Creepy, Bizarre, Isolated Places

[Andrew_TSKS]

GCR, that stuff about Svalbard is fascinating to me solely for the reason that I had no idea Svalbard existed, and its sheer geographic isolation is blowing my mind. Pyramiden is kind of just icing on the cake. But yeah, definitely an essential addition to the thread.

[davy]

Yeah man, Svalbard is awesome. Longyearbyen is the northernmost permanently inhabited city in the world. I read a travel essay once about its tourism industry. During the winter months, when the sun never rises, it becomes like this isolated nightlife Shangri-La, a major European party destination. The sun never comes up, the parties never stop. The essay was in this book:



Searching for Paradise by Thurston Clarke (the hardcover edition was titled Searching for Crusoe). The subtitle explains the angle: "A grand tour of the world's unspoiled islands." It's a great read.

Longyearbyen:

[Ashley]

Although you are not allowed cats on Svalbard, as they are a danger to the wildlife there, of course many people did have them, and they were left behind. Several months after the town was abandoned, a clean up crew came through and found a lot of dead cats - they buried them there and there's a memorial thingy with a big metal sunflower.

This is sad but also sort of sweet.  I'm conflicted.

[G.C.R]

It actually sounded really sweet, like this cleanup crew in this desolate, godforsaken place decide to do a rememberacnce for some strangers' pets. its slaying me i can't find the photo! (there was also an amazing mural from the abandoned creche, and a picture of lots of dudes in Pyramiden in the 20s, when the Russians bought the town, all standing outside huts after they been out hunting arctic fox and looking surprisingly American Gothic)

[davy]

Re: Pyramiden

I like these:





(That's the view from the world's northernmost bust of Lenin.)

And this must be the pet memorial?




Lots more at flickr. This place is fascinating...strongly reminiscent of Pripyat.

[davy]

I swear to god, one of these days, I'm going on a worldwide abandonment tour.

[Maaik]

You're joining an emo band?  *rimshot*

[Ignatius]

My friend tried to get free money to do research in Svalbard, but the relevant authorities wouldn't have it. I've heard tales that those who do study there are given rifles should they need to defend themselves from bears.

[davy]

Svalbardian polar bears:

[Maaik]

[YojimboMonkey]

Only twice on the previous page, which is practically not mentioning it at all

Found a new website full of interesting abandoned stuff: artificial owl

That Artificial Owl page is great!  I especially love how they have a link to Google Maps for the coordinates.  It's fun to see it in context, especially the shipwrecks, so far.

[Maaik]

Yeah, oops

[YojimboMonkey]

my curmudgeonlyness has led me to neglect adding a smiley to my last post.  Allow me to tender one now so that you will know that it was all in good fun.   

Here you go




I hope this has been resolved to your satisfaction

[elpollodiablo]

Awesome, thanks Maaik!

[G.C.R]

i don't know about creepy and bizarre, but another pretty interesting isolated place is Kerguelen.







I think it would be actually pretty terrifying, being in a place that small, that is that far away from any other place.

[davy]

Yeah, no kidding. That place looks a lot like McMurdo Station in Antarctica:

[Andrew_TSKS]

Apparently it's a French terrritory with no native citizenry. It reminds me of a polar version of the tropical island Kinakuta, which Neal Stephenson made up for his book "Cryptonomicon".

[davy]

Apparently it's a French terrritory with no native citizenry. It reminds me of a polar version of the tropical island Kinakuta, which Neal Stephenson made up for his book "Cryptonomicon".

Kerguelen?

[Andrew_TSKS]

Oh. Yes, Kerguelen. Not McMurdo.

Which is the setting for Kim Stanley Robinson's "Antarctica," another awesome near-future/present-day science fiction novel.

[davy]

Yeah, that was the first thing I read by him. I've tried numerous times, but I still can't get through the Mars Trilogy.

Icehenge was bad ass, though.

I used to have a 6-foot poster depicting an aerial view of McMurdo Station on the back of my bedroom door. I was a couple months away from applying for a summer job there when I met E and all my circumstances changed.

[Andrew_TSKS]

The trilogy Robinson wrote most recently, "Forty Signs Of Rain," "Fifty Degrees Below," and "Sixty Days And Counting," takes place in the same world as "Antarctica" and even features the other end of a phone conversation that happens in "Antarctica." I haven't tried to read the Mars trilogy, but I loved that trilogy, and would highly recommend it.

[clare]

used to have a 6-foot poster depicting an aerial view of McMurdo Station on the back of my bedroom door. I was a couple months away from applying for a summer job there when I met Erin and all my circumstances changed.

This made me smile as it's the complete opposite of creepy, bizarre and isolated. I'm a hopeless romantic really. (which isn't to say that McMurdo wouldn't have been a great thing to do...)

[Doctor Bob]

I think it would be actually pretty terrifying, being in a place that small, that is that far away from any other place.

B-b-but, you're from New Zealand!

[edison]

Ha! I thought exactly the same thing.

We have a map of the world on the toilet wall at home, and almost every day I look at New Zealand and think "Damn."

[clare]

Yeah, but NZ is actually quite big, and near a few other places.

Kerguelen (according to this site http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/kerguelen/kerguelen_islands.html )

The main island occupies measures roughly 120 km by 140 km

That really is ridiculously small! And blokes, don't try and tell me it's really 240km by 280km. I'm not falling for that again.