

Abandoned Places In The World - absconditus
http://www.dirjournal.com/info/abandoned-places-in-the-world/

======
TomOfTTB
Maybe it's just that I'm in the U.S. but I found the story of Centralia, Penn.
pretty fascinating. To think they had a fire burning underneath them for
almosts 20 years and were completely unaware.

There was a documentary made that was apparently just released on May 19th of
this year ([http://www.amazon.com/Town-That-Was-John-
Lokitis/dp/B00208GJ...](http://www.amazon.com/Town-That-Was-John-
Lokitis/dp/B00208GJ14)).

Check out this picture from their filming:
[http://www.thetownthatwas.com/assets/0000/0802/setting-up-
in...](http://www.thetownthatwas.com/assets/0000/0802/setting-up-in-
smoke_large.jpg) And 11 people still choose to live there. Crazy.

~~~
brianmckenzie
I'd bet that there are quite a few places like this in the US. Check out Times
Beach, MO: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_beach>

~~~
TomOfTTB
That's certainly disturbing too but what baffles me about the Centralia thing
is the fact that it was a fire and it was right underneath their feet. I mean,
Coal burns at 2800 degrees Fahrenheit and that's what was burning underneath
them FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS.

I mean think about that. Coal mines usually top out at about 500 feet below
the surface. So let me put that in perspective. The Sears Tower has 110
stories and stands 1450 fit. So this would be like standing on the 36th floor
while a 2800 degree fire burned on the first floor and not even knowing
anything about it.

It's crazy.

~~~
brianmckenzie
I'm not trying to minimize what happened in Centralia. It does seem completely
crazy.

Dirt can absorb a LOT of heat. If you had to put out a fire, and you didn't
have any water, you'd throw some dirt on it, right? We are all standing on a
big ball of fire, anyway.

Having worked next door to the Sears Tower for several years, I can tell you
that's a lot of dirt, distributed over the entire area of the fires. The only
thing that surprises me is that it took so long for the effects to be
recognized.

By comparison the carcinogens in Times Beach were on the surface and therefore
easily measurable.

~~~
scscsc
>> Dirt can absorb a LOT of heat. If you had to put out a fire, and you didn't
have any water, you'd throw some dirt on it, right? We are all standing on a
big ball of fire, anyway. <<

The fire is extinguished by throwing dirt because of lack of oxygen, not
because the dirt "absorbs" heat.

~~~
brianmckenzie
We're talking about different phenomena. < Oxygen = < Fire, but > dirt &
minerals = < perception of underground fire.

------
po
I find it interesting that this page says that it is "protected by COPYSCAPE
do not copy" (plagiarism will be detected by copyscape)

It also says it was "Written by Anastasia on June 17th, 2009".

And yet... Much of the copy on Kowloon Walled City was lifted from Wikipedia.
For example this passage:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City>

The streets were illuminated by fluorescent lights, as sunlight rarely reached
the lower levels. There were only two rules for construction: electricity had
to be provided to avoid fire, and the buildings could be no more than fourteen
stories high, because of the nearby airport. Eight municipal pipes provided
water to the entire structure (although more could have come from wells).

~~~
norova
At the end of the post however, it does mention "This post was prepared using
Wikipedia."

~~~
brandnewlow
It's blog spam. Created expressly for Reddit, because that stuff always gets
voted up there.

~~~
norova
Ah, I see.

------
norova
Very neat stuff. Places like that have always fascinated me. I will never
forget the website Kiddofspeed (<http://www.kiddofspeed.com/>) that I stumbled
upon a few years back. A woman travels through the Chernobyl area and
documents it. Very fascinating pictures and stories.

~~~
jwb119
i stumbled across the same site awhile back and was dissapointed the whole
thing (appears to be) a hoax..

from an ny times article:

About two years ago, Mr. Tatarchuk said, a Ukrainian woman booked a tour, wore
a leather biker jacket and posed for pictures. Soon there appeared a Web site
in which the woman, using the name Elena, claimed that she had been given an
unlimited pass by her father, a nuclear physicist and Chernobyl researcher
("Thank you, Daddy!" she wrote) and now roamed the ruins at will on her
Kawasaki Big Ninja.

source
[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/international/europe/15che...](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/international/europe/15chernobyl.html)

~~~
norova
Oh wow, thanks for sharing. :) As the last person stated, even though it is a
hoax, there are still wonderful stories packed inside. I'd recommend it still
to anyone.

------
netsp
I wonder who owns these places.

~~~
TomOfTTB
In every case I know and I suspect in every other case the answer is "The
Government". I'll run down the ones I know...

Gunkanjima, Japan: Owned by the city of Nagasaki but work is being done to
turn it over to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization

San Zhi (or the Pod City): It was originally commisioned by the Taiwanese
government so it's always belonged to them.

Pripyat, Ukraine: Obviously owned by the U.S.S.R. before the collapse. I have
no reason to believe it wasn't turned over to the newly formed nation of
Ukraine along with all the other land belonging to the ancient nation of Rus'

Kadykchan, Russia: Russia evacuated the citizens which means they took control
of the land.

Centralia, United States: Congress provided "buy out" packages for the
Residents so it's owned by the Federal Government (with the exception of the
11 people who still own their land and live there)

Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong: Though Hong Kong is self governing for the
most part it's still considered part of China and there's no private land in
China so it's owned by...you guessed it...China

Oradour-sur-Glane, France: It's an official memorial site designated by the
Government of France.

Kolmanskuppe, Namibia: As the article says it's owned by the De Beers group
(the diamond company)

Humberstone, Chile: turned over to United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization

Wittenoom, Australia: No idea, I'd assume it's considered Government land but
there are still 8 people living there who obviously own their own land. As the
article says it's been removed from all official maps so it's not even really
a place anymore.

Agdam,Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union
had no private land so it became owned by the nation of Azerbaijan after the
collapse. It was destroyed in the Nagorno-Karabakh War which was raging pre-
USSR collapse and ended post-USSR collapse so it wasn't in a position to be
purchased by anyone else before it was destroyed.

Varosha, Cyprus and the Two sites in Italy: I have no idea. They were deserted
by their residents so I assume they reverted back to their respective
governments but both nations allow for the ownership of private land so in
theory someone could still own parts of it.

Bodie State park, California: Owned by the U.S. Federal Government as a
National Historic Landmark

