While buildings fall into disrepair all the time, there is something about creepy abandoned places that were once important landmarks or attractions that cast another light. Filled with graffiti, vegetation, and often silence, these places may all have different backstories but are now in the same creepy category. If you want to learn more about these seven creepy abandoned locations around the world, keep reading.
7. Haludovo Palace Hotel, Croatia
Starting our list of creepy abandoned places is the Haludovo Palace Hotel in Croatia. Featuring a futuristic design but a layer of decay, it is hard to place when the hotel was built. In reality, the complex was built on the island of Krk in 1971 with Communist-era architecture. After opening, Haludovo Palace welcomed world leaders and actors for decades until the war hit in the 1990s. The doors closed for good in 2001, but visitors can still walk through the hotel’s skeletal buildings.
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6. Power Plant IM, Belgium
Next up on our list of creepy abandoned places is Power Plant IM in Belgium. One of the biggest locations we’ve compiled, it used to be one of the largest coal-burning power plants in Belgium. The massive cooling tower could cool down 480,000 gallons of water per minute during its prime. However, the plant was responsible for 10 percent of the total carbon dioxide emissions in the country, leading to the plant being shut down in 2007. While no electricity is produced there anymore, the towers still provide beautiful views.
5. Michigan Theatre, Detroit
Fifth on our list of creepy abandoned places is the Michigan Theatre. Constructed in 1926 on the grounds of Henry Ford’s first workshop, the theatre used to feature seven stories, 4,000 seats, and numerous guests. Unfortunately, with the boom of suburban movie theaters and televisions, the theatre closed its doors in 1967. Since then, the theatre has had many purposes until it was turned into a parking garage in the late 1970s, which is still there to this day.
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4. Centralia, Pennsylvania
Our next selection for creepy abandoned places is quite dangerous. Once a bustling coal mining town, Centralia in Pennsylvania is now a near-ghost town. The exodus of the town’s residents came when a mine caught fire in 1962. The flames spread through the tunnels underneath the city, leading to rising temperatures and massive sinkholes on the surface. Today, all that remains are the decrepit buildings and sidewalks, and the occasional smoke from still-burning mines.
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3. Beelitz-Heilstatten Hospital, Germany
Rounding out the top three creepy abandoned places on our list is the Beelitz-Heilstatten Hospital, which has always been sort of creepy. Between 1898 and 1930, the hospital was a tuberculosis sanatorium, also housing mustard gas and machine gun victims during WWI. Later the hospital was a major treatment center for Nazi soldiers in WWII and later aided the Soviets until 1945 and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Today, only a few wards are still used as a neurological rehabilitation center, with the rest left to decay.
2. Lee Plaza Hotel, Detroit
Second on our list of creepy abandoned places is the Lee Plaza Hotel in Detroit. Once a luxurious destination, the hotel fell into disrepair in the wake of America’s turbulent economic and social climate. This is just one of the many buildings in Detroit that have been abandoned as competition from overseas and recessions have diminished Detroit’s former glory.
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1. Buzludzha Monument, Bulgaria
Last but not least on our list of creepy abandoned places is the Buzludzha Monument in Bulgaria. The monument was built toward the end of the Cold War by the Bulgarian communist regime, hoping it would become a headquarters for the Communist Party. Many state functions were held in the space, with prominent men like Lenin and Marx in attendance. The monument was abandoned and closed to the public in 1989, leaving the otherworldly dome to vegetation and decay.
