One thing that I firmly believe all human beings share is our inner yearning for adventure. We might try and satisfy this calling with good movies, awesome video games, or top-tier tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons (as a Dungeon Master of several years, I’m guilty of this). However, at the end of the day, there’s no real substitute for going out into the field with your own two feet and starting your very own adventure going into the abandoned and mysterious corners of the Earth.
There’s an awesome community on Reddit that documents gorgeous abandoned things and places. With nearly 1.2 million members, they post high-quality images that evoke all of our inner wanderlust. While we’d love to mention their name, our Social Media Overlords don’t take kindly to one of the words in the subreddit’s title, so a link right to their community will have to do! Go on and have a gander once you’re done with this list, they really are worth your attention.
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Remember to upvote your fave pics as you scroll on down, dear Pandas! And be sure to let everyone know if you, just like me, get that burning desire to go on a real-life adventure after looking at these gorgeous photos.
#1 Sintra, Portugal
Image credits: reddit.com
#2 Railroad Tracks In Forest
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#3 Found This Beautiful Tree Growing Inside An Abandoned Silo While I Was Exploring
Image credits: reddit.com
Taking beautiful photos of abandoned places means exploring abandoned places. That might sound obvious, but it sure isn’t easy.
Urban exploration (aka Urbex or UE) is a fascinating but difficult hobby to get into. While we’d just love to put on a pair of dirty old sneakers and rush off to a dungeon or some Elvish ruins, we really do have to consider our safety first and foremost. Precautions come first and foremost.
#4 Found An Old Abandoned Diner While Driving Down Some Back Roads
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#5 Abandoned Gothic Church In Portugal
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#6 Japanese WWII Warplane Lies Wrecked In Shallow Water Off Guam
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Wearing gloves, getting a pair of thick shoes, and bringing a dust mask are all a must. You should also invest in a torch, put on heavy clothing, and consider wearing a helmet. Whether fashionably medieval or something more modern, anything that covers your head is a must. And for you ghost-believing fans of the ‘Supernatural’ TV show, bring a pocketful of salt. Just in case you meet some spooks.
Becoming an urban explorer means doing a bit of research, engaging with local Urbex communities a tad, and maybe even getting some basic gear to get you started before you go delving for doubloons and looking for magical artifacts beneath the rubble.
#7 Abandoned Asylum In Italy That Has Been Touched By Bob Ross
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#8 Abandoned Stairway In The Woods: Madame Sherri Forest, Chesterfield, Nh
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#9 Turkey’s $200 Million Ghost Town Of Castles – Burj Al Babas
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Unlike a lot of hobbies that have a ‘just do it’ mindset, urban exploration demands that you prepare in advance so you don’t get hurt or, God forbid, get stuck or even killed.
One Urbex community in the UK that calls itself 28 Days Later (yes, just like the 2002 zombie movie) suggests doing research about the place you’re going to visit, then going in and taking some photos, getting your feet wet (metaphorically and maybe even literally). In their opinion, Urbex is all about joining a community.
#10 Abandoned Castle In Ireland Country
Image credits: reddit.com
#11 House Abandoned And Retaken By The Desert In California
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#12 Light Rays Making Their Way Into An Abandoned Theater
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Being part of the urban exploration community means engaging with others, going to public Urbex meetings, and even teaming up with strangers from the internet that you learn to trust. Of course, all of this has become even more difficult what with the global pandemic and lockdowns: you have to consider your health and the health of your loved ones before meeting up with anyone outside your social bubble.
#13 Abandoned French Chapel
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#14 This Hotel In Europe
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#15 Popcorn Left In A Theater
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On the flip side, having someone by your side while you’re walking about abandoned, ruined places is vital. Sure, you could go it alone, but there’s safety in numbers: if somebody gets hurt, falls down, or if the ceiling caves in, you can help each other out or rush for help.
#16 Ms World Discoverer Was A German Expedition Cruise Ship. It Hit A Uncharted Reef In The Sandfly Passage, Solomon Islands 29. April 2000
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#17 Abandoned 50’s Restaurant
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#18 The Eerie Yellow Brick Road Of Abandoned “Land Of Oz” Theme Park In North Carolina
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#19 Abandoned Duesenberg
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#20 Abandoned Presidents Heads In A Rural Virginia Field
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#21 Abandoned Party Mansion Deep In The Maryland Forest
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So having someone you trust ‘watching your 6’ is something that you should take very, very seriously (while also staying safe because Covid-19 won’t be going away any time soon). Adventuring is about the friends we make along the way, not just brilliant photos and weird loot that we find in secret chambers.
#22 1930s Era Abandoned Orient Express Train
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#23 Abandoned 400-Year-Old Estate In Italy That Was Home To The Youngest Sister Of Napoleon Bonaparte
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#24 A Crumbling Sea Fortress In Peloponnese, Greece
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Something that you should also consider is, well, even if a place is abandoned, it’s still somebody’s property. You might be trespassing. We’re definitely not telling you to trespass and break the law. However, if you feel that the call of adventure is too great to ignore, remember to be considerate and treat any buildings you visit like you would your own home: you’re just a visitor here for some photos and camaraderie.
#25 This Cave Full Of Old Cars
Image credits: reddit.com
#26 Abandoned Funeral Home
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#27 16 Mile Hike To An Abandoned Train Track Bridge In California
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#28 SS City Of Adelaide, Wrecked Off The Coast Of Magnetic Island
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#29 Radioactive Cars From The Fukushima Disaster Slowly Being Eaten By Nature
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#30 The Remains Of A Crashed P-38 Lightning On A Beach In Wales
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So, dear Readers, which photos were your favorite ones? Have you ever delved into abandoned buildings before? Do you have any extra safety tips for all of us that you’d like to share? Got any exciting tales about your adventures and exploring abandoned places, whether in real-life or in tabletop games? Drop us a comment or two below and be part of the conversation.
#31 Norway, The Country Of Fairy Tales
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#32 This Hotel Swimming Pool
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#33 A Library Inside An Abandoned 19th Century Mansion
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#34 Fall Colors From An Abandoned Minnesota Fire Watch Tower
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#35 The New World Mall, In Bangkok, Was Closed In 1997 After It Was Found To Have Breached Building Regulations
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#36 This Casino In Romania
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#37 Abandoned “Planet Express”. Liege, Belgium
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#38 Abandoned Railroad Tracks In Forest
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#39 An Abandoned German Tank Located In Veines, Norway
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#40 This Truck I’m About To Buy, Parked And Forgotten For 26 Years
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#41 Crossville Tennessee
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#42 New York’s Abandoned Castle
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#43 This Castle In Spain
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#44 Abandoned Gas Station. Janesville, Wi
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#45 Abandoned Swinger’s Tiki Palace Overlooking Chattanooga
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#46 Russian Space Shuttles Left Abandoned For 30 Years
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#47 Has Anyone Lost A Camera,like 80 Years Ago At Eagle Creek?
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#48 I Lit Up This Spooky Abandoned House With My Drone And A Lume Cube Attached To It
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#49 Abandoned Hard Hat Reclaimed By Goose Barnacles
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#50 I Found An Abandoned Warehouse Filled With Arcade Machines
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#51 Plague Fort, St. Petersburg
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#52 Overgrown Roller Coaster
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#53 107 Year Old Records Sealed In A Courthouse Attic
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#54 What Used To Be A Square Building Is Now A Parallelogram
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#55 Abandoned Man Made Island In Japan
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#56 Soviet Era Tupolev 104 Jet
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#57 Took A Hike Out To The Ghost Trains Out In The Maine Woods Also Yay First Post
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#58 Abandoned Boeing 737 In Bali
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#59 Sunken Yacht In Antarctica
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#60 Abandoned Drive-In Theatre
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#61 Abandoned Rail Bridge In Taiwan
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#62 Detroit In 2003
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#63 Ghost Town Somewhere In Russia
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#64 Close-Up: Needle Ice Overtakes An Apartment In Yekaterinburg, Russia (Anastasia Popelka)
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#65 Abandoned Castle In Midwinter
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#66 Telephone Booth Cemetery. Outskirts Of London
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#67 Abandoned Bus In Svalbard, Norway
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#68 A Billboard For Spaceballs (1987) In Toronto, Still Standing Today
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#69 Nature Took Over
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#70 Bus Stop In Kazakhstan
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#71 Abandoned Police Station. No I Didn’t Steal A Riot Shield
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#72 Wwi Trench In France’s Red Zone, Or “Zone Rouge”. Large Swathes Of The Western Front Were Declared Uninhabitable No Go Zones After The First World War, And Highly Toxic Environments Remain. But For Much Of The Red Zone, The Land Has Recovered Its Natural Life
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#73 New York City
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#74 Abandoned Richmond Power Station
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#75 The Abandoned Swimming Pool At The University Of Rochester
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#76 Abandoned Colorado Mill
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#77 The Wyndclyffe Mansion. The 80-Acre Land It Rests On Was Purchased By The Wealthy Elizabeth Jones In 1853. The 24 Bedroom Mansion In New York Was So Grand It Prompted A ‘Building Boom’ As All Neighbours Started Upgrading Their Houses & The Saying “Keeping Up With The Joneses” Was Born
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#78 An Abandoned Mill In Sorento, Italy
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#79 Old Aluminum Plant Still Has Workplace Injury Sign On 5 Years After Shutting Down. Keep Up The Good Work Guys!
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#80 Old Naval Base In Philadelphia Has An Abandoned Warehouse With A Flooded Basement Filled With Goldfish
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#81 Abandoned Intersection Near Ottawa
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#82 Island With An Abandoned Castle
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#83 Tony Hawk Pro Skater Level
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#84 The World Discoverer – A Cruise Ship Dedicated To Explore Polar Regions. Abandoned In 2000 On Solomon Islands After Hitting A Reef
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#85 Abandoned Symmetrical Greenhouses With Futuristic Design, Germany
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#86 Beautiful Abandoned Theater Next To A Police Station. Definitely A Tough One To Do
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#87 If You Travel Up To The Middle Of Nowhere In The UK, You Might Be Lucky Enough To Find The Remnants Of A Long Lost People
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#88 Abandoned Home In Detroit
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#89 Bioshock – Abandoned Palace In Hungary
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Source: boredpanda.com