Spooky and Scary: The World’s Creepiest Abandoned Places

The construction of these houses initially intended as a vacation resort began in 1978. However, the project was abandoned in 1980 due to investment losses and several accident deaths and suicides during construction. The misfortune is said to have been caused by the act of bisecting a Chinese dragon sculpture located near the resort gates for widening the road to the buildings. Locals said the place was haunted with evil spirits.

Above: Sanzhi UFO houses, Taiwan.

The town of Beelitz is located 40 kilometers from the German capital of Berlin. During the World Wars, this hospital was used by the military. In 1916, Adolf Hitler was treated there. In 1995, people abandoned the place and since then it has been slowly falling apart.

Above: The Beelitz military hospital, Germany.

Hashima Island is also known as Gunkanjima meaning "battleship island" in Japanese. The island was inhabited in 1810 when coal reserves were found there. Over the next 50 years, it turned to the world’s most populated island – more than 5,300 residents with the island having a radius of only one kilometer. By 1974, the coal supplies had depleted and all of the residents left the island. A number of legends have been made about the place. The island was formally approved as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July 2015.

Above: Hashima Island, also known as Battleship Island, Japan.

The mental hospital located in the small town of Lier, half-an-hour drive from Oslo, has a shady past as medical experiments were carried out on patients there. For unknown reasons, four of its buildings were abandoned in 1985. They still have medical equipment, beds and even patients’ belongings. At the same time, the other eight buildings are still operating.

Above: Lier Mental Hospital, Norway.

Originally a Chinese military fort, Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated, largely ungoverned settlement in Kowloon City, Hong Kong. By 1987, the Walled City contained 33,000 residents within its 2.6-hectare borders. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by the Triads and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug use. After the eviction of its residents was completed, in December 1995 Kowloon Walled City Park opened.

Above: Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong.

In 1924, the luxurious Refugio El Salto hotel was built in the Colombian town of San Antonio del Tequendama. After sometime, the hotel was closed due to the growing number of suicides by its visitors.

Above: The Hotel del Salto, Colombia.

During the formation of the Paricutin volcano in 1943 San Juan Parangaricutiro was buried beneath ash and lava. The tops of cathedrals in old San Juan Parangaricutiro still protrude from the volcanic deposits.

Above: San Juan Parangaricutiro Church, Mexico.

Kolmanskop was a diamond mining town south of Namibia, build in 1908 and deserted in 1956. Since then, the desert has slowly reclaimed its territory, with sand invading the buildings where 350 German colonists and more than 800 local workers lived during its boom of the 1920s.

Above: An abandoned house in Kolmanskop, Namibia.

The town of Pripyat is located three kilometers from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. After the disaster in 1986, it has been part of the exclusion zone and carries a warning of the possible perils of nuclear energy. Now, tours of Pripyat are organized. The place constantly draws interests and more and more urban legends are emerging about it.

Above: Rusty toy car in a kindergarten in the town of Pripyat, Ukraine.

The Nara Dreamland theme park was opened in 1961 and was closed in the late 1990s due funding shortage. Prior to closing, the park contained several rides, including a roller coaster, merry-go-rounds, a castle, water rides, arcade machines and many others. Now Nara Dreamland is a popular destination for haikyoists, or urban explorers.

Above: An abandoned wooden rollercoaster in Nara Dreamland, Japan.

Michigan Central Station was built in 1913 and it used to be a major railroad depot. On January 5, 1988, the last train departed from there. The next day the station closed, and since then the building has been gradually ruining.

Above: Michigan Central Station, the United States.

The House of the Bulgarian Communist Party looks creepy both on the outside and inside. The building has been abandoned since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Bulgarian authorities can neither maintain it nor dismantle it.

Above: A man walks inside of the oval skeleton of the House of the Bulgarian Communist Party on mount Buzludzha in central Bulgaria.

This ghost ship is a Brazilian yacht which was shipwrecked, sunk and subsequently frozen in ice in Maxwell Bay of Ardley Cove, Antarctica, on April 7, 2012. The yacht was manned by four journalists who were filming a documentary off the Antarctic coast. Strong winds tossed the boat from one side to the other, and then it trapped in ice. The crew called for help and was rescued.

Above: Mar Sem Fim, a Brazilian yacht that has sunk near Ardley Cove, Antarctica.

Each year, hundreds of thrill-seekers visit the Island of Dolls, a two-hour canal ride from Mexico City. Deep in the woods, thousands of mutilated dolls hang from the trees and hide among the dense branches. They were put there by a Mexican man who believed they would appease the troubled ghost of a small girl who died there over 50 years ago.

Above: Island of the Dolls, Mexico.

Wonderland was an abandoned and uncompleted amusement park project located in Chenzhuang Village, about 32 kilometers outside of Beijing. It was originally designed to be the largest amusement park in Asia. Construction stopped in 1998 following financial problems. A 2008 attempt to resume construction failed. The site featured a number of abandoned structures, including the framework of a castle-like building and medieval-themed outer buildings. In May 2013, the incomplete and abandoned structures were demolished.

Above: The abandoned theme-park Wonderland near Beijing, China.