35. The Maunsell Army Sea Forts were placed off the shores of Kent, England to prevent German invasion during World War II. This beautiful abandoned places in 1950 they were used as radio stations for pirates. The eerie yet beautiful view is still breathtaking.
34. This nightclub in Austria, known by locals as Disco Inferno, was ripped apart by fire and then left abandoned as it was that night, luckily no one was injured. It has since become hot destination spot for urban explorers.
33. A once thriving fishing village, Gougi Island on China’s Yangtze River is now only home to lush ivy-covered buildings where nature has began to take back the land.
32. The SS American Star once hailed as the most beautiful ship ever to fly the US flag was a popular tourist attraction when it ran aground in 1994. But after 20 years of constant bombardment by Atlantic sea waters it has since slipped below the surface and disappeared from existence.
31. You can find this church of St Nicholas in Mavorvo Lake in Macedonia. The man made lake was created to support a power plant and the church and surrounding village were flooded out.
30. This old living room sat inside Miranda Castle, Belgium. Built in 1866 was home to French royalty whose descendants remained in control of until World War II when it was taken control of by Nazis. It became an orphanage in 1950 and was completely abandoned in 1991 as costs were too great to maintain.
29. Belchite, Spain was the site of the Battle of Belchite during the Spanish Civil War. Over the course of two weeks in 1937 the entire village became a shell of its former self and a new village was created adjacent to the ruins of the old.
28. Abandoned after the fall of the Cambodian Empire, this 17th century temple was left to hundreds of years of neglect.
27. A literal shell of its former self, this stranded vessel can be found in County Louth, Ireland. Almost no information can be found on how it ended up here.
26. Known as the Sintra Well, it can be found in a Neolithic era castle in Portugal. These wells hold spiraling staircases which were never intended for or used as water collection. But rather a place for secretive rite and rituals.
25. Follow the yellow brick road! Or maybe not, as this one leads to a deserted Land of Oz park in North Carolina since 1980.
24. Built in 1893, the wooden powerhouse known as Crystal Mill was a compressor station built in an outcrop above the Crystal River. It remains today as an icon in Colorado and was placed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 5, 1985.
23. The Temple of Santiago was founded in 1564 by Dominican friars in Mexico. Following the completion of a nearby reservoir in 1966, it was completely submerged, only resurfacing twice since then. Most recently being in 2015 when a drought dropped water levels in the reservoir more than 80 feet.
22. The Ha’iku Stairs, or more famously the Stairway to Heaven, is a steep hiking trail on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu. Originally leading to a radio station in 1942, this trail was a popular tourist attraction until Valentine’s Day 2015 when a powerful storm destroyed the stairway.
21. The once elegant Bodiam Castle, built in 1385 in East Sussex, England, is now a husk of its former self. It was constructed by a knight to defend against French invasion during the Hundred Years’ War.
20. The SS Ayrfield has been sitting in the Homebush Bay, Australia since its retirement in 1972. What makes it so unique over the other abandoned ships in the bay is its miraculously developed a mangrove woodland inside the hull of the old freight. Known to the locals as the “floating forest.”
19. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Six Flags New Orleans was destroyed beyond repair. An estimated 80 percent of the park was damaged making it too expensive to revitalize.
18. Located off the coast of Marco Island in Florida, these dome buildings were resurrected by a retired oil producer named Bob Lee in 1980. He building served as his daughters home until 1993 and has since been abandoned. Every year it is slowly being taken by the ocean.
16. Jungle Book anyone? Ross Island in South Andaman, India once served as the Administrative Headquarters for the islands before and earthquake in 1941. After its abandonment it was reclaimed by the local wildlife and transformed into what you see now.
15. The large island of Hirta, Scotland has been documented as being populated from prehistoric times until 1930 when lack of food and severe weather forced the remaining natives off the island.
14. The sad story of Dundas Castle in Roscoe, New York. Built between 1915 and 1924, it was supposed to be home to the architect Bradford L. Gilbert and his wife. Unfortunately for both of them Gilbert died and his wife was committed to a sanitarium before the castle’s completion.
13. The ancient city of Craco, Italy has existed since 540 A.D. Serving most recently as a movie set for Passion of the Christ. The site has mostly been evacuated in the last 50 years as it was plagued with landslides and flooding.
12. This old merchant ship now rests at the bottom of the Red Sea. The armed SS Thistlegorm was built in 1940 and sunk in 1941 when two German planes dropped bombs on the stern of the ship. This caused some of the ammunition to explode, leading to the ships demise, along with nine crew members.
11. Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture, or in English “The Little Belt Railway” was constructed in 1852 and ran inside the walls of Paris until its abandonment in 1934. Since then it overgrown and has graffiti sprayed along the majority. Many French preservation enthusiasts would like to see the remaining stations protected.
10. The town of Kayakoy, Turkey can be found burrowed into the side of the Taurus Moutains. After the Greco-Turkish War between 1919-1922, the residents of Kayakoy (who were mostly Greek) abandoned the town and fled back to Greece.
9. Kopice Castle was built around 1360 and was home of the von Borsnitz family. It was home to many different families over the next 500 years. Not much information can be found after 1945. Vandals were seen plundering sarcophagi most recently.
8. Originally only reachable by train, the Hotel de Salto was built in 1928 to only be for the elite of Colombia. The building was scheduled for renovation in July 1950 but never started. Hotel de Salto was abandoned in the early 1990s for more than two decades due to the nearby rivers contamination. It was reopened in 2013 as a museum.
7. The Berlin Historic District is located in southwest Nevada and served as a mining hub from 1897 until its abandonment in 1911. It produced less than $1 million worth of minerals, mostly gold, in its life-span. Berlin was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
6. Kilchurn Castle was assembled around 1450 by Sir Colin Campbell on Loch Awe. Clan MacGregor called it home for the majority of its time. A powerful storm passed by in 1760 and was crudely damaged leading to its desertion. The water levels were altered in 1817 allowing access to the castle by land.
