35 Mysterious Abandoned Places Around the World You Can Still Visit

21. Oradour-sur-Glane, France: A Village Memorialized

Nestled in the French countryside near Limoges, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane stands as one of the most haunting reminders of World War II atrocities. On June 10, 1944—just days after D-Day—Nazi SS troops stormed the peaceful village under the false suspicion of harboring resistance fighters. In a horrific act of retribution, they rounded up the townspeople—men were shot in barns, while women and children were herded into the church and burned alive. In total, 642 innocent lives were extinguished in just a few hours. After the war, Charles de Gaulle declared that the village should never be rebuilt. Instead, it would remain untouched—a ghost town preserved in its ruined state as a national memorial. Today, visitors walk through eerily quiet streets where rusting bicycles, sewing machines, and scorched cars sit frozen in time. The shattered windows and crumbling facades echo the horrors of that day, offering a sobering and powerful lesson on the cost of hatred and the importance of remembrance.