Atlas of Improbable Places

Travis Elborough is an author and social commentator. His books include the four titles in the Unexpected Atlases series - Atlas of Improbable Places, Atlas of the Unexpected, Atlas of Vanishing Places and Atlas of Forgotten Places, together with A Travellers Year, A London Year, The Long-Player Goodbye, Being A Writer and A Walk in the Park: The Life and Times of a Peoples Institution. Travis is a regular contributor to Radio 4 and the Guardian, and has penned articles on all aspects of travel and culture, from pirates in the Caribbean to donkeys at the British seaside. He has written for the Times, Sunday Times, New Statesman, BBC History Magazine and Kinfolk among others.

DREAM CREATIONS FLEVOPOLDER The region reclaimed from the sea ZHELEZNOGORSK Former closed Soviet city FREE CHRISTIANIA Squatter-city AUROVILLE 1960s utopian city SLAB CITY The squatter metropolis PORTMEIRION The Village ZVYOZDNY GORODOK Star City HEARST CASTLE Randolph Hearsts Xanadu-esque home DESERTED DESTINATIONS TEUFELSBERG Abandoned U.S. spy station PRESIDIO MODELO Cubas most notorious former penitentiary BATTLESHIP ISLAND Deserted mining settlement NO MANS LAND FORT A long shunned coastal bulwark THE LOST CITY OF SAN JUAN PARANGARICUTIRO Abandoned after the eruption of 1943 HUMBERSTONE AND SANTA LAURA Redundant saltpetre works WONDERLAND Abandoned Disneyland-style theme park ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE Village left abandoned since the Second World War MUYNAK Drained port WITTENOOM Asbestos-ridden industrial town ANI, KARS Ruins of one-time capital of the Armenian Empire CONCRETE CITY Garden city of the anthracite region VAROSHA Abandoned tourist resort ARCHITECTURAL ODDITIES MARYHILL STONEHENGE Concrete Stonehenge SPIJKENISSE The real fictional euro bridges KABAYAN The Ibaloi mummy caves SANTURIO MADONNA DELLA CORONA Chapel hangs midway down a sheer cliffside LONDON BRIDGE, LAKE HAVASU The 1831 London Bridge THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE MONUMENT Controversial symbol of independence TEN COMMANDMENTS MOUNTAIN The Fields of the Wood FLOATING WORLDS THE PALM 105 An artificial island paradise THE KINGDOM OF REDONDA Uninhabited Caribbean island POVEGLIA ISLAND Former plague quarantine island GREAT BLASKET Uninhabited since 1954 HOLLAND ISLAND Island slowly being eroded by the water PALMERSTON A community formed in its founders image WRANGEL ISLAND A place frozen in time MOUNT RORAIMA The Lost World ROSS ISLAND British Indian penal settlement HIRTA The Edge of the World OTHERWORLDLY SPACES AOKIGAHARA The Demon Forest COLMA City of the dead LEAP CASTLE The worlds most haunted residence DARVAZA CRATER Door to Hell THE HILL OF CROSSES Home to some 100,000 crosses THE ISLAND OF DOLLS A terrifying attraction SUBTERRANEAN REALMS THE UNDERGROUND POSTAL RAILWAY Rail Mail COLD WAR SPY TUNNEL The telephone tapping centre BEIJING UNDERGROUND Bunkers to beat the bomb MOOSE JAW Illicit tunnels CINCINNATI Abandoned subway ZKP TAGANSKY, AKA BUNKER 42 Cold War communications bunker PUERTO PRINCESA Subterranean river