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Craco, Italy

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This city located in the 'foot' of Italy, can trace its origins back to 1060, when the land was under the ownership of Archbishop Arnaldo of Tricarico. By the late 19th century, it had around 2,000 inhabitants but by 1922, almost 1,300 people from Craco moved to North America. The remaining population suffered from poor farming conditions and earthquakes over the years and in 1963, the remaining 1,800 people were shifted to a nearby village with more favorable living conditions. The hilltop town remains but only as a crumbling ruin.
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Agdam, Azerbaijan

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Once, Agdam was a city of more than 150,000 people but in 1993, the Nagorno Karabakh war broke out near it. The city fell to Armenians vandals who ransacked the entire place. The population of Agdam were forced to flee to other parts of the country and even to Iran.
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Kolmanskop, Namibia

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Located in Southern Namibia, and a few kilometers inland to the port of Lüderitz, Kolmanskop was a town established to meet the needs of people drawn to the diamond rush of 1908. It had schools, hospitals and even a casino but following the First World War the demand for diamond dropped and by 1950, the town was deserted only to be engulfed by the sand dunes.
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Centralia, United States

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Once Centralia, Pennsylvania, had over 3,000 residents. Now, it has 10. It all started in 1962, when the townspeople set fire to trash next to an abandoned mine in the region. What they also set fire in the process, was an exposed vein of anthracite coal which then spread throughout the mines underneath the town. Due to the pressure inside, in 1981, the ground crumbled killing a 12-year-old kid, after which the state relocated the residents to other parts. And yet, a handful remained.
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Kadykchan, Russia

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Kadykchan, a tin mining town, is one of the many places that suffered from a shortage of basic supplies like water and electricity when the Soviet Union fell. The government shifted around 12,000 people over a period of two weeks and re-settled them in other parts of Russia. In their hurry to leave, most residents left their belongings behind. Even today, you can find old toys, clothes and books in the abandoned houses in this ghost town.
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St. Kilda, Scotland

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Located in the North Atlantic Ocean, St. Kilda is located in an archipelago that had been inhabited since the Bronze age. Thanks to the availability of barley and sheep, the inhabitants were able to sustain themselves without any help from outsiders, but during the First World War, the military entered the region, the people got used to outside supplies. Then the crops fell and soon living in this remote region became impossible. Now it's an abandoned place and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Pyramiden, Norway

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Founded by Sweden and then transferred to Soviet Union in 1927, Pyramiden is an abandoned mining town in the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. It was closed in 1998 but the buildings and infrastructure still remain largely intact. There are plans of turning this into a tourist destination.
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