About This Quiz
Abandoned places are equal parts creepy and fascinating. While they offer a tantalizing look at places frozen in time, they also leave you wondering just how a place that was once so full of life could be left to decay, its buildings surrendered to Mother Nature. Take our quiz to see how much you know about some of the most intriguing abandoned places on the planet.Opened in 2000 as Jazzland, the park became Six Flags New Orleans in 2003. It closed in August 2005 after Hurricane Katrina left the park flooded under several feet of water for over a month. As of 2016, the 140-acre park sits abandoned, its rides and attractions left to decay.
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After an underground coal mine fire ignited in Centralia, Pennsylvania in 1962, the town's population dropped from 1,000 to less than 10.
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Built by the UK in the early days of World War II, the sea forts rise out of the Thames and Mersey Estuaries like something out of a sci-fi movie. They were abandoned after the war, but rumor has it that they've been taken over at times by pirate radio stations.
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Founded in 1970 and home to 50,000 people at its peak, the town of Pripyat, Ukraine now lies abandoned, its structures being reclaimed by Mother Nature.
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The April 27, 1986, explosion at the nuclear plant in Chernobyl left Pripyat uninhabitable. Residents were forced to flee and many of their belongings still remain right where they were left three decades ago.
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Kolmanskop is in Namibia and is slowly being reclaimed by the Namib desert. Founded in 1908 to house workers for the local diamond mine, the village had its own hospital, shops and other facilities. It was abandoned in 1954 when the supply of diamonds dried up.
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Situated in Detroit, the Michigan Central Rail Station closed down after Amtrak stopped service there in the 1980s. The exquisite Beaux-Arts building sits abandoned, though numerous attempts have been made at revitalizing the structure.
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Henry Ford founded Fordlandia, Brazil in 1928 to ensure he would have a steady supply of rubber for his vehicles. After synthetic rubber was developed in the 1930s, the town's 10,000 residents moved on, leaving Fordlandia to be reclaimed by the surrounding jungle.
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The British government built the entire town of Copehill Down in 1988 simply to serve as a training spot for military operations. It was designed to resemble a traditional Bavarian village, and is remains closed to the public.
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Grossingers opened in the 1900s and hosted families through 1986, when the entire resort closed down except for the golf course. While Grossingers was known for its stunning location and fun family programs, it was also the first resort in the U.S. to bring in artificial snow.
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After diamonds were discovered at the site in 1955, production at Mir Mine ramped up, resulting in a mineshaft that extended 1,700 feet into the earth. Today the abandoned mine is one of the largest manmade holes on the planet.
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Disney purchased the 11-acre island in Bay Lake in 1965 and opened an attraction known as Treasure Island on the site in 1974. With the opening of the Animal Kingdom park, the wildlife park on Discovery Island was no longer needed, so it was shut down in 1988 and the island was left abandoned.
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River Country was Disney's first waterpark when it opened in 1976. The arrival of two new waterparks in 1989 and 1995 led Disney to close River Country in 2001, leaving it to the alligators.
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Originally the southern terminal stop for the New York subway, the City Hall Station Loop opened on October 27, 1904. It features a Romanesque revival design and elaborate tile work -- but sadly, is no longer accessible for subway riders.
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City Hall Station was built on a curve. By 1945, the curved platform could no longer accommodate longer, modern trains, so the station was closed. If you ride the Lexington line to the end and stay on the train, you can catch a glimpse of the station as the train doubles back uptown. The New York Transit Museum also offers occasional tours.
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Once visited by more than a million thrill seekers each year, Japan's Nara Dreamland closed in 2006 thanks to heavy competition from other parks. The abandoned attractions are a popular draw for photographers and urban explorers.
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Opened in 1981 in Sofia, the Bulgarian Communist Party Headquarters looks like a massive UFO perched atop Mount Buzludzha. As the party's power declined, the need for the huge structure waned, and it's been empty and abandoned since 1989.
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By the 1940s, Georgia's Central State Hospital was the largest asylum in the world, housing 13,000 patients in more than 200 buildings. By 2015, just 14 patients remained in the massive space, leaving dozens of abandoned buildings on the property.
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Established in 1903, Kennecott was a rich copper mine, and a town soon grew up around it. By 1938, copper supplies had run low and the town was abandoned. Many of the structures have survived, and the property now serves as a National Historic landmark.
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Eastern State Penitentiary, which featured a pioneering wagon-wheel design and once housed Al Capone, opened in 1829 and closed in 1971. The property lay abandoned until the 1980s and now serves as a museum -- and one wickedly scary Halloween attraction.
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Mandu was a capital city in southwest India back in the 6th century, but was abandoned more than 400 years ago due to war. Its brilliant Afghan architecture survives in incredible condition, with roads, aqueducts and public baths that demonstrate the highly-evolved nature of the now empty city.
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When the Nazis came to the tiny French town of Oradour-Sur-Glane in 1944, they slaughtered all 642 residents, including women and children.
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After the atrocities at Oradour-Sur-Glace, Gen. Charles de Gaulle declared that the town would be left untouched to commemorate those lost and to serve as a reminder of the horrors of war.
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Humberstone, Chile was a major source for saltpetre -- a chemical used to make fertilizer. Saltpetre represented 60 to 80 percent of Chilean exports around 1900, but when demand for the chemical dried up, so did Humberstone.
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Called La Palma when it was founded in 1872, Humberstone was home to 3,500 by the late 19th century. As World War I blockades were put in place around the globe, exports of saltpetre became unreliable. To avoid production issues, scientists came up with a synthetic alternative, rendering saltpetre obsolete.
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In the 50s and 60s, Wittenoom was a hot property because it was Australia's only source of blue asbestos. When people figured out that asbestos was deadly, the town was quickly abandoned.
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Known as Battleship Island because of its shape, the densely packed Hashima Island in Japan was booming in the late 19th century thanks to an underwater coal mine. By 1974, the mine was closed and the island was abandoned.
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Man first set foot on Antarctica's Deception Island in 1820, and the spot served as an important settlement for sealing, whaling and research operations on the continent. Thanks to volcanic activity in the area, the island and its structures were abandoned in the 1960s.
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The British government seized the town of Tyneham in 1943, telling the 200 residents they would have to relocate temporarily so the village could be used to house and train troops. More than 70 years later, the town remains Army property and is only open to the public for weekend tours.
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Built in the 1700s, Kayakoy, Turkey was home to more than 20,000 Greek Orthodox at the start of the 20th century. Thanks to warfare in the region, the city was abandoned in the 1920s, though many of the stone structures remain.
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