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Virginia City, USA - The former gold mining town, which is now frozen in time, was once inhabited by 10,000 residents.

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Virginia City, USA - This town in Montana was founded in 1863, and was preserved as a National Historic Landmark in 1961. Although Virginia City is uninhabited, hobbyists still search for remaining gold to this day.

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Craco, Italy - After various natural disasters, this hilltop town, which was once an educational center, got completely evacuated in the '80s.

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Craco, Italy - The ghost town has been a filming location for various movies, including 'King David' (1985) and 'The Passion of the Christ' (2004).

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Terlingua, USA - Terlingua, Texas used to be a real quicksilver mining town with workers and relocated families. But by 2010, the population was only 58.

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Terlingua, USA - Nowadays, it's the most visited ghost town in Texas, although there's not much to see besides abandoned cars, an old church, and a cemetery with real dead people.

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Hashima Island, Japan - Japan's mysterious ghost island was home to as many as 5,000 people until the '70s (it was actually the most densely populated place in the world at one point).

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Hashima Island, Japan - The island boasted operating undersea coal mines from 1881 until the 1970s, when the mines closed and all residents abandoned the territory. Hashima Island was approved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

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Kennecott, USA - The ghost mining camp of Kennecott is a very popular tourist attraction located in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area in Alaska. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

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Kennecott, USA - The mining camp was established in 1911 and had five mines. The town was left completely abandoned after the last train left on November 10, 1938.

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Kolmanskop, Namibia - This ghost town is located about 420 miles (675 km) southwest of Windhoek, Namibia, and used to be a prime location for those seeking diamonds in the early 1900s.

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Kolmanskop, Namibia - What once was a bustling town with large and elegant houses would soon get engulfed by the desert after all the residents left following WWI.

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Animas Forks, USA - This mining town on Colorado's Alpine Loop was founded in 1873 and originally called "Three Forks of the Animas" because of the three rivers that meet nearby.

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Animas Forks, USA - The town used to have a hotel, 30 cabins, a saloon, a post office, and a general store. But all of these disappeared and left this place a desolate and forgotten patch of land.

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Ross Island, India - Located in the South Andaman district, Ross Island has seen better days. The island was a British settlement in the 19th century, but was emptied after an earthquake in 1940.

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Ross Island, India - Nowadays, it's possible to visit the abandoned ghost island that once had a rich history.

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Rhyolite, USA - Thousands of people called Rhyolite, Nevada home at the start of the 1900s, when miners and their families moved here in the hopes of finding gold.

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Rhyolite, USA - But the town's glory days came to an end in the 1920s, when the population decreased to virtually zero, leaving the houses and structures to rot.

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Oradour-sur-Glane, France - This Nazi-occupied French town met its horrible downfall during a massacre that killed 642 of its habitants on June 10, 1944.

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Oradour-sur-Glane, France - Former president Charles de Gaulle made the decision to preserve the entire village as a memorial.

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Calico, USA - This ancient mining town was once home to 3,000 residents. But after silver lost much of its value in the mid-1890s, miners and other habitants packed up their belongings and left the California town.

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Humberstone, Chile - Humberstone is located in the Atacama Desert, and was named after the British chemical engineer James Humberstone. The former mining town, which once had about 3,500 residents, was a huge exporter of potassium nitrate.

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Bodie, USA - If you're looking for an authentic ghost town experience, then Bodie in California is the real deal. The former gold mining town is one of best preserved ghost towns in the Western United States.

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Balestrino, Italy - This ghost town in Liguria is situated about 43 miles (70 km) southwest of Genoa. Due to earthquakes and hydrogeological instability, the last inhabitants fled the town in the 1950s.

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Glenrio, USA - Glenrio was a railroad town located on a former alignment of US Route 66. It was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007, and was also used as a film location for the movie 'Grapes of Wrath' (1940). The town sits on the Texas–New Mexico state line.

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Plymouth, Montserrat - Plymouth was once the capital city of the island of Montserrat. But the town was completely abandoned in 1997 after it became partially submerged following a volcanic eruption in the summer of 1995.

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Garnet, USA - This former gold mining town dates from the 1860s and was home to 1,000 people. It's now known as the best preserved ghost town in Montana.

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Kadykchan, Russia - This coal mine was built by prisoners during WWII, but was closed after an explosion killed six people in 1996. The residents were forced to leave, and the place was left on its own.

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Kayaköy, Turkey - Empty streets and crumbling houses is all you'll find in this eerie place. The lifeless Kayaköy was once in full bloom at the beginning of the 19th century, but the two million Greeks who lived here were forced to leave during the Greco-Turkish War in 1922.

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Agdam, Azerbaijan -

The 28,000 residents who once called Agdam home were forced to flee during the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1993. Today, the city is nothing more than a mere shell.

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Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia -

Al-Ula was abandoned by its inhabitants about 40 years ago in favor of a newer town nearby and is now a fascinating ghost town.

See also: The world's most evocative abandoned churches and chapels

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