
Learn the stories behind seven of the world’s most renowned abandoned cities and villages, from the infamous Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe zone to Hashima Island.
1. Tianducheng, China

Tianducheng, a massive luxury housing development, pays homage to the famed French city of lights with period-correct architecture and a 300-foot tall miniature Eiffel Tower. It even features a replica of the Luxembourg Gardens’ fountain.
According to City Lab, the city, which had a population of over 10,000 people, has been mostly abandoned except for the staff of a nearby French-themed amusement park.
2. Hashima Island, Japan

Hashima Island, also known as Gunkanjima (literally Battleship Island) off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan, is an abandoned island.
Hashima Island, which began as a residential area for workers working in the undersea coal mines in 1887, quickly grew into an island of concrete high-rise buildings that housed over 5,000 people. This island fortress included a clubhouse, movie theater, communal bath, swimming pool, rooftop gardens, stores, and even a pachinko parlor, in addition to the normal community buildings.
When Japan turned away from coal power in 1974, the mine shuttered, and the residents lost their jobs. Travel to the island was resumed in 2009 as interest in the island surged due to its fascinating history and spectacular architecture. Hashima Island was also featured in the James Bond film “Skyfall” as a villain’s hideaway.
Even though only a small fraction of the island is exposed to the public, it is a UNESCO World HeritageSite that provides a unique view of Japan’s fast industrialization.
3. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is a former Soviet Union country with a leader likened to Kim Jong-Un of North Korea. With the construction of Ashgabat in 1991, President Saparmurat Niyazov hoped to usher in a “golden period of Turkmenistan.” He achieved it by erecting structures that smashed records, such as becoming the world’s metropolis with the most marble buildings.
In fact, the city boasts 543 structures constructed with the high-end material. In addition, Ashgabat is home to the world’s largest Ferris wheel.
The city is now known as “the city of the dead” since it appears to be deserted. This is due in part to Turkmenistan’s isolated culture: it is one of the world’s least visited countries
4. Wittenoom, Australia

Wittenoom was established in 1946 as a mining town in Western Australia. Blue asbestos, an essential raw building material in the early twentieth century, was abundant in the surrounding gorge. Wittenoom was the major town in the Pilbara region by the early 1950s.
According to ABC, the mine closed in 1966 due to diminishing demand for asbestos, which resulted in most of the people relocating away to pursue other work. In 2007, the Australian government declared Wittenoom closed, limiting access to the former mining town and removing it from all official maps.
Asbestos fibers can still be found in the topsoil and air around Wittenoom due to the nature of the mining that took place there, making it dangerous to spend too much time around the town.
Only one resident survives, according to a documentary broadcast in December 2019.
5. Varosha, Cyprus

It’s not every day that a vacation resort frequented by Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Raquel Welch, and Brigitte Bardot turns into a ghost town. But that’s exactly what happened in Famagusta’s Varosha neighborhood.
According to the BBC, Varosha was one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world in the early 1970s. Turkey attacked Cyprus in 1974. Residents fled for their lives when rival Turkish and Greek soldiers descended on the area around Varosha.
According to the BBC, Varosha has been abandoned and under Turkish military administration since 1974. The once-beautiful tourist attraction has been cordoned off, and only military and UN workers are permitted to enter. Several attempts have been made to broker a deal that will reopen Varosha, but no agreement has been reached.
6. Residents of Centralia

The coal fire under the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, has been burning since 1962 and may continue to burn for another 250 years, like something out of a nightmare.
The coal seams beneath the surface of this little Pennsylvania town were lighted by an attempt to clean up the local landfill. Residents have gradually abandoned their homes as the fire has burned for years, fearing not just the flames beneath their feet, but also sudden sinkholes and carbon monoxide poisoning.
Most of the residences in Centralia were taken by eminent domain, and the few remaining residents agreed to hand over their land to the government when they died. Centralia was declared illegal by the state government in 1992.
7. Pripyat, Ukraine

The time was 1:23 a.m. A catastrophic meltdown occurred inside reactor number four at the Soviet nuclear power station at Chernobyl on April 26, 1986. The subsequent explosion sent flames and radioactive debris hurtling into the sky over Pripyat, a nearby city constructed to house the plant’s scientists and workers. The town’s 49,000 residents were evacuated after 36 hours, and many eventually experienced serious health consequences as a result of their brief exposure to the fallout.
Later, Soviet authorities erected an 18-mile exclusion zone around Chernobyl, rendering Pripyat a ghost town. For nearly three decades, the city has remained a frightening reminder of the calamity. Wild animals roam through what were once lively apartments, sports complexes, and an amusement park, and the buildings have rotted and been partially reclaimed by the elements. Hundreds of letters from 1986 still remain at the village post office, waiting to be mailed. While radiation levels in Pripyat have decreased enough in recent years to enable for brief visits by urban explorers and former residents, scientists believe that it will take several centuries before the town is safe to live in again.

How Were the Two Parts of the Al Naslaa Rock Formation Created?
Scientists have been puzzled by the Al Naslaa rock formation in Saudi Arabia for a long time, and there is still no explanation for why this boulder appears to have a precise incision across the middle of it.

10 Rarest and Albino animals you haven’t seen
For centuries, people have been fascinated and enchanted by the ghostly appearances of abnormally white animals. People have loved albinos and other unusually white animals so much that they may be helping to increase their numbers, despite the difficulties these animals face in the wild. While these unusual animals did not win the genetic lottery, they have persevered in the face of adversity.

Lucy and Maria The Biracial Twin Sisters with Rare Black and White Skin Colours
Lucy and Maria Aylmer are twins, but they have a hard time to convincing people. Even though they have mixed-raced parents, their mom was still shocked when the midwife handed her babies she’d expected to look alike, but were complete opposite.

Chocolate Rain in Switzerland: How a Factory Malfunction Turned Olten Into a Sweet Spectacle
In 2020, chocolate 'rained' from the sky in a town in Switzerland. This incident was caused by a ventilation system malfunction at a chocolate factory in Olten. Strong winds then carried the snow-like cocoa powder and spread it around in the immediate vicinity of the factory, covering cars and other things in chocolate.

The 1978 Lufthansa Heist: Unraveling the Mystery of America's Most Infamous Airport Robbery
During the 1978 Lufthansa heist, robbers infiltrated JFK Airport, restraining employees and holding a night guard hostage. They escaped with $5.9 million—worth over $27 million today. The crime, linked to the Lucchese crime family, remained unsolved for decades, with most suspects vanishing

Mystery of 300-year-old mummified mermaid is being probed
There is a 300-year-old mummified mermaid with 30 centimetres tall and features a human-like head, two hands with what appear to be fingernails, and its lower body that look like a fish tail. The “mermaid mummy” is being probed by Japanese scientists in an attempt to unravel the mystery of its existence.

When the Sky Rained Fish: An Unbelievable Encounter Above Alaska
A small Alaskan plane was hit by a fish falling from the sky. It had been dropped by an eagle that misjudged its grip. The plane was unharmed, but it made the news as possibly the weirdest bird strike ever.

The Mysterious Disappearance of Frederick Valentich: Australia’s Most Baffling Aviation Enigma
In 1978, Pilot Frederick Valentich and his plane disappeared in Australia. His last communication was “Melbourne that strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again… (two seconds open microphone)… it is hovering and it’s not an aircraft…”

Sandy Island: The Phantom Island That Fooled Maps and Google Earth for Centuries
Sandy Island, charted since 1774, was long considered a phantom island in the Coral Sea. Despite appearing on maps and Google Earth, it was "undiscovered" by scientists in 2012, revealing only deep ocean instead of land. The island's existence was likely a cartographic error or a misidentified pumice raft.

What Was the Beast of Gévaudan?
Between 1764 and 1767, a mysterious animal called the Beast of Gévaudan terrorized the French village called Gévaudan. It attacked and killed about 100 adults and children. While most believe it was a wolf, some say it may have been a wolf-dog hybrid, hyena or even a lion, but without any genetic evidence, the beast will remain a mystery forever.

Will & William Wests: The puzzling situation of two inmates who are identical but not related
These are the mugshots of Will West and William West, and they are not related. They were both sent to Leavenworth Prison at the same time, in 1903, and after some confusion, the staff understood they had two different prisoners with the nearly same name, who looked exactly alike. They are part of the reason fingerprints are now used as identification.

Inside The Mysterious Death Of The Famed Gothic Writer Edgar Allan Poe
Hours before his death Edgar Allen Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore. He was incoherent, wearing another man’s clothes, and unable to explain how he got there. The cause of his death is an unsolved mystery.

What Caused The Mysterious Patomskiy Crater in Siberia?
Discovered in 1949, the Patomskiy Crater resembles a huge convex cone with a funnel-shaped recess and a rounded hill in the middle, which looks like an eagle’s nest with an egg nestled inside it. The crater’s origin is a mystery that has baffled scientists for decades.

The mysterious GIANT spherical stones
Mysterious spherical stones ranging in size from a few millimeters to several meters have been discovered in Crimea, United States, Russia, and New Zealand. There are many theories from various geologists, but none of them are clear.

Jason Padgett: Became a Math genius after head injury in a robbery
Fate has no place in mathematics, yet fate played a role for Jason Padgett and his new fame for being a mathematical genius

Poland's Krzywy: The Mysteries of the Crooked trees
In Poland, there is a forest with 400 crooked trees that have a 90-degree bend at the base of their trunks. Despite of numerous possibilities, the real reason and how it evolved remain a mystery.

The story of a boy who claims to be on Mars: Boriska Kipriyanovich
Boriska Kipriyanovich, who lives in Volgograd, Russia, claims he lived on Mars before being resurrected on Earth on a mission to redeem humanity. What we know about him is as follows:

Jim Sullivan's Mysterious Masterpiece: 'U.F.O.'
In 1969, a musician named Jim Sullivan recorded an album titled "UFO" which featured a song about him being abducted by aliens in the desert. Years later, Jim disappeared and his car was found abandoned in middle of New Mexico desert. His body has never been found.

The Unsolved mystery of Bobby Dunbar's Disappearance
In 1912, a four-year-old boy named Bobby Dunbar went missing on a family trip, 8 months later he was found and reunited with his family. Nearly a century later, DNA testing of his descendants revealed that the child reunited with the Dunbar family was not Bobby, but rather a boy named Charles (Bruce) Anderson who resembled Bobby.

The mystery of India's 'lake of skeletons'
In 1942, a British forest guard in India made an alarming discovery. Some 16,000 feet above sea level, at the bottom of a small valley, was a frozen lake absolutely full of skeletons.

El Ojo, The Mysterious Rotating Island
In the middle of South America, a strange and nearly perfectly circle island moves on its own. The central landmass, known as 'El Ojo' or 'The Eye,' floats on a pond of clear and chilly water, looking strange and out of place in comparing to its surroundings. The bottom appears to be solid in compared to the marsh around it.

Recipient of suicide victim's heart kills himself 12 years later
In 1995, Sonny Graham received a transplanted heart from a suicide victim. He then committed suicide in the very same manner as the donor.

The mysterious secret of Dr James Barry
Before women were allowed to enroll in medical school, Margaret Ann Bulkley studied medicine and assumed the identity of Dr. James Barry for 56 years while dressing as a man. After 46 years of service as an army doctor officer, her secret was not made public until after her death in 1865.

The Amazing Hanging Stone in Siberia Has Defied Gravity Since the Ice Age
The unbelievable "Hanging Stone" of Siberia weighs around 300 tons and has been hanging off a 1,000-meter cliff since the Ice Age.

Death Valley’s sailing stones mystery SOLVED
The mysterious "sailing stones" of Death Valley have confused experts for years. The massive stones appear to travel over the dried lake bed known as Racetrack Playa in California's Death Valley National Park, leaving a path in the cracked mud behind them.