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Ghost towns are residential areas, which are abandoned by the population due to various reasons — due to failure of economic activity, wars, natural and technogenic calamities. Some abandoned cities become popular tourist spots, for example, ancient Egypt cities. Ancient settlements, which were dug out by archaeologists, can be attributed to these ghost towns, in particular Troy (Ilion).
Appearance of Ghost towns is mercilessly exploited in apocalyptic cinema for over half century. From “Yellow Sky” starring Gregory Peck, which was directed in 1948 to “28 Days Later”, directed by Danny Boyle. Tendencies grew and became stronger and video game “Silent Hill” was born out of them, which is popular in 1990s and post-apocalyptic novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, for which McCarthy received Pulitzer Award. In general, it is a rich subject, an excellent background for show, films, books, games and everything in the same vein.
However, nothing surrealistic exists in ghost towns – ghost towns actually exists, they can be seen, it is possible to reach them, but the truth is, it is not safe in all the cases, after all solid reasons were needed to abandon the entire city...
Abandoned cities are often found in Central America and in South America and also in the south of USA. If it is believe American reviews, upto 6000 abandoned settlements including private farms & small cities can be counted only in Kansas. What could have lead to such a large-scale outcome of population? One of the primary factors - exhaustion of natural resources in places, far away from railways and roads. Other reason – natural calamities. So, Paton on river Missouri was flooded for more than 30 times. City was founded in 1845 and inhabitants who got tired of floods left the city in 1993. With the government aid, the entire city was restored for a distance of three miles from abandoned and the city is renamed with “New Pattonsburg”.
We shall now discuss the most famous, according to US media, ghost towns:
Founded in 1876, Bodie California, USA - typical American ghost town. It was founded as small industrial settlement but opening of new mines brought thousands of people. By 1880, Bodie had a population of around 10 thousand inhabitants. During its blossoming days, around 65 saloons worked on its central street and the city had a china town with several hundreds Chinese inhabitants.
But, exhausted underground resources had fatal influence. However, having lost major portion of population, Bodie was still manned in the beginning of 20th century and even after the fire destroyed major part of business center in 1932.
In 1961, city was declared “National historical attraction” and in 1962, the area was declared “State historical park” since it was left by the last remaining inhabitants.
Today Bodie is in a desolation condition. Only small part of the city seems habitable. In summer, it is possible to see an apocalyptic picture of the city, as if it is just abandoned, with cups on tables and plates, thrown near roadside baskets with goods. In winters, the road leading to Bodie is completely closed due to heavy snowfalls.
Centralia, Pennsylvania, USA
Someone called Johnathan Faust opened “Bull’s Head” tavern in 1841 in Centralia. And, in 1866 Centralia was already in the list of cities of Pennsylvania. Coal was extracted here and hence predominantly miners lived in small town and mining continued till 1960s when many mining companies went bankrupt. And in 1962, coal deposits caught fire. Attempts to put-off the fire went in vain and the coal smoldered under the earth for almost 2 decades. Carbon monoxide, hovering over the area, made residing in Centralia very uncomfortable and frequent poisoning cases were reported.
In 1984, government has spent 42 million dollars for resettling the majority of inhabitants in adjacent Carmel and Ashland. In 1992, Pennsylvania preserved all buildings within small town and now, less than thousand persons, mainly priests live there. Fire still rages under the earth and according to the forecasts of experts, strata shall continue to burn for 250 years.
Craco, Italy, is located in the region Basilicata in province Matera, and is approximately 25 miles inland from Gulf of Taranto. This medieval city is typical for given area with high hills and cultivated fields. Craco was founded around 1060, when this land belonged to Craco, which is located in region Basilicata of province Matera archbishop Arnaldo, bishop Tricarico. As a matter of fact, these were possessions of church.
Earthquakes, landslides coupled with war, added to the woes, caused by bad harvest years. Craco was absolutely exhausted by natural cataclysms. In 1963, remaining 1800 inhabitants moved to valley by name Cave Craco and original Craco gradually getting destroyed there, where it stood one thousand years...
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