The World's Most Interesting and Most Photographed Ghost Towns

As crowded as the world appears to us at times, there are still entire settlements where men no longer tread. These ghost towns can appear for many reasons: disaster, economic failure, environmental change, or other causes. The haunting draw of these places has led many to document them for the rest of us, while the same spectral quality and enduring dangers continue to repel potential settlers.

East Balestrino, Italy, is a modest town in Italy’s northwest hilly region near the French border. While not fully uninhabited (the western side still looks to be populated), it is rife with crumbling buildings and lonely sites characteristic of any ghost town. The town seems to have been abandoned following tremors which struck the region a couple decades ago, the same responsible for much of the visible structural damage in the photos linked above.

Best known in Europe, and probably the rest of the world, are the deserted dwellings around Chernobyl, Ukraine. While population dropped off dramatically throughout the region following the 1986 nuclear disaster, the small town of Pripiat closest to the reactor experienced total abandonment. Fortunately, for the casual viewer, it is also the best documented ghost town. For instance, one woman has ridden her motorcycle through the area several times, taking photos of empty buildings and contemporary security.

Pripiat itself stands as one of the most unique places in the world. A slowly crumbling time capsule of Soviet life, it’s also a place where wildlife is thriving, despite the radiation, and consuming the manmade structures. Some of the buildings also feature bizarre black faces and figures, possibly painted by an especially adventurous French artist.

Asia is not without its depopulated locales. One of the most photographed is Japan’s Hashima Island , part of a chain of uninhabited smaller islands in Nagasaki Prefecture. Formerly a small coal producer, the island lost its meager population in the 1970s, following the closure of the mines. The town may not remain abandoned in the near future, however, since restoration has begun this year on restoring part of it, and public excursions will be allowed again next year.

Finally, the United States has always carried a rich history of forgotten hamlets. The early English colony at Roanoke Island, North Carolina, registers as the first known. Founded as an attempt at establishing a permanent English presence in the New World in the late 16^th century, the colony was without supplies and isolated from England for three years. When English officials returned, they found the settlement abandoned. The desertion was never adequately explained, though a number of theories exist, ranging from starvation to assimilation by neighboring American Indian tribes.

In the present day, the US boasts an impressive list of ghost towns. Multitudes abandoned in the 1920s dot the Great Plains, while others can be found nearly anywhere near former centers of mining or industrial operations. Wikipedia contains an extensive list of ghost towns well worth a look. Don’t be surprised to find a handful near your hometown.

One of the most interesting is Centralia, Pennsylvania, which saw abandonment in earnest after 1981. At this time, sinkholes, poisonous gases, and immense underground heat began plaguing the city, making it uninhabitable for most. These nasty features were produced by an underground fire burning since the 1960s, ignited when trash burning at a landfill touched an exposed coal vein. The inferno continues to burn unabated today, and the Federal Government has claimed and demolished many buildings, though a few residents continue to linger despite the carnage. It is by far one of the most fascinating and dangerous ghost towns on the continent, as the steady stream of tourists confirm, who’ve appeared since public knowledge of the town increased. Additionally, a video of a visit Centralia is available here.

Not surprisingly, abandoned places have fueled the creation of the “Urban Exploration” hobbyists and sub-culture. While most of these adventurers visit derelict buildings in their areas, some have ventured to ghost towns and documented their findings. A good overview of this community, as well as many links to urban exploration websites, can be found in its wiki-article.

Overall, depopulated hubs of human design will continue to persist, regardless of how overpopulated the planet becomes. However, it’s obvious these sites do not become useless. Abandoned places continue to feed human wonderment and anxiety, since their air of mystery places them firmly in the realm of the unknown.

-Namtlieu