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They're hauntingly stunning.
There's something simultaneously eerie and beautiful about abandoned places. You almost feel voyeuristic in a sense — like you're witnessing a very intimate piece of someone else's life.
Though abandoned buildings and towns can often turn decrepit, the following spots (albeit somewhat weathered over time), are some of the most striking we've ever seen.
A drought in south Mexico has caused water levels surrounding this 450-year-old church to drop approximately 80 feet. Though the circumstances aren't exactly something to celebrate, they've allowed the temple that's usually hidden below the water to emerge — a stunning-yet-eerie reminder of how things are not always what they seem.
Located in South Andaman, India, this island was once a British administrative center for the Indian Penal Settlement. However, after it was abandoned it became overgrown with wild Ficus and now it has a stunning Jungle Book vibe.
This theme park was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Murky water rose as high as six feet and salt water damaged 80 per cent of the rides, leaving it too expensive to restore. What's left behind is like the funhouse version of a theme park — and a strangely beautiful monument to the vibrant city once destroyed by tragedy.
While this was once a lush island occupied by many people, in the 1930s it was evacuated because of the threat of starvation and harsh weather. Now, abandoned stone structures are speckled across the fields.
The Berlin Historic District was founded in 1897 as part of the mining boom, but never saw the success of other nearby towns and was largely abandoned by 1911. It's now part of a Nevada State Park.
This town was founded in the Namib desert in 1908 when a man found a diamond in the area, but was abandoned in 1954 after resources were exhausted. The homes that were left are now filled high with sand — a strange, yet striking, sight to behold.
This Scottish castle was built in the mid-1400s and housed some of the most powerful people in the country. However, it was abandoned in the 1700s, and is now one of the most photographed castles, because of it's (obviously) striking location.
A town nestled in the Taurus Mountains was deserted in the 1920s because of a political population exchange with Greece. Today there are around 350 abandoned homes in the city.
This SS Ayrfield was built in 1911 and retired in 1972 in the Homebush Bay, which is west of Sydney and basically a ship graveyard. But it's unique to the other abandoned vessels, because it's since sprouted majestic mangrove trees and greenery.
Located in the Black Forest in Germany, this church was first built in 1192 and has been struck by lightening and burnt up to three times since — which is why it was eventually left in its current form as ruins.
This famous temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, was abandoned after the fall of the empire in the 17th century and — after hundreds of years of neglect — became one with the jungle. Today, the ruins are looked after in order to stabilize and maintain the temple.
This moated castle was built in the 14th century in East Sussex, England by a knight looking to protect the area against the French in the Hundred Years' War. But after surviving several wars, it was abandoned, and today it serves as a tourist attraction that's open to the public.
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