#MicroblogMondays 117: Past Fun

by Mel

20 comments

1 Nabanita Dhar { 11.21.16 at 5:36 am }

I find something hauntingly beautiful about abandoned places. houses in the middle of the forest or dilapidated forts. I even imagine what the people must have been like and even try to picture the past in those places.

2 Parul Thakur { 11.21.16 at 5:49 am }

I agree to that. There is a lot of hidden beauty in abandoned parks and add to it other places too. Early this year, I traveled to Hampi which is all ruins of a once huge empire. I still do not get tired looking through my pictures.

3 Eugene Uttley { 11.21.16 at 7:56 am }

The place most beautiful to me that I have traveled to is Angkor Wat in Cambodia, which is the ancient capitol of Siam. Your question inspired me to write about vacant lots. Thanks for that, because I have been creating all of these complex screenshot slideshow of prezi presentation posts, and littered-with-links posts, and it’s nice to just put some words down and let them fly for a change.

4 Lori Shandle-Fox { 11.21.16 at 8:26 am }

I’ll be honest: I don’t get it. I think abandoned places are sad. When once it was so alive, bustling with happy people and now it’s just left for dead. I think amusement parks are sad even when they’re just closed and dark.

5 Wendy English { 11.21.16 at 8:41 am }

I don’t remember which amusement park it is but there is a drone video of a huge abandoned park and the video was one that I could not stop watching. It was long and so interesting. I don’t know if I consider it beautiful. For me it was intriguing. Cool topic! These places would make great settings for a novel or movie.

6 Lori Lavender Luz { 11.21.16 at 9:01 am }

I do. Abandoned places are places for time-travel which I love to do. I love to imagine (and maybe absorb) scenes that have come before. It’s ghostly. Full of past potential.

7 Modern Gypsy { 11.21.16 at 9:23 am }

I love abandoned houses – especially the lopsided ones, with parts that are open to the emelements, overgrown with plants and vines. There is something hauntingly beautiful about them.

8 Isabelle { 11.21.16 at 10:10 am }

To me, abandoned places are a bit creepy and sad. And sometimes scary.

9 Shail { 11.21.16 at 11:49 am }

There definitely is something about them which draws me too.

10 Cyn K { 11.21.16 at 1:13 pm }

I love the beauty of nature reclaiming those spaces. I’m saddened when it is a space I’ve been to.

11 Valery { 11.21.16 at 1:53 pm }

You just inspired me to dream of a future home that is more connected with nature. With a grass roof and such…

12 nonsequiturchica { 11.21.16 at 2:10 pm }

I agree with Lori S-F- I don’t get the appeal of abandoned places. They are just sad because maybe people did have great memories when they were active, but now it is just a waste of space. It would be better to tear down the abandoned buildings and build a park rather than keep up the empty buildings.

13 Emma @ Muddy Boots and Diamonds { 11.21.16 at 2:56 pm }

Yes! I love them too, though sometimes they make me sad.

This post made me think a little of Baltimore. When we went last year, we got turned around and drove through neighborhoods. Some of them had rows of abandoned/burned out town homes with trees and vines growing in them. I found that intriguing, but it did make me sad to see.

14 JustHeather { 11.21.16 at 3:33 pm }

Like others, I find abandoned places pretty, but also a bit sad.

15 loribeth { 11.21.16 at 4:40 pm }

I am of two minds on this one. There’s something kind of poetic about an abandoned farmhouse or barn or grain elevator in the middle of a country field… they are a link to a past and a way of life that is fast disappearing. Nobody has lived in the house that was built by my great-great grandfather in the 1880s for at least 25 years, but I’m grateful that I was able to go inside while it was still safe to do so, about 15 years ago. It’s still standing (last I heard, anyway), but it will probably be torn down soon because it’s been badly damaged by flooding.

An abandoned house or building in the middle of a town or city that the neighbours have to look at every day, though, would be a bit of an eyesore. And I would think an abandoned amusement park or mall, besides being a bit of an eyesore, would be a huge waste of space.

A couple of years ago, I was in suburban Minneapolis with my family and my mom, sister & I decided to go shopping at a nearby mall. We’d gone there often, years earlier. There had been a Penneys and a Sears there then. We were shocked that all but one of the anchor stores was closed, and the places was nearly deserted (and this was on a Saturday afternoon, when most malls are packed!). I would say only 25% of the retail space or less was being used. It was actually kind of creepy walking around there.

16 Jess { 11.21.16 at 6:21 pm }

My husband has a whole Pinterest page dedicated to abandoned spaces…he finds them utterly gorgeous and fascinating. I find them a little creepy, but it is fun to imagine what once was, and have a sort of “I Am Legend” moment of what everything will look like when we’re gone.

17 Stephanie (Travelcraft Journal) { 11.21.16 at 10:49 pm }

I’m fascinated by those photos too! Some are so haunting. There’s something I love about the collision of the natural world and the world we construct.

18 Middle Girl { 11.22.16 at 1:01 am }

Three of the 5 or 6 amusement parks I visited when I was a child, shut down, left abandoned for a bit and are now all sites of sprawling retail outlets. I didn’t visit the sites once abandoned and very rarely do my travels take me to the sites now. The memories are embedded deeply. I don’t desire to visit the land–especially in their current states.

Generally, I find abandoned spaces pretty sad.

19 Amber { 11.22.16 at 2:05 am }

I read about Disney’s River Country awhile back. I found it really interesting, as I had no idea it even existed! We actually have an Enchanted Forrest here in Oregon, so it really caught my eye when you listed that as abandoned! I had to click on your link to look it up. We love our Enchanted Forrest here and took our twins for the first time this last summer. It will be a summer tradition for us and a sad day if/when it ever closes.

20 Cristy { 11.22.16 at 2:43 pm }

I love abandoned places. My imagination runs wild with the secrets they hold. From old farmhouses and barns to these secret hideways. Ghost towns are an especial favorite (so many out west).