35 Stunning Abandoned Places Around the World You Can Still Visit

23. Wittenoom, Australia: The Town Erased by Asbestos

Hidden in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia lies the haunting remains of Wittenoom, a town so toxic it was officially wiped from the map. Once a booming mining community built around the extraction of blue asbestos in the mid-20th century, Wittenoom became infamous for the deadly legacy left in its dust. Hundreds of workers and residents succumbed to mesothelioma and related illnesses, leading to a mass exodus and eventual government intervention. The town was stripped of services, signage, and even its official status—yet traces of it still remain. Visitors brave enough to venture there will find abandoned homes, rusting vehicles, and eerily empty streets bathed in unrelenting sunlight. Signs warn of severe health risks, and access is strongly discouraged, but that hasn't stopped the most daring urban explorers. Wittenoom now stands as a chilling monument to environmental negligence, where silence and sunbaked decay tell a cautionary tale about industrial ambition gone fatally wrong.