ATV Octoberfest 3: Abandoned and Ghost Towns

Hi! I know you're getting these first few entries for Octoberfest out of order, but I'm working on getting myself straight. Ghost towns have always been able to catch my interest, going back to childhood I've always been intrigued in them. I absolutely love them. They give me the creeps, but I also like seeing what life was like in these places, how everything held up over time, but I also love hearing the stories behind why these towns are now abandoned. If there have been any ghost spottings in said towns then I'm definitely in. I'm sorry if none of these are new to you, and if you research ghost towns often there's a high probability that they aren't lol, but I did try to find some that I'd never heard of before. 
When I started this post, I didn't think there'd be many ghost towns left so I was a little concerned with the end result, mainly because I hear about the same few repeatedly. I figured that I kept hearing about them because they were the only ones, until I remembered the Gold Rush towns and how many of those were quickly created then just as quickly deserted later. That's when I hit paydirt. One thing I learned to keep in mind with ghost towns is that they aren't just the deserted towns, although I have to admit that those are my favorites. The other definition of ghost town refers to a place that still retains its former glory, meaning the original buildings and monuments it was created with. So while some of the towns I'm going to mention fit the definition that most think of when one hears the term 'ghost town,' others may still have an active community. But anywho, on to the towns!

Hashima Island (Gunkanjima), Japan

Source

I wanted to start out with a ghost town that was well-known, so I chose Hashima Island in Japan. This former mining community used to be a thriving island community of miners and their families until the '70s, when the mines shut down. The cemeteries were emptied, either by cremating the bodies or burying them at sea, and the entire island was abandoned. The country initially intended for it to become a dump, but those plans have since been scrapped. Now it stands in various states of disrepair, with nature slowly reclaiming it bit by bit. It is extremely dangerous to spend time here now, if not because of the waves coming in from the ocean that surrounds the island, then because of the state of deterioration in most of the buildings. Pieces from random buildings collapse at any time, sometimes from high above, stairwells have almost completely deteriorated and putting weight on them would only accelerate it, so its not recommended for tourists to make this trek alone. Even though it's advised not to get to Hashima Island this way, here's an in-depth account of a man named Ray's journey to Hashima Island. Guided tours are also offered but if you'd like to take a virtual walk through Hashima, check out the official site. It's creepy, but it's also pretty awesome. 

Research resources: 1 | 2 

Garnet, Montana

Source

This was one of the towns that went under after the Gold Rush started to die down. It reached its population height just before 1900, but less than 10 years later, the Gold Rush was winding down and most of the community had already packed up and left. There was another brief revival of the town during the Great Depression, but WW2 caused the city to become abandoned once again and it remains that way today. Between poor construction of the buildings, time, and souvenir hunters, the town looks more dilapidated by the day, so this town is actually in danger of being lost entirely. Tours are now offered in Garnet for a really cheap price ($3 if you're over 15) and all monies given are put towards the preservation and restoration of Garnet's buildings. But while we're on the topic of tours, earlier this year a press release was sent out that the Bureau of Land Management was looking for volunteers to come live in Garnet and conduct the tours. The town's amenities remain as they were when it was populated, which means no electricity or running water, but I think that's part of the fun when visiting a ghost town. That brings me to the final point, which is that there are whispers that Garnet is haunted. The biggest rumor is that music, or piano keys being played, can be heard, especially at night. Garnet used to have multiple saloons, but the piano was moved out years ago. On different websites I read when I was trying to research the claims, different guests had mentioned seeing apparitions, one in the dining room of a building and the other near where one of the town's major residents used to store his gold. If I'd known that a position was open here in time to apply, I definitely would have, haunted or not. Ghost Town Gallery has a great collection of photos taken in Garnet if you'd like to check them out. 

Research resources: 1 | 2 | 3 

Tianducheng (Little Paris), China

Source

Unlike many of the other towns on this list, Little Paris actually does have residents, just not very many. This is a fairly new ghost town; built in 2007, it was meant to bring a little of the Parisian feel to China. The projected finish date of the city was for this year, but in the years since the very first buildings were constructed, only about 2,000 residents call Tianducheng home. Initially built as a private, luxury gated community, Tianducheng fell way short of population expectations, which were somewhere around 10,000 residents. One issue may be the confusion between Paris's way of living and China's. Behind the Eiffel replica stand fields of agriculture, the two in direct conflict with each other. Despite this city being built to possibly quell the Chinese from going to Paris, many Chinese tourists still flock there every year. At first I didn't really understand needing to recreate an entire city, but apparently this is a Chinese tradition and there are many other replicas of famous cities and monuments all over mainland China. After I thought about it a little bit, I think it would be kind of cool to have something like this. For someone who isn't from either France or China, this has the potential to be an awesome mix of cultures and being able to experience life in Paris while in China, but it could also end up looking like a poorly planned, subpar replica that doesn't live up to the original. Tianducheng may just be a temporary ghost town; I guess we'll see how things pan out in future years after all of the construction is finished. CityLab did an article on Little Paris, just scroll down to the bottom for a gallery of some close-ups in the city. 

Research resources: 1 | 2

Kayakoy, Turkey

Source

This ghost town thrived over 100 years ago, but multiple factors caused the city to become deserted by the mid 1920s. The city used to be a mixture of Turks and Greeks, until WW1 and the exile of Greek Christians and Muslim Turks came about. The former were deported back to Greece, and the latter were expelled from Greece. An earthquake hit not long after, which forced even more of the community out of Kayakoy, but the Greece-Turkey Population Exchange of the early '20s served as the death knell for the city, and it never regained its population. Today the city sits in ruins, the neglected buildings crumbling and falling apart. An article on Slate has a gallery of Kayakoy and while the history buff in me loved the images I saw, I also found them quite sad when the history of the city was taken into account. Tourist interest in Kayakoy has begun to rise in recent years, and as of last fall Turkey's government has expressed interest in restoring the buildings to their former glory and capitalizing on the attention it has continued to receive.   

Research resources: 1 | 2

Independence, Colorado

Source

This is another of the Gold Rush towns, named for the day that miners struck gold in the area, back on Independence Day of 1879. Much like the other Gold Rush community on this list, Independence cleared out quickly after the mines dried up and has been abandoned ever since. The log cabins are still standing today, partially due to preservation and restoration efforts by the community. The years of prosperity came and left Independence quite quickly; the beginning years saw a settlement population of 150, the boom brought the number to around 500, and after the mines started to dry up, it fell back down to 150. Severe snowstorms hit the Independence area that winter, causing the residents to be cut off from everyone else, and in their panic, everyone fled at the first opportunity. One person remained and presumably died in Independence. Today, the town is registered as a historic site, and preservation/restoration efforts have been successful. Colorado Past has a gallery up of both the buildings in Independence and what they look like inside. 

Research resources: 1 

Oradour-sur-Glane, France

Source

I find this story most devastating of all. Oradour-sur-Glane was a town of nearly 700 people in France when, during the summer of 1944, Nazis invaded the town and massacred the residents. After a German soldier was kidnapped by the French Resistance, SS Panzer Division was dispatched to slaughter the village to send a message. The village was separated, with the women and children (who totaled over 400 of the village's population) being herded into the church, where the Nazis then poured gasoline over the pews and boarded all exits before setting it on fire. The same treatment was given to the men (who made up about 200 of the population), who were put in a barn, shot in the legs with machine guns to prevent escape, then had gasoline poured over them before being set on fire as well. Any people that were caught trying to escape were gunned down. The town was then left as it was, for the fire to do what it pleased with what was left of the town. Most of the town was destroyed as a result but surprisingly, a handful of survivors emerged from the massacre. Rather than trying to rebuild Oradour, a new village was created nearby, which is inhabited today. The old village was left as both a reminder of the country's past and the evil ways of the Nazis as well as a memorial to those who were lost that day. It has now taken on new significance as public interest in it rises again, partially prompted by the news four years ago that stated that any of the SS soldiers still alive would be prosecuted for the Oradour massacre. The photos are both haunting and tragic; Daily Mail has a gallery and video that you can see by going to the first link below. A full gallery can be seen at the Second World War website in the second link. 

Research resources: 1 | 2

Extra: Ghost Towns of New Mexico

Shakespeare, NM--Source

I was trying to find a substantial ghost town in either New Mexico or Arizona, but the former was a bust as most of those remains are so dilapidated that they hardly count as entire towns anymore. I think it's more for history's sake that they're still considered 'towns,' because even the official New Mexico site says that even though the state is home to some 400 ghost towns, most of those have been worn down to the foundations or random mining equipment. They do, however, have an awesome page of the main ghost towns in the state, complete with pictures and an interactive trail map. Some of the ghost towns have inhabitants and are only considered 'ghost' in terms of numbers, while others are only remnants of buildings. Ghost Towns has a gallery on the city I was initially going to choose, Monticello/Placita, NM, with submissions from visitors. 

That does it for me today. I love looking into ghost towns, but I always find the abandoned towns, like Oradour, both creepy yet sort of sad. It's like looking into a piece of history that froze in time, which both intrigues and creeps me out. Are you as big a fan of ghost towns as I am? Did I leave your favorite off the list? I tried to find towns that weren't on the more popular lists so that there wouldn't be as much overlapping. I probably failed though. lol I really hope you enjoyed and I'll see you soon!