Author: Kelsey Hattaway
 |
| Kolmanskop, Namibia, from National Geographic |
Looking at this photograph, one may be curious as
to where this interesting location is, and how it ended up this way. This is
the deserted ghost town of Kolmanskop. Kolmanskop is a town located in Southern
Namibia . It is accepted as one of the creepiest ghost towns in the world, and
is said to be haunted.
Kolmanskop was once a very prosperous diamond
mine. In 1908, Zacharias Lewala discovered a “glimmering stone in the sand”
(Kolmanskop). This glimmering stone was actually a diamond. The discovery of
diamonds led to a “diamond boom,” and many German miners flocked to the area to
seek their fortune (Martin). Many miners’ families moved there, which helped to
greatly develop the town. Houses, hotels, businesses, hospitals, schools, and
even theaters were built.
However,
when the value of diamonds slowly began to decrease, so did the miners. They
left the area one by one, until the town was completely abandoned in 1954. The
once booming, profitable town transitioned quickly into a creepy, barren ghost
town. Being in the desert, buildings started to completely fill with sand.
Every room now has sand pouring through the doorways, halfway filling the
entire building. Soon the buildings may be buried entirely (McLachlan). The
desert is forcefully overtaking the whole city (Martin).
It
is an eerie site, which is now a very popular tourist attraction. Southern
Africa has received a significant escalation of tourists in these past few
years, solely because of Kolmanskop. Perhaps one of the reasons this ghost town
is one of the creepiest and most popular in the world, may be because of how
recently it was abandoned- just a little under sixty years ago (McLaughlan).
Although the buildings have been halfway filled with sand for the past sixty
years, the desert environment has proven to well-preserve the area
(McLaughlan). No rain or natural disasters can damage the buildings. One thing
is for sure: Kolmanskop, Namibia is an intriguing location. Some people find
the location to be more interesting than creepy. Justin Delaney is one of
these, a publisher onto a travel website, who claims “The sight of a decaying
German town in the shifting sands of the Namib desert is anachronistically
delightful” (Delaney). This seems like an accurate way to describe the present
state of Kolmanskop, Namibia. So if you would like to take a trip to one of the
world’s creepiest but yet beautiful ghost towns, I suggest Kolmanskop!
 |
| Dunes reclaim a house in Kolmanskop |
Works Cited:
“Kolmanskop.” The Basement Geographer. N.p.
07 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
“Kolmanskop Ghost Town Tour.” The Cardboard
Box. Cardboard Box Travel Shop, n.d. Web.
13 Oct. 2013.
AM. “Kolmanskop Slideshow.” Online video clip. Trip
Advisor.com. Trip Advisor, n.d. Web.
18 Oct. 2013.
Delaney, Justin. “The World’s Ten Creepiest
Abandoned Cities.” Gadling.com. AOL, 27 Apr.
2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
Gray, Chris. Kolmanskop, Namibia. 2009.
National Geographic, New York. Nationalgeographic.com.
Web. 18 Oct. 2013.
MagicOlf. Kolmanskop Ghost Town. 2003.
Flickr.com. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.
Martin, Grant. “New Photos from Kolmanskop,
Namibia’s Diamond Ghost Town.” Forbes.
Forbes Magazine, 03 Sept. 2013. Web. 10. Oct. 2013.
McLachlan, Sean. “Kolmanskop: Namibia’s Eerie
Ghost Town.” Gadling.com. AOL, 17 May
2012. Web. 10. Oct. 2013.
Links for Further Research:
The link above directs you to
ghost stories published by writers that supposedly occurred in Kolmanskop,
Namibia.
RoomsForAfrica. “Kolmanskop
Ghost Town Near Luderitz.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 23 Aug.
2010. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
The link above is a YouTube
video explaining the history of Kolmanskop, included with a slideshow of
pictures.
The King is Alive. Dir. Kristian Levring. Perf. Miles Anderson, Romane
Bohringer, David Bradley. Nordisk Film, 2000. Film.
The above link is a movie
that was filmed entirely in the town of Kolmanskop, Namibia.
No comments:
Post a Comment