7 Creepy (But Stunning) Abandoned Buildings (Part 1)
Bhangarh, India, “The Most Haunted Place in Asia”
Remote and rarely visited, the ghost village of Bhangarh is reputed to be ‘the most haunted place in Asia.’ Established in 1573, the town began to decline by 1630 and was entirely uninhabited by 1783 after political strife and a famine. Entry is strictly prohibited between dusk and dawn, with locals claiming that anyone who does disappears, but during the day, occasional hardy tourists who have heard the legends about paranormal activity among the ruins trickle through.
Whatever the reason for its decline, Bhangarh is a place of incredible beauty, the half-fallen village set against lush greenery and rocky cliffs.
Kayakoy, Turkey
This hillside in southwestern Turkey offers an impressive sight, dotted with around 500 ruined houses that once made up the 2,000 strong Greek settlement of Kayakoy. Abandoned in 1923, the ghost town is so intact that the houses could be waiting for new owners to fix their roofs, splash some paint around and get on with life as normal.
Kalavantin Durg, India’s Most Dangerous Fortress
Reputedly the most dangerous fortress in the world, Kalavantin Durg can only be accessed via a strenuous trek up the side of a near-vertical mountain. The fort is believed to have been built around 500 BC, for a queen named Kalavantin, but that’s about all anyone knows of its origins. It hasn’t been in use as a fort for centuries.
Sanzhi UFO Houses, Taiwan
The uniquely inspired Sanzhi Pod City, aka UFO houses or the ruins of the future, in Taiwan was built in 1978 as a failed holiday resort for U.S. service personnel posted to East Asia. The resort was never finished; abandoned two years after work commenced. It remained abandoned for 28 years, a bizarre collection of saucer-shaped buildings on the otherwise ordinary landscape. Sanzhi was finally demolished in 2008, the ultimate failed holiday resort, and probably one of the most unique as well.
The Ghost City of Dhanushkodi
The site of the only land border between India and Sri Lanka, Dhanushkodi thrived as a tourist and pilgrimage town until a 1964 cyclone destroyed the railway line from Mandapam, cutting off access. All together, 1,800 people died, with all houses and other structures in Dhanushkodi either flooded or marooned. The government has declared Dhanushkodi an uninhabitable ghost town.
The Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea
The Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea, was supposed to be a testament to the power, pride and ingenuity of one of the most totalitarian nations in the world. The building, meant to be a core monument to the strength of North Korea, was added to city maps and stamps before it was even half-built and was all set to be the tallest hotel in the world. At first the project simply ran out of funding, then the low-quality concrete of which it was built began to sag and crack, which meant the structure would need a huge overhaul to be completed. Now it goes unmentioned by tour guides, absent from maps and stamps, a symbolic disfigurement towering on the capital city’s skyline.
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