There are buildings all over the world that were once used as hospitals, prisons, homes, or hotels but now stand as frightening remains of a time gone by. Some buildings were abandoned haphazardly, with their belongings still strewn around for visitors to see, while others were never inhabited at all. Then there are those that were not only inhabited but which have gruesome tales associated with them. Regardless, these crumbling structures are now taken over by nature and invite those daring enough to enter and listen to the spooky stories that the abandoned walls have to tell of its past inhabitants. These abandoned buildings may be free of ghosts, but their haunting histories are enough to terrify those who visit.
10 Bodie Ghost Town, United States
Bodie looks like a town that’s right out of a western film. The gold mining town was built during the period of the gold rush in California in 1859 and now looks like a ghost town stuck in time. During the gold boom, the town was home to 10,000 people, all of whom left Bodie as the gold ran dry. Now, the National Historic Site and State Historic Park has been preserved in “arrested decay” for visitors to stroll through the gold mining ghost town as if it was abandoned only yesterday.
9 Hotel Edén, Argentina
Hotel Edén opened its door in the early 20th century with water fountains and grand marble staircases when its guest list boasted reservations from the likes of Albert Einstein, Argentine presidents, and famous actors. Unfortunately, among Hotel Edén’s patrons were other infamous personalities that are responsible for the hotel’s ruinous state today: Nazi officials. The hotel’s owners were reported to have ties with Adolf Hitler himself, so when Argentina officially declared war on Germany, Hotel Edén was seized for its infamous link with the enemies. Despite attempts to restore it later, Hotel Edén remains an abandoned building that has left its ritzier days behind. The hotel is now open for visitors, historical tours, private events, and night walks when legends and ghost stories are exchanged within its walls.
8 Bannerman Castle, United States
Located on a small island on the Hudson off Beacon in New York State, the Bannerman Castle sits on an island officially known as Pollepel. During the 30-minute boat ride to Pollepel, the ruins of the majestic Bannerman slowly emerge into view. In contrast to its grand appearance, the castle was built for a surprisingly lackluster purpose: it was bought for $1600 to serve as a storage facility for a military surplus business run by Francis Bannerman VI. Despite its purpose, the structure had all the elements of a castle, including a drawbridge, terraced gardens, and even a summerhouse. A fire later reduced the Bannerman Castle to its bare bones, and the castle remains structurally unsafe to date. While visitors can’t go inside the castle, they can walk around its periphery, visit the summerhouse-turned-museum next to it, or kayak in the waters below it.
7 Sarajevo Olympic Village, Bosnia And Herzegovina
Expensive stadiums and residential complexes are built ahead of the Olympic Games around the world, but the Sarajevo Olympic Village stands as an eerie example of what could happen to them after the games are over. Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympics in 1984 — the first to be held in a socialist state. Only eight years later, a war ravaged the country and Sarajevo was held under siege. The sports arenas inside the Olympic village turned into battlegrounds, and the hotel was used as a prison where Bosnian Muslims were executed. Walking tours of the Sarajevo Olympic Village now give visitors a glimpse into what the village looked like when it was filled with sportsmen in 1984 and all the bloody events that took place inside it after.
6 Houtouwan, China
When you think of old places that have been abandoned for decades now, you likely picture an eerie building covered in vines. What you wouldn’t imagine is an entire village that looks far from barren and is covered in lush green vegetation instead. Located 40 miles from Shanghai on the Shengsi Islands of China, Houtouwan was once a village of 2000 fishermen families. As residents moved away for better opportunities, the population dwindled, nature took its course, and the cliffside village was officially depopulated in 2002 to nearby villages. Renewed interest in its picturesque ghost town-like setting, however, has now been attracting visitors to Houtouwan, where they can pay a fee to hike around the abandoned village. Several signs warn against entering houses due to structural instability, but visitors can peep inside and see furnished houses that have long been deserted.
5 Eastern State Penitentiary, United States
No abandoned building makes for a spookier premise than a former prison. Located in Philadelphia, the Eastern State Penitentiary was once a famous and expensive prison designed to inspire repentance from its prisoners. The prison opened in 1829 and held America’s most notorious criminals of the time, including Al Capone and Willie Sutton. By the 1960s, however, the Eastern State Penitentiary was falling apart because of too many prisoners and finally shut its gates in 1971. Now, the centuries-old prison is in ruins but has been restored enough to have a stabilized structure that allows visitors to tour its abandoned prison cells, guard towers, and correctional facilities.
4 Beelitz-Heilstätten, Germany
Beelitz Heilstätten is a complex of 60 buildings that served as a hospital to treat tuberculosis patients between 1898 and 1930. Of all its patients, Beelitz Heilstätten also treated a young Adolf Hitler for his injuries after the Battle of the Somme, and in 1945, it was used as a field hospital for the Soviets. Although parts of the complex are still being used for neurological rehabilitation and research for Parkinson’s disease, most of Beelitz Heilstätten has turned into an eerie ruin that served as the set for Roman Polanski's film ‘The Pianist’ in 2002. While access inside most of the building has been legally closed off to visitors for a few years now, a canopy has been built above the trees that goes around the hospital complex. Visitors can buy tickets to the canopy walkway and stroll around the complex, peep inside the hospital’s many rooms, and take a one-hour walking tour to hear of Beelitz Heilstätten's history.
3 Ross Island, India
Among nearly 500 tiny islands off the Indian coast, Ross Island was once a penal colony run by the colonial British which housed political prisoners after the Indian Mutiny of 1857. After years of medical trials and experimental drugs forcefully used on prisoners, the prison was closed in 1937, and an earthquake in 1941 took the lives of more than 3000 people who still lived on the island. Later, the island was controlled by the Japanese during World War II for strategic purposes before ownership of the island was passed back to the Indian government. The island now attracts visitors who want to look at the ruins of old buildings and new museums or who want to hear about the island's tumultuous and brutal past.
2 Kolmanskop, Namibia
Often, the most haunting ghost towns in the world are those where the discovery of precious treasures led to a huge influx of migrants who left as quickly as they came when the coffers ran dry. Kolmanskop was a desert where diamonds were first found in 1908. Quickly after, excessive mining caused a scarcity of diamonds, inhabitants moved away from Kolmanskop, and the desert slowly swept through the buildings of the small town. There are several tours that take visitors through the sand-filled town of Kolmanskop, with special permits sold for those hoping to photograph the town.
1 Hashima Island, Japan
Besides memorials of the atomic bomb, Nagasaki is famous for several tiny islands that exist off its coast. Among the many islands is the abandoned town of Hashima which was once an important coal mine. Hashima Island was almost put on UNESCO’s World Heritage List before controversy related to the island’s dark past of developing its buildings using the labor of Korean and Chinese prisoners resurfaced. Known among the prisoner workers as “Hell Island” or “Jail Island,” the tiny size of Hashima meant that each resident only got 5ft of living space.
Till 2009, access to Hashima was banned by the Japanese government, but now the abandoned island has been restored just enough for the ruins to be structurally safe. Regardless the island is in such disarray that only group tours to the crumbling Hashima are sanctioned, and no solo trips are allowed. Plus, there are several reports of haunted sightings on Hashima Island, so no traveler would want to go solo anyway! For those who do want to see Hashima but can’t visit Japan, there’s an incredibly savvy website powered by Google Streets that is dedicated to virtually exploring the island.