Why Are Ghost Towns So Morbidly Fascinating?
Entire towns and cities can be abandoned at the drop of a hat. Oftentimes, events we humans cause ourselves, like war, nuclear disasters and even an industry’s downfall, can wipe a stretch of land clear of any sign of life. Sometimes, the events that lead to a town’s abandonment may have been entirely out of anyone’s control.
Either way, there’s something deeply intriguing about the idea that a place could one day be filled with communities, laughter, and love, and the next, only silence.
Perhaps the most well-known ghost town is that of Pripyat, a city near the border of northern Ukraine. If its title doesn’t ring a bell, then the name of the disaster that eventually cleared it out in 1986 most certainly will: Chernobyl. Once teeming with almost 50,000 people, Pripyat was evacuated after a nuclear reactor exploded at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Today, many buildings and structures remain in place there as an ominous reminder of the event. Thousands of tourists visit it every year.
However, whilst the most famous, Pripyat is far from the only ghost town in the world. In fact, there are hundreds of them scattered across the earth. Here are just five ghost towns that you might not have heard of, alongside their fascinating –often dark – history.
Kolmanskop, Namibia
Kolmanskop can be found on the outer edges of southern Namibia, a sand covered land that was once rich in the most expensive stone on Earth, diamonds. In 1908, when Namibia’s land had been colonised by Germany, Namibian worker Zacharias Lewala found a diamond whilst working there and immediately showed it to his supervisor, a German railway inspector named August Stauch. It wasn’t long before the area was filled with German miners, looking to exploit its resources.
Due to the great wealth the stone provided, the residents were able to build a village in the style of a German town, complete with a sports hall, a theatre and casino. Notably, Kolmanskop soon housed the first X-Ray station south of the equator and the first tram on the African continent.
But once the diamonds started to disappear, so did the people. By 1956, all its residents had moved away with hopes of discovering the stone elsewhere. Now, tourists visiting must wade through knee deep sand due to the sheer geological force of the desert.
2. Imber, Wiltshire
Imber in Wiltshire, England was always isolated, found on the chalk plateau known as Salisbury Plain. Though its population peaked at a mere 440 people in 1851, there has been inhabitants there to call it their home since as early as the first century.
In the lead up to the 1900’s, the War Office began to buy nearby land, using it for manoeuvres. Offering good prices, the military were soon able to buy farms and land within the village; residents often ignored the new, arguably unfair, terms of their tenancy. By the time WW2 began, almost all Imber’s land had been sold to the military.
One fateful morning in November, 1943, villagers were gathered in the local schoolroom and told they had 47 days to abandon their homes. A land that had once seen children schooled, sermons delivered and pints drank was now to be used by US forces to practise street fighting.
Despite repeated attempts to return to the village, residents have never been allowed back. The village remains under military control to this day, the church being the only building open to non-military folk on the Sunday closest to St Giles Day each year.
3. Ross Island, India
Ross Island Penal Colony was established in 1858 on the Andaman Islands, a small archipelago less than 100 miles southwest off the coast of Myanmar. It was set up by the British colonial government in India to house convicts, primarily prisoners from the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (a major uprising against British rule in the country).
Alongside shelters built by the prisoners themselves, the British administration constructed bungalows on the site, using it as the administrative headquarters for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
It wasn’t long before the colony became infamous for brutalities inflicted by British authorities, known as “Kalapani” or “Black Water” as no prisoner could hope to escape. Horrifyingly, most of the original prisoners had died just two years after the colony’s establishment due to illness or torture.
After almost half of the 8000 prisoners transported there had died in early years, Sir Robert Napier, a British Indian Army officer, went to investigate. He described the conditions as “beyond comprehension” – prisoners often had no food, drink or shelter.
Shockingly, the penal colony remained in use until October 7, 1945. Once one of the largest jails in India, the fortress is now deserted: a famous national monument that attracts tourists year on year.
4. Rhyolite, USA
Rhyolite can be found on the southern edge of Nevada, USA. After a metal discovery in the surrounding Bullfrog Hills in early 1905, gold seekers, developers and miners flocked there in what is termed as a ‘gold rush’ – when miners entrench on an area seeking fortune.
American steel magnate Charles M. Schwab bought the nearby Montgomery Shoshone Mine, the region’s biggest producer, in 1906. Following Schwab’s heavy investment in infrastructure, Rhyolite soon had water mains, telephones, newspapers, electricity, a hospital, a school, a stock exchange and an opera house. Whilst reports of its population are contested, it is believed to have reached its peak between 3500 and 5000 in 1907-8.
Much like the aforementioned diamond of Kolmanskop, the precious metals of the Bullfrog Hills soon began to deplete in number. Years of financial uncertainty followed, with the Montgomery Shoshone operating at a loss by the end of 1910 and closing in 1911. In a tale that has perhaps been told many times before, the population decreased rapidly alongside the outgoing production. By 1920, almost nobody was left in Rhyolite.
Nowadays, Rhyolite is one of the most photographed ghost towns in the west. Its ruins can be found in motion pictures such as The Reward (1965), Cherry 2000 (1987) and The Island (2005).
5. Villa Epecuén, Argentina
Last, but by no means least, we have the deserted tourist village of Villa Epecuén, Argentina. Off the eastern shore of the Laguna Epecuén in the province of Buenos Aires, Epecuén was once accessible from the nation’s capital by train.
The village was developed in the early 1920s by an Englishman who was holding the land on a lease. He spread news that the waters of the Laguna Epecuén had healing properties, even hiring some Italian scientists to reinforce his claims. The resort town thrived for several decades, with a population of 1500, around 280 businesses and the ability to hold 5000 visitors at its peak in the 1970s.
However, around the same time, a natural disaster was brewing that would destroy Villa Epucuén. Due to the nature of the Laguna, part of a larger body of water with no river outlet to the ocean, severe rainfall caused swelling and eventually, a flood. On November 6, 1985, a wave broke a nearby dam and the dyke protecting the village.
With each year that followed, the flood would consume another portion of the village until it reached a terrifying depth of 33 feet in 1993. Villa Epecuén was uninhabitable.
Waters did begin to recede after a long 25 years, though. In 2009, past resident Pablo Novak turned it from an underwater ghost town to a near-ghost town, returning to the village and becoming its only resident. The story of his life and that of the town can be seen in the 2013 documentary, Pablo’s Villa.
Written by Erin Lister
Erin is a recent English graduate, currently living in Manchester and working as a teaching assistant. She's obsessed with all things music, theatre and television and hopes to one day write about them for a living.
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