Saturday, July 12, 2008

Ghost Towns of the World





I need to get a TON of work done today (and install a new refrigerator), so I'm going to be a little lazy and point you in the direction of a fabulous post on weburbanist.com. (Which is an awesome site, by the way.)

The title of the post is "20 Abandoned Cities and Towns from Around the World," which should be enough to pique your interest. It features towns overtaken by the Sahara Desert, abandoned Indian palaces . . . and Gary, Indiana.

But the most interesting, in my opinion, is a place known as Kowloon Walled City (shown below). According to Weburbanist:

"Kowloon Walled City was located just outside Hong Kong . . . A former watchpost to protect the area against pirates, it was occupied by Japan during World War II and subsequently taken over by squatters after Japan’s surrender. Neither Britain nor China wanted responsibility for it, so it became its own lawless city.

Its population flourished for decades, with residents building labyrinthine corridors above the street level, which was clogged with trash. The buildings grew so tall that sunlight couldn’t reach the bottom levels and the entire city had to be illuminated with fluorescent lights. It was a place where casinos, opium dens, food courts serving dog meat and secret factories ran unmolested by authorities. It was finally torn down in 1993 after a mutual decision was made by British and Chinese authorities, who had finally grown wary of the unsanitary, anarchic city and its out-of-control population."


19 comments:

Poison Pen said...

This is awesome! Its like an above-ground Shadow City!
Did you know that there's a ghost town in CO that is named Spook City? I'm thinking that was kind of a premonition of what was to come...

Zodiac girls said...

WOW!!!!! I saw a show about under ground tunnels on the history channel, okay it was weird USA! But it was still wicked awsome! (I've also noticed something they have books weird.....state..... and New Jersey has about five books!

Invisible Turtle said...

Since I've been gone for 2 weeks, I'm going to do some quick-comments on some posts.

Book of Accidents- Technically, fighting and stone throwing are completely intentional and therefore not accidents. And I guess girls fighting is fine and dandy.

The doll- Thanks. Just... thanks. My first night back in my room and I had to worry about whether or not my fourteen dolls were watching me.

Ghost towns- *singing* Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana!!!

Invisible Turtle said...

zodiac girls- That's because NJ is cool! (I haven't read any of those books, though, because I'd probably be afraid to leave my house, and I don't need any more paranoia on top of my plethora of dolls that seem more and more lifelike with each passing second...)

Anonymous said...

i hope that being "busy" means writing a third kiki strike book...

Rhapsody said...

I am hoping with Anonymouse.
I cant wait to read the 3rd book.
Wouldnt it be cool if there were tunnels that connected to all the underground cities.If that even made sense............

metro said...

i loved Mandu so old and perfect....

Michele said...

OMG I WANNA GO THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol...

Random Irregular said...

dante's.inferno: Sounds like the Shadow City, except above on ground level too, to me!.

How can people live like that? I'd go crazy without seeing any real daylight. Won't the peple be all sick and infected and have all these defeciencies then?

Girlskickbutt!!! said...

That is cool.
I liked the one in Poland. 2 million euros... thats only like $3 million for a whole town. Could start an irregular town...wouldnt have to be under ground if you own the whole town.

Anonymous said...

hey everybody
sorry haven't been posting for awhile
we were on vacation in New Jersey and Qugoue,LI for the last 2weeks
before then i wasn't allowed on the computer until i finished reading charles dickens Great Expectations
soo boring
mk
annaka i'm working on the sequel to holliday house

lara said...

both my mum and dad have both been to Oradour-sur-glane, france. they said it was really sad but also very eerie because everthing is the exact way it was in 1944.

lara said...

the place in Tyneham, Dorset is interesting too!! I had never heard of it before. I am moving to Dorset this following year so maybe i will get to check it out.

Hazel said...

I have a question for anyone who's gotten a good look at the Friend of the Squirrels t-shirt: How accurate is the color in the photo in the Shadow City Store? Cause I'm considering buying it, but I'm not sure I'll look entirely well in that shade of green. (I'm generally not a green person.)
Thanks!

Anonymous said...

dante's inferno: I completely agree! That is the exact thing i thought, actually...

Random Irregular: In Las Vegas, the all of the casinos have no clocks or windows. They don't even allow watches, and in the hotels, the only way to get out is to walk through the casino. I would hate it to!!!


-liltomboyblue

Anonymous said...

Hazel
i got the shirt for christmas
the color on the website are almost the same to the actual shirt
hope this helps
mk

Patsee said...

I've been to Gary with my family at least 5 times and never seen anything other than the usual old barns you see decaying in fields. But then again, most of the time we just drive through...

*sings along with Invisible Turtle*

Hazel said...

Thank you!

liltomboyblue11;) said...

Also, I have heard more about anarchy recently. I know quite a few, actually. In addition to this, Dorothy Day (her last name might be spelled Dae) who is a woman who convereted to catholic and has been comsidered to be names a saint is one also. She does a lot of charity work.