15 Terrifying Abandoned Places In The U.S.

Exploring long untouched places in a way that was not meant to be is thrilling. You can learn about the history and feel the story behind it. You will be intrigued by the unusual exterior and maybe even spooked by the present state of the following structures. What is it about abandoned spots that attract people's attention in such a baffling way?

The history of this small town goes back 400 years. Now, only the cellar holes and a few foundations remain. The roads look more like untouched hiking trails in a forest, and many visitors even claim the woods become eerily silent. Some people call Dudleytown "the village of the damned." The famous story dates back to England in 1510 when Edmund Dudley was beheaded for plotting to overthrow King Henry VIII, and a curse was allegedly placed on the Dudley family for the treason. So now, it is believed that if you go and take something from the abandoned place, you are placing a curse on your own family.

This Scottish-style castle, set 50 miles north of New York City, was built by Francis Bannerman in 1901. He made his money by supplying military goods and used the castle as storage for arms and ammunition. After his death in 1918, construction stopped and the destruction of the castle began. An explosion and a fire took its toll. Visitors can explore the island and abandoned castle through guided tours.

The park was abandoned in 1996 after two young guests died accidentally. Many visitors say the girl who died on the swings still appears to them, according to Visit Southern West Virginia. To add to the creepy factor, the site was built over the bones of the Native Americans who had once roamed its fields. An archaeological dig uncovered 13 bodies, most of them children. The gates are open for visitors every Friday and Saturday in October.  

The tunnels were basements of buildings that connected to other structures through brick and stone archways that were intersected with connecting tunnels under the streets, according to ShanghaiTunnels.info. They were used by crooks, called "shanghaiiers" or "white slavers," who sold women into prostitution. Men were sold as slaves to work in ships.

The Salton Riviera was once a thriving resort, but now it looks more like a terrifying mirage in a desert. The ambitious development included 25,000 residential lots and more than 250 miles of paved roads; now, it just smells bad. The city was occupied after the 1950s, and after some initial success, the isolated location and lack of work drove people away. The place became a ghost town in the 1980s.

The hospital opened in 1842 as Georgia's first public psychiatric hospital, according to Haunted Travel USA. Today, the property is now mostly empty and falling into decay. Two thousand acres still echo with the memory of the patients who were treated — and mistreated — at Georgia's most haunted asylum. Parents even used to reprimand mischievous kids with the threat, "I'm going to send you to Milledgeville!" The cemetery on the property has about 2,000 cast-iron markers commemorating the 25,000 patients buried on the hospital grounds.

This Christian-themed park was built in the late 1950s and initially thrived as a Connecticut attraction, according to Atlas Obscura. In the mid-'80s, the park's owner closed it down to work on expanding the site, but he died in 1986 and it was never reopened. Now long-abandoned, Holy Land USA has been widely vandalized and was even the site of a murder in 2010. 

This eerie, aging asylum dates back all the way to the late 1800s when it was created to serve as a treatment center for New York's mentally ill. Long Island locals simply refer to it as the "Psych Center." The large plot of land was declared a state park after the institution was shut down in 1996, but the site more closely resembles the setting of a horror movie rather than a refuge for outdoor recreation. 

The Rolling Acres Mall closed in 2008, and by now it looks like a scene from The Walking Dead. The city called the site a danger to residents. Officials increased police presence there and issued public safety statements warning people to stay away in June 2016. The mall is now slated for demolition.

The amusement park, which was popularly known as Jazzland, was abandoned after Hurricane Katrina. A new developer was never found. What was once a fun site has seen mostly trespassers ripping fences and writing graffiti on the facilities. The place is now home to boars, snakes, and other animals. The park is sometimes used as a filming location.

The ghost town once had more than 10,000 residents. They had an active social life including baseball games, dances, whist parties, a symphony, basketball games, and weekend nightlife, according to NPS. The financial panic of 1907 was the beginning of the end for the town. There are several remnants of Rhyolite's best days; some of the walls of the three-story bank building are still standing, as is part of the old jail. The train depot and the bottle house are two of the few complete buildings left in the town.

The station was Detroit's Ellis Island, where many generations of Detroiters first stepped foot into the city for factory jobs, according to Historic Detroit. It has been abandoned for more than 25 years — the last train left in 1988 — and is now home to the homeless and junkies. The site was used as a set in the Transformers movies and 8 Mile.

Bodie is described as "a town frozen in time in a state of arrested decay." It was found in 1859 and people came for the gold. When they didn't find as much as they were hoping, people left. The town is now a State Historic Park. Most of the ghost town has remained untouched. Tourists can walk down the deserted streets and feel as if they're in an episode of Westworld.

This long-abandoned Civil War-era mental institution was left to deteriorate when it was forced to close in 1994. The courageous people who have visited since say the building is now haunted and the current owners offer ghost tours year-round. Plus, in October guests are invited to the asylum for seasonal festivities such as the Asylum Ball and Zombie Paint Ball.

This abandoned facility has become a place of ritualistic satanic worship, according to Atlas Obscura. The domes were built, but never completed, to facilitate the manufacturing of computers about 30 to 40 years ago. When you look at the structure from afar, they look like spaceships. Some visitors have even reported seeing strange figures and hearing weird whispers.