Tag Archives: Pripyat

50 Scary Places to Visit

A night when you are all alone in the house and hear a voice at the door. As soon as you intend to open the door, the power goes off; all you can see now is pitch black darkness. And as the shimmering light from nowhere finds its way into your room, you realise the person standing at the door is a rotting body without a head!

Even, if now also, you are not scared or can’t realise goosebumps, take a stroll through this list of 50 scary places around the world.

  1. The Island of the Dolls, Mexico

    m_The Island of the Dolls 1

    They are not just dolls! They can be found all across the island, they move their hands, they even whispers to each other and also lures the boatman to the island! Sound creepy, right? Yes, the first glance of this island is enough to scare the man out of you!

    m_The Island of the Dolls 2

  2. Hashima Island, Japan

    m_Hashima Island 1

    Once a bustling coal mine, Hashima Island is now the dwelling of souls and sprits. With zero human intervention, the deserted island has now become a ghost town, where you can hear murmuring and whispering sounds with no one beside you!

    m_Hashima Island 2

  3. The Hill of Crosses, Lithuania

    m_The Hill of Crosses 1

    Less of scary and more of a pilgrimage site, this hill is laced with hundreds and thousands of holy crosses. People from all over the world visit this sacred hill and leaves behind a holy cross to fulfil their wish. However, when it comes to spending a night in this hill, only a handful can dares!

    m_The Hill of Crosses 2

  4. Aokigahara, Japan

    m_Aokigahara 1

    Usually dense forests excite all of us with their lush and appealing charm. But…don’t get mistaken by the luscious outlook of the Aokigahara Forest in Japan, where you can witness signboards saying- ‘life is precious’, ‘consult the police before you decide to die’ at the entrance. It is the most haunted suicide point in the country with several paranormal activities reported so far!

    m_Aokigahara 2

  5. Pripyat, Ukraine

    m_Pripyat 1

    Why would someone desert a township with plenty of fun-rides, gymnasiums, auditoriums, galleries and other recreational spots? Well, to find the answer, you need to visit the spooky town of Pripyat in Ukraine; just make sure, you pray to the Gods before entering this ghostly town!

    m_Pripyat 2

  6. Craco, Italy

    m_Craco  1

    The last humanly activities reported in this village were in 1963, when the locales were transferred to some other vicinity. Since then no one has decided to turn up to this hamlet as it is considered to be cursed with evil souls and paranormal activities.

    m_Craco  2

  7. Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic

    m_Sedlec Ossuary 1

    On the very first look of this ossuary, you might not find anything unnatural! But hold on…take another look of your surroundings! Now don’t say that all the chandeliers, garlands in the room or the coats of arms are actually carved out from human bones and skeletons. Do you still want to visit this ossuary?

    m_Sedlec Ossuary 2

  8. Poveglia, Italy

    m_Poveglia Island  1

    A disguised island in Greece, Poveglia is an island where you can find bones and skulls with the waves crashing against the shores or might find your boat getting stuck into a pile of human bones. The once a dumping ground of the plague victims, there has been an array of paranormal activities reported in this island; it also includes the death of a psychic doctor who was choked to death by unnatural forces!

    m_Poveglia Island  2

  9. Tuol Sleng, Cambodia

    m_Tuol Sleng 1

    A school turned into prison, Tuol Sleng in Cmabodia ended up being a genocide ground! Claiming almost 14,000 lives of the inmates; most of which were brutally tortured to death, it is now one of the haunted places in Cambodia. You can visit this prison during the daytime, but spending a night; you have to think twice on this!

    m_Tuol Sleng 2

  10. Eastern State Penitentiary, Pennsylvania, USA

    m_Eastern State Penitentiary, Pennsylvania 1

    Most of us might not be aware of the ‘Pennsylvania System’! Well, to explain it, it was a system wherein the prisoners were dumped into solitude and at times, they were left to die in such tragic circumstances. Introduced in 1829 in Philadelphia in the Eastern State Penitentiary prison, the aftermath of this horrific practice has led to several spine-chilling paranormal activities in this prison.

    m_Eastern State Penitentiary, Pennsylvania 2

  11. Lome Bazaar, Togo, Africa

    m_Lome Bazaar, togo 1

    A market in Africa, where you can find all the necessary commodities to practice black magic, the Lome Bazaar is one of the scariest sites in the country. From freshly killed animals to well-preserved animal remains, skeletons and other parts, one can find everything in this market.

    m_Lome Bazaar, togo 2

  12. Miyake-jima, Japan

    m_Miyake-jima 1

    How hard and scary it will be to spend the entire life wearing a gas-mask? If you want to find an answer to this, visit the Miyake-jima, where people spent most of their lives wearing a gas mask in order to withstand the poisonous gases evolving from the active volcanoes.

    m_Miyake-jima 2

  13. Holy Land- Waterbury, Connecticut, USA

    m_Holy Land USA - Waterbury, Connecticut 1

    An amusement park built according to the stories and verses of the Bible, this park met a sudden death after it was shut down in the 1980s. Since then, the park has attracted plenty of ghost hunters who have claimed the presence of supernatural powers and paranormal activities within the park.

    m_Holy Land USA - Waterbury, Connecticut 2

  14. I.M. Cooling Tower, Belgium

    m_Abandoned Power Plant

    What makes this power plant look scary is its massive size and no humanly activities. The plant that had an amazing capacity to cool around 480,000 gallons of water every minute has now become one of the scariest places on earth!

  15. Overgrown section of the Great Wall, China

    m_Overgrown section of the Great Wall

    Nature has its own rules and anything challenging the nature is sure to taste defeat! Even the Great Wall of China could not stand the wrath of the nature, and some of its portions are being eaten up by the nature! Hidden away from the tourists, these portions of the walls are prone to vegetations and are losing their sustainability.

  16. Dadipark – Dadizel, Belgium

    m_Dadipark - Dadizel

    Opened during the 1950s, this amusement park in Belgium closed its door in 2002. It was due to a tragic incident, where a young boy lost his arm in 2000, the park stopped attracting visitors and finally ended up closing its gate forever. The vastness of the park and the silence that exists there made this one of the scariest places in Belgium.

  17. Military Hospital – Beelitz, Germany

    m_Military Hospital - Beelitz 1

    On a visit to this abandoned hospital, no one can believe that the great Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was treated here! A 60-building treatment facility centre, this hospital was shut down with the downfall of East Germany. All that is left today are the spooky corridors, cranky beds, rusty equipments and the fading colours.

    m_Military Hospital - Beelitz 2

  18. Willard Asylum – Willard, New York, USA

    m_Willard Asylum - Willard 1

    This chronic asylum came into existence in 1869 and had a capacity of around 4,000 patients at a time. In the course, the asylum witnessed around 50,000 deaths, out of which only a few were natural. Well, this makes the asylum and its morgue, one of the creepiest as well as scariest places.

    m_Willard Asylum - Willard 2

  19. Highgate Cemetery, North London, England

    m_Highgate Cemetery, North London 1

    What is so spooky about this cemetery where people like Karl Marx, Dougla Adams and others are buried? Well, it is in this cemetery that you can encounter a ghostly phantom, an old woman searching her kids, floating ghost of a nun, people vanishing in thin air and several other crazy things happening around you!

    m_Highgate Cemetery, North London 2

  20. Screaming Tunnel, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

    m_Screaming Tunnel, Niagara Falls, Ontario

    Walk through this tunnel on a pitch black night with a wooden match; you will know why this is called the ‘screaming tunnel’! Hundreds of years back, a young girl hid in this tunnel to escape the wrath of her drunken father. It is said that the soul of the girl still resides inside the tunnel and screams her heart out as someone makes their way into the tunnel with a wooden match.

  21. Changi Beach, Singapore

    m_Changi Beach

    Flying saucers or any other unidentified objects…sound exciting, right? But then, how about flying heads, headless bodies walking all over a beach, dying soldiers crying out for help and other unnatural events? Now, if this excites you, make it to the Changi Beach in Singapore that was once the execution ground of the Chinese army and witness the unnatural happenings!

  22. Monte Cristo, New South Wales, Australia

    m_Monte Cristo, New South Wales

    What haunts in this Australian cottage is a series of unnatural deaths! Young child falling from the stairs, caretakers killed brutally within the cottage premises, stable boy burnt till death and many such horrific events! Do you still want to visit the Monte Cristo Homestead?

  23. Edinburgh Castle, Scotland

    m_Edinburgh Castle

    A pile of human bones and skulls, sudden drop in the temperature and sensing someone beside you; does all these give you goosebumps! If not, spend a night in the Edinburgh Castle in Scotland and encounter the headless drummer with his ghostly dog and all your ghostly fascination will come true!

  24. Tower of London, England

    m_Tower of London

    On your regular visit around the tower, you might find a white lady waving hand to you! On entering the tower, you might hear the giggling of two kids in their nightgowns! And if you happen to reach the top of the tower, there are chances; you will end up witnessing a beheaded female’s body! Are you scared?

  25. The North Yungas Road, Bolivia

    m_The North Yungas Road 1

    Though this road has no relation with and paranormal or eerie events, yet it is considered as one the scariest road in the world. The curves, turns and twists of the road are enough to chill your spines. You take your eyes off the road for a second; only God can save you!

    m_The North Yungas Road 2

  26. Borley Rectory, Essex, England

    m_Borley Rectory, Essex

    Spend a night in this house; you can witness burning figures roaming freely within the premises and a floating nun following you everywhere. Known to be spookiest house in England, there has been a series of tragic as well as barbaric events that has given rise to several other unnatural events.

  27. Culloden Moor, Scotland

    m_Culloden Moor 1

    Don’t go with the serene and charming look of the site; it is the site where the last battle in the British soil took place. Less of a war and more of a slaughter, following this aftermath, it has been reported that the souls of the dead soldiers still haunts this site; they even cry in deep anguish and clashes their swords!

    m_Culloden Moor 2

  28. Bethnal Green Underground, London, England

    m_Bethnal Green Underground, London 1

    It was during the horrific World War II, when more than hundreds of people were executed to death in this station. Since then, one can hear screams of women, children and infants as well. According to the underground staffs, these are the unsatisfied souls of the victims who still haunt the passage.

    m_Bethnal Green Underground, London 2

  29. The Death Railway, Thailand

    m_The Death Railway

    While constructing this railway bridge over the Kwai River between Myanmar and Bangkok, thousands of slaves end up with death due to unhygienic conditions, malaria and other epidemics. Several decades later, even till now, this bridge is reported to be haunted by the ghosts of the dead labourers who still meander throughout the bridge. Do you still want to take a walk over this bridge?

  30. Stanley Hotel, Colorado, USA

    m_Stanley Hotel, Colorado

    While staying in this hotel, don’t just greet everyone in the passage or in the stairs! Also, don’t get curious to find out who is playing the melodious tune with the piano! There are heavy chances, you can come across ghostly kids playing in the staircase or in the passage, and the piano sounds coming from an empty ballroom! And, if you still want to spend a night here, make sure you don’t choose room #418!

  31. Pendle Hill, Lancashire, England

    m_Pendle Hill, Lancashire

    You might find it difficult to believe in witchcraft or any voodoo cult! But after visiting the Pendle Hills in Lancashire, you will no more find it tough! With witchcrafts being practised here during the 1612s, black magicians still visit this cult place and hunts down its ghosts to enhance their black powers!

  32. Bran Castle, Romania, Romania

    m_Bran Castle, Romania

    Also known as the Dracula’s Castle, no one exactly knows what resides between the dark walls of this castle. Once ruled by a rigorous and merciless killer, a night spent in this castle is enough to make you feel the presence of souls and spirits in it!

  33. Stull Cemetery, Kansas, USA

    m_Stull Cemetery, Kansas

    Disguised as the ‘gateway to hell’, the Stull Cemetery in USA is the meeting ground of the occult practicing. It is believed that the son of Satan was buried in this cemetery and since then, the Satan visits this site at midnight; during Halloween.

  34. Helltown, Ohio, USA

    m_Helltown, Ohio

    Not just one or two, but a several horrific stories are related to Helltown. While some claims that it is a mutant town, some says that people swarms this town to practice Satanic verses and rituals. And, in case you want to find out the truth, you can dare to spend a night at this spooky town in Ohio!

  35. Eyam, Derbyshire, England

    m_Eyam, Derbyshire 1

    Though a natural epidemic forced the locales to evacuate this settlement in England, one can still witness a young girl roaming in the narrow streets of the village. According to the tales related to Eyam, this girl was identified as Sarah Mills, who used to be a servant and is still searching for her way to the other world!

    m_Eyam, Derbyshire 2

  36. The Overtoun Bridge, Scotland

    m_The Overtoun Bridge 1

    It is said that animals can sense unnatural occurring or happenings before the humans. It is also said that dogs amongst the animals are the most sensitive in this regard. Knowing all of these, will you ever believe if someone says that every month, dogs commit suicide at this point? Sounds unbelievable, but true!

    m_The Overtoun Bridge 2

  37. Mirny Diamond Mine, Eastern Siberia, Russia

    m_Mirny Diamond Mine - Eastern Siberia

    Did the Bermuda Triangle and its mysteries ever fascinate you? Be it a yes or no, but this deserted mine in Russia will surely do! Though the mine is closed now, no one has yet been able to explain why helicopters flying above the mine-hole were sucked into it!

  38. Castle of Good Hope – Cape Town, South Africa

    m_Castle of Good Hope – Cape Town

    Strange voices all over, eerie footsteps down the stairways and screams that can cause your blood clot; are you ready to believe in all these crazy happenings? If not, you must visit the Castle of Good Hope and ask its guards who has been witnessing these since ages!

  39. Fort George, The Citadel, Nova Scotia, Canada

    m_Fort George, The Citadel, Nova Scotia

    A sudden knock at the door might urge you to open the door, but while in this 300 years old, you might not find anyone upon opening the door! Why this happens? Well, the ghosts dwelling in this fort are the best persons to answer you! Do you still want an answer? And if you dare to explore more, you can also encounter an elderly lady looking at herself in the mirror, a group of ghostly people chatting around a table and lot more!

  40. Château de Brissac, Maine-et-Loire, France

    m_Château de Brissac, Maine-et-Loire

    Spend a night in this cursed castle, and you can meet the ‘Green Lady’! However, do not ever dare to look at her face; there have been cases, when the guests to the castles fainted or broke down seeing her scary faces with holes in place of eyes and the nose!

  41. Sanzhi UFO Houses – San Zhi, Taiwan

    m_Sanzhi UFO Houses - San Zhi

    Though the construction of this township began with full vigour, it soon got mixed with the dust and construction never got completed! Well, the reason, why everyone deserted the construction site and the town never happened to complete is still unknown to the outer world!

  42. Gulliver’s Travels Park – Kawaguchi, Japan

    m_Gulliver’s Travels Park - Kawaguchi

    After this amusement park came into existence, no one would have wondered, it will end up with such a tragic end! Located within a close proximity to the Mt Fiji and the disguised Aokigahara Forest or the ‘Suicide Forest’, it had obvious reasons to shut down.

  43. Canfranc Rail Station, Spain

    m_Canfranc Rail Station

    Though this railway station played an important role in Spain’s international railway system, it was suddenly shut down after an accident in 1970. With no humanly activities since then, the once a sprawling station has now turned to be a ghost town.

  44. Underwater City, Shicheng, China

    m_Underwater City - Shicheng

    The Shicheng City or the ‘Lion City’ in China that dates around 1,400 years old is also one of the scariest places on earth. The once an epicentre of China, the city met its end after the Xin’an River Hydropower Station was built, when the entire of this city got submerged under the Qiandao Lake.

  45. Wonderland Amusement Park – Beijing, China

    m_Wonderland Amusement Park - Beijing

    Its massive and unfinished structure makes it quite a scary place in China. Though the construction of this amusement park was about to complete, it stopped due to some disagreement with the local government. Since then, the park has become a deserted and people often find it scary to step inside the park alone.

  46. Częstochowa Train Depot, Poland

    Częstochowa Train Depot

    No one really knows why this train depot was shut down all of a sudden! Its shabby outlook, rusting railway tracks, decaying coaches and engines prove that it was once a bustling train depot. However, now, it is more of a scary site in Poland and attracts only photographers and adventure seekers.

  47. Lawang Sewu Semarang, Indonesia

    m_Lawang Sewu Semarang

    Famed as the scariest as well as the scariest place in Indonesia, Lawang Sewu saw a series of killings and brutal tortures. During the World War II, the Japanese soldiers used the basement of this structure as a killing ground. Post this; a chain of several other horrific incidents also took place in here. Among the spooky events in Lawang Sewu, the ghost of a Dutch Woman and beheaded spirits are the most popular.

  48. Akershus Fortress, Oslo, Norway

    m_Akershus Fortress Oslo

    It is in this fortress, where thousands of prisoners were executed during the Nazi Rule. Prior to this, it served as a treacherous prison, where soldiers were ill treated and in some cases were starved till death. After experiencing so much in history, the fortress has now become one of the haunted sites in the country!

  49. Bhangarh Fort, India  India

    m_Bhangarh Fort, India

    Unlike other forts in Rajasthan, Bhangarh attracts visitors only during the daytime! Come evening, the eeriness of the fort comes alive and no visitors are allowed in the fort till the sunrise. Till now, no one has spent the night within the fort and thus the happenings are still a mystery to the world!

    [Check out more such ghostly places in India]

  50. Chateau Miranda – Celles, Belgium

    m_Chateau Miranda - Celles

    Once inhabited by Liedekerke-Beaufort family, this castle was abandoned after the French Revolution. Post this; it was used as an orphangae. But now, what attracts the visitors in this castle, are its spooky tales and paranormal activities. It is one of the most sought after destinations for ghost hunters in Belgium.

Leave a comment

Filed under Humor and Observations

Abandoned Towns and Cities of the World

Standing as stark reminders of a people’s past endeavors and hopes for the future, thousands of abandoned towns and cities can be seen around the world–some like silent, dusty museums, some little more than markers left in remembrance.
Standing as stark reminders of a people’s past endeavors and hopes for the future, thousands of abandoned towns and cities can be seen around the world–some like silent, dusty museums, some little more than the wood or stone markers placed in remembrance.

Yet, each speaks volumes of another time.

War, superstition, famine, earthquakes,religion, man-made disasters, shifting values, fire, disease, failed economy, and hurricanes have all played their roles in reducing thriving, prosperous cities to mere rubble and models of waste.

From Hong Kong to France, Turkey to Chile, here are ten of the countless  abandoned towns and citiesthat still speak loudly of the people who once called them home.

> The Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong: Abandoned 1993

Image credit

A former watchpost to guard against pirates, the Kowloon Walled City was built just outside Hong Kong, China during British rule. Occupied by Japan during World War II and subsequently taken over by squatters after Japan’s surrender, neither Britain nor China wanted responsibility for the deteriorating metropolis so it became its own lawless city. Flourishing for decades, it became a place where brothels,casinos, opium dens, cocaine parlors, vendors serving dog meat, and secret factories ran rampant.  It was finally torn down in 1993 after British and Chinese authorities grew wary of the out-of-control population living in filthy conditions.

> Pripyat, Ukraine: Abandoned 1986

Image credit

Now a mere ghost town near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine (in the Kiev Oblast [province]), Pripyat was founded in 1970 specifically to house workers of the nuclear power plant. Officially proclaimed a city in 1979, it achieved a population of nearly 50,000 before being forced to abandon it in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster.

> Oradour-sur-Glane, France: Abandoned late 1940s

Image credit

The site of one of the most horrific war atrocities in French history, the small village of Oradour-sur-Glane was the scene of a massacre perpetrated by the Germans who’d planned to punish members of the French Resistance. Intending to target nearby Oradour-sur-Vayres–instead of Oradour-sur-Glane–German soldiers marched in and disposed of 642 civilians on June 10th, 1944. According to a survivor’s account, “The men were herded into barns where they were shot in the legs so they would die more slowly. The women and children, who had been held in a church, all perished when their attempt to escape was met by machine-gun fire. The village was razed by the Germans afterward.” Today, the ruins at Oradour-sur-Glane stand as a memorial to the dead and as a reminder of that event.

> Sanzhi district, New Taipei City, Taiwan: Abandoned 1980

Image credit

With construction beginning in 1978, the Sanzhi UFO houses (also known as the Sanzhi pod houses or Sanzhi Pod City), were a set of pod-shaped buildings owned by Hung Kuo Group, marketed as a vacation resort for U.S. military officers coming from their East Asian postings. The project, however, was abandoned in 1980 due to investment losses and several car accident deaths occurring during construction, said to have been caused by the unlucky act of bisecting the Chinese dragon sculpture located near the resort gates during the widening the entrance road. (Another story pointed to the fact that the site was the former burial ground for Dutch soldiers.) Despite an online petition to retain one of the structures as a museum (and it becoming the location of an MTV film on the subject), demolition on the site began on December 29, 2008, with plans to redevelop the site into a tourist attraction with hotels and beach facilities at a later date.

> Kolmanskop, Namibia, Africa: Abandoned 1956

Image credit

Located a few miles inland from the port of Laderitz in Namibia, Africa, Kolmanskop was a wild and dangerous German-built diamond mining town which thrived until 1956 when diamond demand declined and richer sources of diamonds were discovered in other areas of Africa. Once offering a German style ballroom, theater, and the first tram system in Africa, the shifting sands have now filled the houses, covered the streets, and is slowly erasing most signs of civilization. Now nearly sand-bound, the abandoned city is said to be a habitat for birds, hyenas, and other wild and feral animals.

> Kayakoy, Turkey: Abandoned 1923

Image credit

Once a thriving Greek village dating to the 13th century with 25,000 inhabitants, the town was completely deserted when its entire population–along with millions of other Greeks in Turkey–were forced out of the country due to the Greek War of Independence in 1923. Since then, the village has stood empty and deteriorating. Kayakoy is cited as the largest and most well-preserved ghost village of Asia Minor.

> Craco, Basilicata, Italy: Abandoned 1960s

Image credit

The medieval village of Craco, Italy, was built on a very steep summit to utilize its natural defense against invaders. Over the centuries, however, the village lost residents due to a plague, French occupation, civil war, and finally, lost the majority of its population due to near-famine in 1892 and 1922. The final blows were earthquakes in the 1960s which forced the remaining occupants out of the city. It now sets completely uninhabited, with a number of old world churches such as Santa Maria della Stella standing as reminders of what once was.

>Tyneham, Isle of Purbeck, south Dorset England: Abandoned 1940s

Image credit

Referred to as “the village that Dorset lost,” the British Ministry of Defense commandeered this town on the Isle of Purbeck during World War II to use as an army base, with citizens promised they could return to their homes after the war ended. But they were never allowed back in. Lying now in ruins except for the schoolhouse and church that still stand relatively untouched, a poignant sign on the church still reads, “Please treat the church and houses with care; we have given up our homes where many of us lived for generations to help win the war to keep men free. We shall return one day and thank you for treating the village kindly.”

> Klomino, Poland: Abandoned 1992

Image credit

Built solely as living quarters for the Russian Army, Polish officials have been trying to dispose of the village of Klomino for years now–last on the market for 2 million dollars. Due to lack of interest, most of its remaining buildings have been demolished, with locals destroying the remainder. It has set quietly waiting repopulation since the Russian Red Army withdrew its forces in 1992.

> Humberstone, Chile: Abandoned 1961

Image credit

A booming town from the 1920s through the early 1940s, Humberstone enjoyed wealth and prosperity due to the mining and processing of nitrate, also known as “saltpeter.” Once synthetic saltpeter was invented, however, the town fell into economic decline until it was finally abandoned in 1961. Now encased in sand, the town has been named a World Heritage Site and will most likely be preserved as an historical monument.

References:

http://www.gadling.com/2011/04/27/the-worlds-ten-creepiest-abandoned-cities/?ncid=&a_dgi=aolshare_email

http://weburbanist.com/2008/07/06/20-abandoned-cities-and-towns/

http://www.perspectivaciudadana.com/contenido.php?itemid=24246

Leave a comment

Filed under Humor and Observations