The Traveller's Magazine
Halloween is around the corner, are you wondering where to get your spook on this October 31st? Haunted houses are so over-rated compared to these modern buildings left to ruins. These places will creep you right out!
British Sea Forts
The British Royal Navy set up a number of sea forts during WWII. They were meant to protect against air raids or sea invasions. Maunsell Sea Forts are still standing today in the North Sea, completely abandoned and their guns silenced for more than half a century. Looking like something out of Star Wars, these structures look like something from another world. They can only be reached from boat, more or less near the mouth of the Thames estuary.
Flights to LondonChernobyl
Ground Zero. That’s what people called Pripyat after the worst nuclear power disaster in the history of mankind. During Soviet times this city’s popular sprouted from zilch to roughly 50,000 and back down to zilch again in a mere 16 years. After the disaster the city was evacuated and deemed dangerous due to radiation levels. Today you can book Chernobyl tours from Kiev and walk through abandoned homes, schools and even visit the reactor. It’s a total ghost town.
Flights to KievCity Hall Station
NYC has it’s own list of haunted and spooky places but this has to be one of the scariest. The City Hall Subway Station was built more than a century ago and is a well-preserved monument to the city’s underground history. It was closed in 1945 and was all but forgotten by the public until re-opened to celebrate its 100th anniversary with an exhibition in October of 2004. Today there are occasional tours of the station by the New York Transit Museum although with so many security risks, it’s unlikely they’ll continue.
Flights to NYCBeelitz Military Hospital
It’s not often you come across a modern building left to ruin that hasn’t seen the hands of vandals and graffiti artists. Berlin’s Military Hospital was lucky in this way. This old hospital is in excellent shape considering it hasn’t been used for ages. What makes it so creepy? In 1916 a young soldier with a bullet wound was sent here to recuperate during WWI. It was Adolph Hitler. The empty halls and huge rooms give curious visitors a peek into Germany’s history, one that no other monument does.
Flights to BerlinDetroit
How is it that we can include an entire city in our list of spooky modern ruins? Because no other city like Detroit has felt the burn of urban decay in the same way that Detroit did. When the industrial revolution ended in the USA and race riots exploded, Detroit changed. Today there are tons of buildings and homes left abandoned on its outskirts. This photo is part of a collection called The Ruins of Detroit, by photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre.
Flights to DetroitWhat’s the creepiest and spookiest place you’ve ever been?
