Lost and Dead Cities [Archive] - SkyscraperPage Forum

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LSyd

Dec 6, 2006, 6:30 PM

cities come and go, and well, nothing lasts forever. this thread is for information and links to these doomed places. i think this is a fascinating subject.

Gukanjima - Japan (http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/gunsu/g-text-e.html) - a reef island, expanded into an artificial island, where coal was mined for over 150 years until the coal was gone and the island abandoned.

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/gunsu/gunsu-jpg/81-f.jpg

Times Beach, Missouri (http://www.legendsofamerica.com/MO-TimesBeach.html) started as a summer resort in 1925, the town was evacuated and disincorporated in the early 1980s because of dioxin contamination from spraying waste oil on dirt roads to control dust storms. soil layers were removed, buildings leveled and now it's Route 66 state park. satellite here (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.508,+-90.602&ie=UTF8&ll=38.508,-90.602&spn=0.016052,0.043259&t=h&om=1)

Pripyat and the Chernobyl exclusion zone (http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~dmcmill/Introduction.html)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_alienation

30 kilometer area around the power station where the only legal habitation are by workers connected to studying the nuclear plant and effects of the disaster

http://alexcam.paris.free.fr/images/Pripyat%20Chernobyl.JPG

Love Canal, New York (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal) originally to be part of a hydroelectric plant near Niagra Falls, the canal was never finished and eventually became a toxic waste dump, then part of a neighborhood. then the waste leaked and a massive cleanup ensued. an exclusion zone was set up, and it was renamed Black Creek Village (http://www.cnn.com/US/9808/07/love.canal/), complete with new development

http://www.heremydear.com/img/2006/05/lovecanal.jpg

Caesarea Palaestina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarea_Palaestina) port built by King Herod, it became a major city before falling into disrepair, finished off by the crusades, ensuing warfare and silting of the harbor. it now features an underwater "museum," featuring points on underwater trails

Machu Picchu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu)

ancient Incan mountain resort town from about 1440 until the Spanish invasion of 1532. forgotten about by the outside world until being "rediscovered" in 1911.

http://www.horwat.com/albums/MachuPicchu/Peru_Machu_Picchu_59.jpg

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-GR2NY-

Dec 6, 2006, 7:36 PM

Wow, real cool thread. Can we do towns or just cities?

Steely Dan

Dec 6, 2006, 7:47 PM

Topher1

Dec 6, 2006, 8:50 PM

This might be a smaller town than you intended for the thread, but I thought Ellenton, SC was an interesting story. The town was picked up and moved when the DOE decided to to construct the 310 square mile Savannah River site about 20 miles SE of Augusta, GA. "New Ellenton, SC" was established at the SRS gates south of Aiken, SC, but never really thrived.

The illegible portion of the sign below reads: "It is hard to understand why our town must be destroyed to make a bomb that will destroy someone else's town that they love as much as we love ours. But we feel that they picked not just the best spot in the US, but in the world."
http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/5938/elsignsq2.jpg

More info and photos of the town and some of the moving process at http://www.idlta.com. The website is for a play based on the town, but it contains good history and photos...

LSyd

Dec 6, 2006, 9:03 PM

^ thanks for some interesting history on my adopted state i didn't know about.

Wow, real cool thread. Can we do towns or just cities?

anything, really.

another path to explore is cities and towns that had to be abandoned due to dam construction and now lie at the bottom of resevoirs. i know this has been an issue with some of the cities/towns in china for the building of the 3 gorges damn. how cool would it be to scuba dive through an abandoned underwater resevoir city?

heh, one of my friends was telling me about diving on one of those. some jokers had planted weighted down glow in the dark skeletons and stuff near the town's cemetary, and the divemaster was suprised and freaked out by it on his first dive.

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Sulley

Dec 6, 2006, 9:51 PM

Buffalo, NY.

LSyd

Dec 6, 2006, 9:56 PM

Buffalo, NY.

but, but, but...it's not dead, it just hosted the world's largest disco. stuck in the 70s ain't dead. close, but that only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. :haha:

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hauntedheadnc

Dec 6, 2006, 10:18 PM

another path to explore is cities and towns that had to be abandoned due to dam construction and now lie at the bottom of resevoirs. i know this has been an issue with some of the cities/towns in china for the building of the 3 gorges damn. how cool would it be to scuba dive through an abandoned underwater resevoir city?

The South is littered with towns like that. I can't speak for other locales, but I do know that there are no large natural lakes in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Most were created to tap hydroelectric energy while at least one, Lake Lure, was created for the simple reason that the people who owned Chimney Rock Park thought the view for tourists would be improved by a large body of water.

Hence, the town of Uree now lies on the lakebed. Money talks. According to the guides on the lake tours there, Uree was one of the few towns that wasn't demolished and burned before the lake water inundated it. As so, it's supposed to be almost entirely intact down there, except for what's collapsed on its own in the 70-something years the lake's been there.

At other lakes in the mountains here, there are still things standing on the bottom. At Lake Fontana, when the water levels drop in the winter, a church steeple pokes into sight from the dam, submerging again when the levels go back up.

There's another lake, but I can't remember which one, where a friend of mine went diving, and found a house, fully intact, on the bottom. When he looked in the window, the furniture was still inside. I wouldn't say he discovered this house though, because there was a sign by the door asking divers to please not steal any of that furniture. A little ways away was a small cemetery inside a wrought iron fence.

I know there's a lake in Tennessee where part of the town high school is standing on the bottom still. This kind of thing is all over around here.

Buckeye Native 001

Dec 6, 2006, 10:45 PM

Some guy goes all over Ohio and explores abandoned buildings and hauntings and whatnot. He went to a place called Utopia (pics of his excursion found on the website link).

http://www.forgottenoh.com/Utopia/utopia.html

Utopia is not a true ghost town; people still live there, on the two streets which make up the town--both of which dead-end at the banks of the Ohio River. It does, however, have ghosts. Or so they say.

Located in Clermont County, Utopia was founded by Charles Fourier, a French guy who was a member of a religious sect which believed that the world was about to enter a 35,000-year period of peace, and that people would be organized into "phalanxes"--something like the communes hippies like to live in. He also believed that the oceans would turn into lemonade. I am not making this up.

Phalanxes were about three square miles in size and would include their own farmland, libraries, schools, and stables. In 1844 he convinced more than a dozen families to join him at his phalanx in southern Ohio for a rent of $25.00 a year. Each family got a wooden house. There was a dining hall for everyone located on the river bank. Later on a thirty-room brick house was built higher up.

When the oceans failed to turn into lemonade, Fourier's followers became disillusioned and disbanded in 1846.

After that the land with all the phalanx buildings was sold to John O. Wattles, the leader of a group of spiritualists. Against the warnings of locals, Wattles had the main building moved, brick by brick, down to the water's edge. It was completed by December of 1847, just in time for one of the biggest floods of the ninteenth century.

On December 12 the Ohio had overflowed to the point where people had to be ferried to the main house by boat, but people were still seeking shelter there. There was a party on the evening of December 13, but the dancing was interrupted when the bricks gave way and all but a few of the spiritualists were washed out to drown or freeze in the icy Ohio River.

In 1975 a dredging operation brought up bricks from the original house, and it's said that when the water is very, very low the original foundation is visible. The house where John O. Wattles himself lived is now a private residence, a stone house on Route 52. Stranger still are the underground chambers recently discovered near the Brown County line.
Today the riverbank at Utopia is said to be haunted by the ghosts of the spiritualists killed in the flood of 1847. Residents have seen them walking out of the water. Strange lights have been seen moving around in or near the water.

First of all I have to say, if you're visiting Utopia hoping for something spectacular, be prepared to be disappointed. It's just a little town. As the cop who pulled us over on the way there said, "There's nothin there but a gas station."

There is a little mom-and-pop gas station at Utopia, and there are some houses. There's also a long road which leads back into some scary woods. Walking along the water at night is a little unsettling. Rivers at night can be creepy. I haven't been exposed to them much, although my dad and grandpa grew up on that very one. I had a great-uncle who worked on garbage barges who drowned in the Ohio when he got drunk and rolled off a barge one night.

I tried to talk to the ghosts, and poked my flashlight around looking for signs of the old house. Nothing but black water and an old, rotted boat dock. No voices, no strange lights, no ghostly spiritualists walking out of the river.

On a later trip with my friends Troy and Jennifer we located the underground stone chamber which is the most impressive part of the Utopia legend. It opens to the surface in two places which are surrounded by chainlink fences overgrown with weeds and vines. They're about 20 feet deep and have carefully masoned stone arches and even windows. Part of a basement? A secret chamber meant for hiding slaves?

Neither one, as it turns out. This was part of John O. Wattles's church, and once you get past the padlocked fence and climb down the ladder you'll find yourself in a stone room with a dirt floor and two fireplaces. Any ghosts present in the town would find a safe home down here, in this room which is so rarely visited and largely forgotten even by local people. Spending the night down here would be quite an experience. If you're ever in Utopia you might want to give it a shot.

WonderlandPark

Dec 7, 2006, 12:02 AM

I am a big fan of abandoned sites and ghost towns. Here are a bunch of black and whites that I have taken over the years. The entire collection is here: http://www.pixelmap.com/ts_abandon.html

Bodie, California, one of my regular "haunts." har har.

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_008.jpg

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_003.jpg

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_004.jpg

Way in the east of Oregon, they don't come more lonely than the former boomtown of Cornucopia:

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_305.jpg

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_307.jpg

Also, truly in the sticks, Whitney, Oregon

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_321.jpg

From the Rockies, The semi-inhabited mining town of St. Elmo in the Sawatch Range.

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_406.jpg

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_407.jpg

The aptly named former site of Marble, Colorado

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_411.jpg

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_410.jpg

The abandoned, but preserved former mining town of Ashcroft, Colorado

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_418.jpg

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_420.jpg

More modern, the former George Air Force Base, a whole city unto itself being torn down as we speak.

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_006.jpg

http://www.pixelmap.com/images/Texture/ts_abandon_005.jpg

waterloowarrior

Dec 7, 2006, 12:26 AM

in before miketoronto XD

Ex-Ithacan

Dec 7, 2006, 12:44 AM

Gukanjima is unbelivebable.

There's always Centralia, PA:

http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm

:(

Via Chicago

Dec 7, 2006, 1:04 AM

On the subject of abandoned places, this site is one of my absolute favorites on the net.
http://www.abandoned-places.com/

The photography and the places this guy visits is absolutely chilling. Factories, towns, hospitals, old industrial areas..all left to be consumed by the sands of time.

hauntedheadnc

Dec 7, 2006, 1:17 AM

On the subject of abandoned places, this site is one of my absolute favorites on the net.
http://www.abandoned-places.com/

Here's another one for you. It's excellent and one of my favorites. Be sure to check out the tour of The Pines Hotel.

www.opacity.us

WonderlandPark

Dec 7, 2006, 1:22 AM

^^^ those are some of my fave sites, too. Europe is the hotspot for this kind of stuff, less of the stupid lawsuit happy BS we have to put up with here in the states.

Via Chicago

Dec 7, 2006, 1:30 AM

^^^ those are some of my fave sites, too. Europe is the hotspot for this kind of stuff, less of the stupid lawsuit happy BS we have to put up with here in the states.

Yea, ive noticed the same thing. Europes got all the good stuff.

NIKKI

Dec 7, 2006, 1:38 AM

Indianola,TX

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9189/indianolaportwa9.jpg

Monument of French explorer Robert La Salle at Indianola
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/5466/lasallemonumentrm9.jpg

La Salle Monument Today
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/1689/lasallejt4.jpg

Army arriving with camels on the shore of Indianola
http://ameddregiment.amedd.army.mil/fshmuse/images/exhibit1_4L.gif

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/6430/indianolatownmark2shj4.jpg

Although a ghost town today, Indianola ranked in importance with New Orleans and Galveston as a port city from 1844 to 1887. September 16-17, 1877 a monster hurricane slammed into Indianola and, in its wake, it left hundreds dead and the city almost totally destroyed. But these Indianolians were sturdy Texans, and they rebuilt their city. The disasters were not over, however. Another once-in-a-lifetime hurricane struck on August 20, 1886. Between the loss of the railroad and the destruction of the storm, the people’s hearts were just not in it. This time, there would be no rebuilding.

Link (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/images/giants/lasalle/lasalle-monument.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/giants/lasalle/lasalle-01.html&h=222&w=350&sz=23&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=9kBX1tUgJIJTNM:&tbnh=76&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3DIndianola%2Btx%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DSUNA,SUNA:2006-08,SUNA:en%26sa%3DN)

vanman

Dec 7, 2006, 11:22 AM

Fucking fascinating thread!

Gukanjima Japan or Battleship Island interests me the most. Amazing pictures from the link posted:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/vannmann/96-f-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/vannmann/14-hashima.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/vannmann/9-f.jpg

OfCourse

Dec 7, 2006, 12:20 PM

Guerrero Viejo, Mexico.

It sits at the bottom of Falcon Reservoir on the Texas and Mexican border.

Anyway, since there has been a severe drought going on, the ruins are visible. I think the drinking water for my hometown came from this reservoir. Heh.

http://www.lesliemazoch.com/guerrero/guerrero.html
http://www.lesliemazoch.com/guerrero/church.jpg

http://people.smu.edu/rtmoore/viejo/viejo.html
http://people.smu.edu/rtmoore/viejo/3.jpg

http://people.smu.edu/rtmoore/viejo/2.jpg

http://people.smu.edu/rtmoore/viejo/5.jpg

http://people.smu.edu/rtmoore/viejo/4.jpg

http://people.smu.edu/rtmoore/viejo/6.jpg

http://people.smu.edu/rtmoore/viejo/8.jpg

http://people.smu.edu/rtmoore/viejo/7.jpg

http://travel.webshots.com/album/58729264KPqXOD
http://image04.webshots.com/4/2/95/55/58729555FhICoO_ph.jpg

http://image04.webshots.com/4/2/95/78/58729578FqnLpQ_ph.jpg

http://image04.webshots.com/4/3/85/40/58938540baTtrg_fs.jpg

http://image05.webshots.com/5/7/11/41/61471141VNQofc_fs.jpg

http://image05.webshots.com/5/7/5/7/60870507jbRNCb_fs.jpg

tackledspoon

Dec 7, 2006, 2:55 PM

Someone did a threat a long time ago on an area in Cyprus that was abandoned sometime in the mid-70's and hasn't really changed much since. I did a bit of googling, but I couldn't come up with much more than the fact that it exists. I have to go to class, but I remember this area being one of the more impressive abandoned places, due to its former density.

MolsonExport

Dec 7, 2006, 3:11 PM

Behold, the Walled City of Kowloon (destroyed in 1993), reputed to have the highest density in history (50,000 residents).

http://www.klnwcity.org/intro/large/klnwcity/80/80klnwcity_figure12_large.jpg

Visit my detailed thread on the topic:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=55357

LSyd

Dec 7, 2006, 7:42 PM

LSyd

Dec 7, 2006, 7:54 PM

Varosha, Cyprus. a resort suburb with lots of high-rise hotels under control of the Turks who fenced them off instead of running them.

http://groups.msn.com/ReturntoVaroshaFamagustaCyprus

all empty...

http://www.pbase.com/grovsnus/image/50834518.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/grovsnus/famagusta

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LSyd

Dec 7, 2006, 7:55 PM

oh, and i remember one german guy's pics from a failed resort island in China; halfway through the construction of a lot of the resorts, the government decided it wasn't environmentally sound to disturb that island, and said the resorts had to go on another island. was that a R@ptor thread?

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LSyd

Dec 7, 2006, 7:59 PM

San Zhi, Taiwan - a planned 1980s resort abandoned at some point during construction (not the Chinese one i was looking for)

http://www.tranism.com/weblog/images/sanzhi_vaca_02.jpg

http://www.tranism.com/weblog/archives/2006/08/the_abandoned_c_1.html

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Jersey Mentality

Dec 7, 2006, 8:13 PM

I love this thread.

Ronin

Dec 7, 2006, 9:44 PM

It's not a city, but check out this abandoned amusement park in Japan. It looks like it is straight out of Scooby Doo.

http://home.f01.itscom.net/spiral/t_rando/t_rando1.html

http://spiral.servlet.jp/t_rando/t_rando03.jpg

http://spiral.servlet.jp/t_rando/t_rando04.jpg

tech12

Dec 7, 2006, 10:18 PM

vertex

Dec 7, 2006, 11:06 PM

toddguy

Dec 7, 2006, 11:24 PM

Plymouth, Montserrat..the former capital buried by volcanic eruptions and now abandoned:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k40/toddguy/Plymouth1993.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k40/toddguy/Plymouth1999.jpg

forumly_chgoman

Dec 8, 2006, 12:24 AM

Detroit ??

CGII

Dec 8, 2006, 12:34 AM

I did some research on Love Canal and stumbled across a Republican website that says wacky-plinko enviromentalists made up the health concerns at Love Canal in some sort of crazy conspiracy. I banged my head on the keyboard for a while after.
http://www.republicanvoices.org/newsletter_January_2005.html

J Church

Dec 8, 2006, 1:40 AM

Threads like this are why I still come to SSP.

WonderlandPark, you're a terrific photographer.

WonderlandPark

Dec 8, 2006, 1:45 AM

Anyone have pics of Fort Ord California? I feel stupid because I just spent 2 months living there, and I took no pictures.

Anyways, it's an old army base, and there are hundreds of abandoned barracks, homes, offices and warehouses. Walking through the streets at night, between rows of abandonded houses was a truly unsettling experience, every time that I did it.

Yep, sure do. Make it my duty to check these places out ;).

Not all of them, but here are some that I threw onto Flickr a while back:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15675481@N00/sets/72157594182117677/

rockyi

Dec 8, 2006, 1:49 AM

Facinating thread!

CGII

Dec 8, 2006, 2:02 AM

Let's not forget Centralia, Pennsylvania. (http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm)

BnaBreaker

Dec 8, 2006, 2:54 AM

Good thread idea! Oddly enough the only one i've been to out of those is Maccu Piccu.

LSyd

Dec 8, 2006, 4:11 AM

Pressmen's Home, Tennessee (near Rogersville)

http://webpages.charter.net/pressmenshome/index.html

http://paulaoffutt.com/blog/images/pressmans-home/

Pressmen's Home Tennessee is located between Knoxville and Kingsport. It was the headquarters for the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union of North America. It was established in 1911 by George L. Berry. The union provided a Trade School to train union members in all aspects of printing. The Trade School housed both letter-press and offset presses as early as 1912, it also provided training in Pre-Press and Bindery. Many young men came to Pressmen's Home from all over the United States and Canada to train in their profession.

In the 1970s, the Union moved to Washington, D.C. today, the area is supposedely haunted. part of the property became a golf course (from a failed golf community,) and the rest may be a paramilitary compound of some kind.

then:

http://paulaoffutt.com/pics/images/pressmans_home5.gif

today:

http://paulaoffutt.com/pics/images/pressmans_home1.jpg

http://paulaoffutt.com/pics/images/pressmans_home2.jpg

http://paulaoffutt.com/pics/images/pressmans_home3.jpg

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hauntedheadnc

Dec 8, 2006, 7:31 AM

Here's a link to a series from my local paper detailing some of the towns that were killed off by the creation of Lake Fontana and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NORTHSHORE

On the right-hand side there are links to photo galleries and video clips of abandoned homesteads, some with old 1930's cars rusting away to nothing in what used to be the front yards, cemeteries only accessible by boat and trail, and even a few shots of the ruins of the towns of Proctor and Hazel Creek.

Grumpy

Dec 8, 2006, 11:22 AM

how many cities were submerged by the "three gorges dam" in China ?

R@ptor

Dec 8, 2006, 6:49 PM

Gerrard

Dec 8, 2006, 8:05 PM

"and the rest may be a paramilitary compound of some kind."

Or inhabited by a family of cannibals.

st steven

Dec 8, 2006, 8:18 PM

Um, would Atlantis count?

Something occured to me while perusing this interesting thread. Nineteenth century Romantics also had a passion for ruins and abandoned places like collapsing Roman temples and Gothic castles. We too seem to have a preoccupation with remnants of a "better" past--urban places and societies. Just something to think about.

LSyd

Dec 8, 2006, 8:40 PM

No that would be itom 987's thread about Beihai in the Guangxi province. I searched for it, but couldn't find it anymore.

thanks for the name of it mate. i wonder if he still has his pics up.

Or inhabited by a family of cannibals.

yeah, i'm gonna be cautious and research it out, see who lives there, so it doesn't turn into some House of 1000 Corpses/TCM deal with me on the receiving end.

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LSyd

Dec 8, 2006, 8:48 PM

SSLL

Dec 9, 2006, 2:41 AM

Interesting. I can't believe no one has mentioned Pompeii! I got to see it in September. It's huge!

Tex1899

Dec 9, 2006, 3:30 AM

Wonderland Park, great black/white photos!

I think Detroit is heading down this path.

Texas has several ghost towns and abandoned/destroyed cities. Poor Indianola...I think it has about 15,000 people in the mid- to late-1800's until it was hit by 2 major hurricanes within maybe a decade of each other. Several towns were "booming" (at the time) until the railroad passed them by. Calvert, a town about 45 minutes north of College Station, was once the 3rd largest city in Texas (with a population of almost 20,000), until the railroad passed it by. There's maybe 1,000 residents now.

In Washington County, about an hour northwest of Houston, a town was planned in the 1800's (maybe 1870's or 1880's), but was never built due to Indian raids. Apparently the vegetation where the roads were to be built is a little shorter than the rest.

hauntedheadnc

Dec 9, 2006, 4:38 AM

One of the more interesting abandoned cities, the former capital of Alabama, Cahawba

www.cahawba.com

Somebody did a photo thread on this place sometime in the last year, I seem to remember...

roner

Dec 9, 2006, 5:47 AM

Don't forget about Angor Wat in Siem Reap Cambodia. It's massive! Here is some shots I took a couple years back. :yes:

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o119/roner77/RicksPictures002.jpg

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o119/roner77/tour2003003.jpg

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o119/roner77/RicksPictures007.jpg

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o119/roner77/RicksPictures012.jpg

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o119/roner77/tour2003016.jpg

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o119/roner77/RicksPictures032.jpg

Comrade

Dec 9, 2006, 5:55 AM

Thistle, Utah. It was a small town built on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad in 1883. In April of 1983, 100 years after the town was founded, a landslide moved part of the mountain and blocked two creeks, forming an earthen dam. The creeks backed up, flooded the entire town and left it a ghost town. When I was younger you could actually go look into the houses and downtown area, but now they've pretty much roped off the entire area.

The city hall, I believe.

http://www.dreambreeze.com/Photos/UtahPO/ThistleRuin.jpg

http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ut/images/thistle1.jpg

http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ut/images/thistle2.jpg

http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ut/images/thistle.gif

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/dinosaurs/images/thistle_ruins.jpg

http://www.udink.org/pictures/08112002/134-3417_img.jpg

http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/geosights/images/thistle6.jpg

http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/geosights/images/thistle4.jpg

http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/geosights/images/thistle5.jpg

This isn't located that far from Salt Lake City. I wish I had the photos from when we went out when I was younger, there were definitely better ones than I could find online.

cookiejarvis

Dec 10, 2006, 12:13 AM

Would the short lived socialist utopian society "Llano del Rio" in the Antelope Valley count? It only lasted 3 years.

http://www.lpb.org/programs/utopia/llano_4.jpg

http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ca/images/llano5.jpg

From Wikipedia:

Llano del Rio was a socialist colony located in Antelope Valley, California. It was founded in the year 1914 by Job Harriman. Although it was established as a corporation it was intended to adhere to the principles of socialism. Each member owned equal stock in the company, and all were paid a wage of four dollars a day. The colony was abandoned in 1917.

LSyd

Jan 5, 2007, 12:28 AM

^ yes.

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glowrock

Jan 5, 2007, 3:44 AM

Perhaps Bob Jones University will end up in threads like this in the future, LSyd? :D

Aaron (Glowrock)

LSyd

Jan 5, 2007, 3:00 PM

Perhaps Bob Jones University will end up in threads like this in the future, LSyd? :D

Aaron (Glowrock)

:haha:

-

Slim Pickens

Jan 6, 2007, 10:23 AM

You guys would really dig this book. It has some great photography and information. Well worth it.

http://www.amazon.com/Ghostly-Ruins-Americas-Forgotten-Architecture/dp/1568986157

LMich

Jan 6, 2007, 10:56 AM

Michigan's most famous ghost town is Singapore, Michigan. Founded in 1836 on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River, it was vacated completely in 1875, the oddest victim of the fires that swept Chicago, Holland, Peshtigo, and Manistee on October 8, 1871. At the time of its demise, the city contained 23 buildings and 2 saw mills, which are know completely under sand.

Here's the story of its demise according to wikipedia:

"After the fires which swept through Chicago, Holland, and Peshtigo in late 1871; Singapore was almost completely deforested in order to supply the three towns with lumber in order to rebuild. Without the protective tree cover, the winds and sands coming off Lake Michigan quickly eroded the city into ruins and within four years had completely covered it over. The town was vacated by 1875."

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/11/Singaporemarker.jpg

Caronte

Jan 7, 2007, 4:25 AM

alps

Jan 7, 2007, 5:18 AM

-Nagasaki
-Hiroshima

Mm, how do these count?

Slim Pickens

Jan 7, 2007, 8:04 AM

Mm, how do these count?

Lost in their original form perhaps?

LMich

Jan 7, 2007, 8:15 AM

They still don't count. If that was the case, then Chicago and London and... are "lost cities" because they burnt to the ground. Maybe he was trying to be funny, but I don't find the humor in it.

Caronte

Jan 7, 2007, 6:14 PM

NO! I didn't want to be funnny at all, because it is not. I believed that these cities were left, or that at least a part of they had been closed due to the radiation, that's why i named them. But i know now that i was wrong...

machinehead11

Jan 8, 2007, 6:49 PM

Can anyone post pics of Valentine, TX? What a depressing place...

CGII

Jan 9, 2007, 12:00 AM

i_am_hydrogen

Jan 9, 2007, 1:36 AM

phillyskyline

Jan 9, 2007, 3:00 AM

Kowloon is shocking & depressing!

Caronte

Jan 9, 2007, 3:47 AM

@machinehead11: i found 3 pictures of Valentine

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/1399/glenriodiner400oh0.jpg

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8017/txjda102qz4.jpg

http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/572/valentinecitylimitvc1.jpg

Smiley Person

Jan 9, 2007, 4:11 AM

http://static.flickr.com/22/26976252_efa6e4b06c_m.jpg
http://www.roanealliance.org/library/buildings/Wal%20Mart_1136927222.jpg
http://www.carnm.com/files/property/290000/299619/thumbnails/medium_456340_Alamogordo_Wal-Mart.jpg
http://www.volumeproject.org/plain/show.php?i=./media/Deadstore11.jpg&w=375
http://static.flickr.com/18/23096971_b55d65b2f0_m.jpg
http://images.theglobeandmail.com/archives/RTGAM/images/20060424/wwal-mart-gallery/4wal_mart_bynumbers.jpg
http://images.theglobeandmail.com/archives/RTGAM/images/20060424/wwal-mart-gallery/5wal_mart_bynumbers.jpg
http://www.runawaytruck.com/photos/walmart.jpg
http://www.friendsfairgrowth.org/emptywms.jpg
http://www.worksongs.com/blogpics/etobicoke_walmart.jpg
http://www.motelshotelsforsale.com/forecl4.jpg
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/metasite/news/magazine/summer2005/images/swathopavement.jpg
http://www.ky-leadernews.com/newbusiness3.jpg
http://www.lacdb.com/files/property/650000/657004/thumbnails/medium_974424_1.jpg
http://www.ci.anadarko.ok.us/cities/AnadarkoOK/docs/UploadedPages/WalMartBuilding_files/image003.jpg

aaron38

Jan 9, 2007, 4:35 AM

If you want to go way, way back, there's the theory of the ancient Black Sea Flood. The theory is that during the last glacier period the Black Sea was a small lake. As the glaciers melted the sea level rose, but there was a natural barrier where Constantanople/Istanbul sits, and the lake and surounding land became a below sea level depression. Evidence has been found of human setlements around the ancient lake shoreline.

"Earlier, the same team of scientists found what they said appear to be remnants of an ancient site where humans might have lived, along the submerged coastline west of Sinop, Turkey. The find included an apparent man-made building foundation built when the area was dry land, nearly 8,000 years ago, before a cataclysmic flood."
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/11/02/ancient.shipwreck/index.html

Eventually the ocean broke through in what is assumed to be a torrential waterfall. The Black Sea would have risen hundreds of feet in less than a year, drowning a huge area of land and displacing thousands of people. As the people scattered and told the tale, this is the possible source of all Noah's/Great Flood stories.

It is theorized that much of the floor of the Black Sea is a graveyard of ancient fishing and farming villages over 7,000 years old.

WonderlandPark

Jan 9, 2007, 5:01 AM

The Wal-Mart photos are a fine example of the failings of that company, which is the largest holder of unused real estate in the nation. Many of these places originally wanted a Wal Mart and gave the company generous tax incentives and infrastructure upgrades. In many cases, to the moment, once the tax rebates ended, Wal-Mart would pull up stakes and move to an area outside the city, onto unincorporated land, and stiff the local municipality. Wal-Mart sucks, their city killing tatics are the biggest reason I NEVER shop there. Low prices are fine, many companies use cheap labor, but it is anti-urban ethic practiced by Wal-Mart which makes me their biggest opponent.

LSyd

Jan 9, 2007, 4:33 PM

Mmmmm...

-Nagasaki
-Hiroshima
-Some neighborhoods in Detroit

I live in Argentina; my country had many railway distances that were crossing all the regions, but in the 90', they were all privatized. Now only exists less than 30 % of what existed. The problem is that a lot of towns inside the country were living thanks to the railroads, and these towns don't exist now. The people who lived there live now in poor neighborhoods of the capital of the country.
I wish i could find some pictures, but it's weird to find it in the web... Anyway, i have a closed train station to show you:

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/2618/estacionpatriciosfcgmbqi8.jpg

that's interesting on the Argentine towns.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were rebuilt and recovered, however WWII did destroy a several towns and villages.

http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Oradour-sur-Glane/OldPhotos/index.html

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/oradour.htm

On June 10, 1944, a Nazi SS Division (Das Reich) surrounded the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in France then ordered everyone in the town, 652 persons, to assemble in the town square.

Once there, they were told by the Nazi commandant they were suspected of hiding explosives and as a result there would be a search and a check of identity papers. The entire population was then locked up, the men in barns, women and children in the church.

The Nazis then set fire to the entire village and began shooting the villagers with machine guns, then set the barns and the church on fire, burning the men, women and children alive, and shooting anyone who survived. A total of 642 townspeople -- 245 women, 207 children, and 190 men were massacred.

Three days after the massacre, a Catholic Bishop found the charred bodies of fifteen children in a heap behind the burned out altar inside the church.

The village of Oradour-sur-Glane was never rebuilt, forever standing as a silent monument to Nazi atrocities.

reading into it, the scary thing is the orders were to ransom the village in exchange for a Nazi, not destroy it. afterwards, some of the Nazi command wanted those responsible prosecuted, but the commander of the massacre was killed in action and Hitler wouldn't allow it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Oradour-sur-Glane-Streets-1294.jpg/800px-Oradour-sur-Glane-Streets-1294.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Oradour-sur-Glane-Hardware-1342.jpg/800px-Oradour-sur-Glane-Hardware-1342.jpg

-------------------------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidice

Lidice, Czech Republic, was destroyed by the Nazis in retribution for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, who bragged about it for propaganda (unlike other villages they wiped out.) a new Lidice was built adjacent to the former site after the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le%C5%BE%C3%A1ky

the village of Ležáky was also destroyed in retribution, but not rebuilt.

-

p.s. what's the story with Valentine?

p.s.s. LMich, have they ever excavated or done ground sonar work on that town?

LMich

Jan 10, 2007, 12:02 AM

Lsyd, you know what. I don't know.

BTW, they story about that French village is [i]horrific[i/]. I'd never heard of that.

Stephenapolis

Jan 10, 2007, 1:53 AM

In the Dakotas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kansas. I have run across many abandoned or semi-abandoned towns. They are usually pretty intresting to go through. My dad lives just outside the long gone city/town of Atlanta, Wisconsin. There are only 2 buildings still left standing from this town. There are a few houses left too, but it is hard to tell that they used to be part of the town. One of the buildings was moved to a different location to bette sere people. It now acts as the town hall. I used to be the school. The other remaining building partially collapsed last year.So there is little left of the town. Most was detroyed and turned into a few pastures. You can find the foundations of some of the buildings still if you look for them.

MolsonExport

Jan 10, 2007, 2:25 PM

The dead Walmart photos are very interesting. A part of me wishes that all Walmarts looked like those depicted.

Stephenapolis

Jan 10, 2007, 3:39 PM

Communities should just Eminent domain those old unused Wal-Marts and shopping centers. Then if the demand is there have the land turned over to residential development. Or just tear the eyesores down and let it become greenspace.

BUILDER5000

Feb 1, 2007, 3:37 PM

Judging by the photos if you recall Wal*Mart did a major increase on their store size as they grew and evolved into super and mega walmarts. Many of the higher-ups found it more cost effective to simply sell their old store sites and rebuild further down the road or somewhere nearby. Ive seen many of the walmarts do such in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware so it's not a sign of the company failing at all, rather a sign of it growing.

LSyd

Apr 4, 2007, 1:26 AM

bump.

-

DecoJim

Apr 4, 2007, 6:06 PM

I am surprised that no one mentioned the ancient cities of Mexico and Central America.

I visited a few of them a number of years ago.

Here is a picture I took of part of Teotihuacan, from a vantage point on the Pyramid of the Moon. Archeologists estimate that about 2000 years ago this city may have have 150-200,000 inhabitants.
http://www.maj.com/gallery/DecoJim/Mexico1991/mexico21w.jpg

Later, when the Aztecs came to power, this city had already been long abandonded and they called it the place of the gods.

i_am_hydrogen

Apr 4, 2007, 9:18 PM

A couple that come to mind that I've researched:

Dead: Pripyat, Ukraine. A city of 50,000, it was populated mostly by workers at the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant and sits in the "exclusion zone," a 30km area in which radiation contamination levels are at their highest. Pripyat was evacuated in 1996. People were in the midst of celebrating May Day when the disaster struck. And although some 400 or so stubborn residents remain, centuries must past before it's safe enough for the return of human habitation.

by Charles Hawley:
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/3743/charleshawley1vp5.jpg

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/4418/charleshawley2fh4.jpg

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/8215/charleshawley3ow3.jpg

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4953/charleshawleyamusewc0.jpg

Unknown photographer (http://xpda.com/):
http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk153/chernobyl/page5_files/barby.jpeg

http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk153/chernobyl/page11_files/view_from_the_roof.jpeg

http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk153/chernobyl/page15_files/koleso.jpeg

by Rüdiger Lubrucht:
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,602489,00.jpg

******

LOST: Jonestown, Guyana. Jim Jones, founder of a cult known as The Peoples Temple, moved his followers from San Francisco to the makeshift city of Jonestown in the seclusion of the Guyanese jungle. It was hardly a utopian outpost. Cult members, including children, were routinely tortured and beaten at the behest of Jones. In 1978, a few years after the founding of Jonestown, a group known as "The Concerned Relatives of Peoples Temple Members" lobbied California Congressman Leo Ryan to visit Jonestown and observe the conditions. Ryan never made it out alive. Shortly after arriving, he was approached by a temple member interested in defecting from the cult. But he was not the only one. As the list of people who wanted to leave steadily rose, Jones became increasingly paranoid and unstable, worrying that ex-members would spread lies about The Peoples Temple. The situation reached a head when Ryan and a group of defectors were attempting to leave Jonestown and fly back to the U.S. Temple guardsmen acting under the orders of Jones opened fire on the group as they left, wounding some and killing others. Congressman Ryan was dead. Soon thereafter, Jones began assembling his followers and explained that it was now time to engage in what had been called “white night,” a mass suicide they had rehearsed many times before. People were then lined up and given paper cups containing valium and cyanide mixed with grape kool-aid. It is often mistakenly assumed that those who died in the Jonestown massacre were willing participants in their own deaths. To the contrary, most were forced to drink the mixture or forcibly injected with the mixture and many only chose to drink after seeing their children killed after drinking first. All told, some 900 people lay dead in silence of the jungle.

From the Jonestown Report (http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Gallery/gallery.htm):
http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Gallery/G1/images/adults05.jpg

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/1447/jonestownhousesob6.jpg

Jim Jones's cabin:
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/2052/cabinub4.jpg

Jim Jones (http://www.unexplainedstuff.com):
http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/images/geuu_01_img0216.jpg

Jones and his followers (http://www.unexplainedstuff.com):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Jim_Jones_brochure_of_Peoples_Temple.jpg

http://www.resist.com.au/
http://www.jcnot4me.com/images/Jonestown.gif

http://www.resist.com.au/
http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/5517/jonestown16nc3.jpg

MolsonExport

Apr 5, 2007, 1:17 PM

Lost city
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses of the term Lost city, see Lost city (disambiguation).
In the popular imagination lost cities were real, prosperous, well-populated areas of human habitation that fell into terminal decline and whose location was later lost. Most lost cities are of ancient origins, and have been studied extensively by archaeologists. Abandoned urban sites of relatively recent origin are generally referred to as ghost towns.

Lost cities generally fall into three broad categories: those whose disappearance has been so complete that no knowledge of the city existed until the time of its rediscovery, those whose location has been lost but whose memory has been retained in the context of myths and legends, and those whose existence and location have always been known, but which are no longer inhabited.

The search for such lost cities by European adventurers in the Americas, Africa and in Southeast Asia from the 15th century onwards eventually led to the development of the science of archaeology.

How are cities lost?
Cities may become lost for a variety of reasons, including geographic, economic, social (e.g. war), others, or some combination of these. Many are lost for reasons that are currently unknown.

An Arabian city named Ubar (Iram of the Pillars) was abandoned after much of the city sank into a sinkhole created by the collapse of an underground cavern, which also destroyed their water supply, and its location was forgotten for some centuries. It was rediscovered in 1992 by satellite photography that revealed the traces of the ancient tradeways.

Other settlements are lost with little or no clues to guide historians, such as the Colony of Roanoke. In August 1590, John White returned to the former English colony, which had housed 91 men (including White), 17 women (two of them pregnant) and 11 children when he left, to find it completely empty.

Malden Island, in the central Pacific, was deserted when first visited by Europeans in 1825, but ruined temples and the remains of other structures found on the island indicate that a small population of Polynesians had lived there for perhaps several generations some centuries earlier. Prolonged drought seems the most likely explanation for their demise. The ruins of another city, called Nan Madol, have been found on the Micronesian island of Ponape. In more recent times Port Royal, Jamaica sank into the Caribbean Sea after an earthquake.

Cities have been destroyed by natural disasters and rebuilt again (and again), but the destruction has occasionally been so complete that they were not rebuilt. Classic examples include the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, buried with many of their inhabitants in a catastrophic flow of volcanic ash after an eruption of Vesuvius. A lesser known example would be Akrotiri, on the island of Thera, where in 1967, under a blanket of ash, the remains of a Minoan city were discovered. The volcanic explosion on Thera was immense, and had disastrous effects on the Minoan civilisation. (It has been suggested that this disaster was the inspiration that Plato used for the story of Atlantis.)

Less dramatic examples of the destruction of cities by natural forces are those where the coastline has eroded away. Cities which have sunk into the sea include the one-time centre of the English wool-trade, at Dunwich, England, and the city of Rungholt in Germany which sank into the North Sea in a great stormtide in 1362.

Cities are also often destroyed by wars. This is the case, for instance, with Troy and Carthage, though both of these were subsequently rebuilt, and the Achaemenid capital at Persepolis was accidentally burnt by Alexander the Great.

Various capitals in the Middle East were abandoned; after Babylon was abandoned Ctesiphon became the capital of the new Parthian Empire, and was in turn passed over in favor of Baghdad (and later Samarra) for the site of the Abbasid capital though all these cities are fairly close together.

Some of the cities which are considered lost are (or may be) places of legend such as the Arthurian Camelot, Russian Kitezh, Lyonesse and Atlantis. Others, such as Troy and Bjarmaland, having once been considered to be legendary, may actually have existed.

Lost cities by region

Africa
Akhetaten, Egypt – Capital during the reign of 18th Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten. Later abandoned and almost totally destroyed. Modern day el Amarna.
Canopus, Egypt – Located on the now-dry Canopic branch of the Nile, east of Alexandria.
Itjtawy, Egypt – Capital during the 12th Dynasty. Exact location still unknown, but it is believed to lie near the modern town of el-Lisht.
Tanis, Egypt – Capital during the 21st and 22nd Dynasties, in the Delta region.
Memphis, Egypt – Administrative capital of ancient Egypt. Little remains.
The capital city of the Hyskos in the Nile Delta.
Leptis Magna – Roman city located in present day Libya. It was the birthplace of Emperor Septimius Severus, who lavished an extensive public works programme on the city, including diverting the course of a nearby river. The river later returned to its original course, burying much of the city in silt and sand.
Dougga, Tunisia – Roman city located in present day Tunisia.
Carthage – Initially a Phoenician city, destroyed and then rebuilt by Rome. Later served as the capital of the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa, before being destroyed by the Byzantine Empire.
Great Zimbabwe
Audoghast – Wealthy Berber city in medieval Ghana, sacked by mujihadeen, location unknown.

Asia

Far East Asia
Yamatai – Japan.
Yonaguni – Submerged rock formations resembling megaliths near the island of Yonaguni, Japan.

Southeast Asia
Sukhothai
Ayutthaya
Angkor

South Asia
Vijayanagar
Poompuhar – Located in South India.
Mohenjodaro-Located in Pakistan Sindh
Harappa-Located in Pakistan Punjab
Taxila-Located in Pakistan N.W.F.P

Central Asia
Arkaim – Early Aryan civilization.
Harappa – Non-Vedic civilisation.
Mohenjo Daro – Non-Vedic civilization.
Dwarka – ancient seat of Krishna, hero of the Mahabharata. Now largely excavated. Off the coast of the Indian state of Gujarat.
Niya – Located in the Taklamakan Desert, on the ancient Silk Road route.
Loulan – Located in the Taklamakan Desert, on the ancient Silk Road route.
Subashi – Located in the Taklamakan Desert, on the ancient Silk Road route.
Otrar – City located along the Silk Road, important in the history of Central Asia.
Karakorum – Capital of Genghiz Khan.
Old Urgench – Capital of Khwarezm.
Mangazeya, Siberia

Western Asia/Middle East
Iram of the Pillars – Lost Arabian city in the Empty Quarter.
Akkad
Babylon
Çatalhöyük – A Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement, located near the modern city of Konya, Turkey.
Choqa Zanbil
Kish
Lagash
Nineveh
Persepolis
Petra
Ctesiphon
Ur
Hattusa – Capital of the Hittite Empire. Located near the modern village of Boğazköy in north-central Turkey.
Troy

South America

Inca cities
Machu Picchu – Possibly Pachacuti's Family Palace.
Vilcabamba – Currently known as Espiritu Pampa.
Paititi – A legendary city and refuge in the rainforests where Peru, Bolivia and Brazil meet.

Other
Chan Chan – Chimu. Located near Trujillo, in present day Peru.
Tiahuanaco – pre-Inca. Located in present day Bolivia.
Kawachi – Nazca, in present day Peru.
Caral – An important center of the Norte Chico civilization, in present day Peru.
Ciudad de los Cesares – A legendary city in Patagonia, never found.
Trapalanda – A wealthy city supposed to be located between the sound of Magellan and the early Spanish settlements in Chile.
Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien – First city in the mainland of the American continent, in the Darien region between Colombia and Panama. Founded by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa in 1510.

North America

Maya cities
incomplete list – for further information, see Maya civilization

Chichen Itza – This ancient place of pilgrimage is still the most visitied Maya ruin.
Copán – In modern Honduras.
Calakmul – One of two "superpowers" in the classic Maya period.
Koba
Naachtun – Rediscovered in 1922, it remains one of the most remote and least visited Maya sites. Located 44 km (27 miles) south-south-east of Calakmul, and 65 km (40 miles) north of Tikal, it is believed to have had strategic importance to, and been vulnerable to military attacks by, both neighbours. Its ancient name was identified in the mid-1990s as Masuul.
Palenque — in Chiapas, Mexico, known for its beautiful art and architecture
Tikal — One of two "superpowers" in the classic Maya period.

Olmec cities
La Venta – In present day Tabasco, Mexico.
San Lorenzo – Near present day Veracruz, Mexico.

Lost cities in the United States
Cahokia – Located near present-day St. Louis. At its height Cahokia is believed to have had a population of between 40,000 and 80,000 people, making it amongst the largest pre-Columbian cities of the Americas. It is known chiefly for its huge pyramidal mounds of compacted earth.
The cities of the Ancestral Pueblo (or Anasazi) culture, located in the Four Corners region of the Southwest United States – The best known are located at Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde.
Lost counties, cities, and towns of Virginia
Lost counties, cities, and towns of Maryland
Pueblo Grande de Nevada a complex of villages, located near Overton, Nevada

Lost cities in Canada
L'Anse aux Meadows – Viking settlement founded around 1000 by Leif Ericson.
Gangnon - Mining community in northern Quebec that has disappeared after the closing of the mine. All that is left are some sidewalks and a main road.

Other
Aztlán- the ancient home of the aztecs
Izapa – Chief city of the Izapa civilization, whose territory extended from the Gulf Coast across to the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, in present day Mexico, and Guatemala.
Teotihuacan – Pre-Aztec Mexico.

Europe
Atil, Tmutarakan, Sarai Berke – Capitals of the steppe peoples.
Attila's Fortified Camp, Romania – Probably the great ruins at Saden (Zsadany, Jadani, now Cornesti -jud. Timis) from or to which the Hun tribe Sadagariem took or gave their name.
Avars'Khan Fortified Camp, Romania - Probably the re-occupied city of Attila at Saden (Zsadany, Jadani, now Cornesti -jud. Timis).
Birka, Sweden
Damasia – Sank into the Ammersee, Germany.
Dunwich, United Kingdom – Lost to coastal erosion.
Hedeby, Germany
Helike, Greece on the Peloponese – Sunk by an earthquake in the 4th century BC and rediscovered in the 1990s.
Kaupang - In Viksfjord near Larvik, Norway. Largest trading city around the Oslo Fjord during the viking age. As sea levels retreated (the shoreline is 7m lower today than in 1000) the city was no longer accessible from the ocean and was abandoned.
Kitezh, Russia - Legendary underwater city which supposedly may be seen in good weather.
Niedam near Rungholt
Ny Varberg, Sweden
Old Sarum, United Kingdom – population moved to nearby Salisbury although the owners of the archaeological site retained the right to elect a Member of Parliament to represent Old Sarum until the Nineteenth Century (see William Pitt abandoned.
Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy - buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD and rediscovered in the 18th century
Rungholt – Sunken in the Wadden Sea, Germany.
Saeftinghe, Netherlands - prosperous city lost to the sea in 1584.
Akrotiri – On the island of Thera, Greece.
Selsey, United Kingdom - mostly abandoned to coastal erosion after 1043.
Tartessos, Spain
Teljä, Finland
Trellech, United Kingdom.
Uppåkra, Sweden
Vineta – Legendary city somewhere at the baltic coast of Germany or Poland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_city

MolsonExport

Apr 5, 2007, 1:26 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_town#Canada

Canada
Ghost towns are seen in Northern Ontario, Central Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador (see outport) and in Quebec. Some of these were logging towns or dual mining and logging sites, often developed at the bequest of the company. In British Columbia, they were predominantly mining towns and prospecting camps as well as canneries and, in one or two cases, large smelter and pulp mill towns.

British Columbia has more ghost towns than any other jurisdiction on the North American continent, with one estimate at the number of abandoned and semi-abandoned towns and localities upwards of 1500.[1] Barkerville, once the largest town north of San Francisco and west of Chicago is also located in BC. See List of ghost towns in British Columbia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ghost_towns_in_British_Columbia)

Barkerville:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/Barkerville.jpg

LSyd

Jul 15, 2007, 7:42 PM

i heard about this one at church today...

Colossae (http://www.ourfatherlutheran.net/biblehomelands/sevenchurches/colossae/colossae.htm)

Several hundred years before the time of Paul, Colossae had been a leading city in Asia Minor. In 481 BC, the noted historian Herodotus listed Colossae as a "large city of Phrygia." Another celebrated historian, Xenophon (c.430-c.354 BC), called it "a populous city, large and well off." It was located about 120 miles east of Ephesus on the south bank of the Lycus River (a tributary of the Meander) and on the great east-west trade route from Ephesus to the Euphrates River. Along with nearby Laodicea and Hierapolis it was a center of the textile industry. Its dark red wool, called Colossinum, was well known. But in the lst century AD it had deteriorated to the status of a second-rate market town when the road to Pergamum was rerouted to the west through neighboring Laodicea.

In 60 AD (during the reign of Nero), an earthquake destroyed Colossae, and it never recovered. Although the disaster occurred in Paul's lifetime, there is no mention of it in Colossians. Apparently Colossians was written prior to the earthquake or before the news reached Rome, from which Paul likely wrote the letter.

The Colossae site was abandoned in the eighth century and it became a quarry for others residing in the Lycus valley. About 800 AD it was replaced by the new town of Chonae, modern Honaz, three miles to the south.

-

tackledspoon

Jul 15, 2007, 9:39 PM

http://www.resist.com.au/
http://www.jcnot4me.com/images/Jonestown.gif

This is one of the most disturbing images I've ever seen. Death doesn't usually bother me, but something about cults has always terrified me. I actually felt like crying when I saw that.

BTinSF

Jul 15, 2007, 11:25 PM

Here's a web site with pics of all sorts of ghost towns all over the west: http://www.ghosttowngallery.com/

BTinSF

Jul 15, 2007, 11:39 PM

Kitezh, Russia - Legendary underwater city which supposedly may be seen in good weather.

Wow. I didn't realize there was an actual legend about it--one that pre-existed the Rimsky-Korsakov opera named "The Legend of The Invisible City of Kitezh" which is one of my favorites. It's all very mystical and VERY Russian.

harryc

Jul 16, 2007, 12:56 AM

Cliff dwellings out west - a little climate change can ruin your entire civilization.

http://mouser.org/gallery/albums/MesaVerde/nina_cliff_palace.jpg
From http://mouser.org/gallery/MesaVerde/nina_cliff_palace?full=1

Incas - new germs suck.
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/americas/inca01.jpg
from http://www.galenfrysinger.com/Ingapirca_inca_ruins_ecuador.htm

Not a city, but an industry, and a fantastic state park - lime kilns in Wis.
http://www.escarpmentnetwork.org/HighCliffLimeKilns.jpg
from http://www.escarpmentnetwork.org/photo.htm

UglymanCometh

Jul 17, 2007, 7:58 PM

I'm surprised no one mentioned this one: Kensico, New York (http://www.westchestergov.com/wcarchives/Kensico/intro.htm)

LSyd

Sep 29, 2007, 4:10 PM

^ interesting. there's lots of submerged towns around the country; growing up in east tennessee, i heard about a lot of them (thanks to TVA building a lot of dams to fully bring the south into the 20th century.) there's still a lot of stories about the sunken cities.

a bridge was built to relink two towns in south carolina last year when the link between them was flooded.

a buddy of mine dove on a lake where local divers put glow in the dark ghosts by the town's cemetary. :haha:

-

hudkina

Sep 29, 2007, 5:42 PM

Detroit ??

I think Detroit is heading down this path.

Some neighborhoods in Detroit

Detroit has an urban area of nearly 4 million people. I would hardly call that a lost or dead city. Sure there are neighborhoods in the city that have been abandoned by the middle-class for the suburbs, but for every neighborhood with large-scale abandonment, there are 10 that are more similar to any typical American city neighborhood.

Comrade

Sep 29, 2007, 5:50 PM

This is one of the most disturbing images I've ever seen. Death doesn't usually bother me, but something about cults has always terrified me. I actually felt like crying when I saw that.

I don't get this comment. Death doesn't normally bother you? Why? How can death not bother anyone?

I'm a pretty fucked guy sometimes, but even I couldn't find it possible to say death does not bother me.

MNdude

Sep 29, 2007, 7:06 PM

Here are a couple in Ohio:

Shawnee: http://www.forgottenoh.com/Shawnee/shawnee.html

Cheshire: A fascinating story about how a power plant bought a town http://www.forgottenoh.com/Cheshire/cheshire.html

JivecitySTL

Sep 30, 2007, 8:43 PM

I nominate Times Beach, Missouri. Once a charming St. Louis exurb, now a deserted, dioxin-contaminated wasteland: http://syngen2.chem.brandeis.edu/~walker/timesbch.html

And also Cairo, IL (if no one has mentioned it yet):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/59/Cairo3_%287%29.JPG/800px-Cairo3_%287%29.JPG

peanut gallery

Oct 1, 2007, 3:41 PM

This is a fascinating thread! Makes me want to plan a roadtrip next summer visiting only the remnants of dead/dying cities. I hope that's not too morbid. :)

Tom In Chicago

Oct 1, 2007, 4:27 PM

You could probably add Gary Indiana to the list of 'dying' cities. . . there are plenty of ruins but since they're still inhabited to some extent it's hard to categorize it as a truly 'dead' city. . . Flint Michigan and Cairo Illinois are two other examples I'd include in this category. . .

hudkina

Oct 2, 2007, 6:22 AM

Why Flint? Flint lost a lot of population, due to the loss of thousands of GM jobs in the 70's and 80's, but it is hardly a dead city. At least, not compared to cities like Cairo or even Gary.

That is, unless this is how you define a "dead" city:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1421/1087224989_9d6577e437_b.jpg
© sarrazak6881 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9731101@N07/)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/134491372_6cc30fe72c_o.jpg
© Hemicuda82 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hemicuda82/)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/54/190742879_e6f7896f6c_o.jpg
© Hemicuda82 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hemicuda82/)

Flint still has a viable commercial center and more than a few normal middle-class neighborhoods. Not to mention some well-off suburbs. The crime rate is higher than it should be and the schools aren't as good as their suburban counterparts, but that doesn't mean the city is "dead".

Tom In Chicago

Oct 2, 2007, 3:42 PM

OK. . . I'll retract my comments regarding Flint. . . but in all fairness I never said Flint was dead. . . I said it was "dying". . . we'll see what GM decides to do before I comment any further on Flint. . .

Seely32

Oct 2, 2007, 4:31 PM

Abandoned town on the Yangtze

http://www.kenexner.com/china.shtml

http://www.kenexner.com/images/china/chinapics035.jpg

hudkina

Oct 2, 2007, 6:33 PM

GM has already all but abandoned Flint, so there's not much else it can do to "hurt" the economy. In the late 70's nearly 80,000 people worked for GM in Flint, today that number is only about 8,000.

Lost Island

Oct 3, 2007, 6:22 AM

Times Beach, MO was a fairly recent tragedy (1980), although very difficult to find pictures of. Interestingly enough, a famous lost road ran through it, Route 66. I guess that's I-44 behind the trees.

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-missouri/MO-TimesBeachClosedRoad-800.jpg

JManc

Oct 3, 2007, 11:16 PM

Buffalo, NY.

no. compared to utica, buffalo looks like the ginza district in tokyo.

ltsmotorsport

Oct 4, 2007, 8:55 PM