Prior to 1990, Semipalatinsk (today known as Semey) was one of the numerous closed cities of the Soviet Union. Only high-ranking officials of the politburo knew about the going-ons within these... »

Disaster Areas | Edited by Tawsam and Rachel

Sarez Lake is a mountain lake deep in the inaccessible Pamir Mountains of Central Tajikistan. The lake was created in 1911, when an earthquake, estimated at 7.0 at the Richter Scale, and a... »

Natural Wonders, Watery Wonders, Geological Oddities, Disaster Areas | Edited by Tawsam

About a decade ago, an Italian real estate promoter built a large resort on the shore of Corsica’s Cala Longa beach. It ran for two years before a sudden bombing destroyed the property.... »

Crime and Punishment, Disaster Areas, Odd Accommodations, Incredible Ruins | Edited by katiebaker4

La Burle is a wild highland, sparsely populated, with a harsh environment. It also holds the French record of unexplained aircraft accidents. Bounded by Mt. Pilat, Mount Mézenc, and the town of... »

Martian Landscapes, Will-O-Wisps and Spooklights, Disaster Areas | Edited by katiebaker4 and Rachel

When you first drive by this ominous building sitting in a field visible from the freeway, it appears to be out of place. Obviously abandoned, as evidenced by the vegetation emerging from the... »

Crime and Punishment, Disaster Areas, Incredible Ruins | Edited by Rachel

On a wet and windy night in late November 1944, a US Navy plane crashed into Mount Tamalpais and killed eight aviators and crew. The aircraft had taken off from Naval Air Station in Alameda when... »

Disaster Areas, Incredible Ruins | Edited by Duck_Muscle, Annetta and others

Imagine an American-centric, worst nightmare portrayal of the peak of the Cold War. It probably looks a little like hazard-suited Soviets, tinkering with terrifying diseases we long thought were... »

Intriguing Environs, Disaster Areas | Edited by atimian, Dylan and others

Hearing the story of Fresh Kills Landfill can be disheartening, but it ends on a positive note. Opened in 1947, the garbage dump on Staten Island grew so large over the second half of the 21st... »

Intriguing Environs, Disaster Areas | Edited by atimian and Dylan

At the end of the 19th century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania was just a small mining town, unknown to practically everyone across the country. But one rainy day in 1889 changed everything.... »

Museums and Collections, Disaster Areas | Edited by yamsaynot, atimian and others

In 2005, while uncovering mass plague graves on Venetian island of Lazzaretto Nuovo, workers made a strange discovery: The skull of a woman, with a brick jammed into her mouth. The hundreds of... »

Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Disaster Areas | Edited by Annetta and dthuras