I created a new blog over on Tumblr. I am always creating new blogs, because late at night these random burst of inspiration visit me and I am apparently poor at impulse control. So the result is that I end up with far more blogs than I can (or care to) keep up with. Hopefully I manage to keep this one up, because I find it very interesting. It is an Urban Decay blog. Abandoned houses, ghost towns, found and deserted items, and all sorts of objects that have been more or less left to the mercy of the elements. One mans' or one city's trash is a treasure depending on with what eyes you view it. Hopefully my interest in urban ruins is shared and that some of you might appreciate the blog as much as I do. As well, if any Urban Archaeologists out there have some photographs or videos of your own that you would care to submit for the blog, I would be delighted to feature it.
There is something beautiful yet terrifying about a ghost town. The two words conjure something so different that they seem to battle with one another. A town, perhaps it is like yours. It bustles with life and activity. It is a place where people work, where they sleep, where they have homes. However, what is a ghost? A ghost is something unfamiliar. It is mysterious. It is a premonition of what lies beyond our temporal realm but that we may never grasp long enough to understand. A ghost is dead but refusing to die. It casts it shadow over the living hoping to be seen. Doomed to exist on the precipice of life, but never again enjoying the warmth of it. As a Westerner a ghost town is something especially intriguing. it is a grim reminder that the American Dream is not always a success, and that it is transient. Perhaps a ghost town is haunting because it offers a glimpse into a future we all on some level fear, a future in which man does not exist, laws do not exist, and society does not exist. Sometimes war will lay waste to a town, sometimes natural disaster, sometimes our own carelessness. Homes and cars and office cubicles, trophies of capitalism and status, might one day become abandoned. Left to rot. Nature will take back what we have left on her flesh.
ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE
CHERNOBYL
HASHIMA ISLAND
PRIPYAT
