Dead ghost towns of Russia. Top ten scariest abandoned cities in the world

The number of abandoned cities, villages and villages on the territory of the former USSR cannot be accurately calculated. The political, economic and geological transformations of our state over the past 100 years have created a host of objects that are now left out of modern reality.

Abandoned cities in Russia formed a new layer of apocalyptic culture that arose at the turn of the millennium on the waves of the increasingly popular themes of the End of the World, the Mayan calendar, Vanga's predictions and big-budget Hollywood blockbusters. Now abandoned cities are actively used to create scenery for man's eternal fear of the Apocalypse. Musicians, photographers, "filmmakers", writers, stalkers and other people come here in an effort to find inspiration and drink "dead water" from the stream of something invisible and infinitely mysterious.

Alternative and extreme types of tourism are also gaining momentum. Standard attractions, exhausting with an abundance of information about themselves, attract fewer and fewer travelers. The modern tourist is slowly turning into a researcher chasing some kind of metaphysical "non-standard". Endless opportunities to share your "finds" via the Internet only contribute to the desire to stand out, unique and separate from the other "crowd".

Today we would also like to turn to the topic of abandoned cities. Topics for Russia and the countries of the former USSR are truly inexhaustible, and, moreover, extremely exciting and intriguing. Let's digress for a few minutes from the fear of these silent "ghosts" and slowly walk along their quiet, deserted streets.

1. Halmer-Yu (Komi Republic)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Khalmer-Yu.

Miners' village. Eliminated during perestroika due to the closure of coal mines.

Now the territory is used as a military training ground, the call sign "Pemba". On August 17, 2005, during a strategic aviation exercise, a Tu-160 bomber carrying Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin launched three missiles at the former cultural center of an abandoned village.

2. Old Gubakha (Perm Territory)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Old Gubakha.

An abandoned mining village near a depleted coal mine. High degree of destruction of buildings.

3. Industrial (Komi Republic)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Industrial.

Mining village. In 1998, an explosion at a local mine claimed the lives of 27 miners. The bodies of 19 of them were never found. The mine was closed, the village was empty.

4. Jubilee (Perm Territory)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Jubilee.

5. Iultin (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Iultin.

6. Kolendo (Sakhalin region)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Kolendo.

7. Nizhneyansk (Yakutia)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Nizhneyansk.

8. Fin whale (Kamchatka Territory)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Finval.

9. Alykel (Taimyr Autonomous District)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Alykel.

10. Neftegorsk (Sakhalin region)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Neftegorsk.

11. Kursha-2 (Ryazan region)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Kursha-2.

12. Mologa (Yaroslavl region)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Mologa.

13. Charonda (Vologda region)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Charonda.

14. Amderma (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Amderma.

15. Korzunovo (Murmansk region)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Korzunovo.

City of pilots and gunners. Yuri Gagarin served here in the 1950s.

16. Kadykchan (Magadan region)

Abandoned cities of Russia: Kadykchan.

A ghost town whose inhabitants mined coal for the Arkagalinskaya GRES.

17. Pripyat (Ukraine)

Abandoned cities on the territory of the former USSR: Pripyat.

18. Chernobyl-2 (Ukraine)

Abandoned cities on the territory of the former USSR: Chernobyl-2.

An abandoned city, and previously the military lived here, serving the Soviet over-the-horizon radar station "Duga" for an early detection system for intercontinental ballistic missile launches.

19. Sharp-eyed (Belarus)

Abandoned cities on the territory of the former USSR: Ostroglyady.

The ghost village was resettled after the Chernobyl disaster.

1. Kowloon, China.
In the spirit of the post-apocalyptic writings of Philip Dick, Kowloon was once a populous city that was ruled by lawlessness. In the last year of the existence of the city, the population density in it was 603 people per 450 sq.m. (for example, in lower Manhattan there are 16 people in the same area). The city was founded as a military outpost, but after it was captured by the Japanese invaders during World War II, by 1948 Kowloon became a haven for 2,000 emigrants. Without the influence of the government and the existence of local laws that would regulate life in the city, it quickly became a crime center.

2. Thurmond, West Virginia
In the late 1800s, Thurmond was a thriving coal-mining town of a few hundred inhabitants, of whom only five remained by 2010. The reason for the death of the city was the advent of diesel. In the 1940s and 1950s, as trains switched from coal to the more convenient diesel fuel, Thurmond lost his main customer. Previously, trains had stopped at Thurmond Station to replenish coal supplies. In 1958, the last steam locomotive passed through here. The remaining residents, six out of seven in 2005, held municipal positions.

3. Picher, Oklahoma
Pitcher was a city with a booming zinc and lead industry with 25,000 inhabitants. But in the early 1980s, the Environmental Protection Agency discovered that the previously fertile ground was now overly polluted, and living here became very dangerous. Mountains of mine waste towered everywhere and exuded poisonous lead, poisoning the blood of the townspeople. Tests showed that the level of lead in the blood of children living in the city was very high, which is why they had developmental delays. In addition, both the young and the elderly population of the city were at risk due to the possible collapse of rickety buildings.

4. Picher, Oklahoma
In the 1990s, the government offered families with young children to buy their property, and many accepted the offer. In 2006, the Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that 86% of buildings could collapse at any moment. Due to the mass exodus of residents, by 2009 all work in the city stopped, and the population dropped to 20 people. Ironically, the reason why the city was called dangerous for living turned out to be mines, exactly what the city was founded for.

5. Centralia, Pennsylvania
Devilish fire flared up underground in Pennsylvania. In 1962, a fire broke out in one of the Centralia coal mines and spread through the many abandoned mines below the city. Despite the fact that huge funds were thrown into extinguishing the fire, it continued into the 60s and 70s. In 1980, the consequences of the fire became unbearable - lack of oxygen, dangerous levels of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, sinkholes that appeared on the streets of the city. But only in 2009, the authorities evacuated the local residents and closed the postal code of Centralia.

6. Centralia, Pennsylvania
Until 2010, 10 residents remained in Central. They are absolutely certain that the fire is the result of a government plot to destroy the city. Those who come to see this post-apocalyptic landscape can see painted posters of a government conspiracy against the people of Centralia.

7. Flagstaff, Maine
The now-famous Flagstaff Lake was once the place where Benedict Arnold's troops set their flag. But in 1950, the government adopted a plan to build a hydroelectric dam. Unfortunately, for the city, which was then in a completely dry area, this meant a complete evacuation due to the fact that it had to be completely submerged. Residents moved, taking even some buildings with them. But basically the city remained in its place and is now a modern Atlantis.

8. Pripyat, Ukraine.
Built in the 1970s for the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the city of Pripyat had 50,000 inhabitants by 1986. When there was an explosion at the power plant, the city was quickly deserted. People have left a lot of their belongings, which makes the city look frozen in time and disappearing at the same time.

9. Pripyat, Ukraine.
Two major landmarks are still in place: the Death Bridge, from which people watched the reactor burn. They were able to from being hit by radiation for a few weeks. The second is an abandoned amusement park in Pripyat, in which there is a stationary Ferris Wheel. This wheel has become a symbol of the post-apocalyptic world, even used in computer games such as Call of Duty.

10. Dogtown, Massachusetts
The British founded this unnamed settlement in 1693. It was conveniently protected from attacks by the locals. But after the War of 1812 and the emergence of new coastal roads, many farmers moved away, leaving empty homes for vagrants and lonely widows who kept dogs for protection.

11. Dogtown, Massachusetts
Gradually, the dogs became feral and roamed the streets freely, which is why the city got its current name Dogtown, and it was overgrown with legends about wandering werewolves. Eventually, the locals, even those who were thought to be witches, died. When the last known inhabitant died, Cornelius Finson died in 1830, the city finally came under dog rule.

12. Glenrio, Texas
Located on Route 66, this city, which was on the border with New Mexico, was once a thriving city of gas stations, restaurants and motels for weary travelers. But in 1973, life in the city came to a halt when part of the highway was moved around Glenrio. There are rumors that there are still a few residents left. The old spirit of the city can be seen on the pages of the novel The Grapes of Wrath.

13. Spinalonga or Calydon, Greece.
This island city has gone through many reincarnations, but its last role was as a leper colony. Beginning in 1903, lepers were sent to the walled city, where they were given food, water and medical care. The conditions here, of course, were not the most luxurious, but compared to those caves in which lepers were hiding in those days, it was just a resort. In 1957, a cure for leprosy was discovered and the healed residents left the city. Now, it is a popular historical attraction among tourists, and besides, there are legends that the goddess Britomartis lives in the waters surrounding the island.

14. Independence, Colorado.
This Colorado city was doomed from the start. Located at an altitude of 10,900 feet above sea level, the city suffered from heavy snowfalls every winter, lasting from October to May. Independence was founded in 1879 as a mining town, and by 1882 it had 1,500 inhabitants. But in the winter of 1899, a terrible storm destroyed all the roads, leaving the miners without food. The brave residents built sleds from their homes and left the city, driving down the mountain towards the city of Aspen.

15. Varosha or Famagusta, Cyprus.
Until 1974, Varosha was a popular seaside town. But that year it became a ghost town. After the Turkish invasion of the city, the locals were evacuated. Breakfasts were thrown on the table, and the light continued to burn. At the moment, the city is hostage to political squabbles. The Turks have been expelled from the city, and the UN will allow only the indigenous people to settle here, although none of them shows such a desire. Because of this, Varosha looks frozen in time: there are still things from 1974 in the shop windows, and vintage cars rust in car dealerships. Trees grow in cracks in the pavement, and turtles rest on deserted beaches.

16. Castelnuovo dei Sabbioni, Italy.
Sometimes an abandoned city is more than meets the eye. The picturesque Tuscan village of Castelnuovo de Sabbioni was supposedly deserted in the 1970s due to erosion caused by coal mines. But even earlier, the Nazis set up a huge funeral pyre here from furniture and local residents. 78 people died in the flames. On the walls of many houses, mysterious and incomprehensible pictures are still preserved: pentagrams, fish and other mysterious drawings that tell a story that no one can read.

17. Pegasus Center for Innovation, Research and Testing, New Mexico.
If most ghost towns happen to be like this by accident, this empty town was created by Pegasus Global Holdings on purpose. The city, currently still in the planning stages, will be the size of New Haven, Connecticut. It will be used to test the firm's technological innovations, such as self-driving cars, terrorist-proof computer networks, and renewable energy. There will be roads, houses, buildings, but there will be no inhabitants. A one billion dollar city will be built somewhere in New Mexico.

The abandoned cities of Russia, which are outside of modern reality, appeared on the map of the country in the course of political, economic and geological transformations. How many there are, no one knows yet.

How can they be interesting?

The ghost towns of Russia have become the basis for founding a new layer of a kind of apocalyptic culture. It arose at the turn of the millennium, which was largely facilitated by the ever-increasing popularity of the subject and the end of the world. Nowadays, the abandoned cities of Russia are attracting more and more adventurers, photographers, filmmakers and writers. In such gloomy places, creative people hope to find inspiration of an unusual nature.

Extreme tourism is also becoming very popular. Standard sights, about which everything is already known, do not arouse such interest among avid travelers. The modern tourist is more of a researcher than a passive observer. In addition, the opportunity to share what they see with the help of the World Wide Web gives incredible satisfaction to everyone who wants to stand apart from the "gray mass".

Kadykchan

Listing the abandoned villages of Russia, the first thing they remember is this particular settlement. It is the most famous of all such places in the Magadan region. The population of Kadykchan began to decline rapidly in 1996, when an explosion occurred at a local mine. Almost six thousand people left this settlement. A few years later, the only boiler house in the village ceased to operate, after which it became simply impossible to live there.

Carpets and dishes remained in the houses, cars in garages, toys in kindergartens.

Halmer-Yu

Describing the dead cities of Russia, it is impossible not to mention this settlement. The abandoned place is in abolished in 1996. Coal was mined on the territory of Khalmer-Yu. In 1994, just over four thousand people lived there.

With the transition of the country to a market economy, the question of the expediency of the existence of the city was raised. The government of the Russian Federation decided to stop the work of the mine, and two years later - in 1995 - to completely liquidate Halmer-Yu. It was not possible to carry out the process, guided by world standards. The reason is that it required a lot of money. As a result, local residents were evicted with the support of OMON. The security forces simply kicked out the doors and forcibly herded people onto the trains to Vorkuta. Not all citizens were provided with apartments.

Currently, the territory of Khalmer-Yu plays the role of a military training ground.

Old Gubakha

Among the main attractions of this settlement is the Mariinskaya Cave, located four hundred meters from the now empty reinforced concrete plant. Currently, Staraya Gubakha, like many other ghost towns in Russia, is at the mercy of nature. Everything is overgrown with trees, shrubs and grass - buildings, roads, and the central square. The following buildings are of particular interest to adventurers: the cultural and business center, the NKVD building and the hospital.

Industrial

This one is located on the territory of the Komi Republic. In 2007, it was inhabited by four hundred people. The now abandoned settlement began to fall into disrepair after an explosion at a local mine. This sad event happened in 1998.

The gloomy houses that once served as camp barracks stand all alone today. It's especially scary in Industrial at night, when the wind is blowing through the empty buildings. The ashes of the houses leave an indelible impression (some of them were burned under the supervision of firefighters during the liquidation of the village, others were deliberately destroyed).

Anniversary

Most of the able-bodied men - residents of this village - worked at the mine called "Shumikhinskaya". It was abolished in 1998 by decision of the management. All employees were out of work. The miners banged their helmets at the local administration in Gremyachinsk for three months, but the protests did not lead to anything.

In the winter of 1999, the village's heating system was defrosted. People were forced to leave their homes.

The appalling condition of the village buildings is connected with the catastrophe of heat supply. Water penetrated into the masonry of empty houses, which naturally froze in the cold season. With the onset of spring, the walls began to rapidly collapse. At present, the buildings look like after an earthquake or bombing. Marauders are not asleep at the same time: they are constantly taking out the surviving materials from Yubileiny.

Iultin

This settlement was once the center of tin mining in Chukotka. Due to the unfavorable climate, living conditions there were extremely difficult. Since 1994, the resettlement of Iultin began. It is noteworthy that people left this place in a great hurry, as if an emergency evacuation was being carried out. That is why this place, like many other dead cities in Russia, attracts fans to stare at the inhabited empty apartments. Naturally, marauders often visit Iultin.

Colendo

This settlement is located on the territory of the Okha district of the Sakhalin region. This is one of the most famous oil and gas fields. Local wells produced as much black gold as the entire Okha oilfield.

The development plan for the working settlement of Kolendo was approved in 1963, but the life of this settlement was short-lived - just over thirty years. In 1996, due to the earthquake in Neftegorsk, people began to be relocated. There is not a soul in Kolendo now.

Nizhneyansk

Many abandoned cities and villages in Russia are available for visiting, which can not be said about Nizhneyansk. This settlement is located beyond the Arctic Circle. Even the most ardent fans of extreme travel do not dare to visit this empty village - it is too far away. That is why people are increasingly talking about Nizhneyansk to verify the veracity of which the majority are unable to. The notorious daredevils who visited this place claim that they have not seen anything worse. Nizhneyansk - ready-made scenery for chilling horror films. Gray blocky two-story buildings stretch into long gloomy streets. Silhouettes periodically appear in windows with broken glass. Or maybe it's just rags, disturbed by cold winds?

fin whale

Some abandoned cities in Russia were top-secret objects in the past. So Finval is just an invented name. The real name of the bay, which became the habitat of the officers of the Navy, is Bechevinskaya. A four-story dormitory (popularly referred to as a "chudilnik"), two three-story houses with officers' apartments and a store were erected on its territory. In addition, barracks, headquarters, a galley, a diesel substation, a garage, a boiler room and a warehouse have been built.

The garrison was disbanded in 1996. Now there are no soldiers in Finval. Only bears and foxes roam the desert streets.

Alykel

Many abandoned cities in Russia were the residence of the military. Among them is Alykel. After the withdrawal of the air squadron, he simply died out. There is very little information about the city. Collecting data is incredibly difficult due to the closed nature of this place. At present, multi-storey buildings and an airport have been preserved on its territory.

Neftegorsk

The city occupies a special sad place in the list of "Abandoned Cities of Russia". Photos of this settlement on Sakhalin overnight spread all over the world. And for what reason? The fact is that at one in the morning on May 28, 1995, there was a powerful earthquake (ten-magnitude), as a result of which more than two thousand people died. Just one push turned dozens of houses into a shapeless pile of building materials. Rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations did everything possible to release the survivors. Hours of silence were arranged periodically, since it was not so easy to hear the groans of the victims. Of course, there were also marauders, rummaging through piles of household items and clothing in search of anything of value.

The surviving oil mountaineers received free housing in other cities and material assistance. Young people were given the opportunity to study at any university in the country for free.

Now on the site of Neftegorsk there is only a dead field, all that remains of the once prosperous city of oilmen.

Conclusion

The abandoned cities of Russia, the list of which is updated from time to time, can tell a lot of interesting things about the history of the state and its citizens. Unfortunately, marauders mercilessly destroy the original spirit of such places. When visiting ghost towns, be respectful of such an unusual historical heritage.

There are many ghost towns on the planet, and they are in almost every country. Such places appear for various reasons: due to man-made or natural disasters, genocide, or simply a decline in economic activity in the settlement. All this makes people leave their homes. So, the infamous Pripyat turned into a ghost town after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the inhabitants left the Italian Krako because of landslides, there are dozens of mining villages in Africa, and there are abandoned cities in India. But most of these cities are in China. True, these are not just abandoned cities, but quite the opposite, cities “for growth”: settlements are constantly being built, but no one lives in them. There are about twenty such cities in the Middle Kingdom, and 64 million houses are empty in them. And this is in overpopulated China, where problems with housing and population have reached the national level! We decided to show you one of them - the largest ghost town in the world.

City for the future?

Ordos began to be built in the early 2000s in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia (hence the Turkic roots and the connection with the word "horde").

It is designed for 1 million inhabitants. However, no more than 20 thousand people live here, and approximately 98% of the buildings are empty. In fact, a terrible picture, it seems that some kind of epidemic broke out in Ordos and most of the population simply died out.

Skyscrapers, administrative buildings, residential buildings and towers are empty here, there are even universities in Ordos, and there is not a soul in them either. All this is connected by communications and roads, but no one lives here.

And when night falls, the landscapes here become even more eerie.

A goldmine that didn't live up to expectations

In the Kangbashi region, where the Ordos was rebuilt, huge reserves of coal and other natural resources were discovered in the early 2000s. Therefore, skyscrapers, museums, theaters and administrative buildings instantly grew in these territories.

They also built sleeping areas, where there are even cozy cottages for more prosperous Chinese. The construction of Ordos was completed in 2010, and it is spread over a vast area of ​​355 square kilometers. But the city found itself in some kind of financial bubble: rich Chinese, who head large funds, almost immediately bought out all the real estate, considering the purchases as investments. After all, the city was potentially supposed to be successful, so the plans were to resell all the property at a higher price. However, residents of Inner Mongolia simply do not have the money to buy apartments.

Even during construction, the developer set the price for housing at 10-11 thousand dollars per square meter, and after a few years it fell by 2-3 times. Still, 4-4.5 thousand dollars per square meter is an exorbitant price for residents of the region, where average wages barely exceed $400 a month.

The fate of the giant ghost town

Of course, after the delivery of real estate in Ordos, you will not envy the management companies. They suffer huge losses, as they fully serve the infrastructure of the city: they repair the streets, clean up, plant trees and shrubs in areas, there are not even interruptions in lighting. It takes about 10-12 million dollars every month.

So, despite the fact that the city is empty, he lives. But to say (as they say about other Chinese cities) that life is seething in it is completely impossible. Ordos is under constant guard, there are policemen who keep order. No one plundered the city, so tourists have nothing to fear here. You can walk around the desert metropolis, ride bicycles or skateboards right along the roads, take amazing and a little frightening photos and imagine yourself as the hero of a post-apocalyptic film - this is what travelers go to Ordos for.

Of course, you can meet residents here, but very rarely. Basically, these are law enforcement officers, or a few factory workers who managed to buy an apartment.

By the way, the Chinese government plans to buy apartments for retired military men here, however, at best, there will be no more than 20-25 thousand people, and this is another 2-2.5% of the living citizens. At this rate of settlement, Ordos would only become populated half a century later.

On our planet, there are a huge number of ghost towns, empty and creepy, frightening a traveler who accidentally wandered here, with empty eye sockets of windows of rickety buildings ...
In this ranking, we will present the 10 most famous abandoned cities abandoned by people for various reasons: some were abandoned due to bloody wars, others were abandoned under the onslaught of almighty nature.

1. The city of Kolmanskop, buried in the sands (Namibia)

Kolmanskop

Kolmanskop is an abandoned town in southern Namibia, located a few kilometers from the port of Lüderitz.
In 1908, Zakaris Leval, an employee of the railway company, discovered small diamonds in the sand. This discovery caused a real diamond rush and thousands of people rushed to the hot sands of the Namib Desert, hoping to make a fortune.

Kolmanskop was built in record time. It took people only two years to erect beautiful German-style residential buildings in the desert, rebuild a school, a hospital, and even a casino. But the city's days were already numbered.

After the end of the First World War, the cost of diamonds on the world market fell, and every year the production of precious stones in the mines of Kolmanskop became worse and worse. The lack of drinking water and the constant struggle with the sand dunes made the life of the people of the mining town increasingly unbearable.

In the 1950s, the last inhabitants left Kolmanskop and it turned into another ghost town on the world map. Soon, nature and the desert almost completely buried the town under the sand dunes. A few more old houses and the theater building remained unburied, which is still in good condition.

2. City of nuclear scientists Pripyat (Ukraine)

Pripyat is an abandoned city in the "exclusion zone" in northern Ukraine. Workers and scientists of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant lived here until the tragic day - April 26, 1986. On this day, the explosion of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant put an end to the further existence of the city.

On April 27, the evacuation of people from Pripyat began. Nuclear workers and their families were allowed to take with them only the most necessary things and documents, all the property acquired over the years, people left in their abandoned apartments. Over time, Pripyat turned into a ghost town, visited only by extreme and thrill-seekers.

For those who want to see and appreciate the full scale of the disaster, the Pripyat-Tour company provides excursions to an abandoned city. Due to the high level of radiation, you can safely stay here for no more than a few hours, and most likely, Pripyat will forever remain a dead city.

3 Futuristic San Zhi Resort City (Taiwan)

In the north of Taiwan, not far from the capital of the state, the city of Taipei, there is a ghost town of San Zhi. According to the idea of ​​the developers, very wealthy people should have bought these houses, because the very architecture of the buildings, made in a futuristic style, was so unusual and revolutionary that it should have attracted a large number of wealthy customers.

But during the construction of the city, inexplicable accidents began to occur here, and every week there were more and more of them, until the death of workers began to happen every day. Rumor quickly spread the news of a bad city, which had a very bad effect on the reputation of the city for the rich.

The construction was finally completed and even a grand opening was held, but none of the potential customers bought a home here. Massive advertising campaigns and huge discounts did not help, Sang Chih became the new ghost town. Now access is prohibited here, and local residents believe that the city is inhabited by the ghosts of people who died here.

4. The medieval city of Craco (Italy)

About forty kilometers from the Gulf of Taranto in Italy, is the abandoned ancient city of Krako. Situated on picturesque hills, it was the patrimony of farmers and plowmen, its inhabitants were engaged in agriculture, growing wheat and other crops.

The first mention of the city dates back to 1060, when the entire land was owned by the Catholic Archbishop Arnaldo.
In 1981, the population of Krako was just over 2,000 people, and since 1982, due to poor harvests, landslides and constant landslides, the population of the town began to decline rapidly. Between 1892 and 1922, more than 1,300 people left Kracko. Some left to seek happiness in America, others settled in neighboring towns and villages.

The city was finally abandoned after a strong earthquake in 1963, only a few residents remained to while away their lives in the new ghost town. By the way, it was here that Mel Gibson filmed the scene of the execution of Judas for his masterpiece film The Passion of the Christ.

5. The village of Oradour-sur-Glan (France) - a memorial reminiscent of the horrors of fascism

The small ruined village of Oradour-sur-Glan in France stands as a reminder of the monstrous atrocities of the Nazis. During World War II, 642 villagers were brutally murdered by the Nazis as punishment for the capture of SS-Sturmbannführer Helmut Kampf by French resistance fighters.

According to one version, the Nazis simply confused the villages with consonant names.
A high-ranking fascist was in captivity in the neighboring village of Oradur-sur-Vaires. The Germans did not spare anyone - neither the elderly, nor women, nor children ... They drove the men to the sheds, where they accurately beat their legs with machine guns, then doused them with a combustible mixture and set them on fire.

Women, children and old people were locked in the church, then a powerful incendiary device was blown up. People tried to get out of the burning building, but they were mercilessly shot by German machine gunners. Then the Nazis completely destroyed the village.

6. Forbidden Island Gankanjima (Japan)

Gankanjima Island is one of the 505 uninhabited islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, and is located only 15 km from Nagasaki itself. It is also called Battleship Island because of the walls that protect the city from the sea. The history of the settlement of the island began in 1890, when coal was discovered here. Mitsubishi bought the entire area and began to implement a project to extract coal from the bottom of the sea.

In 1916, the first large concrete building was built on the island, and then the buildings began to grow like mushrooms after the rain. And in 1959, the population of the island grew so much that 835 people lived here on one hectare! It was a world record for population density.

In the early 1960s, oil in Japan increasingly began to displace coal in production, its extraction became unprofitable. Coal mines began to close all over the country, and the mines of Gankanjima were no exception.

In 1974, Mitsubishi officially announced the closure of the mines and the cessation of all activities on the island. Gankanjima has become another abandoned ghost town. Currently, visiting the island is prohibited, and in 2003, the famous Japanese action movie Battle Royale was filmed here.

7. Kadykchan - a village in the Magadan region

Kadykchan is an urban-type settlement located in the Susumansky district of the Magadan region. One of the most famous abandoned northern villages on the Internet. In 1986, according to the census, 10,270 people lived here, and in 2002 - only 875. In Soviet times, coal of the highest quality was mined here, which was used to heat almost 2/3 of the Magadan region.

The population of Kadykchan began to decrease rapidly after the mine explosion in 1996. A few years later, the only boiler house heating the village also thawed, and it became simply impossible to live here.

Now it's just a ghost town, one of many in Russia. There are rusty cars in the garages, destroyed furniture, books and children's toys in the rooms. Finally, leaving the dying village, the inhabitants shot the bust of V.I. Lenin installed on the square.

8. The walled city of Kowloon (Hong Kong) - a city of lawlessness and anarchy

One of the most incredible ghost towns that no longer exist is the city of Kowloon, which was located near the former Kaitak Airport, a city where all the vices and base passions of mankind were embodied. In the 1980s, more than 50,000 people lived here.
Probably, there was no longer a place on the planet where prostitution, drug addiction, gambling and underground workshops were ubiquitous.

It was practically impossible to take a step here without running into a drug addict pumped up with dope, or a prostitute who offered her services for a pittance. The authorities of Hong Kong practically did not control the city, there was the highest crime rate in the country.

Eventually, in 1993, the entire population of Kowloon was evicted and briefly became a ghost town. The incredible and creepy settlement was then demolished, and a park of the same name was laid out in its place.

9. The abandoned ghost town of Varosha (Cyprus)

Varosha is a district of Famagusta, a city in Northern Cyprus founded in the 3rd century AD. Until 1974, Varosha was a real "Mecca" for beach lovers. Thousands of tourists from all over the world flocked here to soak up the gentle rays of the Cypriot sun. They say that the Germans and the British booked places in luxury hotels for 20 years ahead!

The resort prospered, building up with new hotels and villas, until everything changed in 1974. That year, the Turks invaded Varosha with NATO support to protect the Turkish minority of Cypriot residents from persecution of ethnic Greeks.

Since then, the Varosha quarter has become a ghost town, surrounded by barbed wire, where the Turkish military has not let anyone in for four decades. The houses are dilapidated, the windows are shattered, and the streets of the once bustling quarter are in total ruin. Apartments and shops are empty and completely looted first by the Turkish military and then by local looters.

10. The Lost City of Agdam (Azerbaijan)

Agdam, a city that was once famous for its wine throughout the Soviet Union, is now dead and uninhabited... The war in Nagorno-Karabakh, which lasted from 1990 to 1994, did not give a chance to exist to the flat city, where excellent cheese was previously brewed and the best port wine in the Union.
The collapse of the USSR led to the outbreak of hostilities in many former republics.

Azerbaijan did not escape this either, the fighters of which were able to seize wagons with rockets located not far from Aghdam. It turned out to be very convenient for them to bomb the Armenian Stepanakert. Such actions eventually led to a sad ending.

In the summer of 1993, Agdam was surrounded by 6,000 soldiers of the Liberation Army of Nagorno-Karabakh. With the support of helicopters and tanks, the Armenians practically wiped out the hated city, and the approaches to it were carefully mined. Therefore, until now, visiting the ghost town of Agdam is not safe for life.