As the modern world tunnels towards a future of AI, smart tech and city-chique developments, travellers remain attracted to surviving ghost towns – dystopian, dark and eerie. With abandoned buildings being a testament to history, visitors can see areas full of empty homes, schools, hospitals, and theme parks, some of which appear frozen in time. The world is littered with ruins and empty houses but only a fair few truly set your heart pacing and imagination running in anticipation.
From crumbling castles and wartorn remains, to towns deserted from a lack of funding, what haunts viewers appears to be the morbid promise of history, the backstory of events that led each site to become paused in time, an image away from human interaction. Horror lovers and adventurers claim the absence of life and noise is the key.
Here are nine of the most creepy and unsettling ghost towns and destinations in the world – the first being a mining island in Japan.
Hashima
Hashima was purchased by company Mitsubishi in 1890, which developed the island into a seabed coal mining site. It’s massive concrete blocks became apartments for workers and their families – depressing grey buildings looming above the island’s undersea mining shafts which drop down to the seabed, stretching out to islands closeby.
What was once one of the world’s most populated towns in 1959, was abandoned just 15 years later in 1974, with its 5250 residents leaving. Now a cultural heritage site, travellers can tour the settlement via daily boat trips, or even spot its structures in blockbuster films like 2012’s Skyfall.
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Pripyat
Situated in North Ukraine, Pripyat began as an atomic city (atomgrad) in the seventies, built to home workers close to Chernobyl’s Nuclear Power Plant. Making headlines in 1986 after deadly disaster struck at the site, the city was evacuated.
What draws ghost town lovers to the scene is just how instant the flip from city to graveyard was, with residents forced to leave their possessions as they were rushed away. Featuring in 2019’s Chernobyl and David Attenborough’s A Life On Our Planet, Pripyat can be recognised by its lifeless ferris wheel.
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Pyramiden
Hidden amongst the snow-capped mountains of Svalbard, the Artic Circle, an heritage site has sat idle since 1998. What was once a coal mining town, Pyramiden was sold to the USSR by Sweden in 1927. Then, the town held residents of up to 1,000 people.
Its Soviet industrial style and isolated surroundings make the town a top contender for tourists, despite only being accesseible through guided tours via Longyearbyen.
Preserved in time, ghost town fanatics can view the workers’ barracks, cantina, school, swimming pool, gymnasium, and even its theatre – the visit concluding with a shot of vodka in the bar, reports International Traveller. Making a winter trip whilst there, make sure to try snowmobiling, whale watching and spotting the Northern Lights as well.
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Real de Catorce
This town is located in San Luis Potasi, Central Mexico, 2,750m into the Sierre Catorce mountains. What was once a thriving silver mining town, Real is now a destination for Catholic and indigineous Huichol pilgramages.
Drawing tourists from around the globe, the site has appeared in Hollywood films such as The Mexican, starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. The picturesque scenery of crumbling stone creates a sepia scene – entered by way of the Tunel de Ogarrio, an eerie 1.25 mile drive. The Mexican mountains offer horesback guided tours by locals, transporting visitors back in time.
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Kolmanskop
Kolmanskop is an oasis for photographers willing to trek to the Namib desert’s centre. Forsaken over 70 years ago after the diamond mine ran ‘dry’, the decaying architecture is now inhabited by desert sand alone.
Rooms full of sand dunes stand within Sperrgebiet National Park – a restricted zone due to the potential of remaining diamonds. Requiring a permit, visitors can partake in a tour of the remaining bowling alley and ice factory. The tour may end with the option to explore certain houses alone, granted that they are still structurally safe.
(Image: Getty)
