The city of Pripyat.
The world’s most well-known “Ghost Town.”
Entirely abandon, literally overnight, due to the Chernobyl Disaster.

On April 26, 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (just a couple of miles outside of Pripyat) had a sudden power output surge. An emergency shutdown was attempted to prevent any damage to reactors, only for a more extreme spike in power output to occur, which led to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of explosions. The explosions caused fires to sent a plume of highly radioactive smoke fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area all over Europe. With Pripyat being one of the closest, most-affected, and one of the first cities to be hit.

Hundreds and hundreds of buses were sent in to evacuate the city of Pripyat. Residents were told to bring very little possessions. Just food, clothing, and enough money to sustain them for awhile. They were told it was only a temporary evacuation and all will be well, once precautions were taken to ensure it was safe to return. Most Chernobyl workers knew better though. The extent of the disaster was going to be catastrophic on the city. One engineer called his wife, telling her of the incident and to begin packing everything, for they were leaving. She asked for how long, “Forever.” he said. Hundreds, if not thousands, left everything they owned. Never to see it again. Thousands of pets were left to fend for themselves. Furniture still is found placed neatly in living rooms, classrooms, offices, years after the disaster. Worldly possessions were lost to the surprisingly amount of looters who risked to raid the city’s abandoned homes. Anything worth of value was stolen.

The infamous Pripyat amusement park was set to open on May 1. But rumors say it was open on the day of the evacuation (April 27) to keep residents entertained and calm as the evacuation was announced. Other rumors say that the park was never opened. That not a single ride was ever ridden.