12 Eerily Beautiful Ghost Towns That Will Haunt Your Wanderlust

8. Villa de Epecuén, Argentina – The Salt-Covered Atlantis

Once a thriving lakeside resort town, Villa Epecuén was a paradise for visitors seeking the healing properties of its saltwater lagoon.In 1985, a powerful storm caused a dam to break, unleashing a catastrophic flood that swallowed the entire town under nearly 10 meters (30 feet) of water. Residents were forced to flee, abandoning their homes and businesses as the town disappeared beneath the rising lake. For over 25 years, Villa Epecuén lay hidden beneath the water’s surface, its structures slowly crystallizing under layers of salt. The salinity of the lake preserved the ruins in an almost surreal, ghostly state. Then, in the early 2000s, the lake mysteriously began to recede, revealing a town frozen in time—an apocalyptic landscape of bleached, skeletal buildings coated in salt. The remnants of homes, rusted-out vehicles, and broken roads stand in eerie silence, their forms distorted by the decades underwater. Walking through Villa Epecuén today feels like stepping into a lost world, where nature has rewritten the town’s history in salt and decay.