Abandoned Places In The World

When starting on this post for some reason I was thinking that there are not many abandoned places in the world, at least the cities. I knew there are many villages, farms and just lonely houses all around the world but when thousands of people leave, leaving the whole city dead that’s a real tragedy. There are mainly two reasons why people suddenly or little by little leave the place where they used to live for years or even generations: that’s the danger and economic factors. The biggest number of abandoned villages and farms can be found in Unites States and the countries of the former USSR.

Visiting abandoned places is getting more and more popular these days and many tourist agencies offer special tours where people can meet the ghost cities and villages face to face. I have never been to any of these and frankly speaking I don’t want to. I thinks we should leave the ghosts in peace, especially in the places like Pripyat where the horrible tragedy took place.

Still hobbies differ and surfing online we can find photographer’s websites fully devoted to abandoned places like this one www.abandoned-places.com or Lost America photo stream.

The abandoned places can look charming or they can look frightening, we tried to present it all. The abandoned cities of the former USSR look almost like clones and they resemble the concentration camps from the times of the World War II.

In any case, that’s the history we should know about, so le’ts get started.

Gunkanjima, Japan

Hashima Island, commonly called Gunkanjima (meaning “Battleship Island”) is one among 505 uninhabited islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki itself. The island was populated from 1887 to 1974 as a coal mining facility.

Mitsubishi bought the island in 1890 and began the project, the aim of which was retrieving coal from the bottom of the sea. They built Japan’s first large concrete building, a block of apartments in 1916 to accommodate their burgeoning ranks of workers (many of whom were forcibly recruited labourers from other parts of Asia), and to protect against typhoon destruction.

As petroleum replaced coal in Japan in the 1960s, coal mines began shutting down all over the country, and Hashima’s mines were no exception. Mitsubishi officially announced the closing of the mine in 1974, and today it is empty and bare, which is why it’s called the Ghost Island. Travel to Hashima was re-opened on April 22, 2009 after more than 20 years of closure.

Credits: Photos by Beat8682 on Flickr

Credits: Photos by 36-degrees on Flickr

Credits: Photos by Artsyken on Flickr

San Zhi, Taiwan

San Zhi is an abandoned vacation resort on the northern coast of Taiwan. It was built in the early 1980s, but construction of the futuristic resort ceased after a series of fatal accidents. Even though it never opened as a vacation resort, San Zhi can still be toured. The strange pod-like buildings act as a tourist attraction. The colors of the pod-like buildings depend on their location. The buildings in the west are green, in the east pink, in the south blue, and in the north white.

Credits: Photos byNoelas on Flickr

Pripyat, Ukraine

Pripyat is an abandoned city in the zone of alienation in northern Ukraine. The city was founded in 1970 to house the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers, and was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. Its population had been around 50,000 prior to the accident. The city of was evacuated in two days.

The city and the Exclusion Zone are now bordered with guards and police, but obtaining the necessary documents to enter the zone is not considered particularly difficult. A guide will accompany visitors to ensure nothing is vandalized or taken from the zone. The doors of most of the buildings are open to reduce the risk to visitors, and almost all of them can be visited when accompanied by a guide. The city of Chernobyl, located a few miles from Prypyat, has some accommodations including a hotel, many apartment buildings, and a local lodge, which are maintained as a permanent residence for watch-standing crew, and visitors.

Credits: Photos by Artgrin

Kadykchan, Russia

Kadykchan is a ghost town that was built during the World War II for the workers of the coal mines and their families. In 1996, 6 men died as a result of explosion in a coal mine and the mines were closed. 12000 inhabitants were evacuated to other places leaving the town empty and silent.

Photo Credits

Centralia, United States

Centralia is a ghost town in Pennsylvania, United States. Its population has dwindled from over 1,000 residents in 1981 to 12 in 2005 and 9 in 2007, as a result of a mine fire burning beneath the borough since 1962.

One theory asserts that in May 1962, Centralia Borough Council hired five members of the volunteer fire company to clean up the town landfill, located in an abandoned strip mine pit next to the Odd Fellows Cemetery. This had been done in previous years, when the landfill was in a different location. The firefighters set the dump on fire, and let it burn for a time. Unlike in previous years, however, the fire was not extinguished.

The fire remained burning underground and spread through a hole in the rock pit into the abandoned coal mines beneath Centralia. Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful and it continued to burn throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Adverse health effects were reported by several people due to the byproducts of the fire, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide and lack of healthy oxygen levels.

In 1984, Congress allocated more than $42 million for relocation efforts. Most of the residents accepted buyout offers and moved to the nearby communities of Mount Carmel and Ashland. A few families opted to stay despite warnings from state officials.

Credits: Photo by Teleport-city on Flickr

Credits: Photo by Jenszi on Flickr

Credits: Photo by Kaanah on Flickr

Credits: Photo by Thisisbossi on Flickr

Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong

Kowloon used to be one of the areas of Hong Kong city. By the end of 1970s Walled City began to grow. Square buildings folded up into one another as thousands of modifications were made, virtually none by architects or engineers, until the entire City became monolithic. Labyrinthine corridors ran through the City, some former streets (at the ground level, and often clogged up with refuse), and some running through upper floors, through and between buildings. The streets were illuminated by fluorescent lights, as sunlight rarely reached the lower levels. There were only two rules for construction: electricity had to be provided to avoid fire, and the buildings could be no more than fourteen stories high, because of the nearby airport. Eight municipal pipes provided water to the entire structure (although more could have come from wells).

By the early 1980s, Kowloon Walled City had an estimated population of 35,000. The City was notorious for its excess of brothels, casinos, opium dens, cocaine parlours, food courts serving dog meat, and secret factories.

In 1984 the Walled city was demolished and its inhabitants resettleed. At that time, it had 50,000 inhabitants on 26 000 m² (31 000 sq. yards), and therefore a very high population density of 1,923,077/km², making it one of the most densely populated urban areas on Earth.

After the demolition, a park was built in its place with construction starting in May 1994.

Credits: Photo by Socialist-bakelite-dayaya on Flickr

Credits: Photo by Rwp-roger on Flickr

Credits: Photo by Sftrajan on Flickr

Credits: Photo by Jetsetcd on Flickr

Oradour-sur-Glane, France

Oradour-sur-Glan is a town in west-central France. The original village was destroyed on June 10, 1944, when 642 of its inhabitants were murdered by a German Waffen-SS company. A new village was built post-war on a nearby site and the original has been maintained as a memorial.

Credits: Photo by Iwanap on Flickr

Credits: Photo by 9709151@N04 on Flickr

Credits: Photo by Curreyuk on Flickr

Credits: Photo by 9709151 on Flickr

Credits: Photo by Curreyuk on Flickr

Authorities Say Man Stole Car To Face Theft Charge

Authorities Say Calif. Man Stole Car To Make Court Appearance On Previous Auto Theft Charge

(AP) VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) - The California Highway Patrol say a man stole a car to make a court appearance on a previous auto theft charge.

Patrol investigator Chris Linehan says he arrested Samuel Botchvaroff Tuesday as he sat inside a stolen 2000 Range Rover at the Vallejo courthouse. The 24-year-old Botchvaroff had just left his arraignment on auto theft charges stemming from an Oct. 31 arrest.

Linehan said the Range Rover's LoJack system helped him locate the vehicle, which had been stolen from Oakland earlier Tuesday morning.

Authorities say Botchvaroff told officers his car had been impounded, and he had no other way to get to his arraignment.

He was booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of auto theft and possession of stolen property.

Gang 'were laughing as brave mother died in fire'

By Nick Constable

Last updated at 2:48 AM on 08th November 2009

Three children were seen laughing outside the burning home of a mother of nine who was killed saving her son from the blaze.

The youths, thought to be aged between 12 and 18, shouted ‘Shame, shame’, as Mary Fox’s home was engulfed in flames after a firework was pushed through the letterbox.

Mary Fox, right, who died in the fire and her 17-year-old son Raum who although suffering smoke inhalation survived the blaze

Mrs Fox became trapped in the house after pushing her teenage son to safety

The 59-year-old managed to push her son Raum through a window to safety, but was overcome by smoke before she could escape.

It is believed the firework was dropped through the letterbox of her home in Bodmin, Cornwall, by a gang who bullied 17-year-old Raum over his mild learning difficulties.

Police launched a murder investigation as Mrs Fox’s children paid tribute to their ‘loving and caring’ mother who devoted her life to them. A statement said: ‘She never did anything to hurt anyone. She would give her last penny to help those in less fortunate circumstance than herself.’

Neighbour Gary Breslin, 41, said: ‘Three youngsters were seen outside the house as it was burning shouting, “Shame, shame, shame”. We think she didn’t jump because she was trying to save her cats.

‘I know Mary’s boy was being bullied. I’d see Mary following Raum about 100 yards behind in case anyone tried to bully him.’

Trapped: Undertakers carry out Mrs Fox's body after she died in the blaze. Her son Raum is being cared for by family

He added that two of Mrs Fox’s grandchildren had also witnessed the blaze on Thursday night.

Neighbour Lee Davey, 41, said: ‘When I got there, Raum was standing in his garden looking really shocked. He said, “My mum is still in there.”’

Police are investigating the bullying claims. Detective Chief Inspector Paul Burgan said names of suspects had been bandied about on social networking sites. But Superintendent Martin Orpe said officers had not been called to incidents at the home in the past.

Bullied: Fiona Pilkington killed herself and her disabled daughter Francecca, 18, after a decade of abuse from street thugs

Colo. Homeowner Finds Dead Body in Front Yard

Saturday, November 07, 2009

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Police suspect foul play in the death of a man found in the front yard of a Centennial home Friday morning.

Twenty-three-year-old Andrew Gleston Graham was discovered by the homeowner at about 5:30 a.m. Police have not said how he died, but they say the death is being investigated as a homicide.

Graham lived about a mile away from the yard where his body was found.

The homeowner told The Denver Post that he woke up to his dog barking and tried to rouse Graham, but Graham was dead and had what appeared to be blood on his back.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office is investigating.

Killings Remain Unsolved as D.C. Sniper Execution Approaches

Saturday, November 07, 2009

McLEAN, Va. — It galled her to do it, but Sarah Dillon was desperate for answers, so she wrote letters to convicted snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo: If you murdered my son, please confess, she wrote.

She got no reply.

"I've been waiting for answers for seven years," said Dillon, who took to wearing a button that said "Billy Gene Dillon is a very important person" as a reminder that his killing remains unsolved.

Sarah Dillon is not the only person with unanswered questions about the killing spree initiated by Muhammad and Malvo seven years ago, which culminated with 13 shootings and 10 deaths over a three-week span that terrorized the Washington region.

As Virginia prepares to execute Muhammad on Tuesday, authorities are unable to answer perhaps the most basic question about the killings: How many people did he and Malvo shoot and kill?

The killing spree in the Washington area in October 2002 is well documented. Beginning on Oct. 2, Muhammad and Malvo shot 13 people at random with a high-powered rifle, firing from the trunk of a modified, beat-up Chevy Caprice. Ten were killed before authorities finally tracked down the pair at a Maryland rest stop.

But the sniper shootings started before Muhammad and Malvo reached the Beltway, with a number of victims killed or wounded as the duo drove across the country.

Investigators have clearly linked them to some of these prelude shootings, though they have never stood trial for them. Others fall into a gray area — police have suspicions, perhaps, but no proof.

The question became even murkier in 2006, when Malvo reportedly confessed to four additional shootings, including two killings, that had not been linked to him.

If Malvo's reported confessions are accepted as true, it would mean he and Muhammad are responsible for 27 shootings resulting in 17 deaths in 10 states (Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Washington, Georgia, Texas, California, Florida, Arizona and Louisiana) plus the District of Columbia.

But Malvo would only talk to police in jurisdictions that promised not to prosecute him, a deal some agencies weren't willing to make.

So in Clearwater, Fla., the golf course shooting of Albert Michalczyk on May 18, 2002, officially remains unsolved, though Michalczyk took Malvo's reported confession in 2006 as confirmation of something he long suspected.

"My wife immediately thought it was these guys," Michalczyk said at the time. "We put two and two together, but we never came up with four. Now, we are coming up with four."

Police from Tucson, Ariz., consider the golf course killing of Jerry Taylor solved based on their interview with Malvo, which they obtained only after agreeing not to prosecute him.

The victim's daughter, Cheryll Witz, decided that knowing the truth was more important than seeing Malvo face criminal charges, given the fact that he was already serving life in prison. At one point, Malvo even called Witz on the telephone and apologized.

Back in Texas though, Sarah Dillon still doesn't know who shot and killed her son, Billy Gene Dillon, 37, in May 2002 outside a rural Denton County home about 40 miles north of Dallas. Local authorities submitted bullet fragments in 2002 from their investigation of Dillon's death to the task force that investigated the sniper shootings, but tests were inconclusive.

At the time, they had little reason to suspect the snipers except for the fact that Dillon had apparently been shot at a distance by a high-powered rifle, just like the victims of the D.C. sniper spree. Police agencies from across the country took similar actions, to see if unsolved killings could be connected to Muhammad and Malvo.

Denton County sheriff's spokesman Tom Reedy expressed some frustration about the inability to get answers from the Washington-area authorities regarding Billy Gene Dillon's death.

"If they give you an answer, let us know," he said.

The FBI, part of the sniper task force that helped eventually catch Muhammad and Malvo, declined to comment on how many people the snipers shot and killed, except to say the question is "complicated."

"To further complicate it, the statements of Muhammad and Malvo need to be relied on as to who performed any given shooting. Needless to say, their statements cannot be vetted for each and every event," FBI spokesman Richard Wolf said in an e-mail.

State and local authorities, including Fairfax County Police, Montgomery County Police, the Montgomery County State's Attorney and Maryland Office of the Attorney General all referred the question to other agencies.

The prosecutor who put Muhammad on death row, Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert, said it may be impossible to know how many people were killed.

"I don't know that you can trust anything Malvo says," Ebert said, referring to Malvo's reported confessions. Malvo's statements have not always been consistent — he at first took responsibility for pulling the trigger on all the shootings, but later testified that Muhammad, more often than not, was the shooter.

"There may well be more we don't know about, but who knows?" Ebert said.

Carmeta Albarus Lindo, a social worker who testified on Malvo's behalf at his first trial and has maintained a relationship with him, said it's up to Malvo's attorneys to decide whether he will provide statements to police without promises of immunity.

Malvo's attorney on the Maryland cases, William Brennan, said he can't comment because Malvo could still theoretically face prosecution in other states.

Sarah Dillon, meanwhile, is well aware that Muhammad's death eliminates one of the people who can answer her questions about her son's murder.

"All I'm asking for is answers," she said, "before they leave this world."

British tourist gunned down in bar after stopping off in Amarillo,

Texas, 'because he liked the Tony Christie song'

By Mail Foreign Service

Last updated at 11:05 AM on 08th November 2009

Tragic tourist: Thomas Reeve, pictured with daughter, was killed when shots were fired at several drinkers

A British tourist was shot dead during a bar robbery after travelling to the American city of Amarillo because he liked the cult song, it emerged today.

Tom Reeve, a teetotaler, had been in the Texan town just a few hours when a gunman walked into the Spotted Pony pub and opened fire.

The killer, who wounded several other customers and allegedly sexually assaulted a woman, fled five minutes later.

Mr Reeve, 28, who had a baby daughter, was taken to Northwest Texas Hospital where he later died from a gunshot wound to his torso.

He had been out on with two friends on Thursday evening when the tragic incident happened.

Mr Reeve’s devastated parents spoke of their shock today, saying: ‘He was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time.’

They said the father from from Maidenhead, Berkshire, 'adored' his nine-month-old daughter Tabitha.

He had been driving coast-to-coast from California to Florida with the two friends who watched him being gunned down.

Cisneros seen holding a gun to the head of the barman during the robbery

Mr Reeve had been on a road trip from California to Florida with two friends when he stopped off in Amarillo

Distraught relatives said he had only stopped in Amarillo ‘because he liked the song’ by Tony Christie.

A family statement said: ‘Tom was a much loved son, brother and father who will be missed by the whole family and very many friends.’

‘Tom had lived all his life in Maidenhead, had played in a boys football team from age seven to 17 and latterly played in a bowling league.

'Although he worked for many years in the licensed trade he was, in fact, teetotal.

‘He was on a holiday with two of his friends, driving from San Francisco to Florida and had chosen Amarillo as a stopping place because he liked the song.

‘He was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

‘He adored his 9 month old daughter, Tabitha, and was a devoted father.’

One friend today described the Mr Reeve as ‘lovely and easygoing’.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: ‘We can confirm the death of Thomas Reeve and we are providing consular assistance to the family.’

Suspect: Ray Carlos Cisneros

Sergeant Kevin Dockery, of Amarillo special crimes unit, said a suspect - according to US reports, Ray Carlos Cisneros, 25, - had been charged with capital murder.

He told BBC News 24 the incident was ‘shocking’, adding: ‘The bar itself is a small pub. It’s in a nice area of town - we really have not had that much trouble there in the past so this was kind of shocking that this occurred.

‘We do not have a lot of information on him (Cisneros) right now as he is not from Amarillo.

‘At this time he has been charged with capital murder and we are looking at some additiod.’

The suspect, who allegedly attacked other customers in the bar, hitting them either with his fist or handgun, is said to have taken purses, wallets and money from the bar’s cash register and forced one woman to remove some of her clothing, said officers.

A post-mortem examination was later performed on Mr Reeve's body in Lubbock.

Police interviewed 20 people who were in the bar during the shooting and reviewed a videotape of the episode.

Gordon Golluhugh, 48, was hit in the hand and taken to a local hospital to be treated after also being shot, according to website ConnectAmarillo.com.