This former British warship was found in the Great Lakes. Known as the HMS Ontario, it is believed to have been sunk in 1780 with 130 men on board, all of which died. Amazingly, when it was found, somewhere between Niagra falls and Rochester in upstate New York, in 2008, over 200 years later it was still mostly intact.
It took many years to track down this sunken ship. Jim Kennard tried 35 years earlier to find it but did not succeed until he joined forces with Dan Scoville and the two used all of their expertise to find the vessel. Amazingly after years of hard work, they were able to locate it.
The Last House on Holland Island, U.S.A
Holland Island, located in Chesapeake Bay used to be a thriving coastal community with shops, a school, a church, and many beautiful Victorian houses like we see here. In its prime, around 1910 the island was home to approximately 360 residents, but the island was under threat from erosion. Slowly but surely the island was getting worn away by the sea, and it didn’t matter what they tried nothing could stop it. They had stones shipped into the island to try and build defensive walls in 1914, but that didn’t work and even sunk some ships in the surrounding waters to try and slow down the erosion, but this was also to no avail.
Slowly but surely the buildings began to crumble as the land beneath them disappeared. One big hit to the community came in 1918 when a tropical storm hit the island and destroyed the church. Those who had stuck it out until this point decided that it might be time to leave, pick up what remained of their homes, and rebuild them further inland. There was one further attempt to rejuvenate the island from 1995 until 2010 to preserve what was left, but they couldn’t fight the power of the waters. This house is the last one on Holland Island.
Abandoned House of Bulgarian Industrialist, Pencho Semov
Pancho Semov was known as the Bulgarian Rockefeller thanks to his fantastic wealth. Born in the small village of Bagrovo, he was Bulgaria’s ultimate story of going from rags to riches and made his billions through banking, trading, and more. He was the proprietor of a number of properties, and when he made out his will, he intended that his home would become a retirement home. He intended for two further buildings to be used as boarding schools for girls. One would be free of charge and would be made available to some of the most impoverished girls in the community. The other was intended for those families who could afford it and for this they would be charged a small tax which would presumably cover the running costs of both schools.
When he died in 1945, his wishes were not carried out, and the government seized control of the buildings. The mansion which was intended as a retirement home was turned into a ward for those suffering from infectious tuberculosis. At least it is still functioning with the aim of helping those in need.
Abandoned Hotel in Colombia
This beautiful old hotel sits on a cliff overlooking the shores of the Bogata River. This was once the perfect vacation spot, with views of the river and the waterfall in the distance. However, this came to an abrupt end when the Bogata river was flooded with industrial waste and became contaminated.
The authorities either didn’t care or were just unable to fix the contaminated river and the contamination problem became uncontrollable. As a result, people stopped visiting the area, and there was no longer a need for a hotel which was subsequently forced to close, leaving it abandoned. It was also rumored that people used to jump into the river to commit suicide which adds to its creepy nature.
Beautiful Picture Of Old Helensburgh Railway Tunnel Australia
Built back in the 1880s, this tunnel was one of a network of seven tunnels that linked the countryside between Waterfall and Otford in Australia. The landscape is very hilly, so it was decided it is easier to cut through the landscape instead of trying to climb the steep hillsides. However, in 1920 it was decided they needed a two-track railway instead of a single-lane one and so instead of extending the existing tunnel, a completely new tunnel was built in a different location.
This left the original tunnel superfluous, and it was eventually closed down. There is an innate beauty and mystery to these abandoned tunnels, which until recently could be visited by tourists. They have since been subject to some vandalism, so visitors are no longer allowed to enter the tunnels.