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Free Ghost Towns quiz: 50 trivia questions and answers — Pripyat, Fordlândia & more. Easy to hard, with explained answers. No sign-up.
Start this quiz →🖨️ Printable version (20 questions + answers)
Disasters, gold rushes that ended, outsized projects: some towns emptied overnight. This quiz explores places frozen in time and the stories that brought them to life… and then abandoned them.
This quiz currently has 50 questions, ranging from easy to hard, available in French, English and Spanish when the Spanish translation is available.
Warm up before the quiz with these 10 trivia questions and their explained answers: click a question to reveal the answer.
Answer: Hashima. Hashima: Japanese mining island with abandoned concrete buildings. Do not confuse it with Bodie, associated with california mining town preserved as a historic park.
Answer: Bodie. Bodie, a former California gold-mining town, is preserved in a state of “arrested decay”: its buildings are stabilized rather than restored to look new. More than a hundred historic structures remain.
Answer: Oradour-sur-Glane. On 10 June 1944, a Waffen-SS unit massacred the people of Oradour-sur-Glane and burned the village. Its ruins were preserved as a memorial, while a new town was built nearby.
Answer: Kangbashi. Kangbashi: Chinese district often wrongly called totally abandoned but which gradually gained residents. Do not confuse it with Tianducheng, associated with chinese development famous for its replica Eiffel Tower.
Answer: Poggioreale. Poggioreale: Old Sicilian town abandoned after the 1968 Belice earthquake. Do not confuse it with Imber, associated with english village requisitioned during World War II for military training.
Answer: Kolmanskop. Kolmanskop: Former Namibian diamond town invaded by sand. Do not confuse it with Hashima, associated with japanese mining island with abandoned concrete buildings.
Answer: Garnet. Garnet: Montana ghost town created by a mining boom. Do not confuse it with Humberstone et Santa Laura, associated with chilean industrial sites linked to natural nitrate.
Answer: Santa Laura. Santa Laura preserves notable remnants of industrial saltpeter processing. About a kilometre away, Humberstone retains better-preserved homes and community spaces. Together, the two sites form one UNESCO World Heritage property.
Answer: Chaitén. Chaitén: A volcanic eruption and lahars led to evacuation of the town in 2008. Do not confuse it with Agdam, associated with caucasus city largely destroyed and depopulated by war. Do not confuse it with Plymouth, associated with former capital abandoned after Soufrière Hills eruptions.
Answer: Fatehpur Sikri. Fatehpur Sikri: Short-lived Mughal capital, now a major historic complex. Do not confuse it with Mandu, associated with historic fortified Indian city known for palaces and ruins.
40 more questions are waiting for you in the quiz!