, the strongest athletes in the world lived here, but now stadiums, swimming pools and other objects are densely overgrown with grass and covered with a layer of mud.
Prora resort (Rüngen island, Germany)
Prora is a giant holiday home that stretches for 4.5 km along the coast of the Baltic Sea. The construction of the complex, intended for Gestapo employees and German workers, began in 1936 - three years before the attack of Adolf Hitler on Poland.
With the outbreak of World War II, the holiday home was abandoned until recently. Only now the resort is gradually returning to life.
Bodie City (California, USA)
Bodie is one of the well-maintained US ghost towns that have become national parks. During the "gold rush" gold miners lived here, and the authentic spirit of the 19th century is carefully maintained to this day.
Many believe that Bodie is inhabited by the ghosts of deceased residents. It even offers special night tours, giving you the chance to hunt ghosts in the city's most popular buildings.
Teufelsberg (Berlin, Germany)
Teufelsberg translated from German means "devil's hill", but in fact, the tower is not as scary as the name suggests.
Teufelsberg is an artificial hill used by the Americans during the Cold War as a base to intercept communications. Now the towers and the domed structure are hopelessly abandoned, but Berliners love to spend their weekends here and admire the stunning views of the city from the mountain.
Hashima Island (Japan)
Hashima, once known as the Island of Battleships, is located off the coast of Nagasaki (Japan). Miners used to live here, but in the 1970s the island became empty. Due to harsh weather conditions, abandoned buildings have already collapsed, but tourists adore this place, because it was here in 2012 that the next James Bond film Skyfall was filmed.
Ship graveyard in Muynak (Uzbekistan)
Muynak is a "ghost town" in the middle of the desert in Uzbekistan, located dozens of kilometers from the nearest coast. Once the largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea, splashed here, but since the 1960s, due to the withdrawal of water from the main feeding rivers, the lake began to dry up. Now dozens of rusty ships, far from the water, are destroyed every day under the scorching sun of the desert.
City of Centralia (Pennsylvania, USA)
Centralia is a former mining town located in the heart of the Pennsylvania coal industry. When, in 1962, a small fire from the landfill spread to the coal mines, difficult times began for him. The flame began to spread underground, and puffs of poisonous smoke seeped to the surface, which made further life in Centralia impossible.
Nowadays, all the houses of the city, shops and streets are deserted, which is why Centralia has acquired a mystical flair. Tourists especially like the section of the road called the Highway Graffiti. Here you can always meet someone staring at the steam rising above the ground and leave graffiti as a keepsake.
Thurmond (West Virginia, USA)
Thurmond was once a thriving city with its own train station, but now it is abandoned (although a handful of locals still remain). Thurmond was a popular stop on the Chesapeake-Ohio section of the railroad, and is now the reception area for visitors to the New River Gorge National River, a US National Park Service.
Kennecott City (Alaska, USA)
Kennecott is a city in Alaska, located on the territory of the Wangell St. Elias National Park and Wildlife Refuge. It was inhabited by people from 1911 to 1938 and mined copper here. As the mines became impoverished, residents began to leave the city, and by the 1950s there was no one left in Connectcott.
In 1986, the city received the status of a National Historic Landmark, but its wooden structures still look the same as many years ago.
Hotel Grossinger's Catskill Resort (Liberty, New York, USA)
The Catskill Mountains in southeastern New York are a popular vacation destination, but the glory days of Grossinger's Catskill Resort are long gone. The resort has been abandoned since the 1980s.
The hotel was built in the early 1900s, but its popularity peaked in the 1950s. In those days, it offered its guests a swimming pool, golf course, ski slide and theater. Regardless of the season, there was something to do here.
In 1972, the owner of Grossinger's Catskill Resort died and the hotel was sold. The new owner tried to reform it, but his plan failed and the hotel withered. Currently, it is surrounded by a fence, but lovers of "abandoned" buildings can easily get inside.
City of Kraco (Italy)
Kracko adds a whole new flavor to the phrase "ghost town". The crumbling hillside town dates back to the Middle Ages. Centuries of earthquakes, landslides and other natural disasters have seriously damaged houses, but locals revere the city and especially the miraculously survived statue of the Virgin Mary.
Now no one lives in Krako, but it attracts both tourists and residents of the local area, who celebrate religious holidays here. Since the city looks like it did hundreds of years ago, historical films are shot here. In particular, the film "The Passion of Christ" (2004) was filmed here.
City of Garnet (Montana, USA)
Garnet is another gold rush product. Due to the sudden increase in population, the city was hastily built under austerity conditions so that a thousand gold miners could settle here as soon as possible and start working. Many log cabins are still in good condition, which greatly attracts tourists who want to touch the history.
Letchworth Village (Rockland County, New York, USA)
Letchworth Village is made up of a series of dilapidated houses. There used to be an institution for the mentally ill, covering an area of 810 hectares. The complex consisted of 130 facilities, including hospitals, hostels and even a synagogue.
Despite the fact that the buildings are now in a deplorable state, you can see that their construction was inspired by the estate of the 3rd US President Thomas Jefferson with the beautiful name "Monticello".
Monsell Sea Forts at the Thames and Mersey Estuary (UK)
The Monsell Sea Forts were built at the estuary of the Thames and Mersey during World War II to defend Britain against German invaders. The designer of the construction of the forts, towering above the water on special "stilts", is the British civil engineer Guy Monsell.
The forts were officially closed in the 1950s, however they are still in place and can sometimes be seen from a park in Southend-on-Sea.