The Abandoned, part 1

We’ve all heard something about ghost towns and abandoned buildings. You might think it’s a fascinating but rare phenomenon, but you’d be wrong. If you dig deeper, you’d find it’s actually quite common. Disturbingly common, in fact. There’s at least one in every U.S. state, and thousands around the world. When you add in vacant properties, the list probably balloons to millions.

But why? Why would good buildings and communities go to waste when they took so much time and money to create? Well, there’s likely a different reason for every four examples.

For instance, if a town was built around one resource or economic opportunity, then it’s fate is usually tied to that thing. Bodie, California is one of the most famous examples of this. It was a gold rush community named after an ambitious prosecutor. It flourished through the mid-1800’s, and the people probably thought the land’s natural wealth would sustain them for generations. We know now, however, that the gold eventually runs out. So everyone moved on, and to this day it stands preserved only as a snapshot of history.

Also in the same state is Calico, which was a booming silver mining town. In this case, the price of silver plummeted due to outside forces. So the same result occurred.

Centralia, Pennsylvania suffered a much worse fate. It was a working-class coal town all the way until 1964. What could get a normal town to clear out in modern times? Well, a drastic early modern mistake. They started burning trash in a designated area underground. They either didn’t consider, you know… the coal… or misjudged its vast reach. The fire expanded into its black veins and grew out of control! The residents didn’t notice when the streets ran hot, and it took at least a week for the first smoke to rise from the ground. By then, it was way too late. The fire burned so thoroughly that the pavement cracked all around and soon a full-scale evacuation was ordered. The government apparently thought it wasn’t worth the expense to try and stop the blaze, so it still burns under the earth today. Scientists now estimate it could continue for over 200 more years! It’s illegal to live there, but five stubborn people still do.

Then there’s when it’s not just one thing, but a strange jumble of many factors. Duddleytown, Connecticut was a colonial community that seemed to have a bright future. It went downhill fast, however. Disease swept through, crops started failing, and several people reportedly went blind or lost their minds. One man was said to have walked into the woods and disappeared forever. People started blaming it on a curse the Dudley family carried over from England, as they also had bad luck there. Whatever the reasons, even later attempts to resettle the area failed. Now there’s no signs or charted roads anywhere in the vicinity.

So these are just a few cases in one country. I’ll have to separate out other past towns across the world and abandoned properties into two other installments. Catch you on empty streets again soon!