10 Cities With Great Past And Haunted Present!

Their glory faded like time passed by…!

They seem like a horror film scene in a dystopian future, places "haunted" by the past and their present desolation. However, these ghost cities attract millions of visitors each year. Some were evacuated due to disasters caused by man, others fade away along with their industrial decline.

These are some of the most typical ghost towns around the world.


Pripyat, Ukraine

Pripyat is probably the most "famous" ghost town in the world. Located close to the Ukrainian border with Belarus. Its inhabitants abandoned it after the tragic nuclear accident at Chernobyl in April 1986.
Deserted hospitals, abandoned houses, haunted entertainment venues and discarded toys are the most common depicted images from the Soviet once thriving city of 50,000 inhabitants.
Tourists using a day pass can visit the city while some workers who rebuild part of the city still remain there for a limited time.

According to scientists the area is not habitable and will not be for another 20,000 years.


Island Hashima, Japan

Fans of James Bond would recognize the island Hashima Japan, also known as Gunkanjima as the enemy's hideout of 007, Raoul Silva, in the film Skyfall. More than 5000 people lived there until April 1974 when the colliery closed and the island was abandoned and left in time and the elements to do their work.


Oradour-sur-Glane, France

Corrupted by the Nazis during WWII village Oradour-sur-Glane was a tragic place where 642 inhabitants were massacred in June 1944. Today its ruins are a memorial to the people who were executed or burnt alive back then. Among them were 400 women and children.
The village has remained untouched since the slaughter and a new village was built nearby which has a population of 2000 people.


Varosha, Cyprus

From afar one can think of Varosha like any coastal area being crowded by lovers of sun and sea. But when approaching one can see that it is one of the most gruesome coasts in the world.
There, once paraded Hollywood stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot.

But in 1974, the city of 40,000 residents was invaded by Turkish troops and abandoned.
Today the site is enclosed, occupied by Turkish troops with time and nature to re-conquer the hotels that once dominated at the coast.


Bodie, California

The town Bodie, California is typical of settlements that flourished and prospered during the gold search and then left to wilt when hunting was "deflated".
In 1880 it had a population of 10,000 people which constantly decreased as the gold diggers were leaving in search of other sources of gold.
In the 1940s had very few inhabitants and in 1962 was designated as historic park. It is deserted but the buildings are still furnished with the personal effects of their past owners.


Imber, England

It was evacuated in December 1943 as the Allied forces needed its land to prepare the invasion in Normand during WWII.
They never allowed the inhabitants to return and still remains a training ground for British soldiers.
However it opens a few times a year, especially at holiday time for tourists.


Kolmanskop, Namibia

The sand is now the only tenant ... in those homes of this once thriving city in the Namib Desert.
Abandoned for over half a century, the ghost town Kolmanskop, built in German style, once flourished when diamonds were discovered there in 1908. However, when the deposit was exhausted was deserted.
In 1954 it was completely abandoned and today the legend says is haunted.


Port Arthur, Tasmania

It is the most popular tourist attraction and a Tasmanian World Heritage Site. Although its prison was closed in 1877, a new community developed in the century that followed.
It regained a lot of negative publicity in 1996 when 35 people were killed and dozens wounded in the worst mass murder in Australia's history.


Fordlandia, Brazil

Deep in the rain forests of Brazil are hidden the ruins of the city Fordlandia, which had built by Henry Ford in 1928 for rubber plantation that could fuel the factories of Michigan.
He hoped to instill the American way of life for Brazilian workers but the plan was abandoned at the end of WWII due to a disease of the trees and tensions among American managers and locals.
The 194th grandson of Ford, Henry Ford II, sold the land.


Pyramiden, Norway

Polar bears are probably the main residents of Pyramiden Area in Norway, town of miners of Soviet era which officially abandoned in 1998.
Most buildings remain intact and owned by a Russian company. There were even attempts to transform it into a tourist destination.
The Soviets had bought the area from Sweden in 1927 and at its peak the Pyramiden had a population of 1200 people.


Spinalonga, Greece

The island served as a Leper to 1957, five years before it has been deserted. There, isolated lepers lived arriving from Crete and the rest of Greece. Today tourists can wander the island by boat arriving there from Crete.

Share their past glory and their ignominious present with others!

Τρίτη, Οκτωβρίου 13, 2015 | places

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