Abandoned to their fate, countless homes around the world have lost the battle against the forces of nature, whether they’ve been consumed by the desert, swallowed by the sea, decimated by storms or engulfed by greenery. Click or scroll through these jaw-dropping pictures that show just how fragile our dwellings really are when pitched against the power of Mother Earth…
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Kayaköy ghost town, Fethiye, Turkey
This deserted village sits in the western part of Turkey, just across the water from Greece. Since the 14th century, Anatolian Muslims and Greek Orthodox Christians lived side by side here, until conflict drove the two communities apart and reduced the hillside to a ghost town.
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Kayaköy ghost town, Fethiye, Turkey
In 1923, at the end of the second Greco-Turkish War, a strange population swap took place. As part of the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey’s Christian residents and Greece’s Muslim citizens were forcibly exchanged and expelled from their homes, in a move that ensured each country had only one dominant religion. Kayaköy was deserted for good and left to become overrun with vegetation and wildlife.
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Kayaköy ghost town, Fethiye, Turkey
Today, Kayaköy is a popular site for tourists. A few of the homes have since been restored, but for the most part, this once-thriving village remains a ghostly shell of its former self, destined to fascinate all who wander through its overgrown streets.
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Wamberal, New South Wales, Australia
Owning a beachfront home on the glistening shoreline of New South Wales, Australia, might sound like the dream, but thanks to rising sea levels, coastal erosion and an increasingly unreliable climate, the residents of Wamberal now have a nightmare on their hands…
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Wamberal, New South Wales, Australia
Located just north of Sydney, the coastal suburb is slowly losing the fight against the forces of nature. As ferocious storms and aggressive waves have battered its shores, the land beneath these once-desirable beach houses has been whittled away, leaving them exposed to the elements and at risk of crumbling into the ocean.
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Wamberal, New South Wales, Australia
Since the 70s, huge storms have been eating away at the coast here, and many have already been swallowed up by the sea. Today, some of the homes are balanced on a knife’s edge strip of land, while others have already begun to slouch into the ocean. Locals recently accused the region’s authorities of stalling over a proposed seawall that could help to defend the remaining properties from further deterioration.
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Abandoned Craftsman home, Alabama, USA
Designed to sit in harmony with its natural surroundings, this charming Craftsman home in Alabama, USA, is now somewhat ironically being taken back by Mother Nature. Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast battled through the undergrowth to capture the neglected Arts and Crafts beauty, which was once a treasured local landmark.
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Abandoned Craftsman home, Alabama, USA
The property was designed in 1915 by an Atlanta-based architect for a wealthy local family. Positioned on the site of a former plantation, the two-storey farmhouse is now enveloped by trees and dense overgrowth.
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Abandoned Craftsman home, Alabama, USA
Inside, many of the rooms are not only overflowing with personal effects but wayward branches and vines too. Broken windows and cracks in the roof have also led to significant water damage and a serious damp problem. We hope one day this mysterious abandoned Craftsman will be restored to its former glory.
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Villa Massoni, Tuscany, Italy
You might ask yourself the obvious question: if you had such a regal residence in Tuscany, one of the most beautiful regions in the world, why would you ever abandon it? Yet sadly, this dilapidated dream home has been uninhabited for decades and has gradually been reclaimed by the undergrowth.
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Villa Massoni, Tuscany, Italy
Known as Villa Massoni, the crumbling stately home sits on a prominent hillside plot and was a long-standing symbol of aristocratic power. Now on the verge of being swallowed up by the surrounding vegetation, the property found itself at the centre of a shocking news story back in 2017…
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Villa Massoni, Tuscany, Italy
The historic estate belonged to two brothers, Marco and Piero Casonato. In 2017, the siblings got into a furious argument over the future of the villa, which saw Marco climb into his car and run over his brother, killing him. He was sentenced to 18 years behind bars, according to Repubblica. Who knew that the story of Villa Massoni would end so brutally?
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Al Madam, Sharjah, UAE
Over the years, the village of Al Madam in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, has slowly been swallowed up by the desert. Located less than an hour from Dubai, the former settlement is now an abandoned ghost town with the rooflines of deserted homes just visible beneath the seemingly endless sand dunes.
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Al Madam, Sharjah, UAE
The hamlet once offered two rows of houses with a mosque situated at one end. Over time, each building has been engulfed by sand, which has poured through windows, overtaken gardens and swept away beloved possessions. In some of the homes, you can still see personal effects that were clearly abandoned in haste, leading many to believe the village is haunted.
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Al Madam, Sharjah, UAE
Thought to have been built in the 1970s, superstitious locals believe that Al Madam’s fate was down to an evil genie, however, others think its downfall was more likely due to fierce sandstorms. Left deserted for more than 30 years, many visitors still make the trip to Al Madam to witness the remnants of the community.
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Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers, Vienne, France
Like something out of a fairytale, the romantic ruins of Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers can be found in the heart of France’s breathtaking Loire Valley. Dating back to the 13th century, when it was the seat of the aristocratic Bauçay family, the moated château was captured twice by English forces during the Medieval period and devastated following the French Revolution of 1789.
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Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers, Vienne, France
The château was then the home of the affluent Lejeune family, until one fateful day in 1932. Baron Edgar Lejeune attempted to install an innovative central heating system inside the building, but a catastrophic fire broke out and destroyed many of the home’s spectacular rooms. The blaze instantly turned this 19th-century marvel into a living ruin.
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Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers, Vienne, France
Over the decades, what remains of the grand estate has been taken over by Mother Nature, with trees rising up amongst the turrets and undergrowth making a home for itself within the château’s walls. However, a group called the Friends of the Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers has since raised money to help preserve the abandoned stately home in all her overgrown glory and it’s since been opened up to the public.
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Houtouwan, Shengshan Island, China
This picture, taken in June 2018, shows a forgotten village on Shengshan Island in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. The former homes have been engulfed by vegetation and are now ghostly green outlines of their former selves.
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Houtouwan, Shengshan Island, China
Once upon a time, Houtouwan was a thriving fishing community of over 2,000 fishermen, with 500 family homes formed from sturdy brick built across the slopes of this mountainous island.
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Houtouwan, Shengshan Island, China
However, due to its remote location, residents started moving away from the outpost in the 1990s and its streets soon fell silent. Now eerily abandoned, entire houses have been consumed by the overgrowth, returning to nature once more.
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Pacifica, California, USA
Living life on the edge, the unlucky residents of these ocean-facing homes on Esplanade Avenue in Pacifica, California, got the shock of their lives in January 2016. Already plagued by severe coastal erosion and battling for survival against the sea, Mother Nature was about to make things a whole lot worse.
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Pacifica, California, USA
Following a run of violent El Niño storms, the ground beneath several apartment blocks was washed into the sea, leaving many teetering on the verge of collapse, while others were all but lost to the ocean.
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Pacifica, California, USA
The city declared a state of emergency and all residents at risk were evacuated immediately. Sadly, many ended up losing their homes to the all-powerful Pacific, with a number of buildings condemned and later demolished.
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Vilano Beach, Florida, USA
California isn’t the only American state grappling with relentless coastal erosion. Florida also has its fair share of issues when it comes to receding shorelines, most notably in Vilano Beach. Positioned in an exposed location on Florida’s Atlantic shoreline, the homes in this community are in serious jeopardy.
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Vilano Beach, Florida, USA
Perched precariously on the shoreline, every time a hurricane or tropical storm hits, the residents of Vilano Beach worry whether their vacation homes will end up being claimed by the ocean, and many dwellings have already succumbed to these potent forces of nature.
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Vilano Beach, Florida, USA
Hurricane Matthew was especially devastating and saw untold damage wreaked on homes along the coast, with walls and roofs stripped away and some homes collapsing.
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Fir tree house, Hemsedal, Norway
Left alone while nature takes its course, this long-abandoned cottage is now home to several spruce trees that have reclaimed the rundown structure as their own.
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Fir tree house, Hemsedal, Norway
Rustic farmhouses with turf roofs are common in the Norwegian countryside, but they don’t tend to be as overgrown as this beauty in Hemsedal.
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Fir tree house, Hemsedal, Norway
How the abandoned tiny home came to be vacated and intertwined with nature is something of a mystery – we wonder what happened to the last inhabitants of this derelict country cabin…
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Holland Island, Maryland, USA
The last house standing on the rapidly-eroding Holland Island in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, this ramshackle home is said to have been built in 1888.
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Holland Island, Maryland, USA
A bustling community of fishermen and their families lived on the island in the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries. However, residents battled with the eroding shoreline for decades, and the last family reportedly left in 1918 when a storm all but destroyed the local church.
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Holland Island, Maryland, USA
One by one, the Atlantic claimed the abandoned homes, but the island’s last house stayed standing until October 2010, when a fierce storm sadly finished the structure off for good.
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Sudlersville Vine House, Maryland, USA
As far as spooky abandoned houses go, this one takes some beating. Located in Sudlersville on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the building has been empty for many decades.
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Sudlersville Vine House, Maryland, USA
Aptly nicknamed Sudlersville Vine House, the once-regal mansion has been engulfed by ivy. Positioned on a sprawling acreage, the eerie property is enough to send shivers down the spines of any passersby.
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Sudlersville Vine House, Maryland, USA
Despite its deteriorating state, the beauty of this Colonial-style home can still be seen. Why it still stands abandoned in a forgotten rural corner of Maryland is a mystery – we certainly wouldn’t want to stumble upon it on a dark night.
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Hemsby, Norfolk, UK
Perched on the edge of an eroding shoreline, these coastal homes in the British town of Hemsby in Norfolk didn’t stand a chance when Mother Nature hit them with one of the worst storms in living memory back in 2013. Seven properties were decimated beyond repair and scores more were seriously damaged.
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Hemsby, Norfolk, UK
Years later in March 2018 when the ‘Beast from the East’ storm struck, the village was one of the worst affected spots on the Norfolk coast. During the tempest, a total of 13 clifftop homes in an area of the seafront called The Marrams were left uninhabitable.
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Hemsby, Norfolk, UK
At the moment, around 20 homes are under immediate threat of collapsing into the sea and a further 100 have been deemed vulnerable. Luckily, plans are afoot to construct a multimillion-pound rock berm defence system to protect the village.
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Zalissya, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine
The village of Zalissya is located in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and has been out of bounds to the general public since the infamous nuclear accident in 1986.
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Zalissya, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine
Buildings in the toxic town are completely void of life. Like other homes in Ukraine’s deathly silent Exclusion Zone, they’ve become time capsules of the mid-1980s Soviet Union.
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Zalissya, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine
Nature has pretty much taken over here, and in recent years the local wildlife population has been thriving. While guided tours are now permitted in the Chernobyl area, the village still lies dormant, as though waiting for its residents to return.
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Gagra, Abkhazia, Georgia
One of the world’s most disputed territories, the partially-recognised Black Sea state of Abkhazia has been in turmoil since the breakup of the Soviet Union and Georgia’s subsequent civil war, which saw many people flee from their homes.
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Gagra, Abkhazia, Georgia
As a result, the state is awash with abandoned, overgrown buildings, including this crumbling mansion in the town of Gagra. Its once-grand arched windows have now been reduced to empty, gaping holes and vines are engulfing the structure.
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Gagra, Abkhazia, Georgia
Seemingly destined to return to nature, derelict houses like this forlorn ruin pepper the tumultuous region, a reminder of the civil war that raged here from 1992 to 1993.
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Hull, Massachusetts, USA
Located on a peninsula at the southern edge of Boston Harbor in Massachusetts, Hull is a town celebrated for its beaches, seafood and views of the Boston skyline. Yet its exposed position also means the town has become synonymous with spectacular weather spells.
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Hull, Massachusetts, USA
A huge storm hit Hull one weekend in late January 2005. The area was covered with ice, causing major damage to properties and businesses as it melted and refroze in the month’s biting temperatures. The buildings along the town’s oceanfront resembled sculptures, completely coated in sub-zero frost.
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Hull, Massachusetts, USA
Yet this overwhelming storm was just one of many to take over this normally picturesque coastal community. Over the years, destructive high tidal surges, mass flooding and bitter winds have battered the homes that sit along the community’s beaches. Regularly attacked by Mother Nature, it may not be long before these waterfront homes give in to their fate.
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Skipsea, East Yorkshire, UK
The village of Skipsea in East Yorkshire, UK, is gradually being consumed by the ocean. Located on Britain’s east coast, the small community was once a thriving spot for holidaymakers, but over the decades, mass erosion has eaten away at the coastline, leaving many of the homes at risk of tumbling into the sea.
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Skipsea, East Yorkshire, UK
In 2020, The Guardian confirmed that Skipsea is part of the fastest-eroding coastline in northern Europe and in January of this year, the residents were warned that their homes could be lost forever in less than 12 months.
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Skipsea, East Yorkshire, UK
Highlighting the devastating consequences of rising sea levels and climate-related super storms, Skipsea lost more than 32 feet of cliffside across a two-mile stretch of coast in just nine months. With the village’s residents facing imminent upheaval, these beachfront homes may no longer exist by Christmas 2021.
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Union Beach, New Jersey, USA
Nestled on the coast just south of New York City, the community of Union Beach is exposed to the temperamental North Atlantic Ocean. No stranger to storms and strong winds, the coastal town found itself facing unprecedented damage in late 2012.
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Union Beach, New Jersey, USA
Superstorm Sandy hit the east coast of America in October 2012, destroying countless homes and businesses, including the popular Princess Cottage Inn, which has now become known as ‘The Half House’. In the aftermath of the storm, the town’s community struggled to recover and relied heavily on donations to see them through the difficult winter months.
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Union Beach, New Jersey, USA
According to the town’s administrator, it’s thought that around 85% of homes in Union Beach were damaged, with roughly $6.3 million (£4.7m) spent on removing debris and attempting to salvage possessions. In 2019, Curbed reported that more than 350 homes had been rebuilt or raised off the ground on stills in the hopes of protecting them from flood damage in the years to come.
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Kolmanskop, Namib, Namibia
As spine-tingling as it is fascinating, Kolmanskop in Namibia is one of the world’s most haunting ghost towns. The community was founded in the early 1900s after a local railway worker discovered diamonds in the area’s sand dunes. Unsurprisingly, hordes of miners descended on Kolmanskop, building homes to live in while they hunted for glistening gems.
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Kolmanskop, Namib, Namibia
The town quickly became an opulent outpost and had everything from a bakery, butchers and post office to an ice cream factory and a railway. Yet intensive mining following the First World War soon depleted the area’s resources, so when a new diamond field was discovered to the south, the town’s residents packed up and left, abandoning their homes and their possessions.
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Kolmanskop, Namib, Namibia
By 1956, Kolmanskop was completely empty and the area’s once-abundant dunes steadily reclaimed the man-made structures, bursting through windows and doors and filling the abandoned houses with waves of sand. Now a tourist destination, this eerie ghost town is a sad reminder of the power of nature.
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