It’s no surprise that movies and books are made and written about a world without humans. Whether it’s due to an apocalyptic event or a time before humans, the human mind has always pondered about how life was before humans entered the scene and how it will be after mankind is long gone.
In the spirit of October and all its spooky themes, we’ve decided to do some research into famous and beautiful ruins. These ruins, most of them recently abandoned, offer a feeling of isolation and desertion. They make us wonder about what the world will be like after mankind has gone and invoke unique feelings of awe and wonder.
1. Pripyat, Ukraine
Pripyat used to be inhabited by around 50 thousand people before it was contaminated by the accident in Chernobyl, in 1986. The city was evacuated on April, 27th 1986, and has been left untouched since then. The ghost town is now considered fairly safe to visit, and Ukrainian companies offer guided tour around the site.
2. Farm Close to Lake Seneca, New York
This farmhouse in the state of New York now serves as graveyard for vintage cars, most from the ‘30s. This eerie place has a beauty that is so inspiring it’s hard to define. We borrow, perhaps, the term Beauty of Decay, from the ebook The Art of Decay, by A.D Wheeler. Seneca Lake has great wineries, by the way, that are also worth the visit.
3. Bodie, California
Located in the Bodie Hills, about 75 miles away from Lake Tahoe, this gold rush boomtown is a National Historic Landmark. In its golden years, Bodie attracted more than 10 thousand miners. It’s now a great place to visit and to take pictures. People love to go take pictures at night, when it becomes even more eerie.
4. Hawthorne Plaza Mall, California
This dead mall in Hawthorne was initially very successful, but after economic drawbacks in the region, mainly due to job cutbacks in the aerospace industry, it started to decline. It’s now a picture of how badly economy can affect society.
5. Six Flags Jazzland, New Orleans
Ok, this is illegal to tour. But we had to include it since it’s so cool. The rushes and thrills of going to an amusement park gain a whole new meaning when it comes to this one. It was closed when New Orleans was evacuated due to Hurricane Katrina, and never reopened after that. Thrill-seekers that sometime call themselves urban explorers have been going there to take pictures and make videos.
6. Chicken Church, Indonesia
To those who think that God has a peculiar sense of humor, this one proves that men’s sense of religion can be weirder. Or mysterious, for that matter. This abandoned church in Indonesia would be cool to visit if it were open, but it’s become even more interesting since it was abandoned. It was built by a guy called Daniel Alamsjah, who says God told him to build it in the shape of a chicken, but didn’t justify why.
There’s no way to deny that all these places strike us in an awe-inspiring way. There’s a beauty there that is sometime hard to explain or even acknowledge. But truth is it’s an experience worth the visit. Find a place of your choice and don’t forget to take a good camera with you.