Some modern cities of the world that yesterday were full of inhabitants and life, now they’ve been abandoned. You probably know them as ghost towns. Of courses, behind every city is an interesting story. Stillness that surrounds these former human settlement seems almost palpable.
In contrast to continuous noise and chaotic human restlessness that characterizes large cities, the deafening silence that dominate these places is even harder to imagine.
5. Humberstone and Santa Laura, Chile
The city was founded in 1862 around a nitrate mines in La Palma, though it wasn’t called Humerstone firt, but much later, in 1925, when he was named in the honor of the mine manager, who brought prosperity to the settlement . Both Humbersone, and Santa Laura, neighboring town, have made the most of the period in which the nitrate trade was in great demand.
In their good times, the cities got their money from mining and processing center, very active in the ’30s and ’40s. Nitrates were an essential ingredient as fertilizer component, but the a much cheaper synthetic substitute of it lead to the cities end.
Humberstone, Chile
Mining activity slipped on a downward slope, and with lower demand, Humberstone and Santa Laura entered into a long and sure decline. Residents began to abandon the cities, one by one, leaving in search of a better life. It only took three decades for the two sites, once prosperous and full of life, to turn into ghost towns.
But the story of the two sites does not stop there. In 1970, Chile’s government named both Humberstone, and Santa Laura, national monuments, and in 2005 they were included in World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
Their entry under the wing of UNESCO would have to dodge the final destruction which threatens to contribute to the preservation and protection of these areas a symbol of humanity.
4. Areas of Detroit, USA
Some abandoned areas are part of some highly populated cities. Probably one of the best examples is the city of Detroit, in which you will be able to find a completely abandoned neighborhood.
“The Motor City” takes its name from the central role played in the automotive industry. When Henry Ford in the ’20s changed the assembly line system, enabling mass production, cars were considerably cheaper, leading to a significant increase in sales. When all the spinning wheels of the economy started to go faster and faster, the city prospered. In Detroit this phenomenon took place very quickly. In the 50s, with approximately two million residents, Detroit became the third largest US city.
When the American automobile industry started to go down, so did Detroit, the headquarters of the US automotive world.
Detroit, USA
In good times, the biggest car manufacturers, like Chrysler, Ford and General Motors produced 90% of all cars sold in the US. In 2005, the figure dropped to 40%. As the city money came almost exclusively from car manufacturing, the situation has escalated steadily after the threat of car manufacturers outside the continent had to beat at the gates of America.
A whole area of Detroit have been abandoned, while the few buildings that still worked was trying not to get suffocated by the mass closings. Detroit seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
The building owners had to abandon their properties once they realized that there are no buyers or no one is willing to rent them. Vandals broke the windows, messages were scrawled on walls and architectural took with them memories.
Currently the Government is trying to revive the area, but the ones that are building here prefer to tear down the old buildings in order to build other. The once stately buildings will be flattened and replaced with huge parking lots or new construction of glass and iron.
3. Hashima Island, Japan
Hashima is a small island, rocky, situated near the coast of Nagasaki in Japan. Although small in size, the island is not unimportant, as it was the main supplier of coal for Japan for nearly a century. Located over a huge coal deposit, which extends to the ocean, Hashima itself represented a great opportunity to make a fortune, could not be missed opportunity.
After identifying the establishment, the island was taken over by Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, and such Hashima enters its peak. They prefer to corporate leaders to build new homes for workers who were brought here, but to invest their daily transportation to Nagasaki. Peak would be reached in 1959 when the island became more densely populated Hashima city in the world with 5259 inhabitants. This record is translated by 835 inhabitants in an area less than one square kilometer.
Hashima Island, Japan
The end of the Second World War would bring better living conditions for residents of Hashima. TVs, radios and modern cinema halls appeared to soften life of residents. The island, once peeled, is back to life with the planting gardens right on the roofs of buildings. However, the heyday of Hashimi would be short.
In early 1974, coal decline. The whole world now prefer oil as the primary source of energy production. Mitsubishi leaders have made public their decision to close the mine. In just one year, the last inhabitant left the island city and the island was completely closed. After only remaining relics of what once was the most densely populated city. Despite an already long abandoned, Hashima managed to keep themselves pretty well. And who knows … maybe it was fate or her smile again, officials with the Japanese proposal to be introduced in the exclusive list of UNESCO World Heritage Site.
2. Centralia, Pennsylvania, USA
Some time ago, Centralia, Pennsylvania could be described as a friendly town with 3,000 inhabitants, who could enjoy the usual amenities: shops, churches, hotels and bars. As in other U.S. cities, Centralia was what one might call “Boomtown. ” The first inhabitants settled here in 1866, and the settlement rapidly flourished, after profits from mining in the hilly area. In the particular case of this city, which raised at and destroyed.
The decline began abruptly in 1962 without him nothing to announce. Some workers have chosen to burn garbage in a hole dug in the ground, when they accidentally ignited a large deposit of anthracite coal which, in reality, the entire city was built. Once ignited, the fire spread to the entire network of local coal deposits, eventually causing a huge fire underground.
Centralia, Pennsylvania, USA
Both city officials, and the government have tried for years to find an optimal solution to stop the fire under the city, but without much success. Techniques such as coal burning and dynamiting the rest of his detachment blanket, digging of trenches or drowning in the embers with water separation, have failed, one by one. The last possible solution to save the city was digging a deep network of underground channels to isolate the hot spots. But the exorbitant costs of this action meant that she did not take place, ever. So, the final solution was adopted: the city had moved.
In 1981, a dark basement that burned for nearly 20 years, residents have been the icing on the cake served as the earth literally opened under the feet of a 12-year-old boy who managed to flee to save their lives. The pit 45 meters deep were coming off the surface, poisonous gas carbon monoxide.
A year later, the government has allocated a sum of 42 million dollars, required the relocation of residents Centraliei, saying the old city as a lost cause.
Currently, the roads were not covered by vegetation are marked by deep fissures and craters in an area with lush by poison gas. Many buildings were either ground fire, be leveled to prevent their burning. All that’s left standing in Centralia is unlucky town cemetery and several houses still inhabited.
1. Pripyat, Ukraine
On April 26, 1986 an explosion of spent reactor number four at Chernobyl nuclear power plant was going to change once and for all to Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Chernobyl remains in the collective memory of mankind as the worst nuclear disaster in the history of nuclear energy production. Radiation resulting from the explosion caused thousands of deaths in Ukraine, Russia and neighboring countries, but long-term effects of this disaster are far more serious: the spread of cancer, children born with birth defects, irradiation agricultural land.
Soviet officials at that time were severely criticized for not immediately informed of the high risk population that was exposed to radiation. Surrounding areas were eventually evacuated, and the government restricted the calamity.
The town where most workers lived in Chernobyl plant was also included in the prohibited area. Pripyat, which sheltered a total of 44,000 inhabitants, is located less than 5 miles from the scene. Evacuation of the wretched inhabitants occurred in record time: less than 60 hours after the accident. Pripyat, quickly became a ghost town and today offers a macabre sight, reminiscent of a human scale and drama, which seems like an unfortunate accident happened yesterday.
Pripyat, Ukraine
The land which was built the city will be irradiated for hundreds of years from now and, who knows, maybe even when danger is past, the memory of the explosion and death spread quickly that will still haunt these places.
Some have decided to ignore averismentele bold and went into “forbidden forest. ” Photos you have brought with them from other world landscapes reveals an overwhelming sadness. Pripyat is covered by vegetation, while wild animals make their bunks in what remains of buildings. The town seems frozen in time. Beds made, along with white sheets, classroom benches, desks, decorations, amusement park, all are in the same place where they were 23 years ago. Only vegetation began winning seats that once were streets. And people.
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