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There are no real ghosts in these towns or cities – or, at least, that’s what I’d like to believe. They give off that eerie feel, but that’s only because the structures in these places are starting to crumble and they’ve been devoid of people for a good couple of years. Several factors can cause people to desert a well-built city: natural decline of the town’s economy, destruction of the town due to natural disasters, destruction from war, freak accidents involving part of or the entire town, and even contagious diseases, among many others. Abandoned structures will normally deteriorate if they remain neglected; over time these structures appear like ruins, giving off an almost ghostly impression.

Kadychan, located in the Susumansky Disttrict of Magadan Oblast, Russia, was once an active mining town teeming with 12,000 residents. However, when Soviet Russia collapsed, residents fled the town in a hurry to places that had better access to medical care, schools and running water. The state moved them out over a period of two weeks, and as the residents left in a hurry, many of their belongings such as books, clothing, toys and other personal items were left throughout the city. It’s especially eerie to see these objects aging with the rest of the ruins.

Hashima Island, or more commonly called Gunkanjima, is one of the uninhabited islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. In 1890, Mitsubishi bought the island and began retrieving coal from the bottom of the sea. This attracted business and a lot of people, so in 1916, the company built Japan’s first largest concrete building on Hashima Island. A block of concrete apartments were also constructed to house all the workers. At its most populated point in 1959, the island had 835 people per square hectare. In 1960, coal mines all over the country started shutting down, and Gankujima was not spared from this fate. In 1974, Mitsubishi officially announced the closure of the mine; all the workers had to move out of the island eventually. Currently, the island still has the abandoned apartment blocks and buildings.

San Zhi in Taiwan was meant to become a resort in the northern coast of Taiwan with its futuristic pod-like buildings. Construction started in the 1980s; however, the project was halted because of a series of fatal accidents that had occurred on-site and due to the lack of funds. Currently, San Zhi can still be toured despite not being opened as a resort. It is more popular for being a ghost town with its strange pod-like buildings and the stories surrounding the deaths of workers.