Ghost Towns

[Eric]

The town of Varosha, Famagusta on the island of Cyprus has intrigued me since I was a kid. It was a resort city of 40,000 people, which has stood empty since the Turkish Army invaded Cyprus in 1974. For forty-five years buildings have decayed and nature has worked to reclaim the land. There are car dealerships with brand new 1974 vintage cars that are rotting into the ground. Shops full of merchandise that was abandoned, as the Turkish Army approached.

The Turks still control the town and refuse entry to anyone except their own military & UN personnel, although no one lives there. The Cypriot Greeks and the Turks negotiate to this day over the disposition of the town. The Turks have held the town all these years, to force the Cypriot Greeks to accept an unfair (to the Cypriot Greeks) settlement regarding the island of Cypress.

It is hard to imagine anyone allowing a large modern town to just sit there and rot like that.

 

What are are some ghost towns that interest you?

[KWalrad]

Think of the number of store shelves stocked with Twinkies and Slim Jim's that are still ready to eat...

 

I can't think of any ghost towns by names, but one of my favorite past times while driving in West Texas is to imagine the lives that were lived in some of the abandoned homesteads out in the desert vastness.

 

For being abandoned since 1974, it looks more inhabitable than Detroit.

[Eric]

42 minutes ago, KWalrad said:

Think of the number of store shelves stocked with Twinkies and Slim Jim's that are still ready to eat...

 

I can't think of any ghost towns by names, but one of my favorite past times while driving in West Texas is to imagine the lives that were lived in some of the abandoned homesteads out in the desert vastness.

 

For being abandoned since 1974, it looks more inhabitable than Detroit.

What about Pripyat, Ukraine? What a colossal fuckup that was. Now there is a ghost town I’d like to tour, if I could find some lead-lined Fruit-o-the-Looms.

[Eric]

Hashima Island, also known as Battleship Island, is a 16-acre island just off the coast of Japan. An undersea coal mining operation ran there from 1887, until 1974 when it closed down and its inhabitants left. At its peak, more than 5,200 people lived there. The island was occupied not just by miners, but by their families as well. It was a self-contained community. 

The island is a popular tourist attraction today, but still uninhabited. 

[Eric]

Ikeshima Island was a coal mining settlement like Hashima Island, but larger. It once had a population of over 8,000. The mine closed and the settlement was abandoned in 2001. There is a tour that can be taken that visits this island and several others.

[aomagrat]

Ellington South Carolina.

http://cityofdust.blogspot.com/2005/02/dead-towns-south-carolina.html?m=1

 

[gwalchmai]

18 hours ago, Eric said:

What about Pripyat, Ukraine? What a colossal ****up that was. Now there is a ghost town I’d like to tour, if I could find some lead-lined Fruit-o-the-Looms.

"Fruits-o-the-loom".

I know. It's crazy, right. That's why I wear Hanes.

[Al Czervik]

Summitville, CO was kinda cool back in the 80s.

 

[holyjohnson]

Amidon North Dakota. i`ve been there a few times it used to be the Sloop County seat and my In laws came from around there.

by around i mean and hour north and then an hour west,out at the old homestead they had its like being on the Ocean,there is nothing around.

Arena North Dakota. https://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nd/arena.html

Mineral Hill Wyoming,one of my favorite places is right around there in the hills.theres a couple buildings left and a big mining building

we used to shoot BB guns and play in DogTown when i was a kid. 

http://www.thedacrons.com/eric/dogtown/babson_boulders_gloucester.php

[railfancwb]

Ikeshima Island was a coal mining settlement like Hashima Island, but larger. It once had a population of over 8,000. The mine closed and the settlement was abandoned in 2001. There is a tour that can be taken that visits this island and several others.

Were the mines allowed to flood? Suspect they were.


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[railfancwb]

Much of rural America is ghosting away. Agriculture is increasingly mechanized, which pushes out the small farm. Also, much of the labor once needed in agriculture is surplus - no farm jobs for most farm children. So they move to the city for jobs. And with the people going, the merchants vanish as well.


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[railfancwb]

Cripple Creek and Victor, Colorado. Gold mining towns based on shafts and tunnels and high grade ore. As the ore grade declined the federally fixed price for gold made these mines unprofitable.

Cripple Creek is in the mining business again - relieving tourists of their gold with low limit casinos. And physical gold mining is taking place again - digging up everything via strip mining, crushing the rock to powder, and leaching out the gold with cynide. But these don’t require many people.


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[Eric]

8 hours ago, railfancwb said:

Were the mines allowed to flood? Suspect they were.


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Probably so. 

[F14Scott]

Not a ghost town, but a tiny town on the edge of BFE north, nowhere.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adak,_Alaska

When we screwed up, we always got threatened with having our next set of orders getting cut as the MWR officer in Adak.

If it jams, force it; if it breaks, it needed replacing, anyway.

[M&P15T]

There's also Centralia PA. A coal mine fire under the city caused it to be mostly abandoned. It's the inspiration for a scary video game called "Silent Hill". The structures weren't left abandoned, the .gov demolished them.

 

Oddly enough, the local church still stands;

Edited June 21, 2019 by M&P15T

[railfancwb]

Mining country usually generates abundant ghost towns. Mineral found. People and businesses gather to extract mineral. Mineral gone. People and businesses gone.

In Colorado for example...
Aspen
Central City
Blackhawk
Georgetown
Silverton
Cripple Creek
Victorville
and many others

Some of these survive and thrive as playgrounds for the rich and famous.

Others survive because of tourism and/or low stakes casinos.

And still others survive only in books.


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[ASH]

On 6/21/2019 at 7:55 AM, M&P15T said:

There's also Centralia PA. A coal mine fire under the city caused it to be mostly abandoned. It's the inspiration for a scary video game called "Silent Hill". The structures weren't left abandoned, the .gov demolished them.

 

Oddly enough, the local church still stands;

never knew of this place til few years ago , wife is from  PA    at first didnt believe here 

 

 

what about all those condos and towns built in china and just left there  

always wanted to visit  Chernobl  or however its spelled .   

[Lazy R]

Bannack, MT is an extremely well preserved ghost town. They were mining silver and gold there, and it began to peter out, then big strikes were hit in Virginia City, and just about everyone picked up and left at once.

The jail

What'll ya have, mister?

[Moshe]

On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 8:58 PM, Eric said:

The town of Varosha, Famagusta on the island of Cyprus has intrigued me since I was a kid. It was a resort city of 40,000 people, which has stood empty since the Turkish Army invaded Cyprus in 1974. For forty-five years buildings have decayed and nature has worked to reclaim the land. There are car dealerships with brand new 1974 vintage cars that are rotting into the ground. Shops full of merchandise that was abandoned, as the Turkish Army approached.

The Turks still control the town and refuse entry to anyone except their own military & UN personnel, although no one lives there. The Cypriot Greeks and the Turks negotiate to this day over the disposition of the town. The Turks have held the town all these years, to force the Cypriot Greeks to accept an unfair (to the Cypriot Greeks) settlement regarding the island of Cypress.

It is hard to imagine anyone allowing a large modern town to just sit there and rot like that.

 

What are are some ghost towns that interest you?

I lived in downtown Istanbul where my father was stationed during the Cyprus war.  The little Greek girl I used to play with across the street, suddenly disappeared.