A Photo Tour of Eerie Abandoned Cities and Villages Around the World

By Flavorwire Staff

November 23, 2012

If, like us, you’re battling a post-Turkey Day stupor that descended some time after your last (third?) slice of pumpkin pie by basking in the lux languid pleasure of aimlessly surfing the world wide web, then let us add some fuel to your flagging fun. Helen Keller once said that “what we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” It’s a divine sentiment that we like to remember when we’re looking through photos of one our favorite — albeit devastating — photographic obsessions: ruin porn. As haunting as they are beautiful, abandoned cities and villages tell a story of loss on a grand scale. Be it natural disaster, human devastation, or that inevitable thing called progress rendering a way of life obsolete, these deserted towns are fascinating snapshots of urban memories fading fast. From a nuclear city to a real deal Wild West town that was abandoned after the Gold Rush ended, click through to join us on a virtual romp around the world to visit some of the most fascinating ghost towns on the planet.

Prypiat, Ukraine