Abandoned, evacuated, flooded, burned, destroyed - ghost towns seem apocalyptic, idyllic, or terrifying. However, they all have one thing in common: their walls and abandoned objects tell the story of former inhabitants and give wings to our imagination. Some are very old, while others have been abandoned relatively recently. From industrial estates to military facilities, deserted places still exude a magical charm.
Angkor - the largest city of the Khmer Empire
Angkor, Cambodia, was the largest city in the world at one time. The ruins of Angkor are among the most impressive. Even today, many centuries after their construction, the city's buildings give an idea of how a gigantic metropolis was built in the Asian jungle by Khmer rulers. According to estimates, between 600,000 and a million people lived in the area of the famous Angkor Wat temple complex in the north of today's Cambodia. However, from the fourteenth century, the mysterious decline of Angkor began, and no more temples were built.
Researchers have long suspected that climate change could have caused the city's catastrophe. Recent studies confirm these conclusions: unusually violent downpours after a long period of drought damaged the complex network of canals and led to the collapse of the world's largest city in the pre-industrial era.
The basis of the city's organization and structure was an extensive and well-thought-out system of rivers, canals, and powerful retention reservoirs for flood protection and for irrigating rice fields. This network has been constantly expanded and changed over the course of six centuries. In the 15th century, the city lost most of its inhabitants, and the country's administration was moved to the vicinity of today's capital, Phnom Penh. No other country has experienced a social catastrophe on a similar scale.
Research shows that between the mid-14th and early 15th centuries, Angkor was hit by a two-decade drought, followed by a period of unusually violent monsoon rains. The most sensitive, higher branches directing the water further away were damaged. The damage led to a cascade failure of the network's functioning.
After a treasure hunt in the second half of the nineteenth century and the irretrievable destruction or removal of many monuments, restoration and research work began. The Angkor complex, declared a World Cultural Heritage Site, is Cambodia's greatest attraction and a testament to the remarkable achievements of the Khmer nation.
Gunkanjima - A spooky mining settlement near Nagasaki
Hashima Island, known as the "warship", or "Gunkanjima", is a former mining settlement, abandoned by the inhabitants in 1974. Its history began at the beginning of the 19th century when deposits of hard coal were discovered on a rocky several-hectare island west of Kyushu. Extraction of a very valuable resource began, and the island itself was widened and surrounded by a breakwater.
A housing infrastructure was built on Hashima, which made the island look more like a sailing warship. Working in difficult conditions - a large depth of coal, high air humidity, and temperature - required attractive remuneration and appropriate incentives. In 1916, construction of concrete blocks of flats began (an innovative method in Japan at that time), in which miners and their families lived. During the heyday of the mine and settlement, there was a school, shops, a cinema, swimming pools, and other facilities on the island. Due to the lack of space, gardens were set up on the roofs of houses. Hashima was inhabited by over 5,000 people, a population density per square kilometer nine times greater than Tokyo.
After Japan's withdrawal from fossil energy sources, maintaining mines on the island ceased to make sense. In 1974, almost overnight, the settlement emptied and the bustling town turned into a ghost town. Today, the crumbling facades of houses are slowly overgrown with vegetation, and birds of prey circulate over the ghostly landscape.
Kitsault - Canadian ghost town on the border with Alaska
Kitsault looks like time has suddenly stopped here. The village has been deserted since 1982, but books on library shelves, supermarket carts, and trimmed lawns look just like an ordinary town. Even the beds in the apartments are made up and children's toys are packed in boxes. Everything looks normal, but something is wrong here: in this Canadian town 1,300 km from Vancouver, close to Alaska, there is no living soul on the sidewalks and streets. You cannot hear the noise of the children from the school building, and the apartments are also empty. Bed covers, televisions, and other appliances are reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s.
The key to solving this town's mystery is molybdenum. This is the name of the metal found in this area. It is a material of versatile use, needed, for example, in metallurgy, but also serves in many technological processes as a catalyst, conductor in electronic components, in solar panels, for impregnating materials, and for many other purposes. Molybdenum is even used in X-ray diagnostics.
The basic problem in the production of molybdenum has always been the human factor. The makeshift camp in the wilderness on the Alaska border was not an attractive place to stay longer, and perhaps even raise a family. The mining company decided to build a mini-city for its employees - Kitsault - a place with the comforts of a large city, but designed for approx. 2,000 inhabitants.
Unfortunately, the barely attractive estate was completed, the prices of the molybdenum mined here fell sharply and the mine had to be closed. The only thing left is an empty ghost town. Unlike other similar sites that fall into disrepair, Kitsault is in good shape. A private entrepreneur from the USA bought them and has various plans for him. Recently, he had the houses renovated and renovated, and he hired a caretaker. He mows the grass, looks after the buildings, and carries the key to the large city gate.
Houtouwan - a green fishing village
It is perhaps the most beautiful ghost place in the world: a village on the Chinese island of Shengshan, where wild wine vines have covered all houses with green. The whole thing now looks like an illustration for the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about sleeping beauty. Only in the content, one would have to change the roses into Virginia creeper, and the palace into a fisherman's hut.
Thirty years ago, over 2,000 people lived in Houtouwan, mostly fishermen with their families, occupying over 500 houses. Only that the island is one of the most remote in the Shengsi archipelago and the village was completely off the beaten track. It has always been difficult to bring up children there, who after all have to go to school, and food had to be provided from a distance. Most of all, however, the economic situation changed: it became more and more difficult for fishermen to sell their catches. Who could or had to move away from the island. Houses on the steep coast fell under the rule of lush nature. And where no one else used a hoe, scissors, and shovel anymore, the creepers first took over the gardens, and then the walls. After 2-3 decades, whole houses look as if they are all planted with greenery.
Probably the fairy-tale Houtouwan would have fallen into green oblivion had it not been rediscovered. Photographers saw the beauty of this magical place and soon the green village was no longer quite lonely, at least during the day. The lack of accommodation and exhilaration does not discourage day-trip tourists from Shanghai who want to escape the big city for a while.
Bodie Town - when the gold rush is over
East of Sierra Nevada lies the gold-mining settlement, a true western city. Its history began in 1859 when a certain William Bodey stumbled upon gold there. He himself died in the first year in a snowstorm, but his descendants founded the Bodie estate here, changing the spelling of the surname slightly to avoid the resemblance to the word "body". In 1861, the construction of a gold mine began.
A dozen or so years later, a very profitable gold vein was discovered, and the city began to develop rapidly. More and more people were settling in Bodie; in 1880 the city had over 10,000 inhabitants. During its heyday, Bodie offered residents and visitors 65 saloons, 7 breweries, churches, a newspaper publishing house, a railway, a Chinese quarter, and brothels. And an impressive number of criminals: Bodie was one of the most criminal cities in the West at the time.
The flourishing of the city did not last long, however. From 1861, gold mining began to decline and the mines were barely profitable. As gold was the city's only source of income, homes, and shops slowly emptied. In addition, fires in 1892 and 1932 destroyed many buildings in the city. For some time, the mine was manned by workers from neighboring towns. In the 1960s, gold mining was completely stopped and the last inhabitant left Bodie. Over the years, gold worth about 100 million dollars was mined in the local mine.
Today, the ghost town of California attracts thousands of tourists every year like a magnet. No wonder, as it offers a kind of journey into the past. An extraordinary trip, because both the buildings and all the equipment are in a perfectly preserved condition and are extremely photogenic. A city that is as quickly extinct as it was born is protected against looting and vandalism.
Plymouth - the abandoned capital of the Caribbean island
Plymouth was completely destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption in 1997 on the island of Montserrat. About two-thirds of the inhabitants were evacuated. However, Plymouth is to this day the official capital of the island and a world-famous tourist attraction. Almost all the houses have been destroyed, buried in a thick layer of silt and ash. The then townspeople fled, many of them abroad, as they no longer felt safe in Montserrat. And thus Plymouth became the only capital in the world to be a ghost town at the same time.
The disaster began as early as 1995 when the Soufrière Hills volcano awoke for the first time in 400 years. He then began throwing lava, rocks, and ash into the sky above Plymouth. It was immediately known that there was a great danger because the city literally lies in the shadow of a volcano. However, the size of the catastrophe as it occurred was not expected. Residents left the city at a safe distance, and when the situation calmed down, they returned to their homes after a few months. And it was a fatal mistake - Soufrière Hills only gathered the strength to explode with new, incomparably greater energy in the summer of 1997. The volcanic eruption killed 19 people that day. The rest of the inhabitants were evacuated again and no one then suspected that this time they were leaving their homes forever.
Ultimately, more than 80% of the city was under a thick layer of ash and mud, reaching up to 20 meters in some places. Since then, Plymouth has been called the "Pompeii of the Caribbean", in reference to the legendary city near Naples. To this day, the entire southern part of the island is officially considered a danger zone. You can enter it, if at all, only with local guides.
Cazinoul din Constanța - the sad demise of a famous casino
The proud structure on the shore of the Black Sea with columns, round windows, stucco, and stairs in front of the entrance looks as if more guests are about to appear there. Unfortunately, the best years are behind the old casino in the Romanian port city of Constanța a long time ago.
In 1910, Cazinoul din Constanța was opened on Regina Elisabeta boulevard. It soon became the showpiece of the country. Representatives of wealthy families from all over Europe, including those from royal families, gave themselves up to gambling, fun, and relaxation here. There was plenty of room in the great ballroom, from which you could even see the sea and the nearby port.
During the Second World War, the casino periodically served as a hospital for the wounded, and after the war, in socialist Romania, the casino was even a restaurant. Due to financial reasons, also due to changing owners, the building was closed in 1990. From now on, the famous casino stands empty and does not receive any visitors. Only tourists walking along the promenade take pictures of themselves in the once-famous casino in Europe.
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