Constructed by the British Royal Navy during the Second World War as an advance line of defense these forts now sit abandoned a few feet above the waves of the North Sea.Found deep in the swamp of former Aztec country is what has come to be known as the Island of the Dolls. Although it is now abandoned at one time it had a single inhabitant. His name was Don Julian Santana Barrera and according to legend, one day a young girl drowned just off shore (don’t ask us how she got there). At any rate, not long after this, Don Julian found her doll floating in the water. Then he found another, and another. Supposedly as tribute he decorated the entire island with the dolls before mysteriously drowning in the very same canal as the little girl.Normally 1 overcrowded cemetery is enough to be considered creepy. The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague, however, takes things to a whole new level considering that it is actually 11 cemeteries stacked on top of each other! That’s right, the cemetery got so full that not once, not twice, but 11 times they actually decided to just build another cemetery right on top of the old one.As a result of Turkish intervention on the island of Cyprus, several areas are no longer accessible to modern Cypriots. For this reason entire seaside resorts like Varosha sit completly empty and abandoned.Literally translated as Battleship Island due to its supposed resemblance to the massive vessel, like several other places on this list Gunkanjima used to be a mining facility, and just like those other places it shut down. Since then it has deteriorated even further and even been featured on the History Channel’s show Life After PeopleIf the name of this English hospital isn’t enough to convince you of its creepiness consider the fact that it’s not really a hospital at all. It’s actually an insane asylum, or rather it was an insane asylum before being abandoned several year ago.This town in Southern Brazil holds an interesting distinction – it is the twin capital of the world. In fact, it’s twin birth rate is 18 times higher than the world average. Why? Well according to the locals it was after chief Nazi physician Mengele, who fled to the village after World War II, that the births started happening. Oddly enough Mengele was known to have a strange fascination with twins. Modern scientists, however, propose that it is most likely due to toxic waste or inbreeding. Either way, it’s pretty creepy.Around the 17th and 18th centuries Paris’s cemeteries were getting so full that residue from decaying organic material was getting into the water supply and creating very unsanitary conditions. Hence the creation of the Paris Catacombs.The small village of Jatinga in northern India seems like any other quiet, isolated village in the world except for one thing…every year around the months of September and October hundreds of birds dive to their deaths within its city limits. To make things even stranger the incidents only happen in the evening between 7pm and 10pm across a roughly mile long strip of land. The village has even taken steps to capitalize on the phenomenon by setting up “bird watching tours” around area.It’s not just the dense shrubbery that makes this place so creepy. It’s all the dead bodies. Located at the base of Mt Fuji, ever since the 1950s the Japanese have been committing suicided here in droves. In fact, its so bad that there are now signs scattered throughout the woods with sayings such as “life is precious” and “think of your family”.1 2
You should see the lost church in Tien-Shan mountains… it was buried for many years
Nice collection
Nothing from Africa or the Middle East. I can think of plenty. What about some of the massive burial fields in Rwanda from the 1994 genocide?
The San Zhi Resort no longer exists.
How do you know?
San Zhi Resort was completely destroyed between December 2009 and the end of 2010.
What? Not ONE church??! or anything from Africa..
Great list, and I enjoyed it. I’d like to add one from my town: the Portland Shanghai Tunnels. These tunnels under the streets of Old Town/Chinatown Portland have served a number of purposes: illegal booze during Prohibition, brothels and opium dens among them. But it’s their name that really tells you the story: in the 19th century, men would be drugged, dropped down through trapdoors & sold into white slavery on ships to Shanghai. You can take tours today & it’s very creepy.
Does anyone know if the London Debtor’s Prison Museum is still open (unsure of its exact name)? I saw a program on it years ago & heard that the newly-gentrified neighborhood was trying to get it shut down.