Many people love to hunt the treasure of finding an abandoned place. Some meet their needs through geocaching, while others like to visit abandoned buildings; There is something moving in remembering the things that were lost and abandoned by time.
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However, some of us cannot visit these places personally. This is because these positions are too far away, or just because we don’t know where to look. Fortunately, there is an entire subculture online dedicated to documenting abandoned territories. Here’s a list of great websites on how to find abandoned places wherever you are.
Table of Contents
1. Abandoned places
First, let’s start with a very old website that documents places that were abandoned centuries ago. When we say this site is old, we mean old. It hasn’t been updated since early 2010, so if you’re looking for a digital trip in memory, take a look at escape-places.com.
Although Abandoned Places is an old site and not completely user-friendly, it is very easy to use once you have selected the main navigation wheel. Basically, the entire website is designed to look like a mechanical device. You can click on multiple gears inside the center wheel to identify a new building.
The website also features sites from all over the world, with every post including information and historical photos of those sites whenever possible. An area called The Graffiti Place, includes a description of the size of the ghost town, along with its location and the Scheldt River. The photos documenting are detailed and definitely worth a visit.
If you are looking for other weird, wonderful, and sometimes very old sites, check out our list of the strangest websites you have not seen before.
2. America’s Abandoned
Are you looking for a more modern site with a clear focus? So you need to take a look at Abandoned America, a site created by documentary filmmaker Matthew Christopher.
Over the years, Christopher decided to record the decline of the American Dream. On his dedicated page, he claims to have been fascinated by deserted places since he was a child.
Moreover, he wants to share the stories behind these deserted places and shed light on life disrupted by historical atrocities. One of these horrors was the insane use of sanatoriums in 20th-century America, as ruins spread across the country from coast to coast.
The website also states that some location information has been preserved, due to the fact that these abandoned buildings are privately owned.
Even with this factor at stake, this site is still one of the most comprehensive resources on this list. Paying attention to detail can help satisfy this desire to “find abandoned places near me” without having to go there in person.
3. Urbex Stadium
Are you looking for a website that combines the theme of urban exploration with the history of abandoned buildings? So you need to take a look at Urbex Playground.
With sections dedicated to urban and rural exploration, Urbex and Rurex aim to document abandoned buildings in both high and low density areas.
For each place this site explores, the team films and records the history behind those buildings. They also talk about how these buildings have been abandoned to this day. As such, this site is an excellent source of inspiration and knowledge for writers working on a variety of different topics.
Although Urbex admits that its documentation process is sometimes infringing (an activity we don’t recommend), its meticulous documentation practices and attention to detail should be commended.
4. Freaktography
Looking for a website that’s a little more daring with filming ways of deserting places? So you need to take a look at Freaktography, a website run by an urban explorer.
Beginning in the early 2010s, Freaktography began recording abandoned buildings, ancient ghost towns and posting those photos online. The explorer who runs this site has collected a huge collection of photos on this topic.
He also talks about his exploits on his YouTube channel, Freaktography.
Like other sites on this list, Freaktography strongly urges readers not to follow the photographer’s lead. If you plan to document abandoned places or follow the footsteps of a photographer through a website or app for abandoned places, you must avoid violating private property.
Other deserted places to check
While we visit websites that you can use to learn about abandoned places, there are also a variety of individual blog posts that cover the topic as well. We have compiled a list of the most relevant.
- Dado has a publication entitled “Poetry of Forgotten Places” with a photo gallery.
- Web Urbanist has a blog post on over 100 abandoned buildings, places and properties. It describes in detail a series of deserted areas and ancient ghost towns.
- In Russian English, you can read a post full of pictures called abandoned trains of the Soviet era. It is ideal for anyone who wants to search for old things that are not buildings.
- Kathmandu and Beyond have a list of abandoned places that they have explored.
- Urban75 also has a section with many old photos describing old trains and railway stations in detail.
Again, all of these links are really interesting to check out.
Find abandoned places near your home
Now that you are aware of this set of websites dedicated to the topic of exploring abandoned places, you can start to look at some of them for yourself. Perhaps you could also use the idea of urban exploration as a starting point for a new project that you intend to research.
