The 30 Most Terrifying Abandoned Places in the World:Ruins of a Forgotten World

They claim that the only constant in the world is changing. Similarly, historical structures, towns, railway lines, and even amusement parks may be found all over the world. And some of the world’s most run-down and abandoned locations have a ghostly and scary feel about them.

There are unseen stories related to these abandoned locations all around the world beneath all of this dust and rust. Continue reading to learn more about these deserted locations.

Castles and mansions that have been abandoned

#1 Pollepel Island, New York’s Bannerman Castle

After purchasing the American military surplus from the Spanish war, Francis Bannerman VI constructed a massive storage facility. However, much of the castle was destroyed in 1920 as a result of a massive explosion of ammunition. Following that, the castle’s ruins were abandoned.

#2 New York’s Dundas Castle

Bradford L. Gilbert designed the elegant New York castle for his Scottish wife, Anna Dundas. Gilbert died before the structure was finished, and Dundas committed herself to a sanatorium. So, even though no one ever lived there, there are legends about the ghost of Dundas roaming the halls of the abandoned castle.

#3 Miranda Castle in Belgium

During the French Revolution, Count Liedekerke Beaufort, a Belgian political activist, was forced to flee his home and relocate with his family to a neighboring country. Edward Milner, an English architect, was commissioned to build a summer home in 1866. Milner died before the castle was finished. Following that, the castle served as a Nazi concentration camp during WWII, a holiday camp for the National Railway Company of Belgium, and an orphanage. Finally, due to exorbitant upkeep expenditures, the castle was abandoned in 1991.

#4 Kilchurn Castle in Scotland

Kilchurn Castle, built in the mid-1400s, has housed some of Scotland’s most powerful people. Despite its striking location, it was abandoned in the 1700s and is now only a popular photography spot.

#5 Bodiam Castle in England

The castle was built in the 14th century in East Sussex (England) to protect the area from the French. It survived several wars before being abandoned. It is now a popular tourist attraction in England.

#6 Witley Court is located in Worcestershire, England

After the devastating fire of 1937, the 19^th-century palatial Witley Court never fully recovered to its former glory. After some restoration work on the massive estate, this previously abandoned location is now a tourist attraction. Visitors can stroll through the gardens and see the Perseus and Andromeda fountains.

#7 Dome Homes in Florida

The Dome Homes is a vacation property located a bit off the shore of Marco Island near Cape Romano (Florida). However, due to a succession of hurricanes and a deteriorating shoreline, the alien spacecraft-like construction was finally abandoned.

Cities, towns, and villages that have been abandoned

#8 Craco, Italy 

The little hill town in Basilicata (southern Italy) was founded around 540 AD. However, the town’s position was eventually to blame for its demise. Craco was completely abandoned by the early 1990s due to poor agriculture, a landslide in 1963, a flood in 1972, and the persistent instability of the slope on which the town was built. It was, however, seen again in the popular film The Passion of the Christ.

#9 Kayakoy, Turkey

Kayakoy village in Turkey, nestled in the Taurus Mountains, has been deserted since the 1920s due to a political population swap with Greece. It is one of the most popular abandoned sites in the world, with approximately 350 unoccupied dwellings.

#10 Fordlandia, Brazil

Fordlandia, founded in 1927 by Henry Ford, the creator of Ford Motors, was planned to be a massive rubber plantation in the Amazon forest. Ford envisioned a corporate city surrounded by every form of luxury possible. Swimming pools, a golf course, bungalows, and even a location to practice patriotic American dances were all planned for the corporate metropolis. The proposal of a booze prohibition, on the other hand, outraged the local employees, who tossed the vehicles into the river and pursued the management into the bush in 1930. The city has since been abandoned.

#11 Cyprus, Varosha

In the early 1970s, Varosha was a contemporary tourist destination in north Cyprus. Its opulent beaches and hotels drew celebrities like as Brigitte Bardot and Elizabeth Taylor, who sunbathed on the Varosha beach. However, with the Turkish invasion in 1974, everything changed dramatically, and the whole people abandoned the region in fear of slaughter. Due to difficult political events, the land has remained abandoned ever since.

#12 Pripyat, Ukraine

The 1986 Chornobyl Radioactive Power Plant incident resulted in a city-wide nuclear radiation release. Pripyat, formerly home to thousands of plant workers and their families, had to be evacuated promptly.

#13 Villa Epecuén, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina 

During the 1920s and early 1980s, the former tourist resort of Villa Epecuén on the banks of Lake Epecuén was quite popular. The whole community was inundated when the dam that held back the lake’s waters collapsed in 19085. Though the water had retreated, the community has been abandoned since then.

#14 Namibia, Kolmanskop

German settlers looking for diamonds founded the town in the Namib desert in 1908. However, by the mid-1950s, the town’s resources had run out, and it was abandoned. Today, the homes are filled to the brim with sand, creating an eerie but striking image of the town.

#15 Taiwan (15. Sanzhi)

Sanzhi, Taiwan’s city of UFO houses, was created as a vacation destination for US military officers returning from assignments in Asia. However, due to unfortunate car accidents and the loss of investments, this site was forced to close in 1980. In 2010, the structure was completely demolished.

#16 Bodie Ghost Town, California, USA

Miners found significant quantities of gold and silver in the town in 1876. However, the city quickly earned the moniker “sin city” due to its abundance of brothels and hop joints. It wasn’t long until it fell bankrupt in the 1940s, becoming one of the world’s best-preserved ghost towns.

Islands that have been abandoned

#17 China’s Gouqi Island

The fishing community of Gouqi island on China’s Yangtze River is famed for its luxuriant structures covered in foliage and ivy.

#18 India’s Ross Island

Ross Island, the former British administrative seat for the Indian Penal Settlement, was an abandoned island in southern Andaman until recently. It is presently maintained by the government and is a popular tourist destination in the Andaman Islands. The graveyard and the dilapidated church add to the somber atmosphere of this abandoned island.

#19 Hirta Island in Scotland

Hirta Island, formerly a lush island with a huge population, has been abandoned since the 1930s owing to the fear of malnutrition and terrible weather conditions.

#20 Nagasaki Prefecture, Hashima Island, Japan

Known colloquially as Battleship Island, Hashima Island once housed a coal mining complex, a hospital, a school, and various eateries (late-19th century to mid-20th century). They are, however, all in a deteriorated state now.

#21 Isla de las Muecas, Mexico

The Island of Dolls is located just outside of Mexico City. According to the myth, the island’s old keeper discovered a dead girl in the canal that borders the island. To satisfy the dead girl’s ghost, he began collecting rubbish dolls and putting them up throughout the island. Surprisingly, the caretaker’s body was discovered in 2001 in the same location where he claimed to have seen the deceased girl.

#22 Island of Poveglia, Italy

Poveglia island, located in Italy’s Venetian Lagoon, became a dumping place for plague victims during Napoleon Bonaparte’s reign. It was later transformed into a psychiatric hospital before being abandoned entirely.

Amusement Parks That Have Been Closed

#23 Six Flags New Orleans, USA

The former theme park was devastated by the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, which damaged approximately 80% of the rides. The theme park was finally closed due to significant rehabilitation expenditures.

Discovery Island Theme Park in Florida and Holy Land Theme Park in Connecticut are both located in the United States.

#24 Beijing Wonderland Amusement Park

The Wonderland Amusement Park, intended to be Beijing’s counterpart to Disneyland, might become one of the world’s abandoned sites. Construction came to a standstill in 1998 because to rising land prices. Local farmers are growing crops on a portion of the site. There are also proposals to destroy the abandoned buildings to make way for a commercial mall.

#25 Dadipark, Dadizele, Belgium

Dadipark was one of Belgium’s fashionable amusement parks that were closed down over a decade ago when a little kid lost his arm in one of the rides. Despite repeated leaks about its restorations and reopening intentions, the park has only seen rust, graffiti, and subterranean skating parks thus far.

#26 Nara Dreamland Theme Park, Nara, Japan

Nara Dreamland Park, inspired by Disneyland, opened in 1961 but closed in 2006. Since then, it has become one of the most eerie-looking abandoned sites in the world.

#27 Spreepark, Berlin, Germany

Opened in the then-Soviet-ruled East Berlin in 1969, Spreepark was the only amusement park in the region back then. With the passage of time, the wall crumbled and bigger & better parks opened up. Subsequently, the amusement park was shut down in 2001 and has been abandoned ever since.

#28 Gulliver’s Travels Park, Kawaguchi, Japan

Opened in 1997, Gulliver’s Travels Park in the Kawaguchi area of Japan could not continue any more than 10 years despite financial backing from the Japanese government.

Other gorgeous abandoned sites in the globe

#29 Floating Forest, Sydney

Built in 1911, the vintage SS Ayrfield decommissioned in 1972 and was abandoned at the ship cemetery in Homebush Bay (west of Sydney) (west of Sydney). But the gorgeous mangrove plants and the foliage bursting out of the vessel make it stand out from the others.

#30 Hotel del Salto, Columbia

Once a luxury hotel, Tequendama Falls Hotel was erected in the early 1920s in the city of San Antonio del Tequendama. But with the passage of time, the Bogota river became poisoned and the tourist plummeted. Eventually, the hotel was shut down and is now considered to be haunted.