Ghost towns that have been reclaimed by nature

[Jake]

Thank you to GahtsNo for compiling this amazing thread elsewhere. It was too good I couldn't resist sharing it with more people.

Kolmanskop, Namibia

Kolmanskop (Afrikaans for Coleman's hill) is a ghost town in the Namib desert in southern Namibia. It was once the richest town in Africa. Nowadays the mining village is a popular tourist destination.

In 1908 they discovered the place was rich in diamonds, lots of German miners settled in this area and soon after the German government declared a large area as a "Sperrgebiet", starting to exploit the diamond field.

Driven by the enormous wealth of the first diamond miners, the residents built the village in the architectural style of a German town, with amenities and institutions including a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, skittle-alley, theater and sport-hall, casino, ice factory and the first x-ray-station in the southern hemisphere, as well as the first tram in Africa. It had a railway link to Lüderitz.

The town declined after World War I when the diamond-field slowly exhausted and was ultimately abandoned in 1954. The geological forces of the desert mean that tourists now walk through houses knee-deep in sand. Kolmanskop is popular with photographers for its settings of the desert sands' reclaiming this once-thriving town. Due to its location within the restricted area (Sperrgebiet) of the Namib desert, tourists need a permit to enter the town.
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Epecuen, Argentina

A strange ghost town that spent a quarter century under water is coming up for air again in the Argentine farmlands
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02560/Epecuen-Argentina-_2560289k.jpg

Epecuen was once a bustling little lakeside resort, where 1,500 people served 20,000 tourists a season.
During Argentina's golden age, the same trains that carried grain to the outside world brought visitors from the capital to relax in Epecuen's saltwater baths and spas
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02560/argentina-ruins_2560298k.jpg

When a particularly heavy rainstorm followed a series of wet winters, the lake overflowed its banks on November 10, 1985.
Water burst through a retaining wall and submerged the lakeside streets.
People fled with what they could, but a few days later, their homes were drowned under nearly 10 meters of corrosive saltwater
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02560/Argentina-Underwat_2560295k.jpg

A car sits in ruins in Epecuen
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02560/argentina-car_2560304k.jpg

It only took 20 days for the town to submerge beneath almost 10 metres of water forcing everybody to leave
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02560/Argentina-Underwat_2560300k.jpg

People come to see the rusted hulks of automobiles and furniture, crumbled homes and broken appliances. They climb staircases that lead nowhere,
and wander through a graveyard where the water toppled headstones and exposed tombs to the elements
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02560/Argentina-underwat_2560292k.jpg

The saltwater lake was particularly attractive because it has 10 times more salt than the ocean, making the water buoyant.
Tourists, especially people from Buenos Aires' large Jewish community, enjoyed floating in water that reminded them of the Dead Sea in the Middle East
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02560/Argentina-Underwat_2560296k.jpg

The water has mostly receded, exposing what looks like a scene from a movie about the end of the world. The town was never rebuilt,
but it has become a tourist destination once again, for people willing to drive at least six hours from Buenos Aires to get there
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02560/Argentina-Underwat_2560294k.jpg

Former resident and tourist guide Norma Berg walks by a street in Epecuen
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02560/Argentina-Underwat_2560290k.jpg


Many residents of Epecuen fled to nearby Carhue, another lakeside town, and set up new hotels and spas,
promising relaxing getaways featuring saltwater and mud facials
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02560/Argentina-Underwat_2560299k.jpg

Chernobyl, Ukraine

27 years later

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IEmms6vn-p8

[Jake]

Namie near Fukushima, Japan

Two years after the the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, and the following tsunami and nuclear disaster, a large area around
the failed Fukushima nuclear plant is still considered an exclusion zone. Namie, a small city just north of the nuclear power plant, was evacuated
shortly after the quake, and its 21,000 townspeople have been unable to return since, leaving it a ghost town.

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Gunjanjima, Nagasaki, Japan

Hashima Island or Gunjanjima as it's also known became a ghost island in 1974. It had residents from 1887 and was used
for coal mining, which was in operation during the industrialisation of Japan. The country's first large concrete building
was built here in 1916 as a block of apartments to accommodate the workers and protect against typhoon destruction.
The 1960s saw petroleum replace coal so Japan's coal mines started to close, leading to Gunjanjima being abandoned.

http://populartourismplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gunkanjima-the-gost-island.jpg

Most reports about the life on Gunkanjima come from the Korean workers. Koreans, being the direct victims of the
Second World War, were brought to the island by force together with other Chinese war prisoners to work in the mine.
And they were working with the bare minimum protection, and were malnourished and overworked with the impossible to finish heavy labour.
They were sent to 1 kilometer underground in the temperature over 45 degrees, pressed against each other in dangerous
tunnels and crouching most of the times. You can easily count up to 4 to 5 deaths per month.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yA5veovIlII/TxU5BMaTugI/AAAAAAAAxfY/q5GQT8k_LnQ/s1600/ghost-town-1.jpg

Separated from their families and wives (most of whom were taken to become sex slaves for the Japanese army), they
mutilated themselves in order to be expelled from the island; some swam to the nearest island (with the risk of getting
caught and beaten), others simply committed suicide by jumping out the window. Gunkanjima was an Alcatraz-like prison
island for them, but morally speaking, Auschwitz would be a closer resemblance.
And those who somehow survived the difficult years were then sent to Nagasaki to clean up the mess caused by the
atomic bomb. Lucky for those who successfully escaped the island, because even till now, Mitsubishi still refuse to apologize or compensate to the victims.

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Craco, Basilicata, Italy

Craco is an abandoned commune and medieval village located in the Region of Basilicata in Italy.
It is typical of the hill towns of the region with mildly undulating shapes and the lands surrounding it sown with
wheat. It was abandoned in 1963 due to recurring earthquakes.

Craco was built on a very steep summit for defensive reasons, giving it a stark and striking appearance and distinguishing
it from the surrounding land which is characterized by soft shapes. The centre, built on the highest side of the town, faces
a ridge which runs steeply to the southwest where newer buildings exist. The town sits atop a 400 metres (1,300 ft)-high cliff
that overlooks the Cavone River valley.

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http://www.aptbasilicata.it/comuni_pics_temp/pics/a21bbd9a83.jpg





Belchite, Spain

Belchite is a village in the province of Zaragoza, Spain, about 40 km southeast of Zaragoza.
Between August 24 and September 7, 1937, loyalist Spanish Republican and rebel General Franco's forces in the Spanish
Civil War fought the Battle of Belchite in and around the town. After 1939 a new village of Belchite was built adjacent to
the ruins of the old, which remain a ghost town as a memorial to the war.
The remains of the old village have been used as filming locations in films including Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth".

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Varosha, Cyprus

Varosha is a quarter in the Cypriot city of Famagusta. It is located within Northern Cyprus. Prior to the Turkish invasion of
Cyprus in 1974, it was the modern tourist area of Famagusta. Its inhabitants fled during the invasion, and it has remained
abandoned ever since.

http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/varosha-29.jpg

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Bodie, California


Yet another great Western ghost town left behind by the gold rush, and reportedly housed 65 saloons at its peak in the late 1800s.
The town is now a protected historical site, and what remains is a popular tourist trap for those looking to go back in time on a budget.
In 1880 the town had nearly 8000 residents.

http://www.ghosttowngallery.com/ghosts/bodie98du0237.jpg

The discovery of several rich gold veins in 1876 started a rush to Bodie. At one point, there were 65 saloons at Bodie, a red light district and a chinatown.
Bodie bordered on the lawless. On September 5, 1880, the daily Bodie Standard reported several shootings.


http://www.ghosttowngallery.com/ghosts/bodie6.jpg

In the 1930s, most of the mines were worked out. At the onset of World War II, the school and the post office were closed,
and the last residents left town.

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Antarctica

Shackleton's Hut, 1909

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton's first experience of the polar regions was as third officer on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Expedition, 1901–04,
from which he was sent home early on health grounds. Determined to make amends for this perceived personal failure,
he returned to Antarctica in 1907 as leader of the Nimrod Expedition. In January 1909 he and three companions made a southern march
which established a record Farthest South latitude at 88° 23′ S, 97 geographical miles (180 km) from the South Pole,
by far the closest convergence in exploration history up to that time. For this achievement, Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII on his return home.

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The famous explorer simply left this fully stocked hut behind after the British Nimrod Expedition (1907-1909).

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Pole of Inaccessibility, where Comrade Lenin is still watching, 1958


In December 1958, Soviet scientists set up a temporary base on The Inaccessibility Pole, marked with a bust of Lenin.
This place has the world's coldest year-round average temperature at -58.2°C (-72°F). The station is buried beneath the snow,
but the plastic statue is still visible. If you dig down through the ice, you'll find a golden visitor's book to sign.

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Oasis Station (Soviet Union, 1956-1959)


http://www.luminous-landscape.com/images-87/abandoned-thumb.jpg

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Detroit, Michigan, USA

The Ruins of Detroit

In the United States, few cities have felt the burn of urban decay more than Detroit. As the industrial revolution came to a close
and race riots crippled a once bustling city, many buildings throughout Detroit fell into disrepair and eventual abandonment.
Today, visitors to Detroit can experience two sides of the city– the revitalized, re-invested downtown area, and the high-rises
and industrial complexes which crumble around it.

http://www.thecoolist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ruins-of-detroit_marchand-and-meffre_18.jpg

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Farina, Australia

Farina was settled in 1878 under the misguided notion that “rain follows the plough”. By the 1930s the drought-ravaged outpost was emptying.
The cemetery, a hotel and the once-busy hospital building stand as testament to Farina’s halcyon days.

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Ocean Falls, British Columbia

This is one of the biggest ghost towns I've seen and so recent. People started leaving in 1980.

http://www.oceanfallsmuseum.com/images/CDPho/4-FromTheAir/Ocean%20Falls%20History%20005_small.jpg

http://www.johnharveyphoto.com/MidCoast/JennyInlet/BuildingsInOceanFallsLg.jpg

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[LG]

amazing post Jake. very interesting these are, wonder if they will ever get out of a ghost town, probably not, since most of them are now tourist attractions

[Rob]

Wow. I'm speechless. This post is fucking awesome dude.

[Jake]

Antarctica

The Antarctic region has been home to numerous fishing villages, whaling stations, scientific bases, and way stations for exploration.
Many of these facilities have since been abandoned, left to the snow and ice.
But they still serve as remarkable time capsules to the industries and expeditions of their times.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18k2ej0yxl3ujjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

The abandonned whale station of Grytviken South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Atlantic, Antarctica

The settlement was established in 1904 by a Norwegian sea captain as a whaling station for his fishing company.
It was closed in December 1966, but the church is still used occasionally for marriages.

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The geothermal Whalers Bay area at Deception Island.



Located off the Antarctic Peninsula in the South Shetlands, Deception Island has one of the safest harbors in Antarctica, sheltering it from prevailing weather.
However, the entire island is the caldera of an active volcano; it previously erupted in 1967 and 1969, causing serious damage to scientific stations on the island.
Despite several countries claiming sovereignty, the island is thankfully administered by the Antarctic international treaty system and is now mostly visited by tourist expedition ships only.
The bay itself steams with rising sulphur along its black sandy shoreline and is home to some fascinating geology. It is also the location for an abandoned whaling station that contains many wonderful artifacts for photography.



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The plane crashed at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

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Sunken fishing boat

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Salton Sea, California



There is a place where beaches are made not of sand, but of the skeletons of millions of fish. Luxury yacht clubs are now frequented only by pigeons,
vacation homes lay open to the elements and RV camp grounds look more like burial grounds.

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http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-california/North%20Beach%20yacht%20club%20today.jpg

Not 60 miles from the fresh golf courses and glitzy hotels of Palm Springs in California, lies the shell of a once-booming resort town.
From a distance Salton riviera still appears to be a beautiful place, but close up, it is a foul and feculant place.

http://roadends.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/salton-sea-beach-marina-entrance.jpg?w=848

Conceived as a resort paradise in the 60s and 70s for boaters, water skiers and vacationers, the Salton Seaside was once
called the next palm springs, hailed as the American Riviera and a “miracle in the desert”. Vacation homes popped up like cactus blossoms,
holidaymakers flooded the beaches and yacht clubs served martinis with views of the sunset.

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The Salton Sea is the largest lake in California. It’s existence is also a total accident. In 1905, flooding caused the Colorado River
to spill over the man-made irrigation canals to pour into what was then known as the Salton Sink– 40 miles of pure desert.
It took two years to stop the flooding, by which time the largest lake in California had formed. Half a century later
and this desert land had become a holiday paradise. The town’s population grew to 15,000 people, with thousands more arriving on weekends.
But the paradise would not last …
What happened to this lush oasis that it now stands eerily silent as an empty waste land of foul smells, abandoned homes and acres of dead fish?

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/ss-110322-salton-sea-jm-02.photoblog900.jpg


Disaster struck in the 1970s, when masses of fish suddenly died and floated to the surface. What was killing the thousands of fish was quickly identified
as agricultural run off from local farms into the Salton Sea. The lake didn’t have enough drainage (this was after all,
how the body of water was formed) and had no ecosystem to refresh itself.

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Here’s the science: With all the fertilizers from local farms flowing into the Salton, there was a tremendous growth of algae.
And when algae dies, it sinks and creates a layer at the bottom of the sea where there’s no oxygen. So then
we have bacteria that’s eating all of this dead organic matter and creating hydrogen sulfide gas.

http://swittersb.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/dry-tilapia-arrangement-salton-sea-high-dry.jpg

Hydrogen sulfide gas is as toxic as cyanide and causes extreme damage to the central nervous system, eventually destroying the ability to breathe.
In fact, this is the very same substance that was used as a poison gas in World War I. (Not really ideal for a holiday resort).

The toxic gas killed millions of fish, even up to 7 million at one time. Then the birds that ate the fish also got sick. Residents claimed they could smell and taste the gas in the air.

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People stopped coming to the salton sea. Vacation homes were abandoned, resort developments stopped in mid construction.
Neighborhoods to be, never were. RVs, boats, spas and yacht clubs, were all left behind. Today where thousands once lived and played,
only a few hundred remain in each of the tiny shoreside communities, surrounded by the ruins of vacation homes. Decades after being abandoned, the effects of water, sun and salt, are clear.

http://www.scottcampbellphotography.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Salton-Sea-Beach-Scott-Campbell-Photography_027.jpg

http://www.sdyoung.com/home/media/wp/uploads/2009/04/Salton-Sea-2325.jpg

What looks to be like an old airstream trailer has been exposed to the environment for up to 40-50 years.
As soon as a window broke or a crack opened, the environment entered the trailer, and it became food for the environment.

http://ghost-town-photography.com/Salton-Sea-4a.jpg

Like the people dribbling away from the toxic sea, the structural elements slowly disappeared from the homes.

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Buildings still have some structural frame in place, but there’s not much left. Most of the recognizable materials will soon
be buried deep beneath the Salton sands (or fish skeletons).

http://forum.getdpi.com/gallery/files/2/salton_06102706__mg_0045.jpg

http://www.oceanairimagery.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Pool.jpg

On any given day, you can wander around Salton City without seeing another soul.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6022/5880021604_f88472e9e7_o.jpg

Over the years, plans to revitalize the area and rebuild a town to inhabit up to 40,000 were proposed and even
approved by government officials, despite the obvious environmental dangers. But more years passed, and the once-glamorous riviera
still remains an eerily silent and doomed wasteland.

Ultimately, Salton City will probably go back to being the desert land it once was– with a lot of garbage on it.

Kowloon Walled City, China - A lawless city

The Kowloon Walled City was located just outside Hong Kong, China during British rule. A former watchpost
to protect the area against pirates, it was occupied by Japan during World War II and subsequently taken over
by squatters after Japan‘s surrender. Neither Britain nor China wanted responsibility for it, so it became its own lawless city.


Remnants of the City's South Gate and its entrance plaques
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Image-Kowloon_Walled_City_southgate.jpg

http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/kowloon-5.jpg

In the beginning of the 1900s the British claimed ownership of Kowloon but they did little with it – allowing it to decay until 1933
when the Hong Kong authorities announced it would be demolished. By 1940 only several structures remained on the land,
and by the WWII occupation of Hong Kong by Japan, the city’s walls were demolished and the stone used elsewhere.

http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/kowloon-12.jpg?w=595

http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/kowloon-2.jpg

After Japan’s surrender in WWII, China laid claim to the Kowloon Walled City once again. With no government set up by the Chinese occupation,
and the British staying away from Kowloon, it became a haven for prostitution, drugs, and gang activity. By the 1950s,
Kowloon was ruled by the Triads and police didn’t dare go inside. It was not until 1974 – after 3,500 coordinated police raids –
that the Triads started to lose their power over the Kowloon Walled City. By 1983 the Police Chief declared Kowloon’s crime rate to be “under control.”

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad56/romanmars/1b8bf54db186ab92406acd7ae69f30b3.jpg

http://www.greggirard.com/content/gallery/11118-GG0989.jpg

The dynamics of the growth of a city unencumbered by zoning laws, police forces, or government funding and regulations
is nothing short of amazing and hazardous. Eight city pipes provided water to the entire Walled City, and only a few of the streets were illuminated by lighting.
Sunlight rarely reached the lower levels. In fact, pretty much the entire city had to be illuminated with fluorescent lights, but power was scarce and rudimentary.
In addition to crime, the Walled City was known for its high number of unlicensed doctors and dentists, who could operate without standards or fear of prosecution.

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad56/romanmars/f8f0113fc3014f9f1465ca6b09fa897d.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/KowloonWalledCityAlley2.jpg

http://thefunambulistdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/kowloon_102.jpg

Most structures were built on top of one another over time, not as free-standing towers.
Picture crude manufactured homes stacked one on top of another, left to right, bottom to top – but due to proximity to the airport,
no structure exceeded a height of 14 stories tall. Alleyways were only 3-5 feet wide, had poor lighting, and very poor drainage.
The maze of staircases and alleys was so extensive one could walk around the city without ever touching the ground.
Construction was unregulated and thus conditions were very poor and unsafe; most residential units were 250 sq. ft. and had no foundations or utilities.

http://files.doobybrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/kowloon-walled-city.jpg

http://kkcdn-static.kaskus.co.id/images/2013/04/05/2678133_20130405102516.jpg

http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/kowloon-2.jpg



The population density at its peak was 3.25 million people per square mile. To put that in perspective, Hong Kong as a whole
(itself one of the most densely populated regions on Earth) has a population density of 17,000 people per square mile.



http://images.flabber.net/files/KWC-vanaf-de-straat-aan-de-rand.jpg


Despite the crime rate leveling off, the British and Chinese governments agreed that the Walled City was becoming increasingly intolerable
as the quality of life – sanitary conditions in particular – were far behind that of the rest of Hong Kong. By 1987 a mutual decision was reached
to tear down the Walled City, and a plan developed to compensate the 33,000 residents and businesses with $350 million (US) for their troubles.
The last residents – not satisfied with the terms of the compensation – were finally forced out by 1992. Demolition began in 1993
and a year later it was complete, leaving only a temple and remnants of a front gate. A park was constructed and
finished in 1995 which, along with the pieces of the gate & temple, commemorates the Kowloon Walled City.


Kowloon Walled City is no more, but we certainly can make an effort to remember the history surrounding its formation and demise.




Kowloon today

http://www.chinatourguide.com/china_photos/Hongkong/attractions/hongkong_kowloon_walled_city_park.jpg

http://www.filination.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Kowloon+Walled+City+HK.jpg

Agdam, Azerbaijan

From 40'000 to 0 within a year


In July 1993, after heavy fighting, Agdam was captured by the forces of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic during its 1993 summer offensives.
As the town fell, its entire population were forced to flee eastwards. In the immediate aftermath of the fighting,
Armenia’s strategy employed a “scorched earth” policy; if they could not have the region, they’d make it unlivable for anyone.

In order to prevent the recapture of Agdam by Azerbaijan, the Armenians proceeded to shell, bomb, and blow up most of the remaining abandoned structures.
Their goal was to render the city useless and prevent anyone from returning.


Well, mission accomplished.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7222/7290313152_cd80146902_b.jpg

http://www.szellemvarosok.hu/wp-content/gallery/agdam/agdam_szellemvaros_4.jpg

http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/agdam-4.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc147/kobajagi/agdam4.jpg

http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/agdam-61.jpg

No one has lived there for 20 years.




The town's large mosque survives intact but in a derelict condition.


http://s018.radikal.ru/i510/1201/aa/0fe46ae7c0a3.jpg



The former Aghdam Mosque is now a cowshed


http://ackuzu.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/agdam_cami.jpg


http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/agdam-20.jpg

[Jake]

My favorite out of them all for last

Six Flags New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana

Real-life Zombieland set


When Katrina hit in 2005, the failed levees left the entire park submerged under 4-7 feet of standing floodwater for weeks.
Understandably not a priority for recovery crews, Six Flags wasn’t drained for nearly a month.
By the time crews could drain the water, engineers reported over 80% of all structures were a total loss.



http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/sf-1-2.jpg?w=595

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4 years later



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http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/sf-32-1.jpg

It is an urban exploration destination, although visitors are subject to arrest for trespass.

[Punisher]

Some amazing photos in there

[jayisthagame]

Crazy to see all of the abandonment. Awesome post