1

Igloo City, Alaska

Image: Tim Oun

Igloo City in Cantwell, Alaska, is a massive, unfinished hotel built in the 1970s that never opened due to building code issues . Despite multiple owners and redevelopment plans, it remained abandoned and eventually deteriorated too much to renovate.

Now a roadside oddity between Fairbanks and Anchorage, its giant igloo shape continues to draw curious visitors.

2

Spectre Set, Alabama

Image: Dan Meyers

The abandoned film set of Spectre from Big Fish still stands on a private island along the Alabama River. Originally built for the 2003 movie, the town was left behind after filming and has slowly decayed.

Fires and flooding destroyed much of it, but a few buildings, spooky trees, and crumbling columns remain, giving the site a haunting atmosphere.

3

Dogpatch USA, Arkansas

Image: Matt Gross

Dogpatch USA, a hillbilly-themed park in Arkansas based on the Li’l Abner comic strip , opened in 1968 but never met visitor expectations. With low-key attractions and rustic charm, it struggled to draw crowds and ultimately closed in 1993.

Attempts to sell the land largely failed, and parts of the park still stand abandoned. While some parcels have been sold over the years, most of the site remains a curiosity for urban explorers.

4

Gibraltar, Delaware

Image: Johannes Beilharz

Hidden behind a stone wall in Wilmington, Delaware, Gibraltar is a crumbling 1840s mansion surrounded by beautifully restored gardens . While the house itself is abandoned, ivy-covered, and slowly decaying, the gardens remain vibrant and full of life.

5

Atlanta Prison Farm, Georgia

Image: Dan Meyers

The Atlanta Prison Farm has sat abandoned for over 25 years , now covered in graffiti and fast-growing kudzu. Though there's talk of turning it into a regional park, disagreements between counties have stalled any concrete progress.

6

Custer Ghost Town, Idaho

Image: Ruth Durbin

Custer, Idaho, was born from the 1870s gold rush, and later grew after a fire destroyed the nearby town of Bonanza. As mining dried up, the once-busy one-street town was abandoned, leaving behind rusted equipment and relics like a bullet-riddled poker table.

Thanks to its designation as a historic site in 1981, parts of Custer have been restored. Summer visitors can tour cabins, a schoolhouse, and the old saloon.

7

Cairo, Illinois

Image: Steffen Lemmerzahl

At the southern tip of Illinois, Cairo once thrived as a key port town during the steamboat era and later as a railroad hub. But as industry shifted and economic opportunities dwindled, the city entered a long period of decline.

Today, Cairo is eerily quiet. Its historic downtown is filled with crumbling buildings and boarded-up windows , and decay is spreading into nearby neighborhoods.

8

Knightridge Space Observatory, Indiana

Image: Daniel Gregoire

Hidden in the woods near Bloomington, Indiana, the Knightridge Space Observatory was built in the 1930s for early astronomers . Its wooden dome once held a four-ton telescope, but city growth and light pollution made it obsolete.

Abandoned since the 1960s, the building was left to decay, with its dome rusted shut, the floors unstable, and the telescope relocated. It has since been demolished due to safety concerns.

9

Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Kentucky

Image: Dan Meyers

Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened in the early 1900s to treat tuberculosis patients with rest, fresh air, and isolation . As the epidemic grew, the facility expanded to hold hundreds of patients, including children.

After closing in 1961, it became a nursing home but was shut down in 1982. Today, Waverly Hills is famous as a haunted attraction, drawing ghost hunters and tourists from around the world.

10

Jazzland, Louisiana

Image: Dmitry Lakhno

Jazzland was a theme park in New Orleans that opened in 2000. After major investments, it reopened in 2003 as Six Flags New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the park was submerged, with murky floodwaters destroying roughly 80% of the property. Rides were wrecked, stands overturned, and only the Batman coaster survived on higher ground .

Deemed too costly to repair, the park was abandoned and now draws curious urban explorers.

11

St. Mary's College, Maryland

Image: Pavel Neznanov

Built in 1868, St. Mary’s College trained young men for the priesthood until declining enrollment forced its closure in 1972. The abandoned campus, soon nicknamed "Hell House," became a hotspot for ghost stories, local legends, and thrill-seekers.

12

Yellow Creek Nuclear Power Plant, Mississippi

Image: Lukáš Lehotský

Yellow Creek was one of 17 nuclear plants planned by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in the late 1970s, but construction was halted before completion. The cooling tower base and nearby processing building were left abandoned .

Originally intended to process nuclear fuel components, the site now stands as a vast, unfinished shell.

1

Richard Nixon proposed to his wife the day they met

Richard Nixon met Pat Ryan in 1937 while auditioning for a community theater play. According to reports, he fell head over heels for her right away, and even proposed on their very first date! Pat, showing a little more sense, said no at the time, but two years later, in June 1940, she finally said yes and became his wife. The true romantic-in-chief!

2

George H.W. Bush almost chose Clint Eastwood as his running mate

During George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign, his team considered a candidate who was definitely well-known to everyone, even people who didn’t follow politics. It was none other than Clint Eastwood, Hollywood star and former mayor of Carmel, California. Can you imagine if a movie star had been Bush’s vice president?

3

Martin Van Buren wrote an autobiography without mentioning his wife

How do you write an autobiography and leave out your wife? Well, President Martin Van Buren did exactly that. Historians suggest two reasons: at the time, it was considered poor taste to write about one’s wife, and the other reason was Van Buren’s heartbreak. Hannah Hoes Van Buren, his wife and also his childhood sweetheart, died of tuberculosis years before he became president, and some believe his grief kept him from remarrying or even talking about her.

4

William Faulkner turned down an invitation from JFK

Would you turn down a dinner invitation at the White House? Renowned writer William Faulkner did. He declined an invitation from President John F. Kennedy, who had included him in an event honoring Nobel Prize winners. Faulkner explained he was "a hundred miles away" and that it was "a long way to go just to eat."

5

Jimmy Carter wrote a children's book

Jimmy Carter wasn’t just a state senator, governor, and President of the United States. It turns out he had other interests too, including literature. Did you know he wrote a children’s book? Titled The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer , it was published in 1995.

6

Theodore Roosevelt didn’t think a black eye seemed presidential

Teddy Roosevelt loved boxing, but once he became president, he had to be cautious. He chose to scale back his training sessions at the White House, saying it was, in his own words, "rather absurd for a president to appear with a black eye, a swollen nose, or a cut lip."

7

Bill Clinton's cat had its own video game

Have you heard of Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill ? It was a game developed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Sega Genesis, starring Socks, the Clinton family’s famous cat. Unfortunately, it was canceled before it ever reached the public.

8

Theodore Roosevelt had a lock of Abe Lincoln's hair

Yes, we know, the title sounds a little odd, but it’s actually a story of loyalty and admiration. When Teddy Roosevelt started his second term, he wore a ring containing a lock of hair from none other than Abraham Lincoln. It was a gift from John Hay, one of Lincoln’s private secretaries, who knew of Roosevelt’s deep respect for Honest Abe.

9

Gerald Ford worked as a model

Many presidents had hobbies, and some even held jobs outside politics before the Oval Office. One of them was Gerald Ford, who worked as a model! In fact, it was through modeling that he met the woman who would become his wife.

10

Herbert Hoover managed the football team

Speaking of hobbies and interests, Herbert Hoover had a pretty common one: He really loved sports. But here’s the interesting part: He came to manage the baseball and football teams at Stanford in 1892.

1

The Great Chicago Fire (1871)

Image: Ricardo Gomez Angel

The Great Chicago Fire burned for almost two days in October 1871, destroying thousands of buildings and leaving the city in ruins . Sparks, dry conditions, and wooden construction helped the flames race through entire neighbourhoods.

It was a painful turning point, but it launched a huge rebuilding effort. Chicago adopted tougher building codes, better water systems, and more specialized fire departments, becoming a model city for urban planning.

2

The Johnstown Flood (1889)

Image: Lukas Hron

In 1889, the failure of the South Fork Dam sent a massive wall of water toward the town of Johnston, Pennsylvania . The flood wiped out entire homes, bridges, and rail lines in a matter of minutes.

The Johnstown Flood drew attention to private dam ownership and safety inspections of such constructions. Engineers and lawmakers used its lessons to plan for better maintenance and more accountability for these large-scale structures.

3

The San Francisco Earthquake (1906)

Image: Library of Congress

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck before dawn, violently shaking the city and the surrounding areas . Broken gas lines and toppled chimneys sparked fires that raged for days , destroying block after block of homes and businesses alike.

Rebuilding was hard but transformative, as the city adopted stricter building codes, stronger materials, and better street layouts.

4

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911)

Image: Pukima ‎

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 began on the upper floors of a New York City garment factory packed with workers. Locked exit doors, narrow stairways, and crowded conditions turned what would have been a relatively small blaze into a historic tragedy.

Public outrage was immediate and intense. The fire led to tough new safety laws, regular inspections, and rules for unlocked exits and fire escapes.

5

The Hindenburg Disaster (1937)

Image: Library of Congress

In 1937, the German airship Hindenburg approached its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, after a transatlantic flight. Suddenly, it burst into flames and fell to the ground in front of cameras and radio reporters who witnessed the tragedy.

The disaster shocked the world and quickly ended the age of passenger airships. Public trust shifted toward airplanes, and the whole airship industry faded into obscurity almost completely.

6

The Texas City Disaster (1947)

Image: Ash Edmonds

The Texas City Disaster of 1947 began when a ship carrying ammonium nitrate caught fire in the bustling Texas City harbor . As crowds watched from the waterfront, the cargo exploded in a blast so powerful it shattered windows miles away.

The incident prompted sweeping changes in how hazardous materials are stored, transported, and labeled. It led to improved emergency planning, better first-responder training, and regulations aimed at preventing industrial catastrophes.

7

The Silver Bridge Collapse (1967)

Image: Suzanne Anderson

On a 1967 December day, the Silver Bridge that connected Point Pleasant in West Virginia to Gallipolis, Ohio, collapsed into the river below . Dozens of vehicles were on the bridge and fell into the water.

The collapse spurred nationwide inspections of older bridges and stricter design standards. It introduced new rules for maintenance, record keeping, and modern safety ratings.

8

Buffalo Creek Flood (1972)

Image: Chris Gallagher

In 1972, after days of heavy rain, a coal-waste dam above Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, gave way . A torrent of water and slurry rushed down the narrow valley, wiping out homes, roads, and small communities in its path.

The Buffalo Creek Flood drew national attention to the dangers of poorly regulated waste dams, and it helped push stricter environmental laws across the country.

9

Three Mile Island (1979)

Image: Lee Lawson

The Three Mile Island accident of 1979 began with equipment failures followed by human mistakes inside a nuclear power plant . Cooling problems led to a partial meltdown of the reactor core, alarming nearby residents and the entire country.

Even though it was contained, the incident reshaped nuclear energy in America. Regulators tightened training, communication, and emergency procedures.

10

Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse (1981)

Image: AJOY DAS

The Hyatt Regency walkway collapse in Kansas City happened during a popular social dance event in 1981. Two suspended walkways above the hotel lobby suddenly gave way, crashing onto the crowded area below .

Investigations exposed serious flaws in the design and in the approval process itself. The disaster led to stricter engineering reviews, clearer responsibilities, and tougher building codes.

11

Exxon Valdez oil spill (1989)

Image: Yuval Zukerman

The Exxon Valdez tanker struck Bligh Reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989, tearing open its hull. Crude oil spilled into the cold waters , drifting onto beaches, shorelines, and wildlife habitats in the surrounding area.

The spill led to new rules for double-hulled tankers, improved navigation systems, and better emergency response plans. It also inspired major environmental legislation and long-term monitoring to reduce the impact of future shipping incidents.

12

Deepwater Horizon (2010)

Image: Jonathan Gong

In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig experienced a blowout during exploratory drilling . A series of failures led to an explosion and a major well leak far below the ocean’s surface, drawing worldwide attention.

The disaster sparked new offshore drilling rules, better blowout preventers, and stricter inspection routines. It also sparked debates about energy policies and environmental protection.