There’s nothing like an abandoned house to get our imaginations racing. Monuments to the past, these empty structures have witnessed history unfold and their crumbling walls are steeped in spine-tingling secrets. Would you be brave enough to venture near these languishing landmarks on a dark night? Click or scroll on to discover some of the creepiest empty homes from around the world, if you dare...

Not only has this dilapidated villa on Carleton Island, New York, been left vacant since 1927, it's also said to be haunted by the ghost of its former owner, typewriter entrepreneur William Wyckoff and his family. The expensive abandoned mansion was commissioned by Wyckoff in the 1890s but sadly, he's rumoured to have died of a heart attack on his first night in the mansion, just a month after his wife passed away expectedly. Make of that what you will...

Once part of a small community of shacks and cabins that used to house miners, this haunting abandoned tiny home has been left open to the elements. Situated in Utah and surrounded by rugged shrublands and mountains, rusted, bullet-riddled furniture has been discarded outside the cabin, including a fridge. Could this have been the scene of a shoot-out?

Few places in the world are as eerie or as heartbreaking as Chernobyl, the location of the catastrophic nuclear disaster in 1986. As a result of history’s most disastrous power plant accident, the city was evacuated and entry is strictly regulated by the Ukrainian government. This abandoned mansion is just one of the many dilapidated houses that remain in the toxic town, a lingering reminder of the thousands who have died since the disaster.

Located in Natchez, Mississippi, this extensive estate is now desolate and forlorn, despite being considered one of the most important heritage buildings in the region. Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast gave us a glimpse inside the abandoned mansion known as Arlington, which dates back to the early 19th century. The formerly grand house is now reduced to graffiti-covered walls, smashed windows and crumbling ceilings.

This spooky house stands empty and deserted in the middle of the Swedish countryside after it was inexplicably deserted by its owner. Surrounded by trees and situated in a remote location, the rundown wooden house gives us the heebie-jeebies – it's certainly far from an idyllic holiday retreat!

Once a busy diamond mining town, Kolmanskop was deserted in the 1950s when the supply of precious gems started to deplete. But while Kolmanskop might be a ghost town, its former residents left behind some intriguing houses, not least this desolate property. Totally ravaged by sand, the site is now a tourist destination run by the world-famous diamond company De Beers and is used as a movie location for TV, film and fashion shoots.

Benton Hot Springs in California was once a thriving mining town in the 19th century. But with the decline of heavy industry, the town’s population fast dwindled and plenty of homes, such as this old miner’s cabin, fell by the wayside. The creepy cabin has begun to crumble after years of neglect – one of many in this desert ghost town.

Built in the mid-19th century, Bissingen Castle is a fairytale castle that’s falling into ruin. Once home to local nobility, it's now a far cry from its regal heyday. While investors intended to turn the structure into a hotel, there are no signs of progress and the grand estate continues to languish.

Everything about this abandoned home in Transylvania, Romania, fits all the creepy haunted house tropes. The steps are covered in moss, there are gaping holes where windows used to be and the façade has been reduced to a crumbling mess of materials as time takes its toll.

It's not hard to imagine just how luxurious this Vietnamese villa would have been once upon a time. Đà Lạt was developed as a resort by the French in the early 1900s, and many ghosts of its colonial past remain. Despite its picturesque lake setting, the eerie home, with its bricked-up door and windows, is slowly falling to pieces.

Looking as if it’s straight out of a horror film, this abandoned house in Tallinn would need more than a lick of paint to make it livable again. A property nightmare, the windows have shattered, it’s plagued with structural problems and its façade is covered in rotting wood, graffiti and crumbling brickwork.

Taking treehouses to a whole new level, this house in Norway took an unusual course when it was abandoned. Instead of the cosy rooms it once offered, it’s now home to a small forest of spruces that have forced their way through the house’s roof. It's a mystery how they got there, as the area around the structure seems to be tree-free.

You might ask yourself the obvious question: if you had such a regal residence in Tuscany, one of the most beautiful regions in the world, why would you ever abandon it? Whatever the answer, this dilapidated dream home has been uninhabited for decades and has gradually fallen into a sad state of disrepair.

Many homes become shadows of their former selves once they are abandoned, but not this remarkable empty residence in Japan. It comes into its own every year after the summer when the leaves of the vines that have slowly crept up the sides burst into beautiful rich colours.

It may be surrounded by greenery and situated under sunny skies, but even the pretty surroundings can’t perk up this spooky-looking abandoned home in the town of Dobele. The towering house has no windows, crumbling foundations and creaking shutters worthy of a haunted house.

With boarded-up windows, crumbling walls and a peeling paint job, this abandoned house in Hull in the UK has certainly seen better days. Its colourful exterior might evoke some cheer during the day, but the derelict house would make even the bravest of passersby wary of ghosts in the evening.

If you were lucky enough to have a treehouse as a child, it was probably a small wooden box perched in a tree in your garden. But this amazing treehouse takes some beating: the enormous home, complete with kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms, was built by a wealthy Florida industrialist for his grandchildren in the 1980s. Since his death in the early 2000s, the dilapidated treehouse has become an eerie shadow of its former self and a sad reminder of what once was.

Captured by Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast, this spooky Greek Revival residence hides a haunting secret within its crumbling walls. Decimated by two storms that have left the home open to the elements, the abandoned Alabama mansion once housed a family funeral business. Even spookier, some of the rooms are still littered with coffins and undertaker's equipment...

This majestic château dates all the way back to the 13th century, but the years haven't been kind to the abandoned stately home. Crippled by devastating fires and severely damaged during the French Revolution, today it stands as a derelict shell, but this property may fare better than the others on this list: a crowdfunding campaign has raised funds to restore the castle to its former glory.

It might look impossibly picturesque at first glance, but this abandoned river house in Thailand is far from idyllic. Long neglected, its walls are rotting to pieces, the roof is crumbling, while the ground below it is slowly being swallowed up by the water.  

Imagine the plot of a scary movie that involves a bunch of students, a terrifying ghoul and a rundown student property, and you’ll be able to picture the backdrop: this abandoned property in Dunedin, New Zealand. The childlike graffiti across the exterior adds an even eerier feel to the forlorn residence: this is one home you’d want to steer well clear of.

Although this seven-bedroom Georgian parsonage enjoys a peaceful setting in five acres of countryside, it’s not the sort of place you’d want to retire to. There are no modern amenities such as running water, the walls are crumbling and both the interior and exterior have a decidedly spooky atmosphere, with overgrown plant life decorating the walls and an unsettling silence permeating the property.

Maryland’s Holland Island was once five miles long and home to hundreds of residents and over 60 residential properties before dramatic erosion and rising sea levels forced the community to relocate in the 1920s. This was the last surviving home on the island, desperately clinging onto existence and battling against the sea, before it eventually collapsed in 2010.

If unexplained noises and loud creaks are enough to set you off, stay well away from this abandoned home in Vermont. Its shutters are straight out of a horror film and it’s so neglected that vegetation has begun to creep up the sides of the house. 

What was once intended to be a glorious neo-classical palace now lies in ruins. Darul Aman Palace in Kabul was built in the early 20th century but never realised its full potential thanks to decades of war and bloodshed. Today, it stands as an eerie shell and a symbol of what could have been.

What looks like it was once a spacious family home in Cheshire in the UK has now fallen into utter disrepair. The roof has caved in, the windows are boarded up and there are piles of debris all around the property. Lying in ruins, the spooky atmosphere is enough to send us running in the opposite direction.

For a home haunted by the past, look no further than this cabin in Bodie, a gold-mining town that came alive in the late 19th century. Its population of nearly 10,000 people soon dwindled after the initial boom, however, and Bodie became an abandoned ghost town in the mid-20th century. You can wander through the eerily deserted streets and visit houses such as this one, which has been empty for over a century.

Wandering around a forest by yourself during the day might not seem scary, but come nightfall it’s the last place you’d want to be, especially if you stumbled across this mysterious wooden house, complete with cobweb-laced windows. Hidden in the middle of a protected nature reserve in the Owl Mountains, this remote wreck of a home has a distinctly sinister air.

While it may look like a fairytale castle from the outside, this abandoned château certainly hasn’t had a happy ending. The medieval property was built in the 19th century and was occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War, before being turned into an orphanage and holiday camp. But the crumbling palace became too expensive to run and was closed up for good in 1991, suffering a devastating fire a few years later. Sadly, the grand home has since been demolished, but its iconic, eerie façade will never be forgotten.

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