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Six Flags New Orleans GIF files

Our very first post here at World Abandoned concerned Six Flags New Orleans in Louisiana, the theme park that was destroyed as a result of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The flood waters covered the theme park for a number of days and when they finally retreated, the damage meant there was very little possibility of reopening. Sadly, Six Flags New Orleans lies rotting just outside the city as the company continues to settle insurance claims relating to the disaster.

The site has since become a magnet for urban explorers and photographers and there are some really stunning pictures and videos of the park around the web. The GIFs below were created by Mr GIF, the Tumblr artist. The shots add some movement to the empty park, adding an eerie feel. Where rollercoasters once roared and children screamed, now all is quite. The park lies abandoned and slowly decaying.

Photos - Mr GIF

Cass Technical High School

The Cass Technical High School in Detroit was finally demolished in 2011 following it’s closure in 2005. The school simply moved to a new building next door however the old building remained abandoned for the 6 years in between, decaying like much of the city. Detroit is a city in decline due to the world recession and the effects on the auto trade that brought so much life to the city.

The high school was build in the early 1900s and was considered one of the city’s landmarks. The decision to have the school demolished met with strong opposition. There was calls to renovate instead however it appeared that the option might not only costly but impractical given outdated utilities. In the end, the school moved to the new building and much of the furniture and fittings were left as they were. According to Detroit Urbex, the plan was to remove everything but as the years went by, their value depreciated and they were left. Even though a fire ripped through the building in 2007, it was still 4 years before the building was dismantled.

Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA

Category: School

Abandoned: 2005

All photos from Detroit Urbex

Murder in abandoned Detroit home

The demise of Detroit has been the subject on previous posts here at World Abandoned and this story caught our attention recently.

Two women and a man, aged 25, 20 and 24, respectively, were found dead in an abandoned house on Detroit’s west side last Thursday. Two children aged 1 and 5were were also found unharmed in the house according to police.

One of the residents of the street in which the incident happened said “It’s just the way the neighbourhood goes now, You see people come and go all the time, especially next door here. The guy who rents the house, he doesn’t take care of it too well and people move in and out. It really doesn’t. I don’t think they should be over there, not squatting. But what can you do about it?”

It’s certainly not the first time Detroit has seen something like this. The body of 23-year-old Dynasty Myles was found in an abandoned house in February and a burning body was found nearby only a month ago

Detroit’s homicide rate has climbed significantly since the economic downturn with 2012 seeing 386 homicides.

Account of a visit to Scott’s Hut & Antarctica

One of the most interesting places we’ve blogged about is Scott’s Hut in Antarctica which was built during the great age of Antarctic exploration. In recent years there’s been an increase in tourism to the region and Scott’s Hut is a favourite amongst the visitors. We’ve recently come across a fantastic account of a visit at Travelling Not Soliciting blog which makes for great reading. Click here to read.

We managed to get ashore on the zodiacs to visit Scott's Hut, which has been carefully restored by the Antarctic Heritage Trust. It was a fascinating time capsule (see photos below). It was actually quite spacious and they had many of the comforts of the time, but as you approach it from the sea it looks so little, brave and foolhardy, sitting there in its small cove surrounded by a gigantic monochrome world—shades of black, grey and white. And the gods put on the proper weather for our arrival:it was very very cold and very very windy. Temperature was minus 10 degrees C but a wind chill of minus 25 degrees C. When you climbed out of the shelter of the cove you were blown backwards by the blasts of wind.

We had hoped that we would also be able to land later the same day at Ernest Shackleton’s hut from his 1909 expedition, which is a mile or two further up the coast of Ross Island, but the conditions were too fierce, and dangerous sea ice was blocking the landing place. Actually I think a lot of people were secretly glad that we couldn’t go ashore since we were all so cold from our visit to Scott’s hut! 

TSS Duke Of Lancaster photo

We blogged previous about the TSS Duke Of Lancaster and found this photo recently online which shows the current state of the ship. We actually have had unconfirmed reports that the ship is in the process of being dismantled however this has yet to be confirmed. If anyone does know the current situation in relation to the TSS Duke Of Lancaster, we’d love to hear from you.

Update from Fraggle Hunter - Still intact, the ship is being painted by street artists as an ongoing project - vehicle access to the ship is restricted currently and this is hampering a change of planning consent to open the ship up fully to the public