# The Thread of Abandoned Places



## Perpetual Man

Another thread seemed to digress very slightly and very interestingly into a chat about places that have become abandoned over the years, moldering remains of settlements, houses and villages, even cities that sit all but forgotten by society.

There is something almost hauntingly fascinating about these places and I wondered whether they could support their own thread, A place to chat about them and to post images.

So here it is!


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## Perpetual Man

To start with something fairly big.

In 1986 the Russian nuclear reactor at Chernobyl melted down creating one of the biggest nuclear disasters ever known. At the time there was talk of radioactive clouds sweeping across the continent and mutated life. Countless people were forced to uproot and leave their lives as it was deemed (rightly) that their homes were in danger from the radiation sweeping across the land.

One of these was the city of Pripyat and this is a recent film taken by a drone showing a city abandoned for the better part of 30 years.


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## Kerrybuchanan

These are photos of one of the abandoned cottages I mentioned on the other thread. This is the one most easily seen and visible on satellite. One end of the roof has been restored recently to use as an animal shelter, but originally that end of the cottage would have been the weaving shed and would have housed several looms for weaving linen from flax. Now the living part is completely derelict and our horses graze around it in the summer. It has a beautiful overgrown garden at the back and the folks who lived here were pretty self-sufficient.


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## Perpetual Man

That's quite spectacular Kerry, did you say they were on your land? Or am I away with the fairies again?


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## Perpetual Man

Ironically someone just posted this on FB.

Coincidental?

Maybe:

The Thirty Eight Most Hauntingly Abandoned Places


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## The Ace

Roxburgh Castle - all that now remains of the ancient Royal Burgh of Roxburgh (there's a modern town close by, but the loss of Berwick meant that it lost its outlet for trade goods down the Tweed to the sea and Europe).


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## Kerrybuchanan

Your film was very spooky (forgot to say that above). What a place.



Perpetual Man said:


> Or am I away with the fairies again?



Quite possibly, but not in this case.   It _is _on our land. 

There are others which I'll try to get photos of tomorrow if the rain stops - they are much more impressive. We also have an ancient roadway running across one of our fields. I'm not sure how old it is but it shows as an abandoned lane on maps from the 1800s. It is almost certainly several hundred years old. Two dry stone walls edge it and it's only wide enough for a horse and cart, or maybe for herds being taken to market. Not even the oldest local can tell us anything about it.

We also have a huge tunnel running under our land. It is the abandoned Mourne Conduit, dug by hand in the late 1800s to bring water from the Silent Valley Reservoir in the Mournes to Belfast. There are inspection houses along the route and hundreds of little red gates to live the line inspectors access to the tunnel. We have a few of those too. One of them is now painted green and is our garden gate.


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## Jo Zebedee

Goboly in the Antrim glens is an abandoned village - I used it in Waters and the Wild.


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## Perpetual Man

Like the picture Ace, it always seems a shame when there is so little left of something like a castle.

Look forwards to it Kerry, weather permitting.

I was thinking of taking a walk tomorrow and trying to get a picture of somewhere myself, but the weather is not looking good here now either.


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## Ray McCarthy

We have VERY old abandoned "villages" near.

only the mounds are left visible.

The abandoned villages on Achill Island are eerie. But it's 36 years since I was there.


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## BAYLOR

Perpetual Man said:


> To start with something fairly big.
> 
> In 1986 the Russian nuclear reactor at Chernobyl melted down creating one of the biggest nuclear disasters ever known. At the time there was talk of radioactive clouds sweeping across the continent and mutated life. Countless people were forced to uproot and leave their lives as it was deemed (rightly) that their homes were in danger from the radiation sweeping across the land.
> 
> One of these was the city of Pripyat and this is a recent film taken by a drone showing a city abandoned for the better part of 30 years.




Tragic


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## Perpetual Man

There is not too far away from me an open park. It used to be a stately home, Radford Manor but it was leveled many, many years ago. 

But there are still things of interest there. The park itself isn't abandoned of course...



 

 

 

 

 

Some of the ruins around the park. There is no description of what they actually were, but I'd guess one was a mill and the other a boat house


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## Perpetual Man

Also at Radford a rather lovely Folly



 

 
And a Lime Kiln


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## Perpetual Man

And finally, littered around the shore are the decaying hulks of old ships and boats:



 

 

 View attachment 23542


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## Kerrybuchanan

Why is it that the hulks of old ships always make me unbelievably sad, whereas ruined buildings fascinate me? Ships seem to have souls, somehow.


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## Perpetual Man

I don't know Kerry, but I feel the same. There is something hauntingly fascinating in looking at the ships, but there is, as you say, almost a feeling of life to them, a soul is a perfect description.


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## Perpetual Man

And finally for today Drake's Island situated in the centre of Plymouth Sound. I can't be bothered to type up all the details, so I'm linking through to Wikipedia.

Years ago it was an activity centre and Mrs Perp can remember going there, wandering round miles of underground tunnels....

Now it is all slowly rotting.

Drake's Island

Photo Gallery


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## Caledfwlch

BBC News recently did an article on this sort of thing, specifically the "Red Zones" around Northern France, areas from ww1 that are so contaminated by chemicals from explosives, unexploded ordinance and hundreds of thousands of corpses, often only a few inches deep that all housing, agriculture etc is banned, probably for centuries if not longer.

Since 1945, the _Déminage à Douaumont _who patrol the areas and destroy ordinance they find have lost over 600 members of staff, killed on duty.

In Wales we have the abandoned village of Troedrhiwfuwch
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-32258204


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## BAYLOR

The French town of Oradour Sur Glane  abandoned since the 1944 massacre of 642 residence at the hands of the Waffen SS.  The place is a war memorial.


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## Kerrybuchanan

These photos are of the inspection house I mentioned above for the Mourne Conduit (One from outside, one taken through the window) and one of the red gates. All these are in our woods.


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## Kerrybuchanan

These are ruined cottages just outside our gate. The first one is the toilet....


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## Kerrybuchanan

This is the ancient laneway that runs between two of our fields. Part of it has been robbed out for stone at some time before the mid eighteen hundreds and it's very overgrown at the moment, but it continues on further down the hill to the edge of our land.


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## Kerrybuchanan

And last but not least, this is the abandoned cottage that looks like the Marie Celeste.

It isn't on our land, but belongs to a neighbour.

Edit: Fraser tells me I have to confess. I didn't take these photos - he did with my phone! It was raining at the time....


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## Ray McCarthy

@Kerrybuchanan 
How do you find time to write with a family, business and all that lovely countryside to walk / ride in?


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## Perpetual Man

I see all these pictures and I get the urge to go exploring!


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## BAYLOR

Kerrybuchanan said:


> And last but not least, this is the abandoned cottage that looks like the Marie Celeste.
> 
> It isn't on our land, but belongs to a neighbour.
> 
> View attachment 23554 View attachment 23555 View attachment 23556 View attachment 23557 View attachment 23558 View attachment 23559 View attachment 23560 View attachment 23561 View attachment 23562 View attachment 23563




It looks like a real fixer upper , why was it abandoned? Why does no one live there?


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## Kerrybuchanan

BAYLOR said:


> It looks like a real fixer upper , why was it abandoned? Why does no one live there?



It belongs to a slightly eccentric English lady who used to use it as a holiday cottage for herself and her family until the early 90s, then she just stopped using it. It's quite eerie in there, because it's down a long overgrown track with nothing anywhere near it. Funnily enough, our dogs are afraid of going inside it and if dragged in they will escape as fast as possible. The collie has her hackles up the whole time and growls. Humans get the same vibe from it, but as far as I know there are no secret tragedies there.


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## Kerrybuchanan

Ray McCarthy said:


> How do you find time to write with a family, business and all that lovely countryside to walk / ride in?



I'm not too steady on my feet with arthritis so I don't walk that much. Writing is a form of escape.


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## Ray McCarthy

BAYLOR said:


> why was it abandoned? Why does no one live there?


Quite likely there is no shortage of more feasible properties, often with better access to shops, electricity, broadband, phone signals and equally good or better scenery.



Kerrybuchanan said:


> Funnily enough, our dogs are afraid of going inside it and if dragged in they will escape as fast as possible. The collie has her hackles up the whole time and growls. Humans get the same vibe from it,


It's likely got no damp proof course, no cavity wall, rotten with damp (likely source of unsettling vibes and bad smells for a poor dog).

Such properties often cost more to renovate than building from scratch (I've had surveyors reports on better). It's likely too small for a family.  It may be on land owned by a farmer who would rather have more land and not lose more to an access road.
It's a long while since I was concerned with Northern property values, but here a good modern house in the countryside 6km outside the city is half the price of a smaller site in the city! A wreck is essentially worth little more than the price of the land, and that would depend on services and access and planning permission. Renovation usually doesn't require planning permission, but adding a story even dormer type does as does increasing the size more than by a conservatory.

Properties like that are common here (Limerick, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary). But to get them you'd have to buyout a full sized farm as they are usually on some odd corner. There is one even at the bottom of the road beside me. Plenty more in a 15 minutes radius. As well as the Raths, ruined castles, ruined churches and disused lime kilns. I may venture out and take a few photos if I can tear myself away from writing and it stops raining!


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## Kerrybuchanan

Ray McCarthy said:


> It's likely too small for a family



It's only two tiny rooms, no damp-proofing, no services and poor access. The owner lives in a lovely house a few fields away from it. I think she might get round to doing something with it one day, but in the meantime it's deteriorating rapidly.


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## Ray McCarthy

Kerrybuchanan said:


> It's only two tiny rooms, no damp-proofing, no services and poor access


No shortage of ex-dwellings like that in Ireland. Some get used as agricultural stores. Others just gradually fall down.


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## J Riff

I would attach a pic of my room but it may prove disturbing.
There are deserted pilings near here, sticking out into the lake, and they once were part of a casino built by Al Capone. It's pretty creepy there, only toads on the beach and mutated fish in the water.


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## BAYLOR

Kerrybuchanan said:


> It's only two tiny rooms, no damp-proofing, no services and poor access. The owner lives in a lovely house a few fields away from it. I think she might get round to doing something with it one day, but in the meantime it's deteriorating rapidly.



It's a pity,  it seem like a nice little out of the way place. A good spot for a vacation.


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## Ray McCarthy

Almost everywhere here is good for a vacation and there are loads of out of the way places. Outside of Northern Ireland, Ireland doesn't have zip codes yet (post codes) and the proposed system
a) Won't work properly
b) too expensive
c) Will be ignored

This unofficial free system does work, but it's not official
http://www.openpostcode.org/

You can't get much more out of the way than places with no proper addresses. In the City here, some streets have each block or row of houses built at the same time numbered from 1, so O'Connell Avenue or some other street might have 5 houses all #3, 6 houses #1 and six #2 and 4 houses each  with #4, #5 #6.

Though someone addressed a letter with just the county name, my name and Ireland from the Middle East and it was delivered.


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## Perpetual Man

A bit of a longer video but this is from Willard Asylum in New York


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## Perpetual Man

And here is a post, originally put up in another thread by Venusian Broon:

Abandoned Communities


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## Perpetual Man

San Zhi in Taiwan


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## Perpetual Man

Today's offering a slightly longer than I'd like video of Six Flags Jazzland in New Orleans. It's really kind of sad to see something that was built for the entertainment of others slowly wasting away.


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## Perpetual Man

Today we have Bannerman Castle Pollepel Island, New York


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## chopper

An abandoned school in Sheffield, decorated by the street artist Phlegm. For me it brought new life to the phrase "Urban Fantasy", & that's why I've used it as background for the SFSF Social posters.


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## Perpetual Man

That's pretty spectacular Chopper, the picture almost looks as though it is off the wall.


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## chopper

he's a damned good artist. there's stuff of his all over the city. more here


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## Venusian Broon

Some pretty odd places in this list (and some I see have already been mentioned above, oh well!):

http://www.roughguides.com/gallery/abandoned-places/#/0

The Cuban jails look _horrible, _inspired as they are by the Jeremy Bentham's awful idea and his resultant Panoptican.


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## bedlamite

This is the Christ of the Abyss, San Frutturo, Italy  a submerged bronze statue of Jesus, placed in the water on 22 August 1954 at approximately 17 metres depth, and stands 2.5 metres tall. Various other casts of the statue are located in other places worldwide, both underwater and in churches and museums. Not strictly abandoned, but isolated, lonely and eerie.


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## Perpetual Man

Venusian Broon - some really interesting ones there, thanks.

Bedlamite - as you say not strictly abandoned but a incredible, haunting thing.


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## Perpetual Man

It seems that things can get abandoned in the most surprising of places. This is Discovery Island at Disney!


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## Perpetual Man

This is quite a good one, Chateau Miranda in Belgium:






For anyone who might have noticed I'm working my way through the list of 38 Abandoned Places I posted near the start of the thread. I'ce had to skip a few that looked particular interesting because there were no videos available!


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## Perpetual Man

Eilean Donan (Scotland)






Technically not abandoned ion the sense that it looks quite well looked after inside, but what the hey, it was used in the original Highlander movie which makes it good enough for me


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## Perpetual Man

Hashima Island, Japan


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## Perpetual Man

Something quite different today as I step away from the list.

This time it is something quite local to me, The Palace Theatre, Union Street, Plymouth

The whole thing was a gorgeous piece of Victoriana, the main theatre for the city. I remember going there to see pantomimes when I when I was small, but the opening of a more modern theatre marked the end. It found new life as a nightclub (went there too only on rock/alternative nights), but ultimately it closed down and fell into ruin. 

Apparently it is on the list of English Heritages buildings in most need of restoration, and every couple of months there are stories of new projects but none ever materialise.


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## Perpetual Man

And today we have City Hall Subway in New York (Nice short one)


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## Perpetual Man

A short slideshow of the Orpheum Theater in New Bedford, Mass.


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## Perpetual Man

What a very unusual place, a theme park based on passages from the Bible.


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## Alias Black

A Floating McDonald’s That Was Abandoned Over 30 Years Ago


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## Perpetual Man

Thanks for that one Alias Black,  a great entry, fascinating


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## Perpetual Man

An abandoned Power Plant in Belgium. It looks very impressive but the video might be a little longer than it needs to be.


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## Perpetual Man

Maybe not the best quality, but one of the most impressive places:

*The Underwater Lion City in China*


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## Perpetual Man

A bit dark in places but okay as a whole


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## Perpetual Man

*The Red Sands Sea Forts - UK*


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## Perpetual Man

An extra one today, a link to an article with lots of pictures of the abandoned USSR space shuttle program


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## Perpetual Man

*Michigan Central Station*


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## Perpetual Man

Dadipark in Belgium, still seems to be very little sadder than a slowly crumbling themepark


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## Perpetual Man




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## steelyglint

Tim James said:


> *Michigan Central Station*



Not as abandoned as you might think apparently - somebody has mysteriously replaced several window panes on the upper floors and no-one seems to know who did it or why.

.


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## Perpetual Man

steelyglint said:


> Not as abandoned as you might think apparently - somebody has mysteriously replaced several window panes on the upper floors and no-one seems to know who did it or why.
> 
> .



Now that has got me thinking....


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## steelyglint

I saw something about it in some TV documentary, but can't recall now what it was. I did find mention of the mysterious goings-on here...

http://www.citylab.com/design/2013/...-has-5-new-windows-and-no-one-knows-why/5766/

.


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## Perpetual Man

That really is quite odd. It looks as though there is a reason for it even if that reason is unknown. But the placement of the windows replaced just seems random!


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## Perpetual Man




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## bedlamite

This is a blast from my past. This barge was abandoned on the Swansea Canal. As you can see, the towpath was well overgrown - this picture is from the 50s! The towpath was the back lane into my house - this barge was about 100 yards from us. There was another fully submerged barge which I unfortunately don't have a picture of. In winter, the water was crystal clear, and it was so eerie to see - eels loved it! This barge was removed in the late 70s/early 80s, and was preserved at a martitime/industrial museum. Must go and see if it's still there.


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## bedlamite

Another local one. This is Weaver's flour mill - vast building that stood on the North Dock in Swansea, now the main approach for the town. First reinforced concrete building in Europe, this was. Demolished for a Sainsbury store.





Here, in its pomp, with mad bridges connecting the various Weaver properties:


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## Perpetual Man

I love the second picture there bedlamite, the interconnecting building is superb.


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## Perpetual Man

Obviously I have got to the end of the list I was working from so these posts are going to become a little more sporadic, and probably things more associated with places I've been to.

And to start off: The ruins of St. Anthony's Chapel on the side of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. A nice hike up an extinct volcano in gale force winds, pushing a buggy - lovely. The two dodgy figures by the chapel our myself and Harry (Perp Jr)

The water bowl thing is just fascinating.


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## bedlamite

Love it. What was the water bowl for - water, obviously it seems, but decorative, functional, ceremonial? Got a project I've just started - am going to visit every castle in Wales. We have more than anywhere else, so I'm going to celebrate that fact with my mission.


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## Venusian Broon

On a slightly different tack, things need not be physical to be abandoned, here are 17 'ancient' abandoned Websites (I haven't tried them all to see if they work, but they seem to be there waiting for people to visit them around the digital tumble-weed):

http://mentalfloss.com/article/53792/17-ancient-abandoned-websites-still-work


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## Perpetual Man

bedlamite said:


> Love it. What was the water bowl for - water, obviously it seems, but decorative, functional, ceremonial? Got a project I've just started - am going to visit every castle in Wales. We have more than anywhere else, so I'm going to celebrate that fact with my mission.



I've wondered about the water bowl. Is it something more modern, put there for dogs? Is it more historical, for people going to the chapel? Is it in case the volcano becomes live again? Or is it to make people ask what is the bowl doing here?

All the castles in Wales? What kind of time scale are we talking about?

And Venusian Broon, great take on the thread, loved it.


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## steelyglint

The water vessel was probably a 'holy water' receptacle which folks going to the chapel would use. Definitely NOT a dog bowl. Not sure what use a couple of pints of water would be if  the volcano became active again - the damage to Edinburgh in such a scenario could amount to more than fourteen shillings and sixpence! That's enough cash to buy the Outer Hebrides! He said, paraphrasing Blackadder (Macadder, actually).

If there's a helicopter in the equation you might get around to all the castles in Wales in just a couple of weeks. There's lots of them. They were used as not only strongholds for military conquest, but also as instruments of colonization, as the king usually built a town within the walls and populated it with his own (English) people.

We've got a few 'abandoned' places around North Devon. I *REALLY* wish they included the pub next door - and if I could arrange that, I would. If I get the chance I'll take my camera to see some of them and add the results here - but I'm no David Bailey or Lord Snowdon (though I did see him working on promotions for Range Rovers back in the early '90s. One of the girls mentioned that she'd like to be photographed by him, so I stood near an open window and said loudly, "well, he's supposed to be the best in the world." Five minutes later she was invited to sit in one of the cars whilst it was photographed - a bit of ego-polishing goes a long way, even with those who shouldn't need it).

.


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## Kerrybuchanan

About the stone bowl: we have one almost identical in one of our fields. It sits under the place where a natural spring bursts out of the hill, from between the roots of an ancient oak tree, collecting water before letting it overflow from the lip and disappear back underground until it re-emerges as a stream.

As we also have a deep water well in the same field, I assume there was habitation there a long time back. There is also an ancient roadway nearby, which is marked as a ruin in very old maps. I have often wondered if there was a religious/superstitious history associated with our spring. 

These days it acts as a very welcome drinking fountain for our horses, so I hope whatever god it was once dedicated to doesn't mind sharing.


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## steelyglint

Your 'deep water well' could hold some amazing secrets. Such things often have intentionally-broken artifacts at the bottom of them, thrown in as offerings to whatever the locals believed provided the water. It would have to be _very_ old to be pre-christian in Ireland, but it is possible. They didn't mess around with cheap offerings either - there could be precious metals, jewellery or anything down there.

A rope, a crowbar, a big lump of BluTak and a couple of hours spent 'fishing' might get you a new Aston Martin, racehorse or a new wing for the house. As anything found in there was discarded, not hidden or lost, it will not be subject to the 'treasure trove' laws. Not sure what their equivalent is in Eire (my geographical knowledge of Ireland is nothing to shout about), but if you're in Northern Ireland you should get to keep whatever you find. Still have to be a hearing, but you should win that with ease.

.


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## Kerrybuchanan

I like the sound of the Aston there, @steelyglint, but no racehorses! We have too many of those already (broken - down, rescued variety).

That's an exciting project for the summer anyway. Note to self. Wholesalers for BluTac....

The good news is that we're in NI.


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## steelyglint

One thing I never thought would have to be 'rescued' is race horses. I thought they all went into breeding programmes and were well cared-for. The vast amounts of money that racing involves, and they still need rescue? Somebody (probably many somebodies) would appear to need a serious arse-kicking. I offer my steel toe-cap Doc Martens freely - kicking energy included.

Good luck on your 'fishing' expedition. Do let us know what you find - even if you're on a beach in the Seychelles taking a break from driving the Aston.

However, watch out for the local archaeologist. If they get wind of anything interesting they can intervene and take it away from you. You still get the market value of anything found, but what is the market value of something no-one ever found before? And what you get is determined by a bunch of 'experts'. Nobody tells you what they're experts at, though. They could be chicken-sexers for all we know. But it is probably a panel of archaeologists, and they care as much about the 'value' of an artifact as I do about price of fish in Upper Volta in 1576.

.


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## Kerrybuchanan

The good,  well known racehorses that are capable of breeding  (colts and mares) go into breeding programmes, but the slow ones and the geldings are neither useful nor wanted. If they're very lucky they go to a knowledgeable home to be retrained for other forms of competition  (one of ours is now a successful dressage horse), or in a nice field as a companion at least (another of ours - mummy to the whole herd); if they're mildly lucky, they find a clean bullet; if they're unlucky, they go to the wrong type of home and get abused, turned into horses no one in their right minds would ever want and starve or end up in the food chain. Both of ours are the latter category. We rescued them from the jaws of death and rehabilitated them.

People in the racing industry are usually very good to their horses, but in some cases it is just that: an industry. For most racehorses, they have fantastic lives up to the point they're no longer a part of that industry. That's where it all falls apart. Some trainers move mountains to get good homes for their horses. Others don't. 

Sorry about the rant. It's a subject very close to my heart. If I could, I would rescue them all. Maybe I should invest in that BluTac.


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## bedlamite

Tim James said:


> I've wondered about the water bowl. Is it something more modern, put there for dogs? Is it more historical, for people going to the chapel? Is it in case the volcano becomes live again? Or is it to make people ask what is the bowl doing here?
> 
> All the castles in Wales? What kind of time scale are we talking about?
> 
> And Venusian Broon, great take on the thread, loved it.




Oh, I'm taking my time around it; getting round every castle in Wales will take about two years I'm thinking - I'm not rushing! A helicopter is a good idea though, Steelyglint!


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## Dave

[GALLERY=media, 1891]Abandoned Steps 1 by Dave posted Jul 7, 2016 at 4:56 PM[/GALLERY][GALLERY=media, 1890]Abandoned Steps 2 by Dave posted Jul 7, 2016 at 4:56 PM[/GALLERY]
I've been wanting to take a photo of these for this thread for a long time.


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## Extollager

Interesting thread.  Here's a link to a piece with photos of North Brother Island, New York:

Photos of the Mysterious New York City Island You’ve Never Heard Of


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## Allegra

Extollager said:


> Interesting thread.  Here's a link to a piece with photos of North Brother Island, New York:
> 
> Photos of the Mysterious New York City Island You’ve Never Heard Of



This one is particularly bleak:


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## Perpetual Man

Allegra said:


> This one is particularly bleak:


Agreed


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## Ray McCarthy

Allegra said:


> This one is particularly bleak:


yes.
Many of those look adoptable.


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## Dave

[GALLERY=media, 1946]Abandoned Places by Dave posted Jul 18, 2016 at 7:50 AM[/GALLERY]
He is another one. I think it is all that remains from an isolation hospital at the top of Devils Dyke, Sussex.


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## Dave

Here is another house. It is possible people are still living in part of it, so not completely abandoned. Varadero town centre, Cuba.

[GALLERY=media, 1953]House by Dave posted Aug 14, 2016 at 12:48 PM[/GALLERY]


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## BAYLOR

Allegra said:


> This one is particularly bleak:



I hate seeing books discarded like that . Water damage and mould. Those books are ruined.


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## Dave

Some more photos for you here:

25 Photos that show how nature will win the war with civilization


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## Dave

[GALLERY=media, 2247]Abandoned House by Dave posted Aug 12, 2017 at 9:09 AM[/GALLERY]

This is another two houses I found between Woldringham and Caterham in Surrey. I thought the window frame lying by the door was a nice touch.


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## Cathbad

I don't have a picture of it, but my father's final home (he passed in 2008), just outside Horse Cave, KY, was a half mile from the most fascinating-looking old manor house.  Once a part of a huge estate, the owner and descendants were slowly forced to sell off the property, until it sat on its final quarter acre.

The house was abandoned - and looked it.  But, my what a palatial estate it must once have been!  Had I the funds, I would have eagerly bought and restored the place as a bed-and-breakfast.

This church in Horse Cave was declared an historical site:





I show it for two reasons:  1) Round off the (left) side, and this church would be virtually the same basic design of the house I'm talking about, and 2) The home _not_ declared an historic site is THREE TIMES the structure of this church!


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## Vladd67

For fans of 90s kids tv




Unfortunately as it's location became known it is obvious vandals decided to strike.


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## Dave

That's awful. What happened to Donkey?


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## sknox

The pictures for Oradour Sur Glane are chilling. Thanks for the reference.


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## sknox

Abandoned lime factory in Oregon. Cleverly named, Lime.


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## AlexH

I love abandoned places, especially when nature is taking back over. My favourite is one of the most famous - the communist monument at Mt. Buzludzha (they blew the top of the mountain off to build it). It's incredible to wander around inside.





It was sad to see my old school in such a state - a lovely Victorian building (it's now been demolished and replaced with something ugly - even sadder), but there was location-appropriate graffiti:





Once called "the most polluted town in Europe" on the front cover of National Geographic - Copsa Mica in Romania. I was only there for a couple of hours, but I could still feel the pollution in my throat after I left - 20 years after these factories closed. The people who live there aren't allowed to sell any locally-grown produce outside of the area:





Another favourite was a big abandoned house in Scotland over a year ago - it was mostly in good condition - like someone had only just upped and left (despite evidence it was left about 5 years previously). I could easily have slept there for the night, and there was still running water (I didn't try the taps - there was a leak).

Ooh, and I just remembered Camelot Theme Park in the UK - that was fun!


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## Boneman

Serendipity! The mount Buzludzha turned up in Mechanic Resurrected, with Tommy Lee Jones living it, with submarines in the basement!  Saw it last night.


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## AlexH

Boneman said:


> Serendipity! The mount Buzludzha turned up in Mechanic Resurrected, with Tommy Lee Jones living it, with submarines in the basement!  Saw it last night.


Cool - I'll have to check that out.


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## Allegra

Abandoned States: Places In Idyllic 1960s Postcards Have Transformed Into Scenes Of Abandonment

The photographer who took the pictures of the abandoned places managed to find old photos and postcards when the places were full of life.


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## Caledfwlch

Here in my hometown of Aberystwyth we have a couple of "abandoned" relics from the Second World War.
Overlooking the Harbour entrance is a Pillbox/Machine gun post, presumably manned by the Home Guard.



 

We are also home to the National Library of Wales, which sits halfway up a hill, overlooking the town, during ww2, they built bunkers/tunnels beneath it to store their most valuable possessions, and at one point many of the UK's most valuable pieces of art, and the Crown Jewels were stored there.



 

We have plenty of more traditional relics of the past, such as a medieval Castle, part of Edward 1st's "Ring of Iron" around North Wales, an Iron Age Hill Fort, who's trenches in which the walls stood are still visible and so on.

We did also have an intact Tollhouse, from the days of Toll's to use the roads entering/leaving down, built in 1771, sadly, the thieving swine in Cardiff stole it, I think in the 1970's, dismantling it brick by brick and rebuilt it in the Saint Fagan's National Museum of Wales.
Tollhouse

It's very nice, I am sure that visitors to Cardiff get to see bits of Ceredigion's heritage, but it would be even nicer if the children and people of Ceredigion didn't have to travel 4 hours south to see their own heritage. 
Sadly, up here its a common theme, the theft of things by Cardiff. When I was growing up we had a world famous International Film Festival, people from down South took over, and immediately moved it to Cardiff, where it seems to have vanished - a generic film festival in a City is probably not quite the same draw as one taking place in a beautiful university town/seaside resort surrounded by hills, where one can go and watch the dolphins play in between films. Another student film festival was snatched by Cardiff recently, and I doubt the Horror film festival will survive long unkidnapped.
Cardiff was even trying to grab the Celtic Challenge, a row boat race  between Aberystwyth & Arklow in Ireland, despite the fact that one of the major points of the race is its 80 miles direct line between the two towns, whilst Cardiff to anwhere in Eire would be at the very least 200+ miles, and not remotely a straight line!


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## Dave

Abandoned places in Berlin: Abandoned Berlin: Story behind its forgotten places

It might just be me, but among all these abandoned places people have posted photos of or linked to articles and webpages on, I find the themepark fairground rides and the holiday resort cottages the most weird. I think it is because it is easier for me to imagine them once full of life.


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## Mouse

Caledfwlch said:


> Here in my hometown of Aberystwyth we have a couple of "abandoned" relics from the Second World War.
> Overlooking the Harbour entrance is a Pillbox/Machine gun post, presumably manned by the Home Guard.



We have _so_ many of these around my way that nobody pays them a blind bit of attention. Pillboxes, anti-tank obstacles, machine gun emplacements etc. I live along the stop line.






And in this one you can just see this anti-tank pyramids on the left behind the burnt out shelter and bagged corpse*.





*not really a corpse, it's a damaged statue.


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## Caledfwlch

Of all the WW2 remnants, I find the underground bunkers of the "Auxiliary Units" to be the spookiest.
Not much seems to be known about them - a TV Documentary team managed to find one member who still lived near where he was during the War, he was a Farmer, so not allowed to join up to the Regular Forces, as food production was vital, and he showed the crew the Bunker he and other local AU members would have used had the Germans invaded.
None of them expected to live more than a couple of days after an invasion, they were essentially a heavily armed, pre-placed Resistance Force whos mission was to slow down the Invasion Forces.


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## Dave

There is an underground bunker just like that in Orpington, Kent underneath the railway line embarkment. It was the command centre for the whole of the south east railways and has huge blast doors. Unfortunately, it also has asbestos and no one is allowed inside any longer. There are photos of inside on the web though taken in the late 1990's. RSG: Sites: Orpington - Southern Railway Control Centre


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## AlexH

I wonder how many bunkers there are in the UK? Never mind tunnels. To start with, there are over 1,500 underground ROC posts spread across the UK. They were constructed in a grid pattern so the spread of a nuclear fallout could be measured. They cost between £5,000 - £20,000 each to build in the 60s (depending on who you ask, though some are larger than others). Even if they did all cost the minimum £5,000, that's over £100,000,000 for them all in today's money, and thankfully they were never needed. Most were decommissioned about 20 years ago, and none are in use for their intended purpose any more.


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## Allegra

Not sure about the island's historical reference, but hey, if you are interested and know how to keep pigs, chickens and seaweed, it's all yours - the French gov will let you to run the island so it won't be the next abandoned place.  

Wanted: Couple to run deserted French island


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## Perpetual Man

Abandoned Japanese Theme Park


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## Perpetual Man




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## Allegra

http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/canfranc-station-spain/index.html :

_Deep in the Aragon river valley, close to Spain's border with France, lies the abandoned ruin of Canfranc International Station.
Once one of Europe's largest rail hubs, opulent Canfranc opened in style in 1928, with an inauguration ceremony attended by the then-king of Spain and the then-President of the French Republic.
During World War II, Canfranc was a hive of activity and intrigue, witnessing arrests, espionage and gold trafficking, but by 1970, the station had closed its doors.
Today it's a sleepy spot, popular with photographers thanks to its atmospheric exterior and striking setting beneath the snow-capped Pyrenees._


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## sknox

Allegra said:


> A grand ruin on the Spanish-French border :
> _..._
> _During World War II, Canfranc was a hive of activity and intrigue, witnessing arrests, espionage and gold trafficking, but by 1970, the station had closed its doors.
> Today it's a sleepy spot, popular with photographers thanks to its atmospheric exterior and striking setting beneath the snow-capped Pyrenees._



Great one! I adore the Pyrenees, and what went on there during WWII is extraordinary. Even cooler, many of the participants, having been involved in smuggling both before and after the war, never talked about what they did during it, so we aren't ever going to know most of what happened in those rugged mountains.


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## sknox

Dave said:


> Abandoned places in Berlin: Abandoned Berlin: Story behind its forgotten places



Roberto Rossellini managed to get access to Berlin in 1947-48, when he filmed the extraordinary "Germany Year Zero." That was the third installment in a trilogy, the first being "Rome Open City" (1945) and "Paisan" (1946). Taken together, they are the most moving portrait of post-war Europe I've ever seen. The places there were of course more destroyed than abandoned, but the feeling is much the same as the excellent pictures in this thread.


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## Allegra

Trainspotting in the Shumkovo railway cemetery

_“It’s like you go several decades into the past, especially when you get inside a steam train. There are all these levers, which someone touched, you get this feeling. You really feel that there are fascists and the Red Army are running just outside the window..."_


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## Dave

Abandoned Soviet Space Shuttles

_It was the Soviet response to the space shuttle, designed to take the Cold War into space. But after just one flight, it was mothballed: now, abandoned ruins of what was called the Buran program are left to rust in the steppe of Kazakhstan._


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## Dave

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/source/mark-davis-photography.com/

This guy has many photos of abandoned hospitals and asylums - lots of empty beds and staircases (look at the beginning before all the Yorkshire scenes.)


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## Perpetual Man

Dave said:


> https://www.pinterest.co.uk/source/mark-davis-photography.com/
> 
> This guy has many photos of abandoned hospitals and asylums - lots of empty beds and staircases (look at the beginning before all the Yorkshire scenes.)



Some really great ones there, Dave, enhanced by the photography. Really spectacular stuff


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## AlexH

Here's one from me recently. Hulme Hippodrome, Manchester:



 

Definitely the most colourful disused building I've been inside! Next door to it is the Hulme Playhouse (known as the NIA Centre in the 1990s):





They're both listed buildings - one of the reasons is the unusual configuration of having one theatre next to another.

It's such a shame to see buildings like this decaying.


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## Perpetual Man

Loved the pictures of the theatres, which reminded me of The Palace Theatre in Plymouth - I drive passed virtually every weeks and never really thought of posting it.

It is a fantastic building, listed but abandoned. Following it's long life as a theatre it was changed into a nightclub, with only a few area used, passages, changing rooms all hidden away...

It was closed after a drugs bust and has been deteriorating ever since.

Toward the end of 2015, a huge renovation job started, but it seems to have stalled and the building is silent once again.







It is also alleged to be haunted.


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## Allegra

Want to co-own this beautiful French castle for 50 euros?  It is great to see it given a new life and bright future! 

Heritage lovers raise €500,000 to save French castle from ruin


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## AlexH

Allegra said:


> Want to co-own this beautiful French castle for 50 euros?  It is great to see it given a new life and bright future!
> 
> Heritage lovers raise €500,000 to save French castle from ruin


I've been considering adding €60 to that myself. I'm not sure why I didn't think of posting it here.


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## Dave

You may want to check out this Google+ collection by Paul Pavlinovich - Urbex: Urban Exploration & Decay with over 250 photos.
He also uses the hashtags #urbex #urbandecay on social media.


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## Lumens

For people interested in abandoned places there is a film from 2016 documenting some of them. You might even recognise some of the places...

Homo sapiens (2016) - IMDb

It's a beautiful movie, in all its simplicity.

(Apologies if this has been posted before, I didn't see it.)


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## J Riff

Just watched a BBC show about Borneo. The forest there... is not friendly. Giant leeches eat giant worms. Giant stomachs, Pitcher plants, hang around dissolving things. Few mammals. Mini-hawks, proboscis monkeys, speedy shrews, not much else, yet it's the 4th or 5th largest island in the world.


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## AlexH

Lumens said:


> For people interested in abandoned places there is a film from 2016 documenting some of them. You might even recognise some of the places...
> 
> Homo sapiens (2016) - IMDb
> 
> It's a beautiful movie, in all its simplicity.
> 
> (Apologies if this has been posted before, I didn't see it.)


I'd love to watch that, but it doesn't seem to be available in the UK.



J Riff said:


> Just watched a BBC show about Borneo. The forest there... is not friendly. Giant leeches eat giant worms. Giant stomachs, Pitcher plants, hang around dissolving things. Few mammals. Mini-hawks, proboscis monkeys, speedy shrews, not much else, yet it's the 4th or 5th largest island in the world.


Do you remember what that was called? Was it this documentary from 1964? Jungle Green: Borneo


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## J Riff

Looks like it was an episode of 'Lands of the Monsoon'.


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## Allegra

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/nicosia-airport-abandoned-cyprus/index.html


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## Dave

Great pictures of Nicosia airport. I first visited Nicosia in 1985 and you could go close to the "wall" at the green line and peek through holes in fencing to the other side. It was crazy how a well made, tarmacadamed road went right up to the line and then still carried on at the other side, but worn out and cracked, with abandoned and dilapidated buildings on either side. It made a lasting impression on me, and probably the reason why I like the pictures in this thread so much.


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## Russiano

I apologise that the video has no English subtitles. I chose namely this one because it has the best footage as examples of what's inside (except that photo of the corpse under bloody blanket — it seems to be from another place).




You can learn more about it by searching for _Hovrinskaya Hospital_ in Wikipedia. I was going to give a direct link but sadly I have not enough posts to share them yet.
Officially, it is not allowed to trespass on territory of this hospital. If you manage to do it, you must be aware of holes in the floor which are sometimes covered with metal sheets, missing fragments of walls on the top floors, rebars sticking out everywhere and generally other people that may use the opportunity of scaring you for fun or something else.
The building is sinking due to the fact that its basements are flooded. Rumors say that it was built on the cemetery but actually it's the swampy ground what causes the facility to go down.


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## AlexH

I saw an episode of this earlier: Abandoned Engineering | UKTV Play

It included the Buzludzha communist monument, an abandoned WWII German destroyer in Norway, a bridge in Alaska and... I'm sure there was a fourth thing, but I've forgotten.

It also includes overly dramatic narration, which is actually a voice put on by a UK comedian I've forgotten the name of.

Two things forgotten in one post. :S


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## Perpetual Man

The Pontiac Silverdome

Always sad when the building had an atmosphere of entertainment and fun. It seems strange to see places where people would have congregated for fun, to have a drink, empty with moss and grass growing.

The silverdome was meant to come down, but the first attempt was an embarrassing failure.


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## Perpetual Man

Of course, they say if at first you don't succeed....

[youtube] 



 [/youtube]


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## AlexH

Perpetual Man said:


> Of course, they say if at first you don't succeed....
> 
> [youtube]
> 
> 
> 
> [/youtube]


Wow! So many cars parked nearby?


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## Perpetual Man

AlexH said:


> Wow! So many cars parked nearby?



I did notice that!


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## Lumens

There is a docu series on Netflix UK called Dark Tourist which shows many abandoned places around the planet, and other strange, deadly and bizzare places too. Worth watching!


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## Cathbad

Lumens said:


> There is a docu series on Netflix UK called Dark Tourist which shows many abandoned places around the planet, and other strange, deadly and bizzare places too. Worth watching!


I wasn't sure what that was about.


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## Perpetual Man

Lumens said:


> There is a docu series on Netflix UK called Dark Tourist which shows many abandoned places around the planet, and other strange, deadly and bizzare places too. Worth watching!



I'll have to try and look that up


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## Perpetual Man

The article says more about it than I could, but it is another example of how easily nature takes back what man leave behind.

Ross Island


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## Lumens

Cathbad said:


> I wasn't sure what that was about.


Yeah... The journalistic quality isn't always up to par with similar investigative programs done by Louis Theroux, for example. It is still interesting though.


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## Perpetual Man




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## Allegra

The abandoned places in abundance:

Rust Paradise - Ghost Buildings | ARTE in English


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## Perpetual Man

Brilliant, thanks Allegra!


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## Anthoney

I saw a few stories about this a few years ago.


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## Dave

Everywhere I go now, I'm looking for these just because of this thread.

[GALLERY=media, 2425][/GALLERY]

Edit: Sorry, the Gallery had to be removed, and I can't remember what that picture was now (I have so many).


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## AlexH

I entered a couple of abandoned place photos in this month's photo challenge: https://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/572442/

I can't post them here as it's against the contest rules.


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## Lumens

Lana Sator has explored abandoned places for years, in Russia and eastern Europe mainly.









						Заброшенные здания, бомбоубежища, военные объекты, мёртвая техника
					

Urban exploration in Russia and somewhere else




					lana-sator.livejournal.com
				









						Login • Instagram
					

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.




					www.instagram.com
				




Run a google translate on her site, there is a wealth of great pictures and info there.


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## M. Robert Gibson

This reminded me of an article I read a few years ago about an abandoned tourist resort, Varosha on Cyprus








						Varosha: The abandoned tourist resort
					

Varosha is the booming Cyprus tourist resort abandoned after the events of 1974 - now former residents dream of turning it into an eco-city.



					www.bbc.co.uk
				




Searching for it led me to this website








						Skyscanner | Find the cheapest flights fast: save time, save money!
					

Compare millions of flights, as well as car hire and hotels worldwide - for free! Skyscanner is the travel search site for savvy travellers.



					www.skyscanner.net
				




And this rather apt site for this thread





						Abandoned Places Map
					






					abandonedplacesmap.com


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## AlexH

This former car showroom is one of the most post-apocalyptic places I've visited. I loved the rust against the greys.


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## Allegra

Amazing documentary:






There are quite a few episodes under the same title on youtube.


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## Allegra

__





						Life finds a way: when nature reclaims abandoned places | BBC Science Focus Magazine
					

What happens to a human environment when all the people leave? Nature takes it back.



					www.sciencefocus.com


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## AlexH

Allegra said:


> __
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Life finds a way: when nature reclaims abandoned places | BBC Science Focus Magazine
> 
> 
> What happens to a human environment when all the people leave? Nature takes it back.
> 
> 
> 
> www.sciencefocus.com


I was due to visit Houtouwan (the overgrown village in China) in 2018, but the weather forecast was bad, and there was no guarantee I would've got a boat back to Shanghai in time for my flight. If it wasn't for the flight, I would've gone. Hopefully some other time. I did wander around a small abandoned guesthouse village in the mountains later in the trip.


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## Dave

I liked these from an old brewery.


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## Don

Henry Hintermeister hosts a ton of abandoned barns on flicker.


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## AlexH

I've been sorting through some old photos recently. Here's the entrance to Camelot Theme Park, recently demolished:


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## Extollager

Olympics sites that have become ruins:









						Abandoned Olympic Venues Around the Globe
					

Revisit the derelict venues of Olympics past.




					abcnews.go.com


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## Lumens

Some stunning pictures in this short feature:









						The friends who explore abandoned buildings
					

Alex, Alistair and Theo are among a community of "urban explorers" who document the history of decaying structures.



					www.bbc.co.uk
				




Their website:









						UrbandonedTeam
					

Urbandoned aims to locate and capture on the most fascinating derelict sites through documentary style videos and photographic reports.




					www.urbandonedteam.com


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## BAYLOR

AlexH said:


> I've been sorting through some old photos recently. Here's the entrance to Camelot Theme Park, recently demolished:
> View attachment 78720



Fixed up and, as is,  would  have made  an intriguing residential development.


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## Montero

AlexH said:


> I've been sorting through some old photos recently. Here's the entrance to Camelot Theme Park, recently demolished:
> 
> View attachment 78720


Puts me strongly in mind of the opening of Murakashi's "Spirited Away"


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