Bannerman Castle - Pollepel Island, New York

About 50 miles north of New York City, and only a thousand feet from the Hudson River's eastern shore, there is a small, rocky island named Pollepel. On it stands what appears to be a crumbling Scottish castle. It is indeed the remains of an empire.

Francis Bannerman VI purchased the island in 1900 for use as a storage facility for his growing surplus business. After the Spanish-American War Bannerman bought 90% of the US army surplus, including a large quantity of ammunition. Because his storeroom in New York City was not large enough, and to provide a safe location to store munitions, in the spring of 1901 he began to build an arsenal on Pollepel

The castle, clearly visible from the shore of the river, served as a giant advertisement for his business. On the side of the castle facing the eastern bank of the Hudson, Bannerman cast the legend "Bannerman's Island Arsenal" into the wall. Construction ceased at Bannerman's death in 1918. In August 1920, 200 pounds of shells and powder exploded in an ancillary structure, destroying a portion of the complex. After the sinking of the ferryboat Pollepel, which had served the island, in a storm in 1950, the Arsenal and island were essentially left vacant. Once an uninhabited place, accessible only by boat, it was considered haunted by some Indian tribes and thus became a refuge for those trying to escape them.

Hellingly Hospital (The Lost Asylum), England

Hellingly Hospital (The Lost Asylum), England

Sitting on top of a hill oversight the East Sussex Countryside sits the battered remnant of Hellingly hospital, Formerly Hellingly Asylum. If the name of this English hospital isn’t enough to persuade you of its creepiness consider the fact that it’s not really a hospital at all. It’s actually an insane asylum; or rather it was an insane asylum before being abandoned several years ago. It was built close to the small village of Hellingly, in South West England.

That East Sussex County Asylum of Hellingly was designed by leading Victorian architect GT Hine and built to a late Victorian design during a period of huge extension for mental health facilities in Britain.it was built with the concept that relaxing views and extreme isolation were beneficial to psychological cure, the asylum's remote location was to provide the patients with a relaxed and isolated setting (ideal for rehabilitation) and to create a world far removed from the officious eyes of daily life outside the hospital walls.

Somehow something went 'wrong' with the design of Hellingly, and Hine produced the plans for a spectacularly decorated theatre, maybe something to do with the hospital being towards the end of his career or maybe he just woke up in a frivolous mood that day. Hellingly's main hall remains the hospital's centerpiece, an adjoining point at which every sprawling corridor can find its way from.

Patients & staff used to live under the same roof in the many red bricks buildings linked by closed hallways, and offering "therapeutic" and relaxing views on the surrounding quiet and green countryside.

The hospital, as with most from the Victorian era, was fully self-sufficient and the hospital's program ensured that patients from all over the site were allocated various jobs in the hospital such as the farming, laundry work or grounds keeping. An onsite railway station with an electric tramway provided the hospital with additional supplies and visitors but was closed in the 1950s due to high upkeep costs.

The capacity of the hospital was originally deemed at 700 patients, although wards were packed with 1,250 by 1955. The overcrowded conditions led to beds in hallways and a general decline in the quality of care, until the Mental Health Act of 1959.

A medium-security unit called Ashen Hill was added in the mid-1980s; however the main hospital campus was slowly closing. It was eventually shuttered in 1994 with the exception of Ashen Hill. A housing complex eventually replaced the abandoned hospital around 2012.

The Hospital today has suffered over 10 years of remissness badly; arson has destroyed several buildings most remarkable the administration block. Vandals have been removing all the windows; the easier to access ground floor areas have received the brunt of these attacks.

Despite the harshness of destruction and chaos systematically inflicted on the buildings by time and man, but a few hidden gems tucked away in remote parts of the site still remain.

Gunkanjima) Hashima Island(, japan

Gunkanjima) Hashima Island(, japan

Few places in the world have a history as very very odd, or as poignant as Gunkanjima's.

Hashima Island, commonly called Gunkanjima (meaning Battleship Island), is one among 505 uninhabited islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Nagasaki itself. Hashima Island floats off the coast of Nagasaki in Japan, surrounded by a concrete sea wall which gives it an armored warship appearance.

The island got famous because of his unbelievable appearance: surrounded by a sea wall, you will find an entire abandoned city with huge concrete buildings.

In the past Hashima Island was rich in coal, then, Mitsubishi, the owner of the mine, thought it would be more efficient if the employees lives closer to the mines. This is how the island was built as a city, including hospitals, schools, shops, cinemas and even a cemetery.

In 1959, the island was one of the most densely populated areas on earth. On the tiny island (400 x 160 meter), more than 5000 people lived and worked.

When petrol replaced coal as Japan's main source of fuel, Mitsubishi closed the mine, everyone left, and this island city was abandoned, left to revert back to nature. The apartments began to crumble, and for the first time, in the barren courtyards, green things started to grow. Broken glass and old newspapers blew over the streets. The sea-breeze whistled through the windows. Now, fifty years later, the island is exactly as it was just after Mitsubishi left. A ghost town in the middle of the sea.

Everything can be found in that abandoned city: schools, shops, an hospital, clubs, pools, a gymnasium… It is hard to believe that it is truly real until we see it with our own eyes.

From 1974 to 2009, the island was officially closed to all visitors, but recently the intriguing site has been re-opened to organized tours.

Today, Gunkanjima is a tourist attraction (sightseeing boat trips around the island are available) and a backdrop for many films (it served as an inspiration for the villain's lair in the 2012 film "Skyfall"), the ultimate portrait of Japan's industrial ruins.