We often imagine ghost towns as such deserted places in a remote and uninhabited area, where only the wind walks. There are either no people at all, or very few of them. This is true, but not all ghost towns fit this description. Sometimes they are located nearby or even within the boundaries of large and noisy cities. In some cases, locals themselves are not aware of the existence of ghost towns near them. We present to your attention a dozen abandoned areas.
10 ghost towns that are located near famous cities:
1
Hussenville-Vieux-Pei, Paris
P.poschadel [CC BY-SA 2.0 FR]
The empty town of Hussenville-Vieux-Pei borders on Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. About 20 kilometers from the capital. City streets and houses are so close to the airport that they are considered part of the runway. This is the main reason for the desolation of the town.
Today, many buildings in the city are abandoned, only a few families live. People began to leave the city after the construction of the airport in 1974. The constant roar of the engines of take-off aircraft forced many to leave the city.
Prior to this, the Soviet Tu-144 aircraft, which in 1973 participated in the Paris Air Show, crashed during a demonstration flight. Parts of the plane crashed into the streets of the town. The entire crew and eight inhabitants were killed, among them three children. 15 buildings and one school were destroyed. Now there are only the most persistent, who are forced to endure the constant noise and buzz of take-off aircraft.
2
North Brother Island, New York
reivax from Washington, DC, USA [CC BY-SA]
North Borter Island is located near the Bronx in New York. Literally from English, the name of the island is translated as "Northern brother." There is also a neighboring island called Site-Broter or "Southern Brother". Both of them are uninhabited, although North Broter used to be more developed.
In the 1880s, it was a quarantine island. It was here that New York kept people with deadly and contagious diseases. These were mainly tuberculosis and measles. His most famous patient was Typhoid Mary, who lived on the island for 28 years. She died there in 1938.
Then, North Brother Island was transformed into a housing complex for World War II veterans. After that, he became a rehabilitation center for adolescents with addiction to heroin and other drugs. In 1963, the center fell into decay. The city authorities were considering the possibility of selling the island or making premises for the homeless on it. It was also proposed to make a prison like the neighboring Rikers Island.
While the authorities decided the fate of the island, over time, it slowly grew and collapsed. Nature took its toll. Buildings became worthless, walls and roads collapsed. In 2001, the New York City Department of Parks took control of the area and declared it a "heron nesting region." Now herons are allowed to nest here without human intervention.
By the way, on our site most-beauty.ru there is an interesting article about the TOP-15 abandoned cities of Russia.
3
Olympic Village, Wustermark, Germany
Andreas Levers from Potsdam, Germany [CC BY]
The Olympic Village is located in Wustermark on the outskirts of Berlin. It was built by the Nazis for the Olympic Games in 1936 in Berlin. Hitler built it for his propaganda purposes. He wanted to show the power and superiority of Germany.
The Olympic Games were broadcast by television around the world.
Hitler furiously tried to exclude blacks and Jews from participating in the games. He had to give in after a number of countries threatened that they would refuse to participate in the competition.
More than 4 thousand athletes lived in the village. During the Second World War, a Nazi military hospital was deployed here, and then a Soviet hospital. The village was empty after the Soviet army left Germany after unification. She remained abandoned. Now the German authorities plan to turn the village into a residential complex or museum, but so far have not decided anything.
4
Matildaville, Virginia
The abandoned city of Matildaville is located along the Potomac River in Virginia, near Washington, DC. The city was founded in the 1790s. Harry Lee, father of the future Confederation General Robert E. Lee, has leased land here for 900 years. So he created Matildaville. He named the city after his late wife. Harry Lee hoped to develop production using stormy currents and water from a river canal.
The channel itself was opened earlier by President Washington. The channel could pass cargo ships. Patowmack was created for these purposes. In 1823, the company was ruined because it could not pay its debts. Fees from boats did not give the desired income. The channel itself was unusable for most of the year. In winter, it froze, and in spring it spilled from the rains.
In 1928, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal built its canal bypassing the old one. This destroyed the economy of Matildaville. Many residents were forced to leave. But the hope for development came in 1838. Some investors decided to open a textile factory here, which was powered by canal water.
People returned, but renamed the city to South Lowell. In 1853, the government sued the factory for the illegal use of energy from the canal. The authorities won the trial, and the city completely collapsed.
5
Thames Town, Shanghai
Huai-Chun Hsu [CC BY]
Thames Town is located in Songjiang just a 40-minute drive from downtown Shanghai. It is a fully engineered city from scratch. It is also an unsuccessful attempt by the government to attract people to life in sparsely populated areas.
In 2001, the Shanghai authorities decided to build this city together with eight other cities under the plan “One city - nine cities”. New areas were to become a miniature copy of their world brothers. Thames Town is a copy of Britain. And also the city is named after the River Thames.
The Shanghai government has spent more than two billion yuan to build the city. But the plan did not succeed. Huge costs have made real estate prices too expensive for the middle class. Now most homes are owned by wealthy people who keep them like holiday homes or future investments.
6
Gehry, Indiana, USA
Marc Tarlock from San Francisco [CC BY-SA]
The fact that the city of Gehry, Indiana, is only 64 kilometers from Chicago, did not prevent him from becoming a ghost town. Although he is not so complete. About 77,000 thousand people still live there. But this number of inhabitants is not enough to populate the entire city. Several areas were overgrown with weeds, buildings were wrecked, roads were destroyed.
Once the city of Gehry was a large industrial center, but there were big problems with crime. Murders and drugs were considered commonplace. Most large industries shut down, pulling people along. The criminals also followed them, because there was nothing and no one to steal. Also drug dealers. Today, Gehry is a prime example of what the closure of industry is doing to the city.
7
Olympic Village, Rio de Janeiro
Miriam Jeske / Brasil2016.gov.br [CC BY 3.0 BR]
To win the bid for the Olympic Games in 2016, the city of Rio de Janeiro agreed to build a full-sized sports village from scratch. The result is a 300-acre village. 2.5 billion Brazilian reais were spent on it. This money was wasted as the village became a ghost. Six months after the games, it turned out to be of no use to anyone. There is no water, electricity or hospitals. The huge Marriott Hotel is now abandoned.
The Olympic village in Rio has caused a lot of controversy and scandal. Previously, in its place were poor favelas. The government forcibly expelled residents from the territory to begin construction. After showing this on international news around the world, authorities left several families.
Also, the reason for the desolation of the village, according to most-beauty.ru, is its remoteness from the city center. To get to the lively areas of Rio de Janeiro, you need two hours by bus with several transfers.
8
Drowbridge, CA
Drowbridge, California is a ghost town with zero population. Even despite the proximity of cities such as San Jose, Fremont and San Francisco. An abandoned settlement is located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay.
The city was founded in the 1800s when Jim “slippery” Fair and Alfred “Hog” Davis formed the South Pacific Coast Railroad to transport San Francisco residents to Santa Cruz. Instead of paving the road along a longer path, they paved it through the water and a small island.
The area around the island was the main waterway, so bridges were built in 1976. They were mistakenly called drawbridges, from where the name of the town appeared. George Mandershitz, who became the island's first resident, was hired to manage the bridges. Train passengers soon realized that the island was full of wild animals. Trains began to stop here so people could hunt. So first appeared hunting lodges, then hotels and houses.
The town quickly grew. Lawlessness, drug addiction and prostitution were happening here. There was no power. Drowbridge fell into disrepair when neighboring cities began dumping sewage into the canal. There was a terrible smell on the island. Animals also left these places, especially birds. The last resident left in 1979. Today, the island qualifies as a bird sanctuary.
9
Valdelus, Spain
Valdelus is just 61 kilometers from the capital of Spain, Madrid. And this is a ghost town. It was built by the Spanish construction company Reyal Urbis along the Madrid-Barcelona express train. It was assumed that after completion of construction more than 30,000 thousand people will live in it.
The company advertised the city as a clean and calm place with green spaces and beautiful nature. At guests' disposal were golf courses, cottages and holiday homes. It was planned to build 9 thousand houses. Reyal Urbis managed to build only 2,200 houses before the 2008 crisis hit Spain.
At that time, only 200 people lived in Valdelus. Houses fell strongly in value by 50-60%. Undeveloped plots cost 80% less than the initial cost. The house, which was sold for $ 325,000 in 2007, cost just $ 135,000 in 2008. Most people moved to Valdelus after falling prices, but that didn't save the city.
10
Tianducheng, Hangzhou
Tianducheng, Zhenjiang Province, is another imitation city from China. This time it is modeled after Paris. It is also not far from Shanghai and Hangzhou. Hangzhou itself is a large city with a population of almost 9 million people.
It was planned that in Tianecheng there will be about 10,000 people who want to have their own Eiffel Tower. But people never came to these places. The city is more suitable for tourists and honeymooners who need good views for a wedding photo shoot. Now about 2 thousand thousand people live there.
Tianducheng is also unpopular due to the remoteness from the center of Shanghai and Hangzhou. There is no public transportation here. Experts suggest that the city will be fully populated in the future when neighboring cities expand.
On this our article came to an end. The editors of most-beauty.ru, as usual, ask our readers to express their thoughts on the topic of the article in the comments. Write down which of the ghost towns you've visited and share your impressions.