5 Largest Abandoned Cities in the World

They may be the largest ghost towns, but even ghosts won't live there.

[twocvbloke]

Pompeii is such a scary sight to see those castings of the dead, seeing their final positions in agony, protecting those they loved, but unable to do so, so sad and so tragic... :(

[peterjf]

You should make a video about the abandoned underground cities in central Turkey, most of them are in Cappadocia region and date back around two thousand years. The largest are up to eight levels deep and could have housed thousands of people.

[chrisshorten]

I'll be honest the loss of that bread museum makes me sad. I love bread! I love museums! Together they are a mighty super power!

[ninjanoodle]

Great Episode. Needs a part 2 with there being more abandoned places with cool histories around them; Nicossia/Kokkina in Cyprus, Tikal (or any other Mayan city) in Mexico, and Bayou Corne in Louisiana.

[thadguy]

The Library of Alexandria, and the Chernobyl disaster are two disasters that I wish never happened in this universe...

[ignitionfrn]

2:00 - Chapter 1 - Agdam
5:05 - Chapter 2 - Pripyat
8:05 - Chapter 3 - Petra
11:05 - Chapter 4 - Pompeik
14:15 - Chapter 5 - Hashima Island

[simulrduude]

There's a number of decent documentaries on Centralia. There's still a couple people who still live there. They said because of the high grade coal and how much of it was under the town it's going to burn for at least the next 200 years.

The firefighters and town ran out of money to put it out right before they could get it out. Ultimately the government decided it would be cheaper to buy everyone's property and abandon (I think it was about 25 million to do that at the time) opposed to spending 200 million trying to put out the fire and save the town. Crazy stuff.

[anarchyantz]

I always find it impressive when Simon talks about subjects he hates, dislikes or has absolutely no interest in and manages to make himself sound genuine, like talking about the Football club in number one.

[njmaxrocks]

I live about 2 hours from Centralia, and have been through the town a few times over the years. It is certainly strange. They had to rebuild roads to avoid the main coal seems to prevent cave-ins and make it harder to get into town. I know a few still live in town, but otherwise it is completely abandoned.

[origionalwinja]

you forgot to mention the dude in Pompeii that was cranking one out when he died

[Beryllahawk]

Fascinating - though I'm a bit sad you didn't give some links or at least a brief mention on the fact that you've covered several of these places in depth on other channels. The video on Petra was SO good, as was the look you took at Hashima...
Great video and script, once again!

[beast]

simon really does have a near perfect speaking voice, IDK i imagine him in a pub with friends, discussing his writings, like a 21st century JRR tolkein

[antonsimmons]

When plaster molds and artifacts from Pompeii were brought to a city nearby, I went to the exhibit. I couldn't pass it up. Amazing stuff. Treat yourself to things like that when you can. It's really an experience!

[tim-tim-timmy]

I know you did an episode on that, but as a bonus in the end, talking about the massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane would be a plus.
The village has been purposely left as it was when the Nazis killed nearly all inhabitants. Today Oradour was rebuilt, but next to the old village. The old one is a memorial for all people that were butchered that day.

[Doc_Tar]

Interesting, I wonder how Assyrian cities of Nineveh, Nimrud and Asur would list out? And let's not forget Angkor Wat, the cities of Maya and the cities devastated by Genghis Khan and the Mongols.

[vaughngordon]

It was in late April of 1986, when I was 19, that a faculty member from the physics department of the University of North Texas (back then North Texas State University) and I met in a common area on campus. He had a time piece and a Geiger counter....
I knew the fellow, I was a student and his son was dating my sister.... and so he allowed me to take part in observing when the radiation from across the globe would get there... I think he and some colleagues had a wager. I don't remember too many details but he was about 3 seconds off too early.

[MD-pmnc]

I swear I would listen to Simon read the assembly instructions for ikea furniture

[rudra]

You might want to include Bonanza, Colorado, in the United States. Founded in 1881, it grew rapidly from discoveries of gold and silver, to a peak population of around 30, 000. There were even smaller "suburbs" that sprang up around other mines! It was served by a railroad, and even had a visit from US President Grover Cleveland. There were numerous saloons, hotels, shops and such as well as a city government and schools - but oddly, never a church. When the mines shut down, the population moved away, and is currently listed as somewhere between 1 and 17 - depending on time of year. It's still an actual town, with a few buildings still standing, as well as some of the structures from the mines.

It does have this little problem of such waste products from mining in the late 19th-early 20th centuries including arsenic and cyanide. Other than that, it's a lovely area.

[steveradi]

What about a video on the race for recovering rare earth metals (for use in battery production and the move to a green energy) vs the enviromental impact on the mining.

[ezdtygk]

Simon, very happy to have found your channel...love how you focus on the weird, forgotten, or obscure but fascinating. Quality stuff, brother.

If I had a Simon Whistler wish list for possible subjects it would be:

"Mind-Destroying Revelations from Underwater Deepsea Drones."