Mother Nature is a powerful force, strong enough to undo all the “progress” that makes us feel invincible. It won’t be quick, but it will be beautiful. Here’s proof.
La Petite Ceinture Railway, Paris
Photographer Pierre Folks spent three years documenting the slow decay of this once popular stretch of Parisian railway, abandoned since 1934.
North Brother Island, NYC
Home to a hospital, housing for WWII veterans, and a rehab center for teens at different times throughout its history, North Brother Island once looked like a well-manicured college campus. Abandoned for the past 50 years, it's slowly returning to the wild.
Chernobyl Power Plant
After the nuclear disaster in 1986, Chernobyl was abandoned for obvious reasons. The lack of human activity gave the surrounding forest an opportunity to reclaim its rightful place. In these aerial images taken in the 1990s (top) and 2013 (bottom) you can see how trees have moved into engulf the former city.
A string of decaying shipwrecks near the Bermuda Triangle
Ferris Wheel
This barn has become more tree than building.
Playground
Abandoned Train Tracks, Berlin
The trains moved out, and this tree moved right in.
Bobsled track from the 1984 Winter Olympics track in Sarajevo
Ghost Train
'Tent of Tomorrow' from the '64 World's Fair pavilion in Flushing Meadows, NY
Abandoned roller coaster in Hubei Province, China
This old building is no match for a determined tree.
Old log ride at Dogpatch, Northwest Arkansas
Bridge to Nowhere
Motorcycle
MotorcycleLegend has it that this bike was found in Sri Lanka, after a 3 decade long war. Apparently, it was a terrorist's motor bike, found like this by government forces after they had been evicted.
Częstochowa’s Abandoned Train Depot in Poland
Atlanta School Bathroom
Valley of the Mills, Italy
Irish castle near the village of Kilgarvan
Church
Buried cars swallowed by grass in Taiwain
Plaza Hotel, Germany
Abandoned in the 1990s, this once bustling hotel has succumbed to creeping moss and plucky seedlings.
Angkor Wat Temple, Cambodia
Wonderland amusement park on the outskirts of Beijing
This park was built, but never opened.
Water park, Japan
El Hotel del Salto, Colombia
Feral House
Remnants of a roller coaster at Nara Dreamland, Japan
Trees roam the streets in the abandoned city of Keelung, Taiwan
Houses in Detroit
It's no secret that the Motor City has fallen on hard times. These crazy time lapse images show nature's slow reclamation of an abandoned city block.
La Petite Ceinture Railway, Paris
A string of decaying shipwrecks near the Bermuda Triangle
Bobsled track from the 1984 Winter Olympics track in Sarajevo
Częstochowa’s Abandoned Train Depot in Poland
Angkor Wat Temple, Cambodia
Water park, Japan
