What are the cities that has now been abandoned by its inhabitants, and how their fate? Just imagine in the following countries, France, United States, Spain, Russia, Japan and many others. You may imagine the frenetic city of Paris, bustling of San Francisco, or the noisy street festival in Madrid etc. However, there are other parts in our world are abandoned by their inhabitants.
No inhabited areas are then transformed into a ghost town that is no longer in operation, leaving only a few buildings as well as the remains of civilization. Below are reviews of 10 of the ghost towns from all over the world,
10. Bam
Bam is a small Iranian town located between the Jebal Barez mountain chain and the Lut Desert at an elevation of 1,060 meters above sea level. Bam emerged as an oasis as a result of a unique underground water management system, known as “Qantas” and is functional even today.
The main building, Arg-e-Bam, has 38 watch towers, 1 main gate, and many other smaller gates. The population of Bam was 43,000 according to the 2006 census. A violent earthquake of 6.5 Richter scale intensity brought disaster to it; killing 26,000 residents and reducing it to a ghost town.
9. Minamisoma
Minamisoma, the recent ghost town of Japan, is located at 55 kilometers from the Sendai Airport. It is situated within a 30 kilometer radius from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant which played havoc on it after its leakage. The most powerful earthquake in the history of Japan with a magnitude of 8.9 hit its northeastern coast.
Thousands were killed, and most of the population was evacuated for fear of suffering radiation. Sunflowers grown in the vicinity of the nuclear plant have reduced the radioactivity level to some extent.
8. Craco
Craco located in the Region of Basilicata and the Province of Matera, about 25 kilometers from the mainland of the Gulf of Taranto. The town is derived from the medieval built around hills. In 1891, Craco numbering more than 2,000 people. Then between 1892 and 1922, more than 1,300 people moved from the town to North America due to a very poor farming conditions at the time.
Earthquakes, landslides, and war is the reason mass migration in this city. In 1959 and 1972, Craco again shaken by an earthquake and landslide. In 1963 the remaining 1,800 inhabitants were transferred to a valley near the city, called Craco Peschiera.
7. Oradour-sur-Glane
Bam is a small Iranian town located between the Jebal Barez mountain chain and the Lut Desert at an elevation of 1,060 meters above sea level. Bam emerged as an oasis as a result of a unique underground water management system, known as “Qantas” and is functional even today.
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| A view of the Bam's Citadel from a distance. (Picture from: http://www.digidrift.com/) |
9. Minamisoma
Minamisoma, the recent ghost town of Japan, is located at 55 kilometers from the Sendai Airport. It is situated within a 30 kilometer radius from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant which played havoc on it after its leakage. The most powerful earthquake in the history of Japan with a magnitude of 8.9 hit its northeastern coast.
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| A street sits deserted in Minamisoma, Japan, 12 miles from the Fukushima power plant. (Picture from: http://money.cnn.com/) |
8. Craco
Craco located in the Region of Basilicata and the Province of Matera, about 25 kilometers from the mainland of the Gulf of Taranto. The town is derived from the medieval built around hills. In 1891, Craco numbering more than 2,000 people. Then between 1892 and 1922, more than 1,300 people moved from the town to North America due to a very poor farming conditions at the time.
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| Craco is a commune and medieval town located in the Region of Basilicata and the Province of Matera, Italia. (Picture from: http://sometimes-interesting.com/) |
7. Oradour-sur-Glane
The first location is Oradour-sur-Glane in France. This is a rural area located in Limousin, Haute-Vienne, mid-west region of France. An area of 38.16 square meters is to be a witness and victim of the atrocities of World War II. In the summer of 1944, 642 people comprising one week old baby to 90 year-old man was killed in a matter of hours in the massacre of Adolf Hitler's elite troops and Waffen-SS.
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| One corner of Village of the damned: Oradour-sur-Glane. (Picture from: http://www.house-crazy.com/) |
French president at the time, Charles de Gaulle, insisting make this village as a reminder that the lives of the people who live in these places died due to fatal error.
6. Kolmanskop
After France, the next ghost town is in Kolmanskop, Namibia. Today, the city is filled with sand. The city's history begins from 1908, when local workers and supervisors informed their superiors that the city is full of gems. Fortune seekers from the West then went to this place in order to enrich themselves.
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| Kolmanskop ghost town in Namibia. (Picture from: http://theoriens.com/) |
Over time, the city was packed with Western-style buildings. Residents who are looking for wealth in this exact exploit all its resources. The city became one of the cities with advanced transportation systems and technology in Africa. Unfortunately, the gems mine in this place no longer produce and then abandoned. Geographical position of the city, as well as the forces of nature that surrounds it makes this city covered with sand. Of course, there was no effort put out sand from the remaining buildings it.
5. Bodie
For a moment, forget about the full of men hills in Los Angeles. Forget the bridge that brought the magnificent California residents in their every day commuting activities. Now, imagine the barren city, similar to the background of the classic cowboy movies.
That's Bodie, a ghost town in the Bodie Hills, east of the Sierra Nevada in Mono County, California, United States. Just like Kolmanskop, in Bodie, humans once again proved their ability to exploit the area and then leave it alone.
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| Bodie ghost town,Californis. (Picture from: http://www.world-insights.com/) |
Bodie was built in the mid 19th century, following the discovery of gold. The news quickly spread and the city was filled with the breadwinner. However, when the work is more easily achieved in Montana, Arizona, and Utah, this town was abandoned.
Today, Bodie is widely known as the "ghost town". Abandoned buildings in this area was deliberately maintained in order not to be destroyed. The United States government set the area as a California Historical Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. Every year, the city received 200,000 visitors.
4. Belchite
Spain also keep a dark past as evidenced by ruins at Belchite. This place is a battlefield of Belchite battle of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, which killed up to 6,000 people.
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| Belchite ghost town as a reminder of the Spanish Civil War. (Picture from: http://www.kuriositas.com/) |
However, despite the evidence will become dark past and bloody, Belchite now also famous as a location for film shooting. The ruins in the area has been used as a background from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen movie a Terry Gilliam's work and Pan's Labyrinth the work of Guillermo Del Toro.
3. Kadykchan
As for the last ghost town in this list are in Russian. The city was named Kadykchan is not as tragic as Prypiat. However, the nuances and the remains of the building as if telling a similar pattern. Kadykchan was built by prisoners during World War II. Hopefully, the city will enjoy the economic progress brought by two local coal mines. Unfortunately, the dream stopped. The explosion in the coal mine claimed the lives of six people.
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| Kadykchan — a ghost town on the Chukchi Peninsula. (Picture from: http://oddstuffmagazine.com/) |
The explotion that occur deep underground mines eventually forced both closed. As of 2008 it has been reported only 250 people still live in this place, having earlier reached a population of approximately 7,000 people. At the last census in 2010 stated now the city is completely empty.
2. Gunkan-jima
This island is one of 505 uninhabited islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture of Japan, about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki. The island is also known as "Gunkan-jima" or the island of warships also known under its original name Hashima and the not so flattering nickname "Ghost Island", is without a doubt one of the most famous abandoned places in the world. In 1890 when Mitsubishi bought the island and began a project to retrieve coal from the bottom of the sea around the island. In 1916 they built the first large concrete on the island, an apartment block built for the workers and also serves to protect them from hurricanes.
In 1959, the island's population swells, when the population density reaches 835 people per hectare for the whole island (1,391 per hectare for residential central area), a densest population ever happened in the whole world. When oil replacing coal in 1960, the coal mines began closing, not least in Gunkan-jima. In 1974 Mitsubishi officially announced the closing of the mine, and finally emptied the island. In 2003 the island was taked as the setting of the 'Battle Royal II' movie and inspired a popular game 'Killer7'.
1. Prypiat
This area seems to be a uninhabited haunted city of the most famous in the world with a tragic story. So named the same as the Pripyat river is nearby and only occupied for 16 years. Prypiat is a residential area for workers at the Chernobyl nuclear region. This area is emptied since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that claimed nearly 50,000 lives. The entire population of Pripyat were evacuated immediately a few days after the Chernobyl disaster which occurred in April 1986.
Mentioned that the content of nuclear radiation in Pripyat already in the deadly stage and unfit for occupancy by living in a long time. Pripyat abandoned with empty buildings are creepy. After the incident, the site was practically like a museum, became part of Soviet history... *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES]
2. Gunkan-jima
This island is one of 505 uninhabited islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture of Japan, about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki. The island is also known as "Gunkan-jima" or the island of warships also known under its original name Hashima and the not so flattering nickname "Ghost Island", is without a doubt one of the most famous abandoned places in the world. In 1890 when Mitsubishi bought the island and began a project to retrieve coal from the bottom of the sea around the island. In 1916 they built the first large concrete on the island, an apartment block built for the workers and also serves to protect them from hurricanes.
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| Battleship Island or Gunkan-jima in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. (Picture from: http://abandonedkansai.com/) |
1. Prypiat
This area seems to be a uninhabited haunted city of the most famous in the world with a tragic story. So named the same as the Pripyat river is nearby and only occupied for 16 years. Prypiat is a residential area for workers at the Chernobyl nuclear region. This area is emptied since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that claimed nearly 50,000 lives. The entire population of Pripyat were evacuated immediately a few days after the Chernobyl disaster which occurred in April 1986.
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| Chernobyl nuclear disaster made the Prypiat as a ghost town today. (Picture from: http://famous101.com/) |
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