I've always had a fascination with ghost towns. For me, it's all about the history, of the people and the town and what the circumstances that led to the place becoming abandoned. There's always a fascinating story to be told.
Two examples near me:
Our area is heavily mined. When you're in certain industries, sometimes it's how towns get built, to support those industries. Staff need places to live, then shops open because of their necessities and workers either start or bring their families with them. Eventually you've got an active town, mostly owned by the company that runs said industry. But what happens when said company decides they no longer want to support the town? That's what happened to this one particular town. From what I hear, it happened rather suddenly too. Town was established in the early 1900's. Sometime in the late 80's, residents had to clear out and relocate and the company was actually ridding itself of residential property. A keen observer would be able to spot the foundations these days. What had happened was that the nearby big city was thriving, the company was doing well in the area, and they didn't need to have this town anymore to support the mine's operation, so while the mine itself is still operating (and is in fact the deepest nickel mine in the country) the town itself doesn't exist anymore.
Second example: We had a prison nearby, but it was somewhat unique. When the government chose the location, they wanted something isolated, away from the nearest town. So, in 1918 it was established as an Industrial Farm/Correctional Center and housed between 180 to 800 inmates. The only way in was via train as there was no road to it. It was for low-risk inmates and they'd spend a maximum of 2 years in there, and apparently inmates found it to be fair place without abuse. Now, what made this place unique was that it became almost fully self-sufficient. Being isolated, they never relied on anything else, not even the biggest town nearby. Inmates would receive an education and learn trades. They would all have jobs; they'd grow fresh fruit and vegetables, bake bread and even provide their own meat. Any buildings in the town grew up to support this prison, was built using wood cut down by the inmates and prepared by their own local sawmill. They built a church, post office, tailor shop and shoe repair, among other things, and all support staff housing was built using inmate labor. Heck, they apparently even had their own barber shop run by an inmate, shaving their own prison guards. Some inmates actually have some fond memories of the place.
Then in 1975, three things lead to the Federal Government to close the place:
1. What was initially isolated wasn't the case anymore as over the years the nearby town had grown into a thriving city to the point of making a prison a danger for the surrounding areas.
2. A new Highway had been built that skirted the edges of the property, complete with a "Do Not Pick up Hitchhikers" sign.
3. And by the 70's, the Government had decided it was too expensive to run and wanted a change in direction.
Since then, most of the buildings have been bulldozed, but the prison itself still stands and people come from all over to explore it even though it's sketchy as hell.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/burwash-correctional-center
https://www.thesudburystar.com/2013...ison/wcm/ec70388f-a7b4-3714-8fda-3bcf44cec73d
