The Vance Creek Bridge
The Vance Creek Bridge in Mason County, Washington is an arch bridge that was built in 1929 by the Simpson Logging Company. The bridge was decommissioned in the ’70s when there was a logging decline in the area. It is the second-highest railroad arch in the United States and therefore although it is on private property, it is hardly surprising that it gained new life on the social media accounts of various thrill-seekers.
In 2014, the property owners who were afraid of vandalism and also potential lawsuits if anyone was injured, decided to close off access to the bridge. In 2017, some of the bridge’s wooden deck and railroad ties were dismantled.
The Tree of Ténéré
The Tree of Ténéré in Niger withstood the test of time and stood for centuries in the Sahara Desert. It was the only living tree in a 200-mile radius and a fixture on the paths of nomads for hundreds of years. Due to its unbelievable survivable in the desert, tourists used to travel through 250 miles of scorching desert just to see it. In 1973, a Libyan truck driver drove through the desert on an ancient caravan route that passed near the tree.
He was drinking while driving and struck the tree head-on. The tree died instantly, but its remains were moved to a museum and a sculpture of the tree was erected in its place.
Guaira Falls
The Guaira Falls were a series of waterfalls that used to sit on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The falls, which were part of the Parana River, were wiped out of existence in 1982 by the construction of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant and dam.
The falls contained one of the largest volumes of falling water in the world, flowing at about 470,000 cubic feet per second, and were a major tourist attraction. These days, they are completely submerged.
Jonah’s Tomb
Jonah’s story is famous in the religious traditions of Jews, Christians and Muslims. He is known for being swallowed by a whale, or more accurately a great fish. The prophet’s actual tomb was allegedly situated in Iraq, but it was destroyed when terrorists from ISIS blew it up.
Their main goal for this bombing was to make headlines and spread their poisonous ideology. On the other hand, Americans have not been welcome in Iraq for many years, so you most likely were not going to get a chance to visit anyway.
Lascaux Cave Paintings
In 1940, a group of teenagers discovered a cave full of wall paintings in Lascaux in Southwestern France. The cave contains over 600 paintings, mostly of wild animals, which are unbelievably over 17,000 years old. The beautiful and lifelike images remained in good condition for thousands of years but degraded rapidly once tourists were let into the caves around 1948.
In 1963, officials decided that the attraction must be closed to preserve the paintings. The public has not been allowed access ever since.