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dersins (9)
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Photos of 30 Beautiful Abandoned Places and Modern Ruins. Each place identified below. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue on Feb 24, 2013 - 24 comments

The Sea Shadow is a prototype stealth ship built thirty years ago for the US Navy, and the only ship ever designed by the Lockheed Skunk Works. Like its airborne cousin, the F-117 Nighthawk, it is nearly invisible to radar. It is extremely stable in high seas, has no conventional rudder, and requires a minimum crew of only four to operate.
Despite the successful field trials and futuristic technology, the Navy passed on the program and the boat sat largely unused. At 5PM central time, the auction ends that will send the Sea Shadow to the scrapyard. Pictures will soon be all that is left, but check out this extensive virtual tour. [more inside]
posted by startled on May 4, 2012 - 54 comments

The Atemporality of "Ruin Porn": Part I, Part II.
posted by Artw on Jan 26, 2012 - 34 comments

As you leave Beijing traveling north on the road to visit the Great Wall of China you pass by this (map). It's unguarded, and various people have explored it, reporting back. There are two theories of its demise, local farmers, or Disney.
posted by stbalbach on Dec 13, 2011 - 12 comments

Abandoned Hobbiton from “Lord Of The Rings” taken over by sheep.
posted by stbalbach on Nov 16, 2010 - 57 comments

Due to population decline, Detroit plans on bulldozing roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city into semi-rural farmland. It is a worst case scenario in America, but pales to the problem of Eastern Germany, where demographic collapse in some towns is so severe, urban-wolves and neo-Nazis are the new order of the day. The mayor of one town says: "You can't go into the forest without a knife anymore." [more inside]
posted by stbalbach on Mar 19, 2010 - 114 comments

Faded Dreams, Emptied in Emmons County and Memories in McIntosh County. Three flickr photo sets of (mostly) abandoned, crumbling farms, businesses and homes in rural North Dakota. [previously] [via]
posted by dersins on Apr 6, 2009 - 20 comments

100 Abandoned Houses. A photo essay from Detroit-based photographer Kevin Bauman.
posted by dersins on Apr 3, 2009 - 71 comments

"So I found out yesterday that the soundstage for "The Wire" still existed. I wasted no time in visiting it and was there almost less than 24 hours [sic]. It's one of my favorite TV shows ever and I had to see this before everyone ruined it. The building is also scheduled for demolition and they are going to build a super market on it." NOTE: LINK CONTAINS SPOILERS [more inside]
posted by dersins on Jan 7, 2009 - 79 comments

Kolmanskop, a ghost town buried in the sand
posted by jonson on Jan 31, 2008 - 13 comments

"The Emptied Prairie," a National Geographic article on North Dakota's ghost towns and the decline of the Great Plains. Typically amazing National Geographic photos here. Reminds me of a similar series that ran in the New York Times several years ago, which included this fascinating article by Timothy Egan.
posted by dersins on Jan 17, 2008 - 42 comments

Derinkuyu wasn't discovered until 1965, when a resident cleaning the back wall of his cave house broke through a wall and discovered behind it a room that he'd never seen, which led to still another, and another. Eventually, spelunking archeologists found a maze of connecting chambers that descended at least 18 stories and 280 feet beneath the surface, ample enough to hold 30,000 people. [flickr]. [wiki].
posted by dersins on Aug 31, 2007 - 48 comments

Illicit Ohio has a wide range of photos and essays of abandoned places in Ohio, from the Cincinnati subway system (yes, there really is was one, and it's been discussed here before), to various and sundry prisons, government installations, hotels, hosiptals, houses and more. And don't miss the old vs. new galleries, either.
posted by dersins on Aug 29, 2007 - 20 comments

Abandoned places: A satellite facility. A drag strip. A sports arena. A factory. A highway. A school. Another factory. An industrial park. A missile site. A church. A brewery. And much more at Abandoned But Not Forgotten. (Warning: Web 0.2 site with very large photos of variable quality...)
posted by dersins on Jul 26, 2007 - 42 comments

Chippewa Lake Park is a former amusement park in Ohio; opened in 1878, it closed in 1978 due to lack of attendance. During the decades since then, the ballroom, roller coasters & other rides have lain abandoned as the surrounding forest reclaims them.
posted by jonson on Jun 23, 2007 - 40 comments

Hart Island is a tiny island in Long Island Sound, NY. Formerly the site of a prison, it contains an active Potter's Field with over 700,000 people buried in it, a ghost town, abandoned Nike Missile silos, was the site of a Civil War POW camp, and a long-abandoned sanitarium. It's the subject of a documentary, and has guest starred in at least two movies.
posted by biscotti on Oct 28, 2006 - 19 comments

im in ur sub base killin ur d00dz. Eerie photos of a decomissioned Russian submarine base. [via]
posted by dersins on Jul 27, 2006 - 38 comments

Welcome to Cold War City It covers 240 acres and has 60 miles of roads and its own railway station. It even includes a pub called the Rose and Crown. Oh, and it's underground. And for sale. Much more interesting than the article, though, are these photo galleries.
posted by dersins on Oct 31, 2005 - 18 comments

There may be something in the human psyche that finds crumbling and abandoned structures somehow fascinating. In Abandoned-Places.com, Henk van Rensbergen, a Belgian airline pilot, has compiled an archive of brilliantly atmospheric and evocative images from decaying and deserted industrial complexes, airports, hotels and other assorted structures from around the world. Arguably superior in composition to those found on many comparable sites such as zone-tour.com and abandoned-buildings.com, his images can be haunting, intriguing or disturbing, but are always strangely compelling. Enjoy!
posted by Doozer on Oct 9, 2002 - 22 comments