Operation Teapot Steams Up The Desert

(images via: Weird Wild Realm and Deseret News)

It can get hot in Nevada, but 1955 saw temps in selected areas reach that of the surface of the sun. In a roughly three month period in the spring of that year, the U. S. Army set off 14 nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site at Yucca Flats under the name of Operation Teapot. The explosions ranged in yield from 1.2 to 43 kilotons. The bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, ten years earlier had a yield of approximately 12 kilotons.

Home Sweet… Uh Oh

(image via: Wired)

The stage was set for Survival Town two years earlier when, on the first day of tests for Operation Upshot-Knothole, the charming 1950’s house above was exposed to an atomic blast. The walls of the house look unnaturally bright in the first image (above top left) because they’re reflecting the light of the just-detonated bomb. The rest, as they say, is history.

“Honey, Call State Farm”

(image via: Corbis)

The Apple-2 test on May 5, 1955… yes, 5/5/55, showed similar results to the 1953 structures and materials test. Civil Defense workers provide a composite Before & After photo of one of the homes built to be destroyed in what is known today as Operation CUE. This rare color photo was taken on May 6, 1955.

Nobody Home, Gone Fission

(image via: Spectrum)

The stark set of photos above shows another Survival Town building that sustained a somewhat less degree of damage – in other words, it wasn’t pulverized into kindling. The Army set up a variety of homes, buildings and other structures at varying distances from Ground Zero in an effort to determine how the power of an atomic blast would carry over an urban landscape.

This video of the “Survival Town Atom Test” is at once cute and creepy, backed by over-the-top melodramatic monster-movie music. Note that “a million dollars worth of equipment was installed”. Who planned this test, Doctor Evil??

Nevada Atomic test, 1955, via BobR1955

Eve Of Destruction

(images via: Nebraska Studies, Curiositas Mundi and OSU Library)

Survival City had it all: homes, buildings, electrical power lines, even people… well, fake people. Got to give the DOD some credit here, they stocked the homes with mannequins sourced from J. C. Penney. On a somewhat freaky note, the Army posed the mannequins in the acts of playing, eating and so on; then left cameras on to record the “fun” that was about to ensue.

Cue The Bomb

(images via: Postapocalypse, Vegaslandfill and National Archives)

The May 5th explosion dubbed Apple-2 took place 9 days late as the test site had been experiencing high winds. When the all-clear was finally given at 8:10am, nearby residents (and those who were tuning live on radio and TV) witnessed an atomic explosion weighing in at 31 kilotons. The explosion’s blast area extended 3 miles out from Ground Zero. Most of the approximately 6,000 spectators watched from about 6 miles away but Army troops in tanks and trenches got a birds-eye view at a mere 2 to 3 miles from the epicenter.

Gosh Mom, We’re Havin’ A Blast!

(images via: Flashpoint)

These rare color photos bring “home” the surreal horror of the mannequin tests with a bit more clarity. Once again the attention to detail is almost disturbing as it shows a typical, “Leave It To Beaver” type family engaged in typical middle-American pursuits, frozen in time just before their demise.

Behlen Buildings Bounce Back

(images via: Nebraska History and Nebraska Studies)

If one recalls anything about the mannequins & materials tests of the early Atomic Age, it’s the exploding houses – they make good visuals. At the time, however, survival was on the nation’s collective mind and though the test subjects of Operation Cue were inanimate, there WERE heroes among them. One of the most celebrated was the Behlen building, a corrugated steel structure that suffered not much more than the odd dent even though it was placed just 6,800 feet from Ground Zero. Behlen got a lot of mileage out of Operation Cue – the building was trucked around to state fairs for years after. The B&W photo above shows the building at the 1955 Nebraska State Fair.

Survival Town Survivors

(images via: Nevada Test Site Tour and Travelrag)

(images via: Seattle Times, Skyscraper City and Auroral Chorus)

You’d think the Army would have destroyed any and all traces of Survival Town once Operation Cue had wound down, but surprisingly some of the buildings remain standing today. The Nevada Department Of Energy conducts tours of the entire test area (no cameras allowed) including the remains of Survival Town, though visitors must be over the age of 14 and pregnant women are advised not to attend – not out of concern for any lingering radioactivity, but due to the long and bumpy bus ride.

(image via: Maison Bisson)

Survival Town, USA… wish you were here?

Amazing and Bizarre Green Art

Here are seven examples of green creativity that involve alternative uses of natural materials. Click Here to See More

Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Japan

(images via: Animatronyx, Travel and Tour Guides and Over The Rhine)

The Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall was designed by Czech architect Jan Letzel and opened in 1915. On August 6th, 1945, the atomic bomb known as “Little Boy” exploded 1,968 feet above the building, obliterating in seconds the heart and soul of a thriving city along with tens of thousands of its citizens – yet curiously, the “Genbaku Dome” suffered surprisingly little structural damage. It remains mostly unrestored today as a graphic memorial to those who died that day in 1945 and a reminder to anyone who would take the consequences of war lightly.

(images via: 3yen)

The year is 1946 and the shattered streets of Hiroshima are eerily silent… Then, turning the corner, an ominous bulk looms into view. Is it a bizarre mutant out for blood? An escaped zoo animal driven mad by radiation poisoning? Nah… it’s just the Kabaya Caramels “Hippo Car”, dispersing sadness by dispensing candy! Imagine being a kid in post-war Hiroshima – an encounter with the Hippo Car just might be the best thing to happen to you all day, perhaps all week. Kabaya still operates Hippo Cars today though they’re sleek, modern and bright red. The Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome, on the other hand, looks pretty much the same.

Oradour-sur-Glane, France

(images via: Swiss Family Grass, Free Republic and OpenTravel)

June 10, 1944 is, for the people of France, a day that will truly live in infamy. To make a terrible story short (but not to lessen any of its horror), all 642 people of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane were massacred by soldiers of the Waffen SS, who subsequently razed the entire town. Those who died that day ranged in age from one week to 90. Following the war, French president Charles De Gaulle declared Oradour-sur-Glane to be a Village Martyr. The ruins of the village have been preserved and visitors are asked to remain silent until they have left.

(images via: Oradour.info)

The car above is a Peugeot 202 belonging to Dr. Desourteaux, who arrived back in Oradour-sur-Glane after treating a patient. Both the car and the ruined buildings lining the Champ de Foire epitomize the “frozen in time” quality the establishment of the Village Martyr was intended to instill.

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin, Germany

(images via: Route 9 Autos and Nextstop)

As the power center of Nazi Germany, Berlin was bombed heavily in the final 2 years of the war. Very few of its major buildings have survived not only the fall of the Third Reich but the difficult transition to first a divided city and now, once again, a great European capital. The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was originally constructed from 1891 to 1906 and was severely damaged in an Allied bombing raid on November 23rd of 1943. The preserved spire of the old church now rests alongside a modernist New Church built between 1959 and 1963.

The Ruins, Talisay City, Philippines

(images via: Koolbirks, Byahilo and SkyscraperCity)

The gorgeous Italianate ruins at Talisay City were formerly a mansion built in the 1890s by sugar baron Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson (1865-1948) as a gift to his Portuguese wife. The building was set afire in the early days of World War II to prevent it from falling into the hands of invading Japanese forces, who hoped to use it as there area headquarters. Today the ruins are a tourist attraction with the ruins and grounds owned by Lacson’s great-grandson.

Old Steam Mill, Volgograd, Russia

(images via: Panoramic Museum, CVGS and Virtual Tourist)

Built by a trio of ethnic-German brothers in the 19th century, the Hergert Mill was one of the only buildings to survive the exceptionally vicious Battle of Stalingrad which raged from August 1942 through February 1943. How bad was the destruction wrought by the battle? See the film Enemy At The Gates if you haven’t already. Today, the mill is preserved alongside the Panorama Museum which houses relics and resources relating to the battle – including the sniper rifle used by Vasily Zaytsev.

Hitachi Aircraft Company, Tokyo, Japan

(images via: Tokyo Times)

A battle-scarred building stands, alone and unoccupied, in a peaceful park just north of Tamagawajosui Station in Tokyo’s Tachikawa Ward. Disused since 1993, the structure is a rare relic of the Second World War’s closing chapter. Its pitted concrete walls bear witness to multiple American air attacks on what was, at the time, a substation for the Hitachi Aircraft Company. The photo series published by Tokyo Times catches the building on a brilliantly clear day, with the former substation’s drab concrete walls standing in sharp contrast to the deep blue skies which, in the now-distant past, begat winged fury with guns ablaze.

Temple Church, Bristol, UK

(images via: Red Bubble and Brisray)

The English city of Bristol was a prime target of Germany’s Luftwaffe due to the concentration of aircraft and war material factories in the area. Nearly 1,300 people died and almost 90,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed in a 6-month period from November 1940 through April 1941 known as the Bristol Blitz. Though most of the wartime carnage in Bristol has been rebuilt or restored, the 14th century Temple Church remains much as it has since the end of the war. The church spire noticeably leans – a result of natural subsidence over the centuries, not the bombing.

Intramuros, Manilla, Philippines

(images via: Eserbisyo and Caroline Albarando)

Intramuros, built in 1571, was the walled capital and administrative center of the Philippines under Spanish rule. Severely damaged during World War II – first by invading Imperial Japanese armies and later by American forces under MacArthur – only remnants of Intramuros’ former glory remain. Even so, one can still discern echoes of Intramuros’ former magnificence by comparing the above images of the Plaza Major.

Farringdon “Castle”, London, UK

(image via: Imagekind)

London was devastated by waves of Luftwaffe bombing raids in 1940 and 1941 that sought to break the morale of the British people. As we know, property and people suffered immensely but the nation remained unbowed. Few remnants of The Blitz still stand in the City of London but those that do, radiate a timeless serenity that belies their violent origins. One such survivor was captured by the lens of photographer Hamish Reid in 1985. The bombed-out warehouse above is located on Farringdon Road in Islington, right beside the rail station. Reid calls the structure Farringdon Castle due to its resemblance to a medieval ruined fortress.

It’s been 70 years since World War II began and almost 65 years since it ended. These 9 battered, bombed but unbroken survivors of the war reflect the enduring strength of the human spirit. Like them, we have emerged from the horrors of war with renewed strength though we carry the scars within and without. To those architects and architecture that have perished, we remember. To those whose blood and bone, bricks and mortar have returned to ashes and dust, these mute memorials maintain our connection to the past, from the present, into the future.

7 More Abandoned Cities and Towns of the World

Check out these urban abandonments of the modern world. Click Here to See More

When old billboards, fire towers and grain silos outlive their old purposes, there’s no need to tear them down – especially since they can be transformed into surprisingly modern, livable homes with views to die for. These 15 innovative conversion projects turn the unlikeliest of abandoned structures into dazzling contemporary residences while still preserving their historic features.

Modern Home Made from a Barn & Farm Buildings

Old barns and farm buildings often fall into unsightly disuse, but this project by Bjarne Mastenbroek and his Amsterdam-based architecture firm SeARCH proves that such buildings can be not only rescued from ruin, but transformed into stunning hybrids of traditional and modern architecture. The this farmhouse and its outbuildings in Zutphen, Netherlands were given a sleek makeover with vast expanses of glass and an airy, bright interior.

From Decaying Warehouse to Dazzling Design Office

A rusting hulk of an old warehouse in an industrial district doesn’t exactly strike one as likely digs for a design and architecture team. As the top photo depicts, this warehouse in Atlanta, Georgia didn’t look like much before bldgs got a hold of it and turned it into a combined residence and office space, leaving the old rusted beams and paint-chipped bricks in place to preserve a sense of age and history.

Fire Towers Turned Modern Mountain Homes

Raise the alarm: these homes transformed from old fire towers are ablaze with beauty and eco-conscious creativity.  The height gives them a treehouse feel, not to mention the amazing views afforded by their lofty locations. They’re already built to withstand the elements, so it doesn’t take much to make them ready for habitation.

Religious Conversions: Old Train Cars are Now Churches

With the addition of steeples and, in some cases, facades, train cars can be turned into places of worship with surprising ease. Many of these unusual conversions can be found in Russia, where abandoned railway cars are a common sight. It may be a long way from the grandeur of other Russian Orthodox churches, but it’s certainly an innovative way to upcycle these old structures.

Grain Silos Upcycled into Homes and Hotels

Grain silos dot the countryside, a symbol of simple rural living with their simple shapes and metal-clad exteriors. But they aren’t just for storing grain – they can be marvelous homes and hotels as well. The Silo at the Gruene Homestead Inn has been transformed into a 1 bedroom loft apartment, while the Abbey Road Farm Bed & Breakfast has three grain silos incorporated into one large structure.

Factory Turned Modern Condo Complex

All too often, old factories are allowed to sit and rot for years after they’re abandoned, but as this conversion shows, these locations can provide the perfect skeleton for modern housing. Located in Philadelphia, this condominium complex not only takes advantage of the bones of the factory buildings, but incorporates new eco-friendly features like rainwater harvesting and solar power.

Romantic Countryside Church Makes a Luxurious Home

You might have a graveyard instead of a front lawn, but that’s a small price to pay for the vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows that come with living in an old church. This restructured church in the English countryside still looks like an aging place of worship on the outside, but the inside is now a luxurious residence.

Classic School House to Contemporary Home

Another stunning blend of old and new architecture is this classic-schoolhouse-turned-home in Denver. The original stone structure dates back to the late 1800s, but an ultra-contemporary addition and modern interior make this home anything but quaint.

Compact Modern Living – In Recycled Billboards

While billboards aren’t likely to be on most people’s radar as potential dwellings, they do have the advantage of being in prime locations, especially in urban environments. One proposal by Front Architects transforms these structures from advertisements to tiny modern homes made of wood, concrete and steel. Exchanging extra space for dazzling views and incredibly convenient locations isn’t such a big sacrifice, is it?

Trailerwrap: Turning Old Trailers into Attractive Homes

Single-wide trailers aren’t exactly the height of modern residential architecture. But, that doesn’t mean they don’t have potential. Architect Michael Hughes is the brains behind Trailerwrap, a project that reinvents old trailers by preserving their portability but making them far more aesthetically pleasing.

Home Made from Salvaged Highway Sections

“It’s kind of like Junkyard Wars meets Habitat for Humanity,” says homeowner Paul Pedini of his one-of-a-kind upcycled residence, which incorporates 600,000 pounds of recycled materials – including an entire section of an old highway. The highway panels were used to form the core structural center of the home, creating an interior that’s industrial, yet warm and welcoming.

Water Tower Creatively Converted into Sky House

This water-tower-turned-house didn’t start out as an ordinary water tower. It was made to look like a house in the sky, just for kicks – but once it was no longer needed to store water, the new owners turned it into an actual house, albeit a very tall one.

Once a Pig Barn, Now a Modern House

Few people would want to live in an old pig sty that’s falling apart at the seams, but the owners of this building saw potential in its historic shell. However, most conventional attempts to transform this pig barn into a home would have spoiled its architectural state. Amazingly enough, their solution was to drop an entire prefabricated home into the shell through the roof, with openings that correspond to those in the existing structure.

Standard Car Garage Becomes Small Home

It’s a quirky and charming A-frame home from the outside, but the origins of this cute little residence are pretty unexpected: it was once a standard car garage. The owners fought with the city to get a permit and were finally allowed to transform the garage into a tiny but adorable home with lots of natural light, a space-saving alternating staircase and warm wood accents.

Abandoned Oil Rigs Could be Luxury Homes and Hotels

There are thousands of abandoned oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, just waiting for some new purpose to save them from being scrapped or merely decaying into the sea. One architecture firm, Morris Architects, believes that these remote structures could be the perfect locations for upcycled luxury hotels and condos on the water. Combined, they could provide an astonishing 80,000 square feet of space, reachable only by boat or aircraft.

Adaptive Reuse of Converted Sea Forts

Since being decommissioned, many of these have gained strange second lives as everything from luxury resorts and private retreats to micronations and pirate radio stations. Click Here to See More

With some abandoned places in truly far-flung locations, the mystery is less about why they were abandoned – it is how there were people there in the first place. Take these seven wondrous examples of human stubbornness in the face of extreme environmental conditions, from one temperature extreme to another – and marvel at our ability to leave our mark in the remotest corners of the world, for good or ill.

1. St. Kilda, Scotland

(Image via: Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division)

Forty miles into the Atlantic Ocean, the archipelago of St. Kilda is the western tip of the the Scottish Outer Hebrides – and the most windswept, storm-tossed part of Britain with waves up to 5 meters high and recorded windspeeds as high as 130 mph.

(Images via: Daily Mail and Guideliner)

Its terrain is monstrously rugged (containing the sheerest drop to sea level in the whole of the UK). The climate is unsympathetic. In short, anyone would be mad to want to live there.

(Images via: National Trust for Scotland)

Tell that to its previous inhabitants. Not only are there traces of various prehistoric communities, they also appear to have endured, culminating in continuous human settlement for 2,000 years – ending in 1930 when a combination of factors including accidental pollution of the land, crop failure and an unsustainably low population drove the remaining St. Kildans off the inhabited main island (Hirta) and back to mainland Scotland. The archipelago has been uninhabited ever since.

(Images via: CaptainOates and Wikimedia Commons)

While there is no permanent population, St. Kilda still enjoys a wealth of scientific and cultural attention. In 1986 the islands became Scotland’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is now administered by the National Trust for Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Ministry of Defense. In addition to the rangers, archaeologists and conservationist visiting and working on the islands, a number of cruise ships and charter boats bring tourists (and their charitable donations) in ever-increasing quantities. Some of the more substantial ruins are being rebuilt to provide tourist attractions – not to mention shelters, when the weather sweeps in.

2. Ballarat, California

(Image via: Wikimedia Commons)

Three and a half miles off California 178 and a short, dusty drive from Death Valley, Ballarat is a town on the verge of abandonment – and of disappearing altogether.

(Images via: Harry Helms)

Named after the Australian town where the largest gold nugget in history was discovered (a whopping 143 pounds), Ballarat attracted enough gold miners to swell its population to 500 souls in the first years of the 20th Century. It was a relaxation station and a watering-hole (all supplies shipped in from afar) for all those seeking their fortunes in the area, particularly at the Ratcliff Mine just to the east of town. When the mine closed, the town began to die – and today, the sun-baked ruins of the town contain just two permanent residents.

3. Dallol, Ethiopia

(Image via: Volcano Discovery via Artificial Owl)

Fancy living and working somewhere with an average yearly temperature of 34°C (94°F), where summer days never drop below a toasty 40°C? Then you may understand why Dallol in a remote corner of northern Ethiopia’s Afar Depression is an uninhabited, uninhabitable ghost town.

(Image via: Volcano Discovery and Photovolcanica via Artificial Owl)

Even getting there is a tall order – it is extraordinarily remote with no connecting roads. It owes its existence to the local production of potash, enabled in 1918 by the construction of a railway terminal 28km away to shuttle raw materials to Mersa Fatuma. After its short-lived heyday, the settlement fell into decline when demand for potassium salts was met by overseas markets – and when the British dismantled the railway after the Second World War, Dallol’s fate was sealed.

(Image via: Photovolcanica via Artificial Owl)

Today, the settlement is little more than a series of shattered, crumbling walls of salt-block bricking, littered with rusting vehicles and pieces of mining machinery – and apart from the occasional intrepid visitor, it is out of human influence, out of sight and out of mind.

4. Múli, Faroe

(Image via: FaroeIslands)

Don’t let the intact townhouses fool you – because Múli (population 4) is heading for the history books.

(Images via: FaroeIslands)

Lying on the bleak northern tip of the Faroese island of Borðoy, Múli has stubbornly clung to existence since the 13th Century, despite lacking a good road and basic utilities (it only acquired an electricity supply in 1970). The road came, but the people left – and while the summer months see a few previous inhabitants returning for a nostalgic vacation, the town is now considered derelict.

5. Cook, South Australia

(Image via: Rudolph Veldsman)

If you are lucky to find yourself travelling the 4,352 km of the Indian Pacific railroad in South Australia, be sure to look out for the town of Cook. Don’t blink – you might miss it.

(Image via: Bigted27 via TripAdvisor)

Midway along the longest stretch of straight railway in the world (478 km) and the Indian Pacific’s only scheduled stop across the Nullarbor Plain section of its route, Cook is tiny and remote, offering little more than occasional overnight accommodation and shopping supplies for train passengers. All supplies, including fresh water, arrive by train – but that isn’t a problem as there are only 4 residents, officially making Cook a ghost town.

6. South Georgia, South Atlantic

(Image via: Wikimedia Commons)

If you thought there was nowhere habitable in the Southern Atlantic beyond the Falkland Islands…well, you are almost right. The British-owned isle of South Georgia may cover a thousand square miles, but every one of them is cold, windy and prone to sleet and snow whatever the time of year. Not somewhere to linger.

(Image via: Expeditions.com and Wikimedia Commons)

During the 19th Century, South Georgia was the home to a number of sealing and whaling communities containing factory ships, land stations and repair yards. In 1916, it was to South Georgia that Shackleton sailed in an open lifeboat from Elephant Island, 800 miles to the south – a staggering feat of not just endurance but also navigation, as Shackleton’s crew was only able to take four nautical sightings during the entire 17-day voyage.

(Image via: Wofratz via Dark Roasted Blend)

The longest-running station operated out of South Georgia’s best harbor at Grytviken – established in 1904, it even housed a permanent population until its closure in December 1966. Shackleton used the town to launch his rescue of the members of his crew he’d left behind on Elephant Island – and it was here that he was buried in 1922. His grave still attracts tourists from the cruise ships heading towards Antarctica, and the town’s church is still used to conduct remembrance services.

(Image via: Antarctic Diary and Richard Harrington)

Grytviken is South Georgia in miniature: once thriving with marine industry, now rusting and derelict but enjoying significant through-traffic of tourists, scientists, fishing boats and a British military presence. The latter was ousted on April 3rd 1982 when Argentinian forces attacked and occupied Grytviken. On April 25th, the British returned, bombarded the neighboring hillside with naval artillery to signal their intent, and unleashed a small group of Special Forces and Royal Marines on the town. After 15 minutes, the Argentinians surrendered.

(Image via: Dark Roasted Blend)

The enduring Argentinian claim on South Georgia led to a heightened military presence in the years after the Falklands War, finally scaling back and handing over their base at King Edward Point over to the British Antarctic Survey, who now staff the base for much of the year – the closest that South Georgia now has to a resident population.

7. Northern Siberia

(Image via: Adventure Travel)

There are few words that evoke such strong memories – and stronger opinions – as Gulag. The name of a branch of the Soviet State Security, it has instead become better associated with its detention and forced labor camps positioned along the fringes of the Soviet Union, some of them in arctic or subarctic environments.

(Images via: kiddofspeed)

Of the many hundreds of camps operating during Stalinist Russia, many still remain as ruined memorials to the 18 million people who passed through them – and the estimated million who died there, victims of cold, hunger and inhumanly hard labor.

(Image via: kiddofspeed)

Most of the camps were positioned in the remotest parts of northeastern Siberia and southeastern Khazakstan, in places of sparse population and few connections. The more remote the location, the less that security was a problem, as the severity of the environment worked as a better deterrent than any fence or guard-tower.

(Image via: Wikimedia Commons)

This final instance of remote abandonment is unique from the preceding examples – because it is abandonment without regret. It is unlikely that anyone will look nostalgically back to the days when Soviet gulag camps were operating. The inhabitants certainly didn’t choose to be there, and gained little or nothing from the experience. For those reasons, these were places where people lived and died – but probably never regarded as home.

Also check Out these Other Abandoned Wonders of the World.

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7 Amazing and Mysterious World Islands

Did you know that one in every ten people in the world lives on an island? Here are some of the remotest, least inhabited, strangest and scariest islands in the world. Click Here to See More

Mad To The Max

(images via: Ridelust, Ben Barren, UnrealityMag and Beyond Hollywood)

From Australia it came, and things would never be the same. Mad Max, released in 1979, was the inspiration of many post-apocalyptic films to come. Besides Mel Gibson’s career, Mad Max spawned two sequels in the ’80s and one more (Mad Max 4: Fury Road) in the early planning stage.

(image via: Sci-Fi Scoop)

The original Max Max is hailed by many as the best of the bunch, depicting a dystopian future world spiraling into chaos as authority, industry and society all fall apart.

Small Scale Large Scale Destruction

(image via: Sci-Fi Scoop)

Jason Van Horne scavenges old, disused and discarded materials to create both apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic scenes in miniature. Though their size may be small, their impact is large – mainly due to Van Horne’s focus on realistic portrayals of a world on the edge of destruction.

(image via: Sci-Fi Scoop)

Van Horne’s paintings take advantage of the brighter colors available from his palette. Though more lively than his sculptures, Van Horne’s paintings nevertheless convey a sense of reality that is disturbing yet exciting.

What Happens In Vegas, Stays In New York

(images via: Qoop and SSanyal)

Shayan Sanyal gives us this unusual pair of HDR photographs – not paintings, photos – of the New York-New York Hotel & Casino viewed from the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Surreal to begin with, the artificial skyline by day and by dusk shifts between reality and fantasy the more one looks.

Less People, Morlocks

(images via: Dr. X’s Free Associations, Coverbrowser and Rob Kelly)

H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine was not only one of the earliest science fiction novels (published 1895), but also one of the first speculations into humanity’s future that wasn’t all rosy and pretty. One of the book’s most chilling scenes was when, after retrieving his time machine and escaping the clutches of the degenerate Morlocks, the time traveler finds himself on a chilly, desolate beach in a far distant future where the only things living are monstrous crabs.

(image via: Bruce Marcot)

The 2002 remake of The Time Machine featured a rarely seen alternative ending in which the time traveler, having caused the destruction of the Morlocks, briefly visits a future world in which the peaceful Eloi have built a utopian society.

Apocalypso Disco

(images via: Stonehenge Atlanta and io9)

Ranking with The Time Machine as an early sci-fi blockbuster is The War Of The Worlds, in which invaders from Mars nearly triumph over humanity, only to be defeated by humble bacteria – or Slim Whitman’s music, if you’ve got your Mars movies mixed up. One of the best treatments of Wells’ masterpiece is Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, issued as a double LP record in 1978 accompanied by staggeringly bleak artwork by Peter Goodfellow, Geoff Taylor and Michael Trim.

Silent Spring In Siberia

(image via: EnglishRussia)

Some say the world will end not with a bang, but with a whimper… a slow slump into decay and decomposition. Witness the process in action by visiting the abandoned Russian city of Kadykchan. A Siberian tin-mining town that boasted a population of 5,794 as recently as 1989, Kadykchan has less than 300 inhabitants today.

(image via: EnglishRussia)

Above is a view of Kadykchan in its prime, taken from – seriously – the city’s official website.

Panic In Detroit

(image via: Photo Travel Pages)

It’s not only in Russia that parts of our modern world are slipping away into chaos and catastrophe – it’s happening right in our own backyard. Detroit, Michigan… built by American dreamers, its skyline reflects a scene of beauty from afar.

(images via: The Ruins Of Detroit and Earth Hope Network)

Closer in, however, jarring details uncover the urban ruin festering within. Yet all is not gloom and doom. Left to its own devices free from human interference, nature will take back what was once hers and against all odds, a tree spreads its branches in the concrete forest.

Scenes We’d NOT Like To See

(images via: Wanderlust Mind and Photoeye)

Lori Nix delights in recreating Landscapes of a World-Gone-Wrong. Explains Nix, somewhat chillingly, “A panoramic cityscape comes alive only when you notice a person leaping to her demise from the bridge. My photographs serve as evidence to the viewer, of the consequences of a world gone wrong.” In Nix’s universe, the world definitely ends with a bang.

Animation Nation

(images via: Anime Paper)

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a Japanese animated film by Hayao Miyazaki dating from 1984 whose success led to the founding of Studio Ghibli. he setting of the film is a post-apocalyptic world 1,000 years from now in which pockets of society struggle for existence amid a toxic “Sea Of Decay” made of deadly fungi and populated by giant insects.

Termination Or Salvation?

(images via: DOSE)

Terminator Salvation is the most recent entry in the popular post-apocalyptic film franchise. Set in the year 2018, it paints a bleak future that’s a lot closer than one might think – and not only chronologically.

He’ll Be Back

(images via: Paul Gulacy, Movie Wallpapers and Video Vidi Visum)

For many fans, however, there’s nothing like the original Terminator from 1984 – a great year for post-apocalyptic movies, not to mention novels. Played with uncharacteristic understatement by current California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terminator introduces us to an all-too-plausible future world in which intelligent, deadly, self-replicating machines have turned on their creators.

Guidestones To An Age Of Reason

(images via: Damn Interesting)

Old & busted (literally): The Ten Commandments. New hotness: The Georgia Guidestones. Mysterious yet monumental, this huge (240,000 pound) granite structure situated in Elbert County, Georgia, has been likened to an American Stonhenge. Six granite slabs comprise the monument which stands almost 20 feet tall at its highest point. One slab has a small hole drilled through it so properly positioned viewers can see the North Star. The slabs bear ten advisory messages to, presumably, survivors of some apocalyptic future holocaust such as “Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature” and “Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity”.

(images via: Long Island City Sundial)

The messages are inscribed in 8 modern languages including, in clockwise order: English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Russian. Who commissioned the Georgia Guidestones and for what purpose? No one can say – the contractor, Elberton Granite Finishing Company, was hired in June of 1979 by someone calling themselves R. C. Christian.

As Ozymandias Goes, So Shall We

(images via: Dodofuglens, Baroque In Hackney and Michael Fairchild)

Just as there are many ways to live, so there are many ways to die. The sands of history have swept over countless civilizations, as Percy Bysshe Shelley so eloquently stated in his 1818 poem Ozymandias:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

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