Abandoned Places In The World | Hacker News Reader

Abandoned Places In The World

dirjournal.com

64 pointsabsconditus18 comments

Maybe it's just that I'm in the U.S. but I found the story of Centralia, Penn. pretty fascinating. To think they had a fire burning underneath them for almosts 20 years and were completely unaware.

There was a documentary made that was apparently just released on May 19th of this year (http://www.amazon.com/Town-That-Was-John-Lokitis/dp/B00208GJ...).

Check out this picture from their filming: http://www.thetownthatwas.com/assets/0000/0802/setting-up-in... And 11 people still choose to live there. Crazy.

I'd bet that there are quite a few places like this in the US. Check out Times Beach, MO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_beach

That's certainly disturbing too but what baffles me about the Centralia thing is the fact that it was a fire and it was right underneath their feet. I mean, Coal burns at 2800 degrees Fahrenheit and that's what was burning underneath them FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS.

I mean think about that. Coal mines usually top out at about 500 feet below the surface. So let me put that in perspective. The Sears Tower has 110 stories and stands 1450 fit. So this would be like standing on the 36th floor while a 2800 degree fire burned on the first floor and not even knowing anything about it.

It's crazy.

I'm not trying to minimize what happened in Centralia. It does seem completely crazy.

Dirt can absorb a LOT of heat. If you had to put out a fire, and you didn't have any water, you'd throw some dirt on it, right? We are all standing on a big ball of fire, anyway.

Having worked next door to the Sears Tower for several years, I can tell you that's a lot of dirt, distributed over the entire area of the fires. The only thing that surprises me is that it took so long for the effects to be recognized.

By comparison the carcinogens in Times Beach were on the surface and therefore easily measurable.

>> Dirt can absorb a LOT of heat. If you had to put out a fire, and you didn't have any water, you'd throw some dirt on it, right? We are all standing on a big ball of fire, anyway. <<

The fire is extinguished by throwing dirt because of lack of oxygen, not because the dirt "absorbs" heat.

We're talking about different phenomena. < Oxygen = < Fire, but > dirt & minerals = < perception of underground fire.

I find it interesting that this page says that it is "protected by COPYSCAPE do not copy" (plagiarism will be detected by copyscape)

It also says it was "Written by Anastasia on June 17th, 2009".

And yet... Much of the copy on Kowloon Walled City was lifted from Wikipedia. For example this passage:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City

The streets were illuminated by fluorescent lights, as sunlight rarely reached the lower levels. There were only two rules for construction: electricity had to be provided to avoid fire, and the buildings could be no more than fourteen stories high, because of the nearby airport. Eight municipal pipes provided water to the entire structure (although more could have come from wells).

At the end of the post however, it does mention "This post was prepared using Wikipedia."

It's blog spam. Created expressly for Reddit, because that stuff always gets voted up there.

Ah, I see.

That's true; I missed it on the last page... and at least the photos are credited well.

I wish my teachers in school would have let me say something was written by me but "prepared using the Encyclopedia Britannica" when it's a total cut and paste job.

Crediting a photo is one thing; using it without permission is another.

Very neat stuff. Places like that have always fascinated me. I will never forget the website Kiddofspeed (http://www.kiddofspeed.com/) that I stumbled upon a few years back. A woman travels through the Chernobyl area and documents it. Very fascinating pictures and stories.

i stumbled across the same site awhile back and was dissapointed the whole thing (appears to be) a hoax..

from an ny times article:

About two years ago, Mr. Tatarchuk said, a Ukrainian woman booked a tour, wore a leather biker jacket and posed for pictures. Soon there appeared a Web site in which the woman, using the name Elena, claimed that she had been given an unlimited pass by her father, a nuclear physicist and Chernobyl researcher ("Thank you, Daddy!" she wrote) and now roamed the ruins at will on her Kawasaki Big Ninja.

source http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/international/europe/15che...

Hoax, yes, but a very good story.

Oh wow, thanks for sharing. :) As the last person stated, even though it is a hoax, there are still wonderful stories packed inside. I'd recommend it still to anyone.

I wonder who owns these places.

In every case I know and I suspect in every other case the answer is "The Government". I'll run down the ones I know...

Gunkanjima, Japan: Owned by the city of Nagasaki but work is being done to turn it over to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

San Zhi (or the Pod City): It was originally commisioned by the Taiwanese government so it's always belonged to them.

Pripyat, Ukraine: Obviously owned by the U.S.S.R. before the collapse. I have no reason to believe it wasn't turned over to the newly formed nation of Ukraine along with all the other land belonging to the ancient nation of Rus'

Kadykchan, Russia: Russia evacuated the citizens which means they took control of the land.

Centralia, United States: Congress provided "buy out" packages for the Residents so it's owned by the Federal Government (with the exception of the 11 people who still own their land and live there)

Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong: Though Hong Kong is self governing for the most part it's still considered part of China and there's no private land in China so it's owned by...you guessed it...China

Oradour-sur-Glane, France: It's an official memorial site designated by the Government of France.

Kolmanskuppe, Namibia: As the article says it's owned by the De Beers group (the diamond company)

Humberstone, Chile: turned over to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Wittenoom, Australia: No idea, I'd assume it's considered Government land but there are still 8 people living there who obviously own their own land. As the article says it's been removed from all official maps so it's not even really a place anymore.

Agdam,Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union had no private land so it became owned by the nation of Azerbaijan after the collapse. It was destroyed in the Nagorno-Karabakh War which was raging pre-USSR collapse and ended post-USSR collapse so it wasn't in a position to be purchased by anyone else before it was destroyed.

Varosha, Cyprus and the Two sites in Italy: I have no idea. They were deserted by their residents so I assume they reverted back to their respective governments but both nations allow for the ownership of private land so in theory someone could still own parts of it.

Bodie State park, California: Owned by the U.S. Federal Government as a National Historic Landmark

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