When you walk through a ghost town, it’s usually easy to see why people would leave. There could be an eternal fire burning underground, or the town might have been destroyed during a war. But what if you’re walking through a ghost town with perfectly good buildings, a decent location, and a stable political environment? Why would anyone abandon a place like that? Here are ten towns that people abandoned for reasons that aren’t immediately clear.
10. Dudleytown, Connecticut: The Dark Forest
High on a hill in the quiet, forested town of Cornwall, Connecticut, sits an abandoned village isolated from the rest of the world. Dudleytown, located in what is now the private “Dark Entry Forest,” was settled in 1747 by the Dudleys. Not only is it abandoned, but according to local legend, it’s cursed as well. Dudleytown started like any early settlement, with people building homes, farming land, and living happy lives, even forging iron. But as time passed, it seemed as though the village was doomed to fail.
As the local iron industry in Cornwall declined, so did the area’s population. By the late 19th century, Dudleytown was abandoned, with the last resident leaving in the early 1900s. While a decline in the local economy is a logical explanation for the settlement’s abandonment, there are more interesting theories. Some say that anyone who tries to live there goes insane because of a curse brought over from England by the original settlers. Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren even claimed Dudleytown to be demonically possessed in the early 1970s. Though the people who live near “Dark Entry Forest” claim there’s nothing in the remains of Dudleytown, amateur ghost hunters insist that the ghosts and demons the settlers encountered were real.
9. Ordos Kangbashi, China: Ghost Town
Ordos Kangbashi was intended to be China’s next modern city, with enough space for one million people to call it home. The city aimed to have 200,000 people living there by 2020, but with delayed construction and high property taxes, they missed their goal by 47,000. Though technically not abandoned, it is the world’s largest ghost town. With beautiful architecture, plenty of real estate, and potential jobs, there seems to be no clear reason why Ordos Kangbashi is as empty as it is.
8. Parksville, New York: Doomed to Depression
There’s nothing inherently wrong with Parksville, New York, but for some reason, no one seems to want to live there. The first documented settlers, Martin and Eber Hall, arrived in the 1800s, with William Park jumpstarting the community and industry. It became a prosperous community, bringing charm to the Catskills. The Ontario and Western (O&W) Railway that ran through the town made it easy for people to travel to Parksville for a peaceful summer getaway in the country.
The Great Depression drastically changed this vacation dynamic. A large number of Parksville’s 100 hotels and resorts had to close down. Still, a few of the town’s major hotels remained open. Despite the town’s seeming resilience, the decline in popularity of the O&W meant less foot traffic. The last trains ran through Parksville in the 1950s. Hope returned in the late 1980s and 90s when Route 17 brought traffic through the town. However, New York converted Route 17 to Interstate 86, which redirected traffic out of the town. This change left Parksville without its main source of visitors. Local business owners have tried to bring the once-bustling town back to its former glory, yet it remains largely abandoned.
7. Thurmond, West Virginia: Haunted Train Town
Thurmond, West Virginia, another train town turned ghost town, is a well-preserved slice of American coal mining history. But what led to the population’s decline from 500 in 1930 to a mere five people in 2010? Some believe the decline is due to the burning of Dun Glen, one of the town’s famous hotels. The Dun Glen was the site of the world’s longest-lasting poker game, which lasted 14 years! Between the collapse of the Dun Glen and the near inaccessibility to the town’s commercial zone until 1921 by a single road, the town could never regain its footing. Now, outside of claims that ghosts of the past haunt some of its structures, the old Thurmond train depot acts as a visitor’s center for the New River Gorge National River.
6. Adaminaby, Australia: The Drowning City
You might leave your town forever for serious reasons like crime, war, or economic depression. Or you might decide to leave because your town was relocated, as was the case with Adaminaby, Australia. In 1957, the government relocated 700 people to make way for the manmade Lake Eucumbene. Some homes were physically moved, but the lake drowned most of the town’s original structures. Only about 250 people decided to stay—a major drop in population. After a 2007 drought dried up the lake, the ruins of the first Adaminaby surfaced.
5. Roanoke Colony, North Carolina: Disappearing Act
The Roanoke Colony, also called the “Lost Colony,” is one of the U.S.’s oldest mysteries and still draws speculation from historians. In August 1587, 115 English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island. The next year, the governor of the colony, John White, sailed back to England for fresh supplies. When he returned three years later, he couldn’t find a single person—not his wife, daughter, or any of the other people who came over with him. All he found was a post with the word “Croatoan” carved into it. This leads some archeologists to believe that the colony relocated to what we now call Hatteras Island.
4. Glenrio, New Mexico and Texas: Roadside Rubble
“Get your kicks on Route 66.” That’s what kept this former border town alive. When Route 66 fell out of favor, so did Glenrio, New Mexico, and Texas. Even though the population never exceeded 30 in its heyday, it was still an important stop on Route 66. In 1938, film crews shot scenes for John Steinbeck’s adaptation of his novel “The Grapes of Wrath” in Glenrio for three weeks. With the post-war economic boom in the 1950s, Glenrio’s location along Route 66 put it in a perfect position to prosper—until the Rock Island Railroad depot closed and the government built Interstate 40. The new interstate rerouted traffic, meaning tourists no longer passed through the small town. By the 1980s, only two people lived there. It now sits abandoned, The Little Juarez Cafe boarded up, the town crumbling alongside one of America’s once greatest highways. Still, there’s no reason for it to stay abandoned. Perhaps one day, we’ll see its revitalization.
3. Johnsonville, Connecticut: Twilight Zoning
Johnsonville is yet another Connecticut town that found itself unoccupied. In 1846, Emory Johnson built both his homestead and the Triton Mill on a 64-acre plot of land. As a result, the surrounding area was named Johnsonville. The story of Johnsonville in East Haddam, Connecticut, is one of terrible mismanagement. In 1965, Raymond Schmitt purchased the Neptune Mill from the Johnson family. He also bought the town’s other buildings, including the Victorian chapel. Schmitt’s goal was to turn Johnsonville into a historical tourist attraction, but it never worked out.
On top of that, lightning struck the Neptune Mill in 1972, and it burned to the ground. A problem with zoning laws in 1994 ultimately shut down Johnsonville, and the town fell into disrepair. A hotel company tried to revitalize Johnsonville in 2001 and turn it into a living community but failed. After several auctions, Iglesia ni Cristo, a Christian organization based in the Philippines, bought the property in 2017. They are currently restoring the buildings and turning Johnsonville into a center of worship.
2. Rhyolite, Nevada: Glass Bottle Buildings
If you need proof that prospectors can build a booming town, then head over to Rhyolite, Nevada. Residents may not have stuck around for long, but it doesn’t discount Rhyolite’s colorful history. In fact, you’d think that, even after the financial panic of 1907, people would have stayed. There was a Stock Exchange, Board of Trade, basketball games, a well-known red-light district, schools, electric plants—the list goes on and on. In 1906, the town built the Kelly Bottle House, made from the 50,000 discarded beer and liquor bottles from local saloons. Unfortunately, all those bottles ultimately meant nothing. With the steady decline of millwork, the population was zero by 1920. Today, the Bottle House is one of the only complete buildings still standing.
1. Inis Cathaigh, Ireland: Forgotten Island
It’s not every day you can have an island all to yourself, so why would you want to leave? In 1842, a handful of families called the island home. They were mostly Shannon Estuary Pilots and thrived during the famine. Inis Cathaigh also has a long ecclesiastical history and boasts St. Senan as its first bishop. It is a Catholic hotspot for tourists, and the Office of Public Works runs a visitor center. Should you visit, you’ll find an old artillery building, a ruined monastery, and an Irish round tower. But you won’t find anyone living there. By 1969, the last people left the island.
So why do people leave these towns for no reason? Well, the answer is that there’s always a reason, even if it’s not obvious at first.
What do you think about these abandoned towns? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
