Hashima Island
Location: Japan
Year: 1887
Cost: $50 million*
One of Nagasaki’s abandoned islands, Hashima, is 16 acres long. The island is now a floating ghost town with no residents, despite having over 5,000 people in 1959. Many locals toiled in the seabed coal mines, but by 1974 they were exhausted. People left in droves after the mine closed. Concrete buildings and relics attract tourists as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Due to extreme weather, people can only visit the island at specified seasons. Those that make it say it’s a time capsule with practically undamaged home complexes.
Hashima Island
Bannerman Castle
Location: New York
Year: Early 1900s
Cost: Unknown
Francis Bannerman bought Pollepel Island (about $50,000) for $1,600 in 1901 to house his armament depot. He built Bannerman Castle instead of a dull concrete shell. He designed it himself, so it’s unclear how much the investor paid, but it was remarkable. After 20 years, an explosion damaged part of the structure and was never restored. Some of it remains, but there are no plans to restore it. Francis Bannerman’s wife was lying in a hammock when she got thirsty during the original explosion and got a drink. She would have been crushed by a massive concrete block if she hadn’t moved.
Bannerman Castle
