Haunted towns to visit, from Salem to Pripyat and beyond

Kolmanskop flourished in the early 1900s after diamonds were discovered in the Namib Desert. Wealthy German settlers built lavish homes, a hospital and even a theatre. The boom ended when larger deposits were found elsewhere, and by the 1950s, the settlement was deserted. Today, sand has swallowed much of the town, drifting through the remains of once-grand interiors. The eerie abandonment of a place once synonymous with wealth and ambition explains why it is often linked to haunted towns.

The ruins of Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan are tied to centuries-old tales of curses. According to local legend, the downfall of the fortified town followed a failed sorcerer’s spell, though historians point to famine and conflict as more likely causes of abandonment. Built in the 16th century by Raja Bhagwant Das, the fort once housed markets, temples and royal residences. Today, the emptiness of its crumbling structures, along with government signs warning against entry after dark, has cemented Bhangarh’s place among haunted towns.

Pripyat was established in 1970 to house workers of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It grew into a modern Soviet city with schools, hospitals and leisure facilities. On 26 April 1986, the catastrophic reactor explosion forced the evacuation of its 49,000 residents. The evacuation was abrupt, leaving possessions and entire lives behind. Decades later, the abandoned Ferris wheel, decaying apartments and silent classrooms stand as reminders of nuclear disaster. Visitors often describe the atmosphere of Pripyat as unsettling, making it one of Europe’s most recognised haunted towns.

Founded in the late 1800s, Humberstone thrived during the nitrate boom, when saltpetre was exported worldwide for use in fertiliser and explosives. Harsh working conditions, labour strikes and the eventual collapse of the nitrate industry led to the town’s decline. By the 1960s, it was abandoned. Declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 2005, Humberstone’s derelict theatre, school and mining facilities remain, with stories of apparitions and echoes of past unrest contributing to its reputation among haunted towns.

Bodie began as a mining camp in 1859 and boomed into a thriving gold-rush town by the late 1870s, with more than 60 saloons, frequent shootouts and rampant crime. Its lawlessness was notorious, and fires in 1892 and 1932 destroyed much of the settlement. By the 1940s, Bodie was deserted. Preserved in a state of “arrested decay,” the remnants of its violent and turbulent past—saloons, hotels and homes left as they were—have given Bodie its status as one of North America’s most evocative haunted towns.

This village in Haute-Vienne was the site of a massacre in June 1944, when a Nazi SS division killed 642 residents, including women and children. The village was never rebuilt. Instead, its burned-out buildings, rusting cars and bullet-ridden walls have been preserved as a memorial. The silence of Oradour-sur-Glane, combined with its tragic history, has led to its inclusion among Europe’s most haunting towns.

Also known as Gunkanjima or “Battleship Island,” Hashima was once a bustling coal mining facility. At its peak in the mid-20th century, thousands of workers lived in tightly packed concrete blocks. After the mines closed in 1974, the island was abandoned. Crumbling apartments and collapsed stairways remain as reminders of harsh labour conditions, including the use of forced workers during the Second World War. Its stark ruins and troubled past make it one of Asia’s most striking haunted towns.