Deserted Places

Monday, August 29, 2016

Inside Michael Jackson's abandoned Neverland Ranch

Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos, California, was Michael Jackson's home for 17 years. The King of Pop fell in love with the ranch when he first visited it while Paul McCartney was staying there back in the 80's. He later purchased it in 1988 for a sum variously reported to be 16.5 to 30 million US dollars.

Inside the 3,000 acres ranch, named by Michael Jackson after the fantasy island in the story of Peter Pan, the King of Pop built a private amusement park, two railroads, and a zoo. The amusement park featured a Ferris wheel, Carousel, Zipper, Octopus, Pirate Ship, Wave Swinger, Super Slide, roller coaster, bumper cars, and an amusement arcade. Inside his mansion, Michael Jackson displayed his extensive art collection. The master closet also contained a secret safe room for security.

When in 2003 Michael Jackson was charged with multiple counts of molesting a minor (charges were later dropped), the Neverland Ranch was searched multiple times by police. As a result, Jackson stated he would never live at the property again as he no longer considered the ranch a home. By 2006, the facilities were closed and most of the staff were dismissed.

In 2007, foreclosure proceedings commenced against Neverland Ranch, however Michael Jackson remained the majority stake holder of the property. Until his death in 2009, the King of Pop came close to losing ownership of the ranch multiple times due to debt.

After Michael Jackson's death, the Neverland ranch has remained closed and has fallen into disrepair. The state of California was interested at some point to buy the ranch but those plans fell through. Today, the ranch is being sold for an asking price of 100 million dollars.

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Jonathan Haeber/flickr.com

themeparktourist.com

Thursday, August 25, 2016

The abandoned bathtubs of an Indian city

Gurgaon, is a relatively new and largely privately developed city in northern India and it is littered with bathtubs. A visitor can observe abandoned bathtubs, everywhere: On sidewalks, under trees, in piles of rubble, left at intersections. Some have been converted into plant pots while other have been used as storehouses by street vendors.

Gurgaon resident Namrata Mehta explains on the site brokentoilets.org that bathtubs are being installed in all new houses and apartments in the city as they are considered "an epitome of luxury" and increase their rental or resale value. However, people who buy houses in Gurgaon are ensuring they fit their lifestyles and needs and they do so by replacing the tiles, kitchen walls, or toilets provided by the developer, with new ones.

And like that, new abandoned bathtubs end up in the streets of Gurgaon every day.

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SEE ALSO: More abandoned places in India // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES

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Mamrata Mehta/brokentoilets.org

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Monday, August 22, 2016

An abandoned socialist textile factory in Hungary

This abandoned textile factory was co-founded in 1922 by Elberfelder Textilwerke and the Leipzig Kammgarnspinnerei Stöhr Co, in Budapest, capital of Hungary. The new industry, called Domestic Worsted Spinning and Weaving Factory Ltd., produced worsted wool of ultra-fine quality. The factory survived World War II with only a few direct bomb hits and later became the largest socialist wool plant in the country.

The factory though didn't survive the fall of the Soviet Union. The textile business was privatized in 1990 and liquidated a few years later. Since then, some factory buildings have been rented by smaller enterprises. However, the large factory building has remained abandoned for years.

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Attila Nagy/gizmodo.com

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Monday, August 15, 2016

The abandoned fortified town of Ait-Ben-Haddou in Morocco

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The town of Ait-Ben-Haddou was founded along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakesh in present-day Morocco. The fortified town dates from the 17th century and it's an example of earthen clay architecture, which is also used in Moroccan architecture.

Ait-Ben-Haddou's giant fortification is made up of six forts (Kasbahs) and nearly fifty palaces which are individual forts. The town contains a mosque, two cemeteries (Jewish and Muslim) and a public square. Most reports mention that only 2-8 families live in the ancient city today while most of the population live in a nearby modern village.

Ait-Ben-Haddou has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. Several films and tv series have been shot there including Oedipus Rex, Jesus of Nazareth, The Jewel of the Nile, The Last Temptation of Christ, Gladiator, Babel, Prince of Persia, and Game of Thrones.

* Ait-Ben-Haddou has also been transliterated in English as Aït Benhaddou, Ait Benhaddou, Aït-Ben-Haddou, Ath Benhadu.

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SEE ALSO: More ghost towns around the world // More abandoned places in the desert // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES
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Marco Manzoni/flickr.com

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Youness Noughou/flickr.com

Wonker/Wikimedia Commons

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Monday, August 8, 2016

Inside the abandoned Nazi Olympic village of Berlin

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The 1936 Berlin Olympics hosted in Nazi Germany was home to the first permanent Olympic village in history, which today is the oldest one to be partially still standing.

Built in Wustermark, in the west edge of Berlin, the Olympic village hosted about 4,000 athletes from all over the world, guarded by men in Nazi uniforms. The athletes were impressed by the village, as each house had its own steward and there had never been a swimming pool before at an Olympic village.

Inside the "Restaurant of the Nations", the main eating hall, the athletes consumed 100 cows, 91 pigs, over 650 lambs, 8,000lb of coffee, 150,000lb of vegetables and 160,000 pints of milk during the 3 weeks of the Games. However, no alcohol was not served as Hitler himself was a teetotaler.

After the Olympics, the Olympic village became a hospital during World War II and with the fall of Nazi Germany it was captured by Soviet troops. The Soviets used it as a base for SMERSH torturers and KGB interrogators. Inside the main amphitheater a drawing of Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin overlooks the room where functions and cultural shows were held.

When the Soviets forces abandoned it in 1992, only 25 of the 145 original buildings of the Olympic village were still standing - including the crumbling swimming pool, gym, theater and dining hall. For the next 20 years the village fell in disrepair with most Germans ignoring it due to its connection with Nazism.

Its new owner however, DKB Bank, decided to restore it as an exhibition space. One part that was restored first was the original room of black American athlete Jesse Owens -No 5, in block 39- who became the star of the Games when he won 4 gold medals in front of Hitler, a man that considered him inferior because of his color.

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John MacDougall/ AFP/francetvinfo.fr

Sylvain Margaine/Forbidden-Places/techinsider.io

Roger Allen/dailymail.co.uk

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Monday, August 1, 2016

Beijing's abandoned Olympic venues

To host the 2008 Summer Olympics, China constructed 12 new venues as well as eight temporary ones. Although Beijing received international accolades for its new architectural icons, many venues fell in disrepair after the games as there were no plans for future use.

The largest venue, Beijing's Olympic Stadium, known as 'Bird's nest' costed $471 million to be built which might take China 30 years to pay off. Even though there are plans for it to be used for the 2022 Winter Olympics, again hosted in Beijing, it hasn't been used much since the Olympics. Meanwhile, the Water Cube, as Beijing National Aquatics Center was nicknamed, lost about $1 million in 2011 even after public financial assistance and the addition of a water park.

At the same time, many other venues, like those for kayaking, beach volleyball, BMX, and baseball have been sitting untouched since 2008. In photos, taken the years after the Games, signage and landscaping appear to have gone without maintenance since the closing ceremonies.

Beijing followed in the footsteps of other Olympic cities like Athens and Sochi where sport venues have remained abandoned following the games due to lack of planning.

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