The idea of ​​an abandoned town often conjures up images of haunted ghosts and apocalyptic visions of the future. There are practical reasons. War, unemployment, and political change can wipe out once-thriving towns in decades or years. These towns can be found all over the world, but below are five of the most interesting abandoned towns around the world, chosen for their unique architecture, climate or abandoned circumstances.

Belchite, Spain

The first entry on the list is in the province of Zaragoza, Spain. About 25 miles southeast of the city of Zaragoza are the ruins of Belchite. The town first appeared on the historical radar when Alfonso I, King of Aragon and Navarre, conquered the town from the Moors in 1117. In 1122 he founded the Congregation of the Belchite, a knightly order charged with guarding the borders. Belchite remained a quiet town until the Peninsular War of 1809. At the Battle of Maria, Spanish and French armies clashed near her two.

Belchite survived two major wars and the ravages of time, but it was the third conflict that led to its abandonment. In 1937, as the Spanish Civil War raged, Republican and Nationalist forces fought at the Battle of Belchite, where 80,000 Republicans faced his 10,000 Nationalists. The battle went in Republican favor, with the entire Belchite destroyed and people dead or scattered.When the nationalists won his 1939 civil war, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco rebuilt the town as a memorial to the war ordered not to. All that remains today are ruined houses, deserted streets and the ruins of the town’s church, the Church of San Martin de Tours. The area is frequented by tourists and has been used as a movie set on multiple occasions, including a movie. Pan’s Labyrinth.

Kraco, Italy

Basilicata, in southern Italy, has the second entry on the list. Twenty-five miles inland from Taranto Bay, the town was built on a steep hillside to strengthen the city’s defenses in case of siege. From this position, the town overlooks the Cabalon River Valley. The area around Krako has been inhabited since the 8th century BC and was settled by ancient Greeks by the 6th century BC. As Europe moved from antiquity to the Middle Ages, craco became more and more associated with the Catholic Church. The town eventually became an important military and academic center. The town was also subject to raids and massacres during the Napoleonic Wars when royalist forces attacked Napoleonic-controlled towns.

The town suffered another bandit incident in 1861 when it was attacked and captured by bandits during the turmoil of the Italian Unification War. The town suffered the hardships of World War I, the rise of fascism, and World War II, but remained steadfast. It is nature itself that drives out the Krako people, not strife or strife. A series of infrastructure projects, including the laying of water pipes, caused several landslides in 1963, forcing the town’s residents to evacuate. The situation worsened when the town was hit by a severe flood in 1972. In 1980, hopes of population recovery were dashed when the 6.9-magnitude Irpina earthquake devastated the town and caused further landslides. Since then, the town has remained deserted, visited only by tourists and the occasional film crew.

Ruby, Arizona

The third entry on the list is in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, near the US-Mexico border. Ruby, Arizona was founded around 1877 as a Montana camp or Montana mine. There, miners hauled gold, copper, silver, zinc, and lead out of the ground. Despite this early establishment in the area, Ruby did not acquire the first post office until 1912, when a local general store owner established it. Named the town after Lily B. Ruby Andrews.

The town cemented its place in history when three double homicides occurred in the area between 1920 and 1922, setting off one of the largest raids in the American Southwest. The town quickly prospered once the Eagle-Picher Mining Company started operating the mine, producing large amounts of lead, zinc and silver. However, the mine ran dry in 1940 and was closed. Only a year later in 1941, the town was completely abandoned and the post office ceased operations there. The Ruby people relied on the mines and miners to shop at the store and buy their goods. Without them, Ruby would no longer exist.The town is still well preserved today, with many tourists and students walking through its abandoned streets.

Kolmanskop, Namibia

In the coastal Namib Desert, the fourth item on the list literally sinks into the sand. In southern Namibia, about six miles from the coast, lies the town of Kolmanskop. Founded in 1908 in what was then a German colony in German South West Africa, the town began as an accidental discovery. A Namibian railway worker found diamonds in the ground and showed them to his superiors, who soon discovered that the area was rich in diamonds.The Germans soon flocked to the area, I set mines and settled down. The German government designated the area as an official diamond-producing area, and mass development of the land began. Great wealth has been extracted from the land, making Kolmanskop a city unlike any other in the region. The Edwardian houses built by the Germans provided the town with hospitals, ice factories, ballrooms, casinos, theaters, power plants, his X-ray station, the first in the southern hemisphere, and the first train in Africa.

During World War I, people thrived until it became clear that the diamond fields were severely depleted. Many started leaving the area in search of better jobs. In particular, he discovered in 1928 another diamond locality 268 miles south along the Orange River. Some of the residences still remained in the town until his 1956, when Kolmanskop was permanently abandoned. Today, many tourists travel there to see the desert take back European-style towns. This surreal sight has also attracted many photographers and documentarians.

Portlock, Alaska

The final entry on the list goes back to states in the colder regions of Alaska. On the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska is the town of Portlock, named after British trader Nathaniel Portlock. In the early 1900s, the area was first settled as a salmon cannery, and workers and their families came to the area. In 1921, a branch of the United States Post Office was opened in Portlock. Interestingly, many of the townspeople were originally Russian-Aleut, descendants of people who immigrated to Alaska and married native Aleutians when Alaska was still part of Russia. In addition to cannery workers, there were also miners, hunters, and those who ran Portlock shops. Unlike previous entries, it wasn’t war, natural disasters, or lack of economic opportunity that drove people away, but mysterious killings.

In the 1940s, several hunters disappeared in the wilderness around town. It disappeared not at once, but over the years. Each disappearance shook the people of Portlock more than the last. There were also reports of dead and mutilated bodies found near the town. Some said it was the work of a local bigfoot-like creature called the Nantinak, while others suspected it might be a large bear or even an elk. Whatever the cause, the townspeople became nervous and fled, and the last resident, a postal worker, he left in 1951. Since then, this town has attracted tourists and Bigfoot his hunters. Entire communities could disappear into his 20th century.

Conclusion

There are still abandoned towns and villages all over the world. Some were destroyed by the bombs of long-forgotten wars, others by disease, financial hardship, or unexplained fear.