The spooky stories behind 25 abandoned cabins
These abandoned little dwellings may be tiny, but that doesn’t make them cute. These cottages are the ideal location for paranormal activities and are brimming with ghost stories and secrets from bygone eras. Learn the tales of struggle and suffering behind these eerie shacks, from abandoned mining ghost towns to dilapidated cottages bereft of life.
Deserted homestead, California, USA
This abandoned homestead in Eastern Sierra, California seems unsettling because it has been disregarded for a long time. It used to be the ideal remote cabin to get away from it all, but today it’s run-down and has abandoned, nature-overtaken buildings.
Ghost town ruin, Idaho, USA
The Idaho hamlet of Bayhorse experienced rapid growth when a rich silver mine was found there in the early 1870s. But the mine was closed in 1915 as the silver began to run out. The town was totally deserted after losing its main source of income. The houses, especially this rickety wooden one, fell into disrepair and neglect.
Crumbling cabin, Vogelsang, Germany
This eerie cabin is tucked away in the German hamlet of Vogelsang and has a disturbing past. Up until 1994, when it was abandoned, the neighborhood served as a Soviet military installation following World War II. This cabin, with its shattered door and window graffiti, is a faraway reminder of a another time.
Old miner’s cabin, California, USA
This deserted miner’s cottage is located in the creepy California ghost town of Benton Hot Springs. From 1862 until 1889, when the town ran out of gold, it was abandoned. The area has a spooky past; there is a rumor that the village was the scene of a gang of looters killing E.S. Taylor, the famed gold prospector William Bodey’s companion.
Empty shack, Nevada, USA
This dilapidated cottage lies near Lake Tahoe, on the Nevada side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and is surrounded by snow and weathered. What was once the ideal vacation house has degraded into a decaying structure that is unfit for human habitation. Who visited this place in its prime, we wonder?
Log cabin ruin, Yukon, Canada
At the mouth of the Yukon River in Canada, an abandoned gold rush village is now little more than this run-down cabin. Built in 1899, the quaint log cottage was believed to have been the cause of Little Salmon Village’s terrible demise due to an influenza pandemic in 1919.
Secluded cabin, Virginia, USA
Tucked up in a remote area of the Appalachian Mountains, this modest cabin has two chairs outdoors and gives off the uncanny impression that its previous residents haven’t been gone for very long. The shack has seen better days, as evidenced by its crumbling porch, but the stack of firewood implies it was once well-maintained and a comfortable place to spend the night.
Abandoned fisherman’s hut, Lofoten, Norway
This abandoned fisherman’s cabin is located on a secluded island in the Norwegian archipelago of Lofoten. Fishing was an extremely perilous industry here between 1800 and 1950; the local church still has the names of 147 men who lost their lives at sea during this time. Many of the nearby communities have recently seen a repopulation and are once again bustling destinations, despite the fact that some were abandoned in the 1970s.
Derelict mining shack, Montana, USA
This shaky building is another mining cottage that has seen better days in the long-abandoned Montanan community of Garnet. All that’s left of the ghostly leaning hut is the remnants of this once-1,000-person early 19th-century village.
Rundown shack, Georgia, USA
Tucked away in lovely forest, this dilapidated shack has seen better days. Situated in the forested region of Cloudland, Georgia, the wooden cabin exudes an eerie aura due to its exposed exterior and lack of facade.
James’s Place, California, USA
What was once a charming, picture-perfect cottage is now a dilapidated remnant with shattered windows and a missing door. With cups still dangling from their hooks and a partially empty bottle of wine on the side, the interior is just as creepy. James’s Place is the name on the sign outside the house. However, James—what happened to him?
Weathered cabin, Utah, USA
This cottage is exposed to the weather and is a part of a small, ephemeral hamlet of shacks and trailers that were formerly inhabited by miners. Scattered around the cabin, which is in Utah amid rough shrublands and mountains, is rusting, bullet-riddled furniture, including a refrigerator, that has been left outside. Was this where a shoot-out took place?
Rickety wooden house, Volyn Oblast, Ukraine
This historic wooden home is located in the Ukrainian village of Svalovychi. There are just 16 old citizens remaining in this place where time has stood still. The community has mostly been overtaken by nature, including this abandoned home.
Salt flat cabin, Utah, USA
Ghost stories and eerie tales have a long history associated with the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. A haven for speed enthusiasts, the salt plains have seen several racers lose their lives trying to set land speed records since the 1910s. Local police have also reported discovering countless murder victims buried there over the years. It makes sense that the elements were left in charge of this dwelling.
Derelict mining hut, Leadfield, California
Ghost stories and eerie tales have a long history associated with the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. A haven for speed enthusiasts, the salt plains have seen several racers lose their lives trying to set land speed records since the 1910s. Local police have also reported discovering countless murder victims buried there over the years. It makes sense that the elements were left in charge of this dwelling.
Shackleton’s Hut, Cape Royds, Antarctica
This hut in Cape Royds, Antarctica, once belonged to explorer Ernest Shackleton, who used it as a base for his abortive effort to reach the South Pole. It was abandoned until it was restored in 2004. Currently a museum, it still has the jackets that Shackleton and his men wore hanging on hooks and is fully furnished with real food. Two crates of whiskey that Shackleton had kept submerged under the ice were discovered by workers in 2010.
Tiny cottage, Yukon, Canada
Tucked away in a secluded forest nook in the untamed region of Yukon, Canada, this small home has seen better days. We can only speculate about what the building could have been like in its prime with its unusual blue front door, now that nature has taken over the structure and what was once a charming front garden.
Crumbling log cabin, Yukon, Canada
This cottage appears as though it would collapse at any time in the abandoned settlement of Silver City, Yukon, Canada! During the gold rush of the early 20th century, the village was prospering, but many of the structures are now barely surviving and have since been abandoned. The haunting town has been taken over by Mother Nature, with its streets full of abandoned cars and crumbling homes that date back more than a century.
Caretaker’s cabin, Nevada, USA
Built in the 1920s, this cabin was once the residence of local caretaker Charlie Fulstone, whose duty it was to keep an eye on the local herd of cattle. However, Fulstone has long since left the house empty, allowing the structure to disintegrate. The historic livestock fences are still in place today along the Nevada Marlette Lake path.
Tilted cabin, Oklahoma, USA
This long-forgotten, hardly recognizable cabin would make a great setting for a horror film. Situated in the remote area of Western Oklahoma, the home’s foundation has been steadily deteriorating due to years of neglect, making it unsteady.
Ruined villa, Da Lat, Vietnam
Even though it’s difficult to imagine now, this dilapidated Vietnamese villa used to be a lavish resort residence. This once-idyll lakeside house, built in the early 1900s, is slowly collapsing as bricks have been added to the windows and doors.
Derelict mining cabin, Nevada, USA
This pair of dilapidated little cottages was formerly a part of the prosperous Nevadan mining town of Rhyolite. The hamlet, which had 5,000 occupants at one point, was all but abandoned in 1920 when only 14 people remained. The remaining few standing dwellings are in a deplorable state of deterioration and are completely empty these days.
Abandoned cabin, Alaska, USA
Encircled by breathtaking mountain ranges in untamed Alaska, this small home remains empty and deserted from its former occupants. We get the impression that something happened here because of the unexplained debris that is all over the area surrounding the property. What motivated the previous tenants to pick up sticks, we wonder?
Abandoned rural hut, Wisconsin, USA
This rustic cabin in Wisconsin, USA, has been allowed to deteriorate and fall apart. The tiny house, covered in wood and surrounded by rolling hills and forests, is beginning to deteriorate in the middle due to years of severe weather and disrepair.
Countryside cabin, Sweden
This eerie mansion is standing vacant and empty, appearing to have seen better days. It is situated in the middle of the Swedish countryside and was left behind for unclear reasons by its former owner. It’s an ideal weekend getaway location with a little TLC, but as it stands, it’s as frightening and dilapidated as any classic haunted house.
