After being built with great hopes, these colossal city complexes are now forsaken, on the brink of oblivion, leaving those who see them astonished. Some cities were abandoned due to war, while others remain deserted due to nuclear radiation leaks, still bearing the deep scars of the past. Let's take a look at the historical stories behind these ghost cities that leave visitors in awe.
Oradour-sur-Glane - France
This city's story reflects the brutal side of World War II and has found its place in the painful pages of history. In June 1944, as the German pressure on France began to break, the Nazis, in an attempt to break the motivation of the French resistance, displayed their ruthlessness in the regions where the resistance was active. On June 10, 1944, the SS officer of the Nazi division that arrived in Oradour-sur-Glane ordered the gathering of a total of 642 people identified among the residents in the square. All the prisoners gathered in the square were massacred with machine guns. Then all the houses were set on fire, and all the inhabitants of the town were killed. After the war, French President Charles de Gaulle decided to leave the abandoned and destroyed town as it was, turning it into an open-air museum to reflect the memory of those who died in the war.
Bodie - California - USA
Established in 1876, Bodie, located 120 km from Lake Tahoe and built for the nearby mines, still maintains the atmosphere of those old American towns we remember from cowboy movies. With the establishment of Bodie and the increasing number of workers in the nearby mines, the town became a hub of gambling, prostitution, and entertainment, a full-fledged sin city.
However, the location where Bodie was founded had quite unfavorable weather conditions. Starting from 1880, with harsh and unfavorable weather conditions and poor infrastructure, Bodie began to be gradually abandoned. By 1940, during World War II, the last inhabitants of Bodie had also moved out of the town. Today, Bodie remains standing as a complete ghost town, bearing all the traces of the Wild West.
Ordos - China
The Chinese government embarked on the Ordos city, which became the biggest public investment in history. Designed as a replica of Paris, France, it was estimated that approximately one million people would settle in Ordos city, which includes theaters, an airport, collective housing, and villas. However, due to various reasons such as people's reluctance and refusal to settle, the city remains a colossal ghost city. Despite being a region rich in coal reserves, when combined with factors like high real estate prices and never-ending projects, Ordos, which was established in a very modern way in the northern region of China, turned into a ghost city.
In Mongolian, Ordos means "palaces". Contrary to the planned population of one million, only a thousand people, one percent of the population, have settled in Ordos.
Pripyat - Ukraine
On April 26, 1986, a result of the faulty construction of the RBMK reactor and the operation by inexperienced personnel at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian city of Pripyat, the world's largest nuclear disaster occurred. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded during an experiment conducted on the night of April 26, 1986, releasing intense radiation into the surrounding area. The devastating effects caused by the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant continue even today. (For detailed information, see Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Disaster)
Pripyat city was built for the staff working at the plant. After the accident, it was evacuated within 36 hours, and it was said that this situation would be temporary. However, more than 30 years have passed since, and due to the high levels of radiation detected in the region, it is still not suitable for human habitation. The Ukrainian government now allows tours for tourist purposes. Since Pripyat city was abruptly evacuated after the accident, the traces of that period remain vividly in view. According to scientists, Pripyat has been contaminated to an extent that it will not allow human habitation for about 900 years. According to the official report of the USSR that is still valid, 31 people lost their lives as a result of the plant's explosion.
Kolmanskop - Namibia
In the early 1900s, the European colonizers who wanted to exploit Africa's diamond deposits founded the city of Kolmanskop in Namibia. With substantial investments made during this period, Namibia's Komanskop city became a rich town.
Namibia was a colony of Germany at that time. The area located 10 km from the Lüderitz port, which was first introduced in 1908 when the worker Zacharias Lewala showed the diamond he found in the region to the railroad chief August Stauch, gained a reputation. The Germans, realizing that the region was rich in diamonds, established Kolmanskop. The first diamond settlers made a huge fortune as they expected, and Kolmanskop turned into a luxurious German-style town. Many structures such as schools, hospitals, ballrooms, theaters, and power plants were built. The first X-ray machine on the African continent was brought to this city, and the first tramway between Kolmanskop and Lüderitz cities was built.
However, after World War I, as the demand for diamonds began to decline and the diamonds extracted from the region started to decrease, the population gradually began to decrease. With the discovery of even richer diamond deposits near the Orange River in the southern part of the city, the population decreased even more. After World War II, with the complete evacuation of the city, Kolmansop turned into a ghost town. In 1956, Kolmanskop was completely abandoned. Even though the place where the city was founded has been swallowed by desert sands, it is possible to see the traces of the past in the city buried under sand dunes. Kolmanskop has been the host of some movies and many documentaries. The ghost town has been transformed into a tourism area with the partnership of the Namibian State and the company named De Beers.
Ağdam - Azerbaijan
With the occupation of the mountainous Karabakh region by Armenia, Ağdam city, which had a population of 150,000, was evacuated and turned into a ghost town. In May 1993, as a result of the operation carried out by 6,000 Armenian soldiers against Ağdam, the Azerbaijanis were only able to defend the city for 42 days. Due to the internal turmoil in Baku, it was not possible to defend Ağdam with Azerbaijani forces shifted to this region.
As a result of the Armenian attack, about 5,000 people living in Ağdam lost their lives, and the remaining were forced by Armenians to leave. The people of Ağdam were forced to migrate to various parts of Azerbaijan. They still live in hope of returning. With the inspiration of this attack, it is thought that the story of the fate of Ağdam contributed to the famous computer game Silent Hill.
Hashima Island - Japan
In 1887, Japan's Hashima Island embarked on the adventure with the construction of a city for coal miners working in the coal mine located in Nagasaki. Later, during World War II, Chinese prisoners were forcibly employed on Hashima Island for this submarine coal mine.
With the
closure of the coal mine in 1974 and the evacuation of the inhabitants of Hashima Island, the island turned into a ghost town. After the evacuation of the island, which took place about 40 years after the closure of the mine, the city was forgotten. However, in 2009, the attractiveness of becoming a ghost city and the striking resemblance of the island's appearance from above to a battleship led to the opening of Hashima Island to tourism. Some scenes of the James Bond Skyfall movie were even shot on this ghost island.
Although the South Korean State objected to the use of Korean prisoners of war on the island during World War II, Hashima Island was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2015.
Maraş - Northern Cyprus Turkish Republic
Especially from 1950 onwards, the Maraş region of Cyprus was an important holiday destination for European tourists. Luxury beaches and hotels, expensive cars, and specially imported sands from Egypt made Maraş experience its golden days in terms of tourism.
During the period when Cyprus was under British control, significant investments were made in Maraş. The investments made were advertised, and tourists who followed them began to flock to the city. Maraş was referred to as the Las Vegas of the Mediterranean. The world's first 7-star hotel (Golden Sands, which was built directly by the British Royal Family) was even built, and it became a popular destination for celebrities. However, with the increasing population of the Greek population on the island, the pressures on the Turks gradually reached the level of genocide. As a result, in 1974, the Republic of Turkey carried out a Peace Operation on the island, and the Maraş region was heavily affected. With the arrival of the war in Maraş, this massive resort was instantly evacuated, and history seemed to freeze for Maraş. On August 13, the Maraş Region of Cyprus came under the control of the Turkish Armed Forces, and it became a neutral zone after the war. Massive hotels, cinemas, shopping, and entertainment venues are now empty. Some buildings still bear the traces of the conflict.
The houses, hotels, cars, and planes abruptly abandoned to the past, still exhibit their initial impressions. In that period, when Maraş had a population of around 36,000, there were over 3,000 only job and entertainment venues, and the hotel capacity of this region was equal to the hotel capacity of Northern Cyprus. Maraş alone covered a large proportion, about 53 percent, of the island's tourism revenue at that time. In recent times, negotiations for the reopening of the Maraş region to tourism continue.
Centralia Town - Pennsylvania - USA
When Centralia Town began to be settled, it was mainly established as a town where coal miners resided. The town, where coal mine workers were predominant, began to gradually empty and turn into a ghost town due to the mysterious start of a fire from below in the coal mining region in 1962, which strangely continues to this day.
It is estimated that the fire started from below when waste garbage was burned for disposal in 1962 and spread to the coal mine. The temperature of the fire burning below is about 180 degrees, and it constantly emits toxic gases to the environment. According to the American Mine Research Unit, this fire will last for about 250 years.
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