Recently, there has been a boom in tourism involving visits to abandoned villages and towns. One, to be properly terrifying, and two – to take wonderful, creepy photos. So, if you’re ready to feel the ghostly chill, here are the 8 scariest abandoned cities in the world.
1. Krakow, Italy
This small town in southern Italy was founded in the 8th century. In its glory days, the town was home to around 1,500 people, but from the early 1960s, they gradually left their homes. In 1963, residents were evacuated due to a landslide. Ten years later, there was a flood, then a series of earthquakes, and maybe some swarms of locusts. Krakow has been uninhabited since the 1980s, but tourists still flock to the city to see the statue of the Virgin Mary, which has somehow remained untouched by the disasters.
2. Terlingua, Texas
Terlingua’s population has grown from 3,000 in 1903 to 58 in 2010. The town began as a cinnamon mining colony, but today, you’ll find empty dilapidated houses and a few families offering casual tours of dusty churches and farms.
3. Pripyat, Ukraine
The city of Pripyat, Ukraine, located 94 kilometers from Kyiv, is the most famous ghost town in the world. Before the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion that occurred 30 years ago, 50,000 people lived here. Pripyat is now infamous for its empty schools, playgrounds, hospitals, where everything has been stuck since April 26, 1986.
4. Hashima Island, Japan
Fifteen kilometers from Nagasaki is the ghost island of Hashima, where in 1881, 5,000 locals worked in underwater coal mines. According to the official situation, they all left their homes as soon as they had nothing to extract. Naturally, many facilities were built to support the miners, and today, they are all abandoned and waiting for tourists to arrive.
5. Colmanskop, Namibia
In the African desert lies the terrifying ghost town of Kolmanskop. In the early 1900s, it was one of the largest diamond mines in the world, and accordingly, people built restaurants, casinos, bowling alleys and more. However, the “Diamond Empire” soon collapsed, and all homes and facilities were abandoned, leaving the city to the Sand Gods.
6. Ross Island, India
Living on a tropical island can be a real hoot until endless natural disasters kill people. One after another, hurricanes, tsunamis, landslides and other natural wonders kept uprooting the inhabitants. However, houses, church, hospital and other old buildings built in XVII-XX centuries are still well preserved in the forest.
7. Rhyolite, Nevada
At the turn of the last century, Rhyolite was a mecca for all gold rush victims. Now it is a city of wind and sand, with the occasional tourist making an appearance. These guests are greeted by a strange sculpture: a miner walking in the middle of the desert with a penguin. What is the point here? However, the statue is not the only thing worth seeing. Don’t forget the amazing house made of bottles!
8. Thurmond, West Virginia
The West Virginia town of Thurmond was founded in the 1800s by, you guessed it, — miners. Two hundred years later, in 2000, it was listed as abandoned, but the old railway, surrounded by thick forests, is still going strong as the main tourist attraction of the city. If you can find an engine, you can still drive an engine.
