The 38 Most Haunting Abandoned Places On Earth.
December 27, 2013 8:30 PM Subscribe
The 38 Most Haunting Abandoned Places On Earth.
#13 (Chateau Miranda) looks like something out of a horror movie.
#13 (Chateau Miranda) looks like something out of a horror movie.
#23 looks very, very, very, very, very, very fake.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:41 PM on December 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Sys Rq at 8:41 PM on December 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
fantastic, moody, eery
posted by growabrain at 8:54 PM on December 27, 2013
posted by growabrain at 8:54 PM on December 27, 2013
grew up near waterbury ct, holy land is indeed horrifying.
posted by JimBennett at 9:11 PM on December 27, 2013
posted by JimBennett at 9:11 PM on December 27, 2013
I am suspicious of 31. "Abandoned Church" could be anywhere; no location is given. And the detail of the baby coffin twinges my Snopes sense.
posted by immlass at 9:12 PM on December 27, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by immlass at 9:12 PM on December 27, 2013 [5 favorites]
List presenting sites are really scraping hard when "Railroad in the fall" makes the list of "Most Haunting Abandoned Places".
posted by fatbird at 9:14 PM on December 27, 2013 [10 favorites]
posted by fatbird at 9:14 PM on December 27, 2013 [10 favorites]
Just seems like a sort of low-grade content aggregation with buried attribution/sourcing and a lot of eye-bleeding HDR.
posted by anazgnos at 9:20 PM on December 27, 2013 [27 favorites]
posted by anazgnos at 9:20 PM on December 27, 2013 [27 favorites]
Way too much HDR, but City Hall Station is really beautiful.
posted by rtha at 9:21 PM on December 27, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by rtha at 9:21 PM on December 27, 2013 [7 favorites]
#3, the farmhouse in Seneca Lake with all the rusted out classic cars around it, really loses its mystique if you've lived in rural areas where there were a half-dozen spots like that within a half-hour's drive.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:35 PM on December 27, 2013 [21 favorites]
posted by jason_steakums at 9:35 PM on December 27, 2013 [21 favorites]
Had to stop looking halfway through. Not much 'haunting;' too much bad HDR.
I'd love one of those crazy 70's Taiwan pod houses, though.
posted by chococat at 9:36 PM on December 27, 2013 [7 favorites]
I'd love one of those crazy 70's Taiwan pod houses, though.
posted by chococat at 9:36 PM on December 27, 2013 [7 favorites]
Eastern state isn't abandoned, I know someone who's getting married there
posted by hellojed at 9:47 PM on December 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by hellojed at 9:47 PM on December 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
I remember an AskMe where the asker was moving to Philly and ruled out the Fairmount area because it included a prison.
posted by daninnj at 9:58 PM on December 27, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by daninnj at 9:58 PM on December 27, 2013 [3 favorites]
How could they leave out the Bulgarian Communist Party HQ?
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 10:06 PM on December 27, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 10:06 PM on December 27, 2013 [4 favorites]
How could they leave out the Bulgarian Communist Party HQ?
I haven't RTFA yet, but that place is such a cliché on these lists, I'm shocked it wasn't included.
posted by mykescipark at 10:17 PM on December 27, 2013
I haven't RTFA yet, but that place is such a cliché on these lists, I'm shocked it wasn't included.
posted by mykescipark at 10:17 PM on December 27, 2013
Someday this super tacky extreme HDR look is going to be retro-hip like crappy Polaroid looking pictures are today.
posted by edheil at 10:25 PM on December 27, 2013 [9 favorites]
posted by edheil at 10:25 PM on December 27, 2013 [9 favorites]
Could someone please tell me what "HDR" means? My thanks.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:52 PM on December 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:52 PM on December 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
High Dynamic Range. When used in this context, it refers to a certain over-processed, highly manipulated look.
posted by louche mustachio at 10:56 PM on December 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by louche mustachio at 10:56 PM on December 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
No. 15 is odd; it's a fully functioning, occupied building and has been since the thirties, which to all intents and purposes is when it was built. Before that, the earlier castle had really been destroyed rather than spookily abandoned. No pictures of anything abandoned, therefore - just one from an unphotogenic angle that conceals the stunning location which is its greatest asset.
posted by Segundus at 11:21 PM on December 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Segundus at 11:21 PM on December 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
Hopefully listicles are something we leave behind in 2013 like infographics in 2012.
posted by Joe Chip at 11:31 PM on December 27, 2013 [8 favorites]
posted by Joe Chip at 11:31 PM on December 27, 2013 [8 favorites]
"Automatic flushing toilets in numerous bathrooms throughout the building didn’t stop. The errant flush caused Lewis grief as he tried to find the source of the sound.
A never-ending stream of water gurgles through the pipes to parts unknown like an underground stream. In some places, water cascades from the rafters of the building—sending a shower on to the oily floor below.
The valves that would shut the water off to different parts of the plant have been hidden in the building’s entrails. The plant was originally designed to be able to continue to operate if parts of it were ever bombed—which resulted in dedicated water, compressed air and gas lines to different areas of the building."
Er... They missed one.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 11:55 PM on December 27, 2013
A never-ending stream of water gurgles through the pipes to parts unknown like an underground stream. In some places, water cascades from the rafters of the building—sending a shower on to the oily floor below.
The valves that would shut the water off to different parts of the plant have been hidden in the building’s entrails. The plant was originally designed to be able to continue to operate if parts of it were ever bombed—which resulted in dedicated water, compressed air and gas lines to different areas of the building."
Er... They missed one.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 11:55 PM on December 27, 2013
31 Haunting Images That Will Give You Goosebumps
There's a lot of overlap between the two but this one has a few different places as well.
I never knew about the Christ of the Abyss. Creepy.
posted by triggerfinger at 12:20 AM on December 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
There's a lot of overlap between the two but this one has a few different places as well.
I never knew about the Christ of the Abyss. Creepy.
posted by triggerfinger at 12:20 AM on December 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
To give distractify some credit, it's one of the few sites of it's type that seem to be fully functional with aggressive ad-blocking on my browser. And this set was a somewhat chuckleworthy take on the old blended-history-and-modern photo genre. A couple snogging inches away from Hitler.
Does anyone know where that Gulliver's travels park actually is? After poking around on Google maps it doesn't look like it could possibly be in Kawaguchi, and I really want to see a satellite view of it.
posted by mcrandello at 12:26 AM on December 28, 2013
Does anyone know where that Gulliver's travels park actually is? After poking around on Google maps it doesn't look like it could possibly be in Kawaguchi, and I really want to see a satellite view of it.
posted by mcrandello at 12:26 AM on December 28, 2013
It's not in Kawaguchi City; it's near Kawaguchi-ko (Lake Kawaguchi). Here's a Google map link to the local village; there is an area in there that looks like it could be an abandoned theme park.
posted by woodblock100 at 1:28 AM on December 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by woodblock100 at 1:28 AM on December 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
Yeah, 35.415006,138.648072, but Gulliver and any interesting stuff has been removed.
posted by Segundus at 1:44 AM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Segundus at 1:44 AM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
If you like these, check out Adventure Bible School. Julia Wertz takes multiple photos, compares places with what they looked like in their heyday, and shares a lot of research. I like it.
posted by MsDaniB at 1:51 AM on December 28, 2013
posted by MsDaniB at 1:51 AM on December 28, 2013
i drove past tiger stadium this year and this is what's left
that was haunting for me
posted by pyramid termite at 3:02 AM on December 28, 2013
that was haunting for me
posted by pyramid termite at 3:02 AM on December 28, 2013
i drove past tiger stadium this year and this is what's left
Well, at least they improved the bathrooms.
posted by HuronBob at 3:23 AM on December 28, 2013 [7 favorites]
Well, at least they improved the bathrooms.
posted by HuronBob at 3:23 AM on December 28, 2013 [7 favorites]
I grew up in upstate New York. My dad used to say things like "So-and-so's over in Willard now", or if we kids were doing something crazy we'd "get sent to Willard". I knew it wasn't a good place, but I was never quite sure what it was. Asylum for the Chronic Insane sounds about right.
posted by DarkForest at 3:52 AM on December 28, 2013
posted by DarkForest at 3:52 AM on December 28, 2013
That City Hall station in NYC is a thing of tremendous beauty
posted by angrycat at 4:11 AM on December 28, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 4:11 AM on December 28, 2013 [6 favorites]
#3, the farmhouse in Seneca Lake with all the rusted out classic cars around it, really loses its mystique if you've lived in rural areas where there were a half-dozen spots like that within a half-hour's drive.
Even living in Portland, Oregon; our half-acre abutted some greenspace and when I was five or six, I went out on a totally unauthorized long jaunt and found maybe ten houses just like that. It certainly was freaky at age five or six, but I've ceased thinking I found the long-lost city of spooky ghostville
posted by angrycat at 4:14 AM on December 28, 2013
Even living in Portland, Oregon; our half-acre abutted some greenspace and when I was five or six, I went out on a totally unauthorized long jaunt and found maybe ten houses just like that. It certainly was freaky at age five or six, but I've ceased thinking I found the long-lost city of spooky ghostville
posted by angrycat at 4:14 AM on December 28, 2013
I am familiar with many of these sites. Lots of bad, outdated or mis-information in the captions, and wow, that HDR.
posted by kinnakeet at 4:52 AM on December 28, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by kinnakeet at 4:52 AM on December 28, 2013 [3 favorites]
#23 looks very, very, very, very, very, very fake.
While it's safe to assume that photo is heavily manipulated, that stuff is down there. I've visited the area. It's a disconcertingly strange place, and the photoshoppery is the very least of it.
I tell you, it's like Myst. We were the only guests in a massive, extravagant, fully-staffed resort hotel on a tiny island peppered with faux ancient Chinese ruins. Mid-summer. Hundreds of rooms, and no parking lot. We found a model of it in the basement. Not Myst enough for you? Check out the submarine. Intended to allow tourists to explore the sunken city in groups of 40, it has never been used.
Some entity pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into this showpiece, but it's just unsustainable. I'm pretty sure I saw photo #23 while there. It must be part of their promo materials.
posted by rlk at 6:42 AM on December 28, 2013 [9 favorites]
While it's safe to assume that photo is heavily manipulated, that stuff is down there. I've visited the area. It's a disconcertingly strange place, and the photoshoppery is the very least of it.
I tell you, it's like Myst. We were the only guests in a massive, extravagant, fully-staffed resort hotel on a tiny island peppered with faux ancient Chinese ruins. Mid-summer. Hundreds of rooms, and no parking lot. We found a model of it in the basement. Not Myst enough for you? Check out the submarine. Intended to allow tourists to explore the sunken city in groups of 40, it has never been used.
Some entity pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into this showpiece, but it's just unsustainable. I'm pretty sure I saw photo #23 while there. It must be part of their promo materials.
posted by rlk at 6:42 AM on December 28, 2013 [9 favorites]
To me, Willard (#5) is the uber creepiest of the set. *shudder* For some reason #21 (Abandoned power plant Belgium) is creepy also. What the heck goes down that funnel?!
#27 Michigan Central Station is heartbreakingly beautiful.
Ones that would be cool (and yes, expensive - but damn cool) to retrofit into cohousing communities would be:
#12 Canfranc rail station, Spain
#17 Abandoned mill, Western Quebec, CA
#24 Domino Sugar factory, Brooklyn NY
posted by yoga at 6:55 AM on December 28, 2013
#27 Michigan Central Station is heartbreakingly beautiful.
Ones that would be cool (and yes, expensive - but damn cool) to retrofit into cohousing communities would be:
#12 Canfranc rail station, Spain
#17 Abandoned mill, Western Quebec, CA
#24 Domino Sugar factory, Brooklyn NY
posted by yoga at 6:55 AM on December 28, 2013
Joe Chip: Hopefully listicles are something we leave behind in 2013 like infographics in 2012.
Next, we'll do away with open letters in 2014 and abandon oral histories in 2015. After that, the Internet will collapse, revealing a rich vein of Goatse that will sustain us for the next thousand years.
posted by dr_dank at 7:19 AM on December 28, 2013 [4 favorites]
Next, we'll do away with open letters in 2014 and abandon oral histories in 2015. After that, the Internet will collapse, revealing a rich vein of Goatse that will sustain us for the next thousand years.
posted by dr_dank at 7:19 AM on December 28, 2013 [4 favorites]
Detroit's Central Station was 100 years old just two days ago. There has been some effort on the part of the owner to prevent further decay, but future use is uncertain. It would be great if it could be saved, it's a beautiful building.
posted by HuronBob at 7:50 AM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by HuronBob at 7:50 AM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
I remember an AskMe where the asker was moving to Philly and ruled out the Fairmount area because it included a prison.
Well, it does have the Divine Lorraine, and that is creepy.
posted by sonic meat machine at 7:53 AM on December 28, 2013
Well, it does have the Divine Lorraine, and that is creepy.
posted by sonic meat machine at 7:53 AM on December 28, 2013
#3, the farmhouse in Seneca Lake with all the rusted out classic cars around it, really loses its mystique if you've lived in rural areas where there were a half-dozen spots like that within a half-hour's drive.
That goes for #17 abandoned mills too.
posted by headnsouth at 8:43 AM on December 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
That goes for #17 abandoned mills too.
posted by headnsouth at 8:43 AM on December 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
My daughter currently does ballet Saturday morning in an old New England factory where part of it has been converted to offices - and the rest is just awesome. My son and I very carefully may explore the structure together for a half an hour on Saturdays during that time. I may tell him all about industrial process, how steam turbines work, how to build a drive train for belt driven machinery, why the windows were so big, order of operation in construction, machining in general, and an assortment of things that generally send him home to rip up boxes, attach pulleys to random places and pretend that he's building a factory. I may tell him about the proximity to the railroad, why a small river is nearby, why the engineering tie is the bow tie, what a turbine is, some brief history of mills and industrial technology (I've forgotten a bunch), and anything that he might ask me.
Places like these can be spooky, but they can also be interesting, fun to explore, and fun to learn about.
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:52 AM on December 28, 2013 [3 favorites]
Places like these can be spooky, but they can also be interesting, fun to explore, and fun to learn about.
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:52 AM on December 28, 2013 [3 favorites]
I love Christ of the Abyss because it's like the new god on the block reverted to Poseidon.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:08 AM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by jason_steakums at 9:08 AM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
#22 is an old photo. According to Wikipedia (scroll all the way down) "As of March 2013, the wreck is only visible during low tide." February 2011 video.
#24: again, according to Wikipedia, "In 2010, a developer's plan to convert the site to residential use received support from the New York City Council." Maybe it's just reflections but it looks like there's lights on inside some of those windows now, in the photo. Squatters?
#27: see the beginning of "Nagoyqatsi." Also, Inside Michigan Central Station -- some local kids explore.
posted by Rash at 9:25 AM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
#24: again, according to Wikipedia, "In 2010, a developer's plan to convert the site to residential use received support from the New York City Council." Maybe it's just reflections but it looks like there's lights on inside some of those windows now, in the photo. Squatters?
#27: see the beginning of "Nagoyqatsi." Also, Inside Michigan Central Station -- some local kids explore.
posted by Rash at 9:25 AM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
Thanks for that, especially the photo of SS America! I've learned about paravanes and that there's a shipwreck buried under a car ferry terminal in Dover.
posted by hat_eater at 9:31 AM on December 28, 2013
posted by hat_eater at 9:31 AM on December 28, 2013
To future generations, a HDR image from abandoned Detroit will evoke our decade the way an over-saturated shot of a molded jello salad evokes the 1950s.
posted by bendybendy at 9:55 AM on December 28, 2013 [15 favorites]
posted by bendybendy at 9:55 AM on December 28, 2013 [15 favorites]
#3, the farmhouse in Seneca Lake with all the rusted out classic cars around it, really loses its mystique if you've lived in rural areas where there were a half-dozen spots like that within a half-hour's drive.
Probably hundreds of places like that if not creepier in Colorado.
posted by univac at 11:01 AM on December 28, 2013
Probably hundreds of places like that if not creepier in Colorado.
posted by univac at 11:01 AM on December 28, 2013
#30 Empty Organ Room.
yes, yes I see. 'nuff said.
posted by From Bklyn at 11:16 AM on December 28, 2013
yes, yes I see. 'nuff said.
posted by From Bklyn at 11:16 AM on December 28, 2013
The Ryugyong Hotel's been improved anyway.
Good lord. Those right angles. I really wouldn't want to be anywhere near that place during a clear sunny day. Talk about the mother of all solar ovens.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:19 AM on December 28, 2013
Good lord. Those right angles. I really wouldn't want to be anywhere near that place during a clear sunny day. Talk about the mother of all solar ovens.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:19 AM on December 28, 2013
I went to Jazzland a few times as a kid. I clearly remember where that one picture featuring the cool zone was taken. It was a place where they had cool mist shooting down from the ceiling, which was great for cooling off in the heat of the Louisiana summer. Very creepy to see it overgrown like that.
posted by A Bad Catholic at 12:42 PM on December 28, 2013
posted by A Bad Catholic at 12:42 PM on December 28, 2013
Hopefully listicles are something we leave behind in 2013 like infographics in 2012.
136 Amazing Abandoned Listicles
posted by dhartung at 1:44 PM on December 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
136 Amazing Abandoned Listicles
posted by dhartung at 1:44 PM on December 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
The 38 Most Amazing Ways to Get Tetanus
posted by jason_steakums at 1:59 PM on December 28, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by jason_steakums at 1:59 PM on December 28, 2013 [3 favorites]
Several of the rides still stand, a testimony to the resilience of New Orleans.
Um- no. It's testament to bankruptcy.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 2:30 PM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
Um- no. It's testament to bankruptcy.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 2:30 PM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
Glad to see that Six Flags Jazzland was on the list. Exploring that list is still on my list of Things to Do while I'm living here -- I hope I get around to it before they finally get around to tearing it down.
And yeah, "testimony to the resilience of New Orleans" seemed pretty ridiculous. A testament to New Orleans' resilience would have involved rebuilding it, or at least tearing it down and doing something with the space in the eight-plus years since Katrina. Leaving it to rot is a testament of the fact that there's no money here and nobody seems to be able to get their act together to figure out how to make a functional economy in Louisiana outside of tourism and oil refining.
posted by Scientist at 6:54 PM on December 28, 2013
And yeah, "testimony to the resilience of New Orleans" seemed pretty ridiculous. A testament to New Orleans' resilience would have involved rebuilding it, or at least tearing it down and doing something with the space in the eight-plus years since Katrina. Leaving it to rot is a testament of the fact that there's no money here and nobody seems to be able to get their act together to figure out how to make a functional economy in Louisiana outside of tourism and oil refining.
posted by Scientist at 6:54 PM on December 28, 2013
#20, Holy Land, was re-lit this week. The owners have some plans to do more but for now it's still a locked up and enter at your own risk place. Of note there have been a few rapes and at least one murder that has taken place there in the past few years. Not really a godly place at the moment.
posted by JakeEXTREME at 7:05 PM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by JakeEXTREME at 7:05 PM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty suspicious of some of the more vague ones. #17 - Abandoned Mill is near Ottawa in Gatineau Park and is actually an abandoned experimental facility for producing phosphoric acid built by Thomas 'Carbide' Willson, most definitely not a French settler, and not a mill. (The building shown was a powerhouse, you can see the foundation of the condensing tower to the left.)
posted by jamincan at 7:52 PM on December 28, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by jamincan at 7:52 PM on December 28, 2013 [6 favorites]
I used to go to Dadipark (#28) as a kid. I recognized the slide right away. I guess I'm not surprised that it isn't still in operation today, but I am surprised that the land hasn't been put to better use. Abandoned amusement parks are weird.
posted by Loudmax at 9:33 PM on December 28, 2013
posted by Loudmax at 9:33 PM on December 28, 2013
#3, the farmhouse in Seneca Lake with all the rusted out classic cars around it, really loses its mystique if you've lived in rural areas where there were a half-dozen spots like that within a half-hour's drive.
You had to drive? Where I grew up there were several abandoned farmhouses easily within walking distance of a far ranging little girl. Sometimes we would just find the foundation, with bits of iridescent glass and ceramic in the soil. Sometimes there would be a more full structure - I was small enough and determined enough to climb in windows, and I definitely put my foot through a couple of rotting floors.
I also saw lots of random abandoned cars, campers, and the Mysterious Toilet of the Woods, which was definitely, DEFINITELY haunted.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:35 PM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by glaucon at 8:37 PM on December 27, 2013 [2 favorites]