Top 10 Creepiest Abandoned Places Around the World

Though there are other examples of abandoned Italian places like the old center of Balestrino, the Medieval settlement of Craco, founded around 540 AD, is one of the most noteworthy. Situated in southern Italy, Craco had two separate districts and a population of over 2,000 people at its height. A university was even established in the late-13th century. However, Craco’s history is also littered with troubles, including a devastating plague in 1656 and civil upheaval throughout the 1800s. A series of natural disasters and geological issues like a landslide in 1963 finally proved the final straw. After the Irpinia Earthquake of 1980, Craco was fully abandoned, and now it’s most known as a film set where scenes from films like “The Passion of the Christ” and “Quantum of Solace” were shot.

What was once one of Colombia’s most exclusive hotels is now one of its spookiest spots. The Mansion of Tequendama Falls was originally built by the architect Carlos Arturo Tapias in 1923, and converted into a luxury guesthouse in 1928. It boasted immaculate views of the Falls and there were plans to extend it to a hotel of eighteen floors. However, those plans were never realized as water pollution problems in the Bogotá River turned the once-serene setting into an unsightly one. Ultimately, the building was abandoned in the ‘90s. Furthermore, as the Falls are a noted suicide spot, the Hotel del Salto, aka the Tequendama Falls Hotel, is said to be haunted. It plays host to the Tequendama Falls Museum now, which shows the change from deluxe to dilapidated.

Built during World War II as a last line of defense against Germany, the Maunsell Forts were never intended to last. The science fiction-like structures rising from the River Thames and Mersey estuaries were decommissioned in the 1950s, but while some succumbed to the sea or were dismantled, most remain intact. Some of the technology used in the forts’ construction was applied post-war to build offshore drilling stations, and during the 1960s these structures were home to pirate radio stations. The Red Sand towers are perhaps the best known of all the bases, and today there is an ongoing project to restore them. In fact, one proposal even suggests converting them into luxury apartments! For now, however, there are few more eerily isolated places on the planet.

As a mining boomtown built in the California gold rush in the late 1850s, Bodie’s best years were between 1877-1880, when the population peaked at approximately 7,000 people. It was the archetypal Wild West town; its mile-long Main Street played host to saloon brawls, shootouts and stagecoach holdups. With a jail, bank, railroad and Union Hall, it was the model of an Old West movie set. Miners began to relocate in the 1880s however, and by 1910 less than 700 people lived here. When the last gold mine was closed in 1942, Bodie essentially became a ghost town. Today, it is preserved as a National Historical Landmark; the buildings remain unchanged, but the streets are deserted.

Situated between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea was once the fourth largest lake in the world; now it’s the setting for an ultra-eerie graveyard of ships. The Sea has been shrinking ever since the 1960s, when two major rivers flowing into the lake were diverted as part of Soviet irrigation schemes. Today, less than 10% of the original lake remains. The decaying boats are a rusty reminder of the thriving fishing industry that once existed on Aral shores. There are tentative plans to redevelop the Aral Sea, but it seems all but impossible for it to regain its former vastness. Either way, these particular vessels are definitely not fit for action anymore.

Set within the desolate landscapes of the Namib Desert, Kolmanskop was built when diamonds were discovered there in 1908. It was one of the most lucrative spots on the planet at one point, accounting for over 10% of the world’s total diamond production. The town itself was hurriedly built under German administration. As a result, its buildings all mimic European architecture, with the local pub and skittle alley reportedly the busiest spot. However, when even richer diamond deposits were discovered elsewhere in 1928, Kolmanskop quickly declined. The last families moved out in 1956, and the desert has been steadily reclaiming the settlement ever since. The effect might be described as an anti-oasis; there really was a desert paradise here at one time, but not anymore.

Widely dubbed China’s Atlantis, Shicheng is one of the most inaccessible of today’s abandoned places, because it is entirely submerged in water! Schicheng – which translates to Lion City – was built between 1,400 and 2,000 years ago, but was purposefully flooded in 1959 to create Qiandao Lake. When divers rediscovered the city several decades later, experts and tourists marveled at how immaculately it had been preserved. Now, undisturbed and up to 131 feet below water, it offers a unique diving experience. There are even plans to build an inverted bridge for the city, otherwise known as a submerged floating tunnel, to give more people the chance to get an underwater glimpse without the need of a wetsuit.

Officially known as Hashima Island, Gunkanjima is commonly known as Battleship Island thanks to its ominous appearance. Located ten miles from Nagasaki, Gunkanjima quickly became a symbol for Japanese industrialization due to its undersea coalmines. But it also gained notoriety before and during World War II as a brutal labor camp where Korean and Chinese workers endured extremely harsh conditions. Population peaked in 1959 when over 5,000 people lived on the 16-acre stretch of land, before the mine was closed in 1974. Travel to Gunkanjima reopened in 2009, allowing tourists to visit the decrepit site, which had lain deserted for 35 years. There’s now an otherworldly feel to the place as one that had once housed thousands of people, and now hosts plenty of ghosts.

The 60-building sanatorium at Beelitz-Heilstätten was built in 1898 but was converted into a German military hospital during World War I. The site’s most infamous moment came in 1916, when a young Adolf Hitler arrived having been injured in the Battle of the Somme, and was treated for a wound to his leg. The Soviet Red Army took control of the complex following World War II. However, most of the site was abandoned by 2000, left to rot and succumb to the surrounding foliage. Rusting hospital beds, discarded surgery tables and decaying corridors combine for an incredibly haunting atmosphere – not least because Beelitz will always be the place that helped Hitler get back on his feet.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
- 1984 Winter Olympics Bobsleigh & Luge Track
Bosnia and Herzegovina

- Ryugyong Hotel
North Korea

- Château Miranda [aka Miranda Castle and Noisy Castle]
Belgium

Following a massive explosion at reactor number four of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26th, 1986, the city of Pripyat was evacuated, with many of its 49,000 population already experiencing headaches, nausea and dizziness. The largely unknown threat of radiation poisoning created an 18-mile exclusion zone – which remains to this day. The city exists exactly as it was left, down to open textbooks in the classrooms, and set tables in the restaurants. What’s left is a city-sized ghost town with a harrowing past, while iconic images of the ruined Ferris wheel serve as a constant reminder of the dangers involved with nuclear power. There’s no other abandoned place quite like this one!

Do you agree with our list? Which abandoned place have we yet to find? For more entirely unpopulated top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.