Ghost Town: 2012

The Halloween Nights and Where Ghosts Dwell - Part III -

ORIGINAL VERSION: LE NOTTI DI HALLOWEEN E I LUOGHI DOVE DIMORANO I FANTASMI - PARTE III -

Don't know where to spend your Halloween night and love to get a thrill? Why not adventuring into an abandoned place fueled by tales of dark presences and tragic, mysterious events? Places where few dare to go, where you need to arm yourself with courage, and maybe a camera to capture some creepy images...
There are many places that owe their fame mostly to stories concerning the paranormal, unexplainable events or to fatal events. Whether you believe them or not, these places surely have a creepy shroud of mystery.

ISLAND OF DOLLS. XOCHIMICO, MEXICO.

The Island of Dolls is one of the most haunted sites in Mexico. Don Julian Santana was a man who lived as a hermit on this island for over fifty years. The tragic accident of a girl who drowned on the island while visiting, caused further madness in Julian. Some people believe that he started fishing dolls out of the river because he believed that the dolls were real children. Whatever it was that motivated him, the island was turned into a shrine for that little girl. Dolls by the hundreds hang in the trees and the house. Don Julian Santana was found in the same part of the river that the little girl drowned in by his nephew. He said that he heard voices beckoning to him from the river. Each of the dolls is believed to be fused with the energy of the little girl. Candles, hard candy, and dolls should be brought as offerings to appease the spirits. The dolls are said to move, beckon, and speak to those who come. The spirit of the man is also believed to be there still. Orbs, loud sounds, and opening doll eyes abound.
More info: http://weburbanist.com/2010/10/06/mexicos-creepiest-tourist-destination-island-of-the-dolls/

MANILA FILM CENTER. PASAY CITY, PHILIPPINES.

The Manila Film Center was the site of a construction accident in the early '80s. When construction of the center was rushed for a film festival, the ceiling scaffolding collapsed, killing several workmen who fell to the orchestra below. Rather than halt construction to rescue survivors and retrieve the bodies of dead workmen, Imelda Marcos, the First Lady and the main financier of the project, was believed to have ordered cement to be poured into the orchestra, entombing the fallen workmen. Some of them were even buried alive in the orchestra. Various ghostly activities were reported on the site including mysterious sounds, voices and poltergeist activity. In the late '90s, a group called the Spirit Questors began to make visits to the film center in an attempt to contact and appease the souls of the workmen who were killed in the building. Some of these spirits claimed to have moved on, but a few allegedly remain. Previously abandoned for its haunted reputation, the building is now currently in use.

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Film_Center

BIRD CAGE THEATRE. TOMBSTONE, ARIZONA.

At the Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, there have been reports of ghostly laughter, yelling, and strange music. These reports date back to the 1880s. It was investigated on the TV series Ghost Adventures. It was also investigated by TAPS on Ghost Hunters.
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_Cage_Theatre

MORE PICTURES HERE

The Halloween Nights and Where Ghosts Dwell - Part II -

ORIGINAL POST: LE NOTTI DI HALLOWEEN E I LUOGHI DOVE DIMORANO I FANTASMI - PARTE II -

The Alkimos was a Greek-owned merchant ship which was wrecked on the coast north of Perth, Western Australia in 1963. A nearby locality was later named after the vessel. The wreck is a popular diving venue, and is also reputed to be haunted, making it of interest to ghost hunters as it is thought also to be a jinxed ship as it has brought a lot of bad luck to peo

ple who have gone on the ship itself.
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkimos_(ship)

BHANGARH. RAJASTHAN, INDIA.

Bhangarh is a ruined town in India that is famous for its historical ruins. It is in the Rajgarh municipality of the Alwar district in the state of Rajasthan. Bhangarh is at the edge of the Sariska Tiger Reserve. I’s also a popular tourist attraction. According to legend, the city of Bhangarh was cursed by the Guru Balu Nath. Legends says that there are ghosts in Bhang

arh and that is why entry is prohibited for tourists in the fort after sunset and before sunrise. The locals believe that the princess Ratnavati has taken birth somewhere else and that the fort and the empire of Bhangarh is waiting for her return to put an end to the curse…

Bhangarth is one of most haunted places in the world.

More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhangarh

DUCKETTS GROVE. CARLOW, IRELAND.

The mansion was owned by the Duckett family for 300 years. It is said to be haunted by a Banshee Ghost. On March 17, 2011, the SyFy show Destination Truth featured a four hour live investigation for the episode to find out the mystery of the ruins.

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ducketts_Grove

MORE PICTURES HERE

The Halloween Nights and Where Ghosts Dwell - Part I -

ORIGINAL POST: LE NOTTI DI HALLOWEEN E I LUOGHI DOVE DIMORANO I FANTASMI

LINDA VISTA HOSPITAL, LOS ANGELES.

Linda Vista Hospital in Los Angeles has actually enjoyed a full life after closing its doors as a medical facility in 1990. It has been used as a filming location for television shows, music videos, and movies. While it doesn’t have a permanent function at the moment, it is patrolled by security officers and film crews can frequently be seen roaming the halls.

Many who have been there claim that the former hospital is haunted; they swear they can hear voices and have seen the specters of deceased patients wandering the halls.

Source: weburbanist

WAVERLY HILLS SANATORIUM. Louisville, Kentucky.

The original Waverly Hills Sanatorium, a two-story wooden structure, was opened in 1910, but the larger brick and concrete structure as it stand today was completed in 1926. The hospital was always dedicated to the treatment of tuberculosis patients, a disease that was fairly common in the early 20th Century. It is estimated that as many as 63,000 people died as the sanatorium. Those deaths coupled with the reports of severe mistreatment of patients and highly questionable experiments and procedures are ingredients for a haunted location. Ghost investigators who have ventured into Waverly have reported a host of strange paranormal phenomena, including voices of unknown origin, isolated cold spots and unexplained shadows. Screams have been heard echoing in its now abandoned hallways, and fleeting apparitions have been encountered.

Source: paranormal.about.com

BORLEY RECTORY. Borley, England.

These derelict building is not a place to enter lightly. Though the small village of Borley, near Sudbury, UK, is not the sort of place one would associate with ghosts, it has a dreadful reputation because it was the site of the infamous Borley Rectory, reputedly the ‘Most Haunted House in England’ and It was the scene of one of the cases of poltergaist infestation most famous and documented in the world. Built in 1863 for the Reverend Henry Bull, it sits on the site of an ancient monastery. The ghost of a mournful nun who patrolled the so-called 'Nun's Walk' had often been seen there. An old story claimed that she had fallen in love with a monk from the Borley Monastery – to much outrage – and the two had tried to elope together but had been quickly tracked down. The monk was executed and the nun bricked up in the cellars of the monastic buildings!

MORE PICTURES HERE.

To be continued...

Halloween Special: The World's Scariest Abandoned Places

ORIGINAL POST: SPECIALE HALLOWEEN, I LUOGHI ABBANDONATI PIU' SPAVENTOSI DEL MONDO!

In the Halloween days, Ghost Town goes spooky! Haunted houses, mysterious places, dark and inhabited only by... ghosts! We'll go over some of the world's most "haunted" abandoned places, to get ready for the scariest night of the year! Follow us on our Facebook page as well, where each day we'll post photos, videos, and tales of the scariest places in the world...

PART 1: THE HALLOWEEN NIGHT AND WHERE GHOSTS DWELL

The Alps are broken

ORIGINAL POST ON ITALIAPERDUTA.COM

As a child I grew up in the shadows of the mountains that surrounded my little town ("Chattanooga, Tennesse" n.d.r.). We were fairly self contained. We had hotels, gas stations, grocery stores, and attractions. We were a fairly well guarded secret, we were well known because of our attractions but left alone. We had virtually no crime, in fact I could probably count on one hand the number of times I saw a cop in my town. Then something happened.
The secret got out.

Soon people started flocking to my town. More and more people started moving in. Neighborhoods were replaced with subdivisions. We got annexed by the city, bigger companies moved in. The more "dangerous" attractions got shut down. By the time I was a teenager, the town I grew up in was barely recognizable. Today its even less recognizable, gone are the neighborhood barber and grocery stores. Instead we have Great Clips and Wal-Mart.
This location is a place I grew up with, that ended up getting shut down. There are two stories I have heard as to why it was shut down. The first is that it was too dangerous and kids kept getting hurt. The second, and the one I believe is more likely true, is that a high end subdivision bought the land near by and built massive homes. The traffic for the attraction and the noise of the kids was too loud and they made them shut it down.
At the time everything was shut down, the Alpine Slide, the Go-Karts, and everything else noisy. Then after a couple of years the batting cages reopened, then the Go-Karts, and now there is a little arcade. Sadly the Alpine Slide is far beyond repair and as such just lays on the side of the mountain breaking and decaying more and more everyday.
Our group got together and decided to go on up and check it out. I hadn't been there in years, I had heard years ago they destroyed the slide and nothing remained of it. Fortunately, Chris Kicker actually did some research and found out it was still there. We brought my son along, so he could at least see where I spent so much time when I was his age. So here is our trip, but first a video for those of you unfamiliar with what an alpine slide is:

Church of Atom

Flickr gallery

Church of Atom facebook page

The Church of Atom road trip

ORIGINAL POST ON ITALIAPERDUTA.COM

From today we start to follow the project and the adventure of our friends of Tennessee, USA. The passion for the urban exploration and recovery of the memory of some of the most beautiful forgot places of their State, take them to create a close group with a great desire to travel and explore the wastelands. We follow their journey and publish their stories on our website. This group is The Church of Atom:

We are The Church of Atom. We have been brought together through our passion of history, urban exploration, and travel. Our goal is to see as much as this world has to offer and document it for future generations. We as a society are destroying beautiful pieces of history all over the world to make way for the new. We are losing a part our of culture every time a building gets torn down. We want to make sure we never forget where we came from. Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it.

This summer we will doing a cross country road trip to document some of the best this country has to offer. We will see new sites, meet new people, which will all work together to create an unforgettable experience for everyone. We will have articles and film clips for you, as well as a full length film for it. Please join us as we make this journey together.

This is the road trip of Church of Atom:

You can follow The Church of Atom on their facebook page and their Tumblr Page.

District 12 from "The Hunger Games"

ORIGINAL POST: IL DISTRETTO 12 DI "THE HUNGER GAMES"

The beautiful mountains surrounding Burke County, in North Carolina, have been the setting of many films, but more recently this splendid area rose to popularity as a set to the eponymous battle royale in the film “The Hunger Games”.

The movie was adapted from the homonymous sci-fi book trilogy by Suzanne Collins and is set in the deep forests of Appalachia. It take place in an unspecified future, after the destruction of present-day North America, in a nation known as “Panem”. Each year Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a boy and a girl to compete in the Hunger Games, a television event in which the youth are forced to fight each other for survival. Katriss is among them, and will have to count on her strong instincts and long training to return home alive in District 12…

The film was shot in the Asheville area, between the Charlotte, Shelby, Black Mountain, Hildebran, Barnardsville, Concorde e Cedar Mountain communities; but one of the story’s key places, District 12, is set in the ghost town of Henry River Mill Village, near Hildebran, along the I-40 about one hour east of Asheville by car. The village was founded in 1904 with the construction of the cotton mill and the promise of workplaces and prosperity. But as it often happens, even this flourishing place was destined to failure…

The mill became less and less useful and was ultimately closed in 1973. But the town had started slowly dying long before then: people were leaving to look for a brighter future and in 1987 Henry River Mill Village became a ghost town for good. All that’s left are decaying buildings of a town especially modern for the old industrial age. It became the property of a 83-year-old man named Wade Shepherd, who lives in the vicinity and bought it to save it from vandalism. Today Henry River Mill Village regained a breath of life thanks to “The Hunger Games”, bringing many tourists come to see with their own eyes the District 12.

In our website you can see a trailer of the film.

Source: atlasobscura

Translation by Marco Salvadori

Bodie ghost town: shadows of Far West on the Sierra Nevada

ORIGINAL POST FROM WWW.ITALIAPERDUTA.COM:

BODIE GHOST TOWN, OMBRE DEL FAR WEST NELLA SIERRA NEVADA

Often when talking about Ghost Towns the first image that comes to mind is that of an Old West village, a place now become a legend and a time, that of the gold rush, now become a myth. In the 19^th century more and more pioneers looking for fortune flooded the west of the

United States

, towards the frontier and towards unexplored lands where starting a new life was possible. Thus were the first deposits of gold and other precious metals discovered, and cities were built around the mines. Cardsharpers, cowboys, prostitutes, all overflowed these small towns in the middle of the desert, where soon rose saloons, playrooms, brothels and, yes, also some houses. With time, though, the mines ran out and these towns were abandoned as fast as they were built. Many ghost towns have been admirably restored and today have a great appeal, especially to the European visitor, who often knows about those years only from what they could see in Hollywood cinema. But to experience the prototypical Far West ghost town, Bodie is the way to go…

Lying in California, along the Sierra Nevada’s barren scope, Bodie can be dated back to 1859, when a certain W.S. Bodey found a nugget in a deserted zone over 2.500 metres of altitude. Soon a village was born from nothing. Its first winter was dire: the dead, the isolation and the difficult supplying drove many gold diggers to leave. Bodie, however, survived, and in 1879 it gave its inhabitants a very rich gold seam. In a few weeks the small town became the second most important city in California after San Francisco. It reached a population of 10.000 between adventurers, desperados, bandits, prostitutes and preachers…in 1880 there were as much as 65 saloons, countless brothels, a Chinese district and 4 cigar shops!

But Bodie certainly wasn’t an Eden… the miners were forced to work from 100 to 200 metres deep underground for 3 or 4 dollars a day. At the time, those who went to Bodie used to say "Goodbye, God, I'm going to Bodie". To counter its profane reputation, they decided to raise money for a Methodist Church, but no pastor ever wanted to come because the money came from brothels and opium bars. In Bodie everyday someone got killed, so much that the miners jokingly used to say "Well, have we got a man for breakfast this morning?"

In 100 years the mines of Bodie made 100 million dollars, until, in 1942, the War Production Board had the town abandoned. Only a dozen of “forgotten souls” kept living there, and 10 years later a fire set by a boy laid it to waste. 95% of Bodie burned, but a number of houses, now restored, a church, hotels, banks, the firefighters’ house, the funeral home, a school, a prison, the old mines and the lavatories (now the only available toilette for tourists!) survived. Luckily the renovation wasn’t overdone, and since then nothing has changed: it will really feel like being thrown back to the legendary Old West. Placed in a barren land, Bodie manages to be eerie and at the same time peaceful, immersed in the deepest silence, broken only by the occasional passing tourist. Most of the buildings are closed, and from the dirty windows some objects are visible as if frozen in time. In the houses in which it’s permitted to enter there’s crumbling wallpapers, dust, old gnawed armchairs, sinking floors, set tables, old Coca-Cola bottles and shop windows still dressed. The best-conserved building is the church, inside which is still kept an old organ. Everything is there but the townsmen, buried in the cemetery just out of town, often still wearing their boots.

Today Bodie and its surrounded are protected as a State Historic Park and taken care of by rangers. This writer visited Bodie 4 years ago and can confirm that the authentic ghost town charm and the feeling of breathing the air of the true Far West resides here, and is something that must be experienced.

TOURIST INFORMATION (map)

Bodie is along Route 270, 13 miles from Highway 395, near Bridgeport, north of Lee Vining towards Lake Tahoe. The final 5 kilometres to get there are on a dirt road, but easily practicable even without an off-road (taking precautions to avoid puncturing, because there are no services for miles around). In winter the road might be inaccessible due to the snow, so it’s best to go there between April and October. Be sure to have enough gas with you because there are no stations in the area. There are also no restaurants or fast foods, so bring along something to eat. Bodie can be visited in the summer period (May 15^th – October 31st) from 8am to 6pm and in the winter period (November 1^st – May 14^th) from 9am to 15pm. The price of admission is 7$ for adults and 5$ for kids. It’s also possible to partake in a guided tour by going to the Visitor Center in the city centre, inside an old building with a museum.

If heading to Lake Tahoe, one can stop for lodging in Bridgeport, a few miles north along route 270. If you’re instead going to the Yosemite Park and/or the Death Valley, Bodie can be reached within a day from both, even including a stop by the wonderful Mono Lake, one of the oldest lakes in North America with a saltiness level three times higher than the sea. The east entrance (Tioga Pass Entrance) of the magnificent Yosemite National Park is about thirty miles south of Bodie, and it takes about three hours by car to reach the centre of the valley passing through breathtaking landscapes. The incredible Death Valley National Park is a bit farther (about 5 hours by car), so it’s advisable to stop by LonePine, a small village deep in the wonderful Alabama Hills, where many Hollywood western movies were set. Here you may stay in the Dow Villa Motel, where John Wayne himself used to sleep.

For more information, visit the official website: Bodie State Historic Park.

For more pictures of Bodie, visit the gallery on our website and the video from the town’s official website.

Source: Routard.

Translation by Marco Salvadori

LINK TO ORIGINAL POST

Abandoned Scotland: Hospital Hartwood

POST FROM WWW.ITALIAPERDUTA.COM

Original post: Abandoned Hospital Hartwood - Sepetember 2011

After going to another location which wasn’t as successful we decided to visit the abandoned hospital in Hartwood. The remains of Hartwood Hospital, an 19th century psychiatric hospital with imposing twin clock towers, are the main feature of the village, even after its closure under the direction of the Lanarkshire Health Board in 1998. Like many other Victorian institutions in the area such as Gartloch Hospital, Stonyetts, Lennox Castle and Kirklands, the inception of the Community Care Act (1990) gave rise to a more community-based focus for long-term mental health care, and the consequent closure of long-term psychiatric hospitals.

The original hospital was overseen by Dr Archibald Campbell Clark, the medical superintendent, and was involved with the inception of modern psychiatric therapies such as occupational therapy, ECT and industrial involvement. In the hospital style of the time, Hartwood was entirely self-sustaining, with its own farm, gardens, reservoir, graveyard, staff houses, etc.

Walking around the grounds was very eerie and the weather was almost perfect for visiting an abandoned place. It was also the first time I had been out with my new camera, the Canon 600d which is a really great camera and I think have added to the overall quality of the videos.

Item by Abandoned Scotland - www.abandonedscotland.com -
Original post: Abandoned Hospital Hartwood - Sepetember 2011
Photos on flickr: Hartwood Hospital

Abandoned Scotland: Cumberland Street Train Station

POST FROM WWW.ITALIAPERDUTA.COM

Original post: Abandoned Railway Station Cumberland Street Video - May 2011

Over the years and to this day we frequently pass by Cumberland Street Station, only once have we ever seen the boarding peeled back with an entry point and we made sure to capitalise on it. After going to numerous different failed locations it was a stroke of luck to see the entrance to this station.

It was developed by the Glasgow and South Western Railway in 1900, as a replacement for Main Street station, Gorbals, following the doubling of the track from Port Eglinton to St Enoch station. It was in operation until 1966, when passenger services to St Enoch station ended. It has been proposed to reopen the station as part of the Glasgow Crossrail project.

The video from our trip inside can be seen here:

Item by Abandoned Scotland - www.abandonedscotland.com -

Original post: Abandoned Railway Station Cumberland Street Video - May 2011

Photos on flickr: Cumberland St. Train Station

The fake Russian ghost town

ORIGINAL POST: LA GHOST TOWN RUSSA CHE NON ESISTE

Looking these photos feels like being suddenly thrown in a suggestive ghost town, maybe destroyed by a terrible bombing. But that’s not the case…

These incredible half-destroyed buildings aren’t but a wonderful set made by a Russian film studio, “Mosfilm”, for a movie taking place during World War II. They certainly look impressive and extremely lifelike.

Mosfilm is one of the oldest and most productive studios in Europe. Some of the greatest Soviet directors worked for this studio, like Andrej Tarkovskij and Sergej Ėjzenštejn, creating among the best film produced in the URSS, like War and Peace and Dersu Uzala. Mosfilm was founded in Moscow in 1920 but was established in November 1923. The first film produced by the company was Boris Michin’s On the wings skyward. A second film studio complex was built in 1927 in Sparrow Hills, later named “Moscow amalgamated factory Sojuzkino the Tenth Anniversary of the October” in memory of the October Revolution. Only in 1936 was it renamed Mosfilm. When the URSS dissolved, the studio counted more than 3.000 films produced, but from then on it slowed down its pace until it basically became a private company.

Today this incredible set (which you can see in the image gallery in our website) is occasionally visited by tourists coming to admire these evocative deserted roads and take some photos…

For further information you may find the Mosfilm official website here: Mosfilm.

Source: WhatsUpMovies

Translation by Marco Salvadori

Abandoned Scotland: Torpedo Testing Station

POST FROM WWW.ITALIAPERDUTA.COM

Original post: Torpedo Testing Station - Arrochar - May 2011.

For an explore in May you’d expect, even in Scotland, that the weather would be fairly pleasant, but as always the weather loves to make our explores that slightly more interesting. The Torpedo Testing Station sits on the northern banks of Loch Long near to Arrochar and has long been left to rot by the military. 100 years old this year the station was closed in the 1980s. The place has had a colourful history, in 1915 a spy Augusto Alfredo Roggen was caught and hanged at the tower of London for taking photographs here...

Here is an old map of the site, where sadly several of the buildings have since been demolished:

The Torpedo Testing Station can easily be missed when driving along the main road after Arrochar what with all the trees and shrubbery left to grow around it. There is a small access road which is where we parked up and went for a walk.

The main part of the station was set on fire with some of the damage visible here.

Most of the main pier is a shell housing nothing but broken windows and the remnants of what went before.

In this shot the weather actually looks quite welcome however this was just one of the brief dry spells when the horizontal rain let off for a few minutes before continuing its battering of the old station.

The old rails used to transport the torpedoes around the station are still set into the ground of most parts of it. Here you can see the doorways leading to the launching area, which unfortunately was not accessible for us due to the tide and the welded closed doors.

The inaccessible part of the station.

Next to the main part of the station was this slip way, complete with abandoned boat. Although this boat was possibly not used by the military.

Surprisingly we found what was left of the boat’s engine on the main road a good distance away.

The other side of those doors.

Around the station are various structures although we couldn’t access them either. Big sad face.

There were also various houses no doubt used to home some of the staff, caretakers or security for the place over the years. Although this place was closed in the 1980′s some of the houses still had satellite dishes attached to them.

One of the more interesting finds on the site was this relic of a caravan.

A good day out apart from the weather.

This a video of our journey:

Item by Abandoned Scotland - www.abandonedscotland.com -

Original post: Torpedo Testing Station - Arrochar - May 2011.

Photos on flickr: Torpedo Testing Station.

Pagine

Original post: Abandoned Railway Station Cumberland Street Video - May 2011