Nestled on the shore of the Barents Sea in the Murmansk Oblast region of Russia, Teriberka has a long and fascinating history. Considered to be one of the oldest fishing settlements in the area, the indigenous Sámi people are said to have settled in Teriberka in the 16th century due to its rich waters and quiet locality, but the village was officially founded in the 1860s and quickly developed.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Teriberka was a thriving fishing village with a church, a lighthouse and a weather station, which is still standing today. Just 40 years later, the settlement had just shy of 5,000 residents. There were numerous fisheries and dairies, as well as poultry and mink farms and a fish processing factory. Life was good and locals even had access to a community centre, hospital, bars and schools that were built in the village to accommodate the new influx of residents.
Yet just 20 years later in the 1960s, the town began to decline. The modernisation of boats meant fishermen could obtain larger hauls in open water, and a new processing factory was built elsewhere, taking essential trade away from the people of Teriberka. A few locals held on until the 2010s, when a new hydroelectric plant affected salmon migration, leaving the area’s fishermen with nothing left to catch.
Just as quickly as it had developed, Teriberka was deserted. The former factory lies untouched and the once-lively community centre is a ghostly reminder of a bygone time. The area’s icy temperatures, which can drop as low as -13°C (8.6°F), have wreaked havoc on the buildings and now many boast rotting timber floors, crumbling plasterwork and broken windows. This previously busy sports hall is now a vacant shell left to fade away.
In the waters off Teriberka you'll also find the ominous ship graveyard. Here, 12 decaying fishing boats can be found floating by the shoreline, discarded when the village began to fall by the wayside. However, the town could be given a new lease of life. Since the Oscar-nominated film Leviathan was released in 2014, which was filmed on location in Teriberka, tourists have been venturing to the town to take in its haunting landscape, abandoned buildings and enviable wildlife.
Sandwiched between Norway and the North Pole, Pyramiden is one of the world's most remote locations, where temperatures can drop to -30°C (-22°F). Positioned on the archipelago of Svalbard in Norway, the township was once a thriving coal mine where around 1,000 people lived just 40 years ago. Only accessible by boat between May and October, when the surrounding waters are free from ice, the ghost town also experiences 24-hour darkness during the winter months.
Pyramiden was founded by Sweden in 1910 and by 1927 it belonged to the Soviet Union. The perfect place to set up a coal mine, the remote island also happened to be a fantastic way for the Russians to maintain a presence in the West. They quickly constructed new buildings, including tower block accommodation, a hotel, a hospital and a Cultural Palace that offered a library, gym, basketball court and an auditorium with plush velvet seats.
Life was good at Pyramiden and the town’s residents quickly became self-sufficient. They grew their own vegetables, raised their own cattle and had everything they could need on their doorstep. But when the Soviet Union fell in 1991, funding for the town diminished and the once-idyllic lifestyle that the locals had enjoyed for so long quickly came to a halt.
Things took a turn for the worse when an airplane transporting workers to Pyramiden crashed, killing all 141 passengers. The event led to great unrest and just two years later, in April 1998, the mine was closed after 53 years of operation. The town’s residents packed their bags and by October, Pyramiden was deserted. This empty swimming pool is now an eerie reminder of a bygone community.
Many of the buildings still contain personal belongings, as if the town was abandoned overnight. “Cups were left on the tables, newspaper clippings on the walls and skis in the corridors,” Visit Svalbard said of the town. Grand Soviet-era architecture has been left to languish and a statue of Lenin in the heart of the complex is gradually eroding away. A fascinating place to explore, tourists flock to Pyramiden during the summer months to gain a glimpse of life in the USSR.
Considered to be one of the most fascinating places in the world, Deception Island is an active volcano in the South Shetland Islands, an area that National Geographic described as one of the “harshest, coldest regions” on earth. In fact, temperatures here can plummet to almost -90°C (-130°F), with winds reaching 200 miles per hour (322km/h). So it's fairly safe to say that Deception Island isn't exactly set up for inhabitancy.
Positioned off the Antarctic Peninsula, this weird and wonderful outpost was first inhabited in the 1820s. People were drawn there for one thing: whale hunting. Sadly, Deception Island attracted groups who preyed on the seals and whales that flourished in the surrounding waters. Men seeking their fortunes moved in and used the island as their base during the height of the poaching season.
Tragically, by the 1930s, the area’s whale species were pushed almost to extinction. Innovations in tracking technology and on-board processing systems also meant the island was no longer needed and the once-busy fishing community became obsolete. Then, the island was utilised to establish research facilities, but volcanic activity destroyed most of these bases in the 1960s.
Left abandoned ever since, Deception Island is now awash with crumbling shacks, still standing despite years of neglect and gale-force winds. The haunting skeletons of old fishing boats can also be found dotted across the island's black volcanic sands. Some of the old buildings have been invaded by ice and snow, while long-discarded belongings are still strewn across floors.
Today, only wildlife can survive long-term in this inhospitable place. Tourists venture to the island to witness its wild seabirds and chinstrap penguins. The colony boasts more than 100,000 penguins, which is considered to be the largest group in the Antarctic Peninsula, and possibly one of the largest in the world.
Pyramiden wasn't the only Russian settlement in Norway to be abandoned just as quickly as it was created. On the very same island of Svalbard you'll find a historic settlement that's almost invisible among a blanket of snow. For many years, Colesbukta was home to a thriving coal shipment facility.
Originally, Colesbukta was a prosperous whaling station but after the neighbouring mining settlement of Grumantbyen was founded in 1912, a port was needed to ship coal away from the island. Colesbukta was the perfect choice since it sat on the shoreline of a large fjord that flowed into the Barents Sea, and then on to northwestern Russia.
Colesbukta and Grumantbyen were connected by a 3.7-mile-long railway track, which made the transportation of coal much quicker and easier, even in the extreme temperatures that the area endured. At its peak in the early 1950s, Colesbukta was home to some 1,106 people who all worked within the mining industry.
Life here would have been challenging, to say the least. With winter temperatures plummeting to lower than -15°C (5°F) and some months thrown into constant darkness, the workers of Colesbukta had to be hardy. The settlement was inhabited until 1962 when the coal mine at Grumantbyen was closed. The workmen downed their tools, packed their belongings and left the town in search of new opportunities.
The former HQ cabin of Russian geologist Vladimir Rusanov is now a museum for travellers that venture to Colesbukta to take in the remnants of this once-bustling community. The town's mining structures have been left to the elements and there's even a small cemetery where former residents were laid to rest. There have been suggestions that the Russians plan to resume coal mining in the area, but so far Colesbukta remains a time capsule of a bygone era.
When coal was found in the Susumansky District of Magadan Oblast in Russia during the Second World War, Stalin seized the chance to industrialise Russia. Soviet Union prisoners were brought in to construct the mining town in which they would be forced to work. Yet even when the prisoners were released in 1960, many remained in the area and worked as miners.
By 1986, the town reportedly had around 10,000 residents and boasted everything the miners and their families could need. There was a sports hall, a tailor and a bakery. There were two coal mines and workers were attracted to the area thanks to the promise of a place to live and a good salary, which was hard to come by elsewhere. For this reason, the men that moved to the town put up with the area's extreme climate. Here, temperatures can drop as low as -20°C (-4°F).
Dozens of huge Soviet-era accommodation blocks housed the workers. There were shops stocked with essentials and even a bar that offered live music and good wine. There was a hospital and two schools, as well as a movie theatre where locals could enjoy the latest Soviet-approved films. Yet sadly, this blissful lifestyle wasn’t to last and when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, life at Kadykchan began to change.
The Union stopped paying their workers and residents were unable to feed themselves. Many families were thrown into poverty and uncertainty around jobs caused widespread depression. Its reserves exhausted, one of the town's mines closed in 1992, then four years later a methane explosion destroyed the remaining mine. After six decades, mining at Kadykchan came to an end and the people that called the place home no longer had a reason to stay.
Residents began to move out in search of better opportunities, leaving dozens of grand abandoned buildings to crumble into disrepair, with smashed windows and drooping ceilings. Pictures still hang on walls, books remain scattered on shelves and old film reels can be found on the floor of the derelict cinema. The brutalist barracks that once housed USSR prisoners are an eerie reminder of the town's unsettled past.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands became a British overseas territory in 1985 and the rich waters of the South Atlantic Ocean were bursting with life. Back in 1904, the first whaling station was constructed in Grytviken and six more were built across the tiny island.
It's rumoured to have taken 60 men just 38 days to complete the whaling station and factory at Grytvikan. Quickly, the town became one of the largest settlements in South Georgia and at its peak, 300 men worked at the station.
Sadly, the whales and seals in the surrounding waters were hunted to near extinction and by 1964, the industry was no longer viable. Grytviken closed its doors and the last whaling station on the island, Leith Harbour, followed a year later. As quickly as it had been erected, the town of Grytvikan became a lifeless wilderness once more and was slowly swallowed by snow.
Today, almost 60 years since the station closed down, whaling ships can still be found rusting along the shoreline of Grytvikan, a haunting reminder of the town’s history. Photographed here by Kaylee, old industrial buildings and small timber huts can also be found dotted across the area, slowly giving up the fight with Mother Nature.
Due to its exposed coastal position, South Georgia's climate is very changeable. During the winter months, temperatures can plummet to -6°C (21.2°F). Today, only wildlife live here permanently and remarkably, the seal population has recovered and is now thriving. The South Georgia Museum is now located at the abandoned whaling station at Grytviken and many travellers pass through, taking in the animals that thrive on this deserted shoreline.
Located above the Arctic Circle, a staggering 40-hour train ride from Moscow, Vorkuta is about as far away from modern civilisation as possible. Haunting and beautiful in equal parts, the old mining town suffers from a permanent winter, resulting in a fascinating aesthetic. From bathtubs filled to the brim with ice to ceilings decorated with glistening stalactites, this abandoned town is entirely unique. But how did a once-thriving community end up as a modern ghost town?
Well, much like Kadykchan, Vorkuta was a labour camp for Gulag prisoners. Between the 1930s and 60s, thousands of prisoners were sent to the area and forced to mine for coal. More prisoners were moved in until Vorkuta grew into “one of the richest and most promising northern working cities of the Soviet Union," Russian photographer Roman Demyanenko claimed in the Washington Post. Soon, word spread and civilians began moving to the town in search of work. Because of the challenging climate, the USSR promised housing and very good salaries.
In Vorkuta, captured here by Lana Sator, temperatures can drop to as low as -23.7°C (-10.7°F) during winter and the area sees 180 days of snowfall every year, but the Soviet Union counteracted this by offering residents everything they could need. There was a House of Culture where concerts and live music could be enjoyed, sports facilities, schools and hospitals. At its height, the town is said to have had 200,000 residents and despite the biting temperatures, the community thrived.
But as with other once-prosperous Soviet settlements, things took a turn for the worse when the Soviet Union fell in the early 90s. Mass unemployment quickly led to poverty and crime problems. Schools and apartment blocks were deserted and those who couldn't afford to move were left behind. Slowly, the town has been transformed into an icy graveyard.
Many of the abandoned apartments are wrapped entirely in frost, while floors have been turned into treacherous ice rinks. Yet amazingly, Vorkuta is still sparsely inhabited to this day. After the mines were closed, thousands of Vorkuta residents were promised a new life elsewhere, The World reports. But some are still waiting for their chance to start again somewhere new...
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