San Juan Parangaricutiro, Mexico
In a quiet village in Mexico, the people of San Juan Parangaricutiro were in for a surprise when they discovered their town was sitting on top of an undiscovered, and very active, a volcano. By the time they knew of its existence, it was too late. Lava was bursting up out of the ground and consuming everything in its path – which was pretty much the entire town.
Luckily, the lava moved so slowly that everyone was able to evacuate in time. But the buildings weren’t so lucky and were swallowed up by the volcanic liquid. One piece of the town does still stand today though: a little church, half-buried in lava rock.
The Wonderland Hotel, Elkmont TN
The Wonderland was built as a luxury resort in 1912 and was purchased by a group of businessmen from the area that turned it in to a member’s club. It was a favorite for the wealthy elite in East Tennessee for several years. When the Great Smoky National Park was founded in 1934, all of the club members were given lifetime leases.
The leases, however, wound up being turned into terms that were then dismissed by the National Park Service in the early 1990s. Because of the “General Management Plan” that the Park Service instilled, the hotel was scheduled for demolition.
Eastern Settlement, Greenland
The Eastern Settlement was a premier wedding destination in the early 1400s. It was settled by the Vikings in 985 A.D and is surrounded by an area of over 500 Norse farms. It was so popular in those days that there were about 4,000 people living in the area.
No one is exactly sure how the settlement disappeared, but some speculate that it had something to do with war or the black plague. However it happened, 1408 was the last recorded date of a wedding ceremony in the area, which is today a part of the Kujalleq municipality.
Consonno
This quiet little town in Italy only had a population of a few hundred people, despite its location about an hour outside of bustling Milan. But in the early 1960s, the town was purchased by Count Mario Bagno, who wanted to turn Consonno into a lavish resort town. The plans were so elaborate, in fact, that he had a name for his vision: City of Toys. He had plans for all kinds of entertainment venues, a racetrack, casinos, hotels, and arcades.
It was a popular area throughout the late ’60s, along with the ’70s and ’80s. But the area was never quite finished, and the owner lost interest (and money,) leaving an interesting ghost town behind.
Pyramiden, Norway
Pyramiden is a little coal mining settlement in Norway that has been abandoned for several years. It was originally discovered by Sweden in 1910 and sold to the Soviet Union in 27’. Since it was a popular area for mining, there were around 1,000 people living in the town at one point.
Residents and anyone passing through could enjoy a local theater, library, art studios, and a 24/hour cantina. In 1998, the last bit of coal was pulled from the mines and the last resident packed it up and left. Since 2007, the trust company that owns the area has been renovating it in hopes to turn it into a new tourist center.