The Disappearing Aral Sea

Over one hundred ships are mysteriously abandoned in this desert in central Asia. You rub your eyes, but it’s not an optical illusion; no water as far as the eye can see. This desert is like any other, aside from the empty landlocked fishing ports, rusted ships frozen in sand, and former island with abandoned biological weapon facility. Actually, fifty years ago this “desert” wasn’t a desert at all. It was the fourth-largest lake in the world and supported a fishing industry that produced 50,000 tons of catch and fed over 100,000 people across nine countries. But after five decades of abuse, the ecosystem collapsed and the water retreated. Entire cities watched their economies vanish as the ships ran aground. Then the residents fled. Today the Aral Sea has lost 85% of its volume. In its place: A toxic and unforgiving new desert.

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Abandoned Venice: The Ospedale al Mare

Sometimes Interesting

This once proud hospital served the people of the Lido for over seventy years. The Ospedale al Mare was a product of alternative thought in medicine with an Italian twist. An innovative healthcare center, it was the only tuberculosis treatment center in the world which offered patients hydrotherapy, heliotherapy, beaches, and operas. While fine arts and ocean spray may have helped patients, they couldn’t help the hospital. By the turn of the century a lack of funding and the condition of the now-antiquated facilities were key factors in its ultimate closure. Files and records were left behind when it was improperly abandoned in 2003; over a decade later, it still hasn’t seen use.

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Buried from the public: Hart Island, New York

Sometimes Interesting

At first glance this modest island in New York appears unremarkable. The 131-acre dark speck of land has crumbling buildings, is off-limits to the public, and has not been occupied for the last forty years. Area residents might know of Long Island Sound’s Hart Island, but few are familiar with its long-standing mission as the largest – and least visited – burial ground in the United States.

For one hundred and fifty years the island has also been home to a prisoner of war camp, an insane asylum, a quarantine facility, a tuberculosis sanatorium, a boy’s reformatory, a disciplinary barracks, a Nike Ajax missile base, and a narcotics rehabilitation center.

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Abandoned Nuclear Project: Marble Hill, Indiana

Sometimes Interesting

Thirty five miles northeast of Louisville, Kentucky on the Indiana side of the Ohio River, a 987-acre property with crumbling structures sits abandoned. The land is the former site of the Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station, an unfinished plant which would have been the only operational nuclear power-generating facility in Indiana. But construction was halted – then completely abandoned – in 1984. Skyrocketing construction costs ultimately doomed the project. A change in social attitudes toward nuclear energy, increasing liabilities for the operator, and an internal scandal all helped contribute to the largest failed capital spending project in Indiana state history.

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The Dome Home of Cape Romano, Florida

Sometimes Interesting

Five miles south of Marco Island near Naples, Florida, six igloo-shaped buildings appear to slowly march into the sea. The deteriorating domes of Cape Romano have been rumored to be the work of extra-terrestrials, a community home of a secret cult, or a clandestine research facility protected by guards with machine guns. In truth it was a cutting edge home, designed and built by an enigmatic visionary with an eye for the eco-friendly and a goal of minimizing his carbon footprint. Abandoned in the early 1990s, Cape Romano’s Dome Home has endured several hurricanes and tropical storms – but it has been unable to win the war against erosion.

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Dogs of the Special Forces

Sometimes Interesting

The Jagdkommandos are a Special Operations Group of the Austrian armed forces. These soldiers “train for operations in the most difficult terrain and weather conditions and extreme risk situations and climatic conditions.” The second training division of the Austrian special operations group – that of parachutist proficiency – was at one time was a human-only affair. These days the humans are joined by Belgian Shepherds, who have also taken on roles as paratroopers in Afghanistan and improvised explosive device (IED) sniffers in Iraq. The dogs trained to detect explosives and have become some of NATO’s best bomb detectors.

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Derinkuyu & The Underground Cities of Cappadocia

Sometimes Interesting

Derinkuyu Underground City Anatolia Turkey

In 1963, a man in the Nevşehir Province of Turkey knocked down a wall of his home. Behind it, he discovered a mysterious room. The man continued digging and soon discovered an intricate tunnel system with additional cave-like rooms. What he had discovered was the ancient Derinkuyu underground city, part of the Cappadocia region in central Anatolia, Turkey. The elaborate subterranean network included discrete entrances, ventilation shafts, wells, and connecting passageways. It was one of dozens of underground cities carved from the rock in Cappadocia thousands of years ago. Hidden for centuries, Derinkuyu‘s underground city is the deepest.

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Forest Haven Asylum: Abandoned Home for the Abandoned

Sometimes Interesting

Welcome to Forest Haven, one of the most deadly institutions in the United States. This asylum for the mentally ill was built not far the nation’s capital in 1925, hidden in forested acreage away from the busy city center. The campus was beautiful, however care and treatment would deteriorate rapidly as the city’s budget tightened. Under-staffing issues were common, and for decades reports of resident abuse and neglect went ignored. The District treated Forest Haven like a dark secret nobody wanted to discuss. A combination of budget cuts and lawsuits eventually forced the institution to close in 1991 after 80 years. But before Forest Haven was shuttered, hundreds of residents died and thousands more deteriorated while enduring a horrific quality of life.

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