Creepy, Bizarre, Isolated Places

[davy]

Just in case you missed it, there's been a fascinating derailment in the Earbud's "Kowloon Walled City" thread. The title of the thread refers to a doomy metal band, but the actual Kowloon Walled City is something much more bewildering and creepy. What is it? Well, simply put, it was a slum in Hong Kong that was torn down in 1963. It was an area the size of a couple football stadiums where 50,000 people lived in self-sustaining anarchy...the highest population density in the history of the world. It was a human anthill, built by thousands of squatters, 12, 13, 14 storeys high in places. In the mid-70s, it looked like this:



Ten to fifteen years later (and a few years from destruction), it looked like this:



Inside?



Andrew posted a set of interesting links related to Kowloon Walled City:

Some Kowloon Walled City related links I have enjoyed:

http://www.arch.columbia.edu/gsap/21536

http://www.doobybrain.com/2008/05/01/my-father-lived-in-kowloon-walled-city/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSnvqBhWUOc

http://coilhouse.net/2008/08/30/kowloon-walled-city-the-modern-pirate-utopia/

I've been so interested in this place over the past few days, I figured I might as well start a new thread in a more appropriate forum. Places like this have been an intense interest of mine for years, so if you have anything to add about some places you know of, feel free to share!

[davy]

This is a different place I came upon looking up stuff about KWC:

(sorry for the watermarks)

It's called Gunkanjima. Mitsubishi bought the island in the late 19th century I guess to mine coal from the surrounding ocean. In the 20th century, it had the highest population density ever recorded: 140,000 people per square km. It officially closed down in 1974, and now it stands empty and closed off from visitors.

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/menu-e.html (pretty awesome photography site)

And here's a link to a really fascinating short film of a guy who grew up on Gunkanjima returning to this deserted island after 30 years:

http://www.videosift.com/video/Abandoned-Japanese-Island

It's a little dramatic, but the footage is spellbinding.

[Illest Waffle]

Most famous desolate place: Chernobyl.

[The_Tourist]

Most famous desolate place: Chernobyl.

this might be old news, but it's pretty awesome for anyone that hasn't read/seen it... http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/chapter1.html

[milly balgeary]

i've been to kowloon in hong kong and it's kinda nice

[Andrew_TSKS]

Tourist, that is awesome. Thanks for that link.

Here's another link I like that fits the larger topic here:

20 abandoned cities/towns

That's the link from which I first learned about Kowloon Walled City. There are some other interesting ones there.

Oh, and here's some other stuff:

Ghost towns of Ohio

This website has discussion of Knockemstiff, recently brought to the attention of popular culture by Donald Ray Pollock. Also: Cheshire, an Ohio town ruined by pollution like something out of a movie; San Toy, a former mining town with an interesting history and some interesting remaining ruins; and Shawnee, a town built on the side of a mountain that still has a little bit of a population even though most of it is empty.

Here are a few links pertaining to the Elko tract, a fake town built as a decoy in case of bomb raids, back in WWII. This town is about 20 miles east of Richmond, where I live now, and so has personal interest to me. Apparently it's sort of still there, 60 years later. Check these links for more details:

http://www.thewag.net/divertissements/Elko/elko_tract.html
http://www.thewag.net/divertissements/Elko/elko_followup.html
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/VA/Airfields_VA_Richmond_E.html#elko

Here is a fascinating article about the mall, abandoned in 1979, which was used for filming of "The Blues Brothers." Apparently parts of it are still standing today, or were in 2006, last time the website was updated. Updates appear at the top of the page, and the main article is from 2001, so you have to scroll down through two short updates to get to it. Well worth reading--check it out.

Here is an in depth article, complete with tons of pictures, of an abandoned mansion owned by Mike Tyson that has apparently been caught up in legislation for years now. The pictures are fucking fascinating. Take a look.

As you guys can no doubt tell by now, this sort of thing is a particular fascination of mine, and I often stumble across pertinent articles while exploring the web. If there's anything new I come across anytime in the future, I'll post it to this thread. And if you guys have any links that you think I'd enjoy, please PLEASE hook it up.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Here is a fascinating article about the mall, abandoned in 1979, which was used for filming of "The Blues Brothers." Apparently parts of it are still standing today, or were in 2006, last time the website was updated. Updates appear at the top of the page, and the main article is from 2001, so you have to scroll down through two short updates to get to it. Well worth reading--check it out.

To follow up on this, there is a 2005 link on that page that is supposed to send you to a video of one of the guys from bluesbrotherscentral.com driving his 1974 Dodge Monaco through the ruins of Dixie Square mall. The link is dead but I found the video on youtube.

EDIT: Here is a 2007 Dixie Square Mall youtube video featuring a guy stealing the Toys R Us sign still remaining from the Blues Brothers shoot.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Here comes a triple post of power. Sorry guys, but this topic fascinates me and I have much to share.

Varosha, aka Famagusta, was once a resort city in Cyprus. In 1974, when the Turks invaded Cyprus, it was closed off, and still sits empty today. Here are some related links:

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/000985.html
http://www.inhostage.com/html.html
http://grhomeboy.wordpress.com/2006/11/09/french-crew-fined-filming-north-cyprus-ghost-town/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1eXJDB93uI (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIsT9Mj9M2w (Part 2)

[auto-da-fey]

Threads like this are why I'm trying to avoid Last Plane for a brief while, because I could follow those links for hours, but I did just visit Centralia yesterday, which sort of fits the bill. It was less desolate than I had envisioned, with a fair amount of traffic passing by, though we did talk our way past some scary security woman in a red pickup with a fake-looking badge to hike some of the backtrails after we signed shady-looking waiver forms. I took some pictures, but they really failed to capture the weirdness.

[Antero]

This is a good deal of fun:

http://www.abandoned-places.com/

There's also a Japanese one that has some really beautiful photography, but I can't find the link at the moment.

[davy]

Holy shit, Andrew, you just filled up at least my next 4 hours of spare time.

 

[davy]

Most famous desolate place: Chernobyl.

A few months ago, I posted some pictures of Pripyat, the city of 40,000 citizens located right next to Chernobyl. It was entirely deserted 25 years ago, and has become a giant, rotting, empty science fiction movie set. The following images were found by searching "pripyat" at flickr. There's hundreds more.

[davy]

Most famous desolate place: Chernobyl.

this might be old news, but it's pretty awesome for anyone that hasn't read/seen it... http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/chapter1.html

This is fascinating stuff! I just spent a couple hours paging through that site, and there's still a lot I didn't get to. She is brave as hell for riding through those radioactive ghost towns, alone, AT NIGHT. That shit would scare me senseless. Just looking at the pictures scared me senseless. Jesus.

[Eponymous]

I did just visit Centralia yesterday, which sort of fits the bill.

So is Centralia, WA pretty much a ghost-town now after the big floods a year ago?
I was there for a couple of days last summer and thought it was an interesting little nowhere town. I especially liked the old Olympic Club there on the main street in front of the railway station - good beer, good food in authentic looking old surrounds.  Friends sent pictures of the floods but I wasn't sure if it had wiped out that main street. 

[clare]

Most famous desolate place: Chernobyl.

this might be old news, but it's pretty awesome for anyone that hasn't read/seen it... http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/chapter1.html

This is fascinating stuff! I just spent a couple hours paging through that site, and there's still a lot I didn't get to. She is brave as hell for riding through those radioactive ghost towns, alone, AT NIGHT. That shit would scare me senseless. Just looking at the pictures scared me senseless. Jesus.

Yeah, it's pretty full on. I remember when it happened - I was already on the edge of depression. It helped no end.... blah...

[davy]

You remember when what happened?

[Andrew_TSKS]

I did just visit Centralia yesterday, which sort of fits the bill.

So is Centralia, WA pretty much a ghost-town now after the big floods a year ago?

Whit's talking about Centralia, PA, the town on which the video game series "Silent Hill" is based.

EDIT: also, I am now reading that website of Elena Filatova, the Ukrainian girl with the motorbike who likes to ride through Chernobyl. I have to give her credit--for someone whose first language is Ukrainian, she writes quite well in English. Even despite the easily editable grammar issues that sometimes come up, she has some good turns of phrase in there.

And yeah, this stuff is really scary.

[Doctor Bob]

(Not to take away from The_Tourist, but credit to GCR who first posted that link on here, as far as I know.  And Yes- it's fascinating and grim.)

[FreddyKnuckles]

There are tons of little abandoned mining towns in Montana.  But they are more quaint than creepy.

[davy]

I did just visit Centralia yesterday, which sort of fits the bill.

So is Centralia, WA pretty much a ghost-town now after the big floods a year ago?

Whit's talking about Centralia, PA, the town on which the video game series "Silent Hill" is based.

EDIT: also, I am now reading that website of Elena Filatova, the Ukrainian girl with the motorbike who likes to ride through Chernobyl. I have to give her credit--for someone whose first language is Ukrainian, she writes quite well in English. Even despite the easily editable grammar issues that sometimes come up, she has some good turns of phrase in there.

And yeah, this stuff is really scary.

I noticed the same thing.

Dude, tell me you aren't impressed with the night ride segment. I would be curled up and whimpering.

[davy]

Threads like this are why I'm trying to avoid Last Plane for a brief while, because I could follow those links for hours, but I did just visit Centralia yesterday, which sort of fits the bill. It was less desolate than I had envisioned, with a fair amount of traffic passing by, though we did talk our way past some scary security woman in a red pickup with a fake-looking badge to hike some of the backtrails after we signed shady-looking waiver forms. I took some pictures, but they really failed to capture the weirdness.

Just read up on this. Interesting! You know you're in trouble when the post office revokes your zipcode.

This is my new favorite thread. Thanks for filling it up, guys!

[davy]

From the Elena Filatova site. I love the caption: "Why trees so often grow on doorsteps?" That sort of question might never occur to someone not living within a hundred miles of Chernobyl.

[kyle]

This is awesome.


Andrew, wasn't there an abandoned neighborhood outside of Richmond? I remember Eric telling me about it.

EDIT: MANDU IS AWESOME! I hope when I make it out to India I have enough time to go there.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Andrew, wasn't there an abandoned neighborhood outside of Richmond? I remember Eric telling me about it.

Check above in that long post full of links that I made for mentions of Elko tract. In fact, here is that portion of that post quoted for convenience:

Here are a few links pertaining to the Elko tract, a fake town built as a decoy in case of bomb raids, back in WWII. This town is about 20 miles east of Richmond, where I live now, and so has personal interest to me. Apparently it's sort of still there, 60 years later. Check these links for more details:

http://www.thewag.net/divertissements/Elko/elko_tract.html
http://www.thewag.net/divertissements/Elko/elko_followup.html
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/VA/Airfields_VA_Richmond_E.html#elko

[DanielBurns11]

I would just like to take a moment to thank everyone for contributing to this, the greatest thread ever. Thank you peoples, this is incredibly fascinating.