ruiny-i-dziedzictwo: Ghost town

Evidence: 97 • authority: 72

A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned or largely depopulated human settlement that usually contains substantial, visible remaining buildings and infrastructure, such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it (usually industrial or agricultural) has failed or ended for any reason (e.g. mining has exhausted a local ore deposit). The town may also have declined because of natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, prolonged droughts, government actions, war, pollution, or nuclear and radiation-related accidents and incidents. The term can sometimes refer to cities, towns, and neighbourhoods that, th…

Evidence: 40 • authority: 72

According to several historians, the U.S. state of Oregon contains over 200 ghost towns. Professor and historian Stephen Arndt has counted a total of 256 ghost towns in the state, some well known, others "really obscure." The high number of ghost towns and former communities in the state is largely due to its frontier history and the influx of pioneers who emerged in the area during the 19th century. Many of the ghost towns in Oregon were once mining or lumber camps that were abandoned after their respective industries became unprosperous. This list includes towns and communities that have been described as ghost towns, and may be abandoned, unpopulated, or have populations that have declin…

Evidence: 40 • authority: 72

The U.S. state of Oklahoma has an estimated two thousand ghost towns. These towns began for a number of reasons, often as liquor towns, boomtowns, or mining towns, with some pre-dating statehood. The population and activity later declined in these locations due to the exhaustion of natural resources, manmade or natural disasters, urbanization, the creation of a water source, or after being bypassed by highways and interstates. These places vary in their current states with some having completely disappeared while others still have small communities. A small number have also gained notability for other reasons, such as being part of the Tar Creek Superfund site, for existing in an unusual lo…

Evidence: 35 • authority: 72

In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes to realistic, lifelike forms, whether they resemble humans or animals. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a séance. Other terms associated with it are apparition, haunt, haint, phantom, poltergeist, shade, specter, spirit, spook, wraith, demon, and ghoul. The belief in the existence of an afterlife, as well as manifestations of the spirits of the dead,…