Portrait of a male author wearing a cap and backpack, smiling with a city skyline at sunset in the background.

Diego A.

Abandoned & Failed South America Brazil

The Trans-Amazonian Highway: Brazil's 4,000-Kilometre Road of Death That Failed to Conquer the Amazon

Brazil's military launched history's largest road project in 1970 to conquer the Amazon. 55 years and thousands of deaths later, it never reached Peru.

Read the Article

The Trans-Amazonian Highway: Brazil's 4,000-Kilometre Road of Death That Failed to Conquer the Amazon

Abandoned & Failed

Abandoned & Failed explores places left behind by economic collapse, political ambition, or shifting priorities. These landscapes preserve the physical traces of ambition disrupted by conflict, economics, or miscalculation.

Lago di Resia: The 14th-Century Bell Tower Rising From the Italian Lake That Drowned Two Villages

Abandoned & Failed

Lago di Resia: The 14th-Century Bell Tower Rising From the Italian Lake That Drowned Two Villages

In 1950 the Italian state flooded two South Tyrolean villages to build a dam. Only the 14th-century bell tower of Graun still rises from Lago di Resia.

Portrait of a female author smiling in warm evening light on a city street.

Kayaköy: The Ghost Town Where Two Nations Left and Nobody Came Back

Abandoned & Failed

Kayaköy: The Ghost Town Where Two Nations Left and Nobody Came Back

Six thousand Greeks were marched out of this Lycian hillside village. The Turks sent to replace them refused to stay. A century later, 500 houses stand empty.

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Faro: The Canadian Mining Town That Became a $5 Billion Cleanup Problem

Abandoned & Failed

Faro: The Canadian Mining Town That Became a $5 Billion Cleanup Problem

Faro, Yukon was once home to the world's largest lead-zinc mine. Three owners went bankrupt, and the cleanup bill hit $5 billion. Who's still living there?

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Beelitz-Heilstätten: Germany's Largest Abandoned Sanatorium That Treated Hitler and the Soviet Army

Abandoned & Failed

Beelitz-Heilstätten: Germany's Largest Abandoned Sanatorium That Treated Hitler and the Soviet Army

The German sanatorium that healed Hitler in 1916, hid Honecker in 1991, and held a closed Soviet city in the pines for 50 years — still standing in the forest.

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Maunsell Sea Forts: The Abandoned WWII Towers Still Standing in the Thames Estuary

Abandoned & Failed

Maunsell Sea Forts: The Abandoned WWII Towers Still Standing in the Thames Estuary

Britain built armed forts in the Thames in 1942 and never took them down. They became pirate radio stations, a micronation, and the strangest ruins at sea.

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Varosha: The Mediterranean Resort Frozen Behind Barbed Wire for 50 Years

Abandoned & Failed

Varosha: The Mediterranean Resort Frozen Behind Barbed Wire for 50 Years

39,000 people fled Varosha in August 1974, expecting to return within days. Fifty years later, their hotels still stand behind barbed wire — and no one has gone home.

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Uranium City: Canada's Atomic Ghost Town on the Edge of the World

Abandoned & Failed

Uranium City: Canada's Atomic Ghost Town on the Edge of the World

Canada built a model city in the subarctic to mine uranium for the Cold War. On December 3, 1981, a man in a corporate jet told 5,000 people it was over.

Portrait of a male author wearing a cap and backpack, smiling with a city skyline at sunset in the background.

Houtouwan: The Chinese Fishing Village Swallowed by the Sea of Green

Abandoned & Failed

Houtouwan: The Chinese Fishing Village Swallowed by the Sea of Green

A fishing village 64 km from Shanghai held 2,000 people in the 1980s. By 2002 it was empty. Then the vines arrived, and sealed every window, roof, and door shut.

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Sewell: The Vertical Ghost Town Chile Built for American Copper

Abandoned & Failed

Sewell: The Vertical Ghost Town Chile Built for American Copper

15,000 people lived on a 40-degree cliff with no streets and no cars. Chile emptied Sewell in the 1970s and nearly demolished it. Now it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Portrait of a male author wearing a cap and backpack, smiling with a city skyline at sunset in the background.

Mezhyhirya: Ukraine's $1 Billion Museum of Corruption

Abandoned & Failed

Mezhyhirya: Ukraine's $1 Billion Museum of Corruption

On the morning Yanukovych fled Ukraine by helicopter, activists climbed his estate fence expecting gunfire. What they found became a billion-dollar crime scene.

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Matera: The 9,000-Year-Old Cave City Italy Tried to Erase

Abandoned & Failed

Matera: The 9,000-Year-Old Cave City Italy Tried to Erase

15,000 people were moved out of Matera's ancient caves in the 1950s because the conditions were killing them. Today those caves rent for €400 a night.

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Hart Island: NYC's Secret Cemetery for a Million Forgotten Dead

Abandoned & Failed

Hart Island: NYC's Secret Cemetery for a Million Forgotten Dead

For 150 years, New York City buried its unclaimed dead in mass trenches on a restricted island — dug by prisoners, closed to families. Who lies beneath Hart Island?

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Old Town Al-Ula (Al-Deerah): Saudi Arabia's Abandoned Mudbrick Labyrinth

Abandoned & Failed

Old Town Al-Ula (Al-Deerah): Saudi Arabia's Abandoned Mudbrick Labyrinth

900 mudbrick houses abandoned in the 1980s — built on 3,000 years of forgotten kingdoms. Now Saudi Arabia is spending billions to rebuild what it emptied.

Portrait of a female author smiling in warm evening light on a city street.

Pyramiden: The Soviet Utopia at the Edge of the World

Abandoned & Failed

Pyramiden: The Soviet Utopia at the Edge of the World

Why does the world’s northernmost grand piano sit silent in the freezing High Arctic? Step inside Pyramiden, the abandoned Soviet "utopia" on Svalbard where time stopped in 1998.

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

North Brother Island: New York City's Forbidden Island of Quarantine, Disaster, and Decay

Abandoned & Failed

North Brother Island: New York City's Forbidden Island of Quarantine, Disaster, and Decay

The most infamous quarantine prisoner in history died here alone. The island has been locked, abandoned, and unreachable ever since. Learn about NYC's darkest 20 acres.

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Trending Now

These articles draw the greatest curiosity and attention.

The Colosseum: Rome’s Eternal Arena of Glory, Blood, and Human Drama

The Colosseum: Rome’s Eternal Arena of Glory, Blood, and Human Drama

Hiroshima: The Day the World Changed Forever (Part I)

Hiroshima: The Day the World Changed Forever (Part I)

Palmyra: The Oasis Empire That Defied Rome and the Ancient City ISIS Tried to Erase

Palmyra: The Oasis Empire That Defied Rome and the Ancient City ISIS Tried to Erase