Pripyat, Ukraine
Site of the infamous Chernobyl incident, the entire city had to be abandoned in 1986 due to nuclear radiation.

Sanzhi District, Taiwan
The “Sanzhi UFO houses” were a major development project for some pretty unusual-looking vacation homes, which was abandoned in 1978 before it could be completed. The site was demolished in 2008, and is now being redeveloped.

Craco, Italy
Craco was a medieval village built high up on a steep summit for defensive reasons, but recurring earthquakes eventually made it impossible to sustain. Today, less than 800 people live there in a commune, while the majority remains eerily uninhabited.

Kolmanskop, Namibia
Formerly a bustling diamond mining town, after the market declined, inhabitants began leaving the town after WWI; by 1954, it was completely deserted. As it was an enclave for German colonialists for many years, the architecture is not only out of place, but its abandonment enhances it even more.

Oradour-sur-Glane, France
Oradour-sur-Glane was a village destroyed by a German military unit in 1944, killing 642 of its inhabitants. Although a new village was built nearby to replace it, today the original village stands as a memorial.

Centralia, Pennsylvania
Centralia was once a prosperous mining town, but in 1962 a mine fire broke out, which continues to burn off the coal underground to this day. As a result, its population is 10 as of 2010, making it one of the least-populated municipalities in Pennsylvania.