A Ghost Town in Eastern Europe – Chernobyl’s Legacy
By Joy J. Fine
In North America, particularly the United States, the average ghost town is most likely to have been created by the demise of mining towns that became abandoned because the silver or gold had run out and the residents had to move on to find work. This has happened so many times that there are literally hundreds of such towns in America some of which have many buildings still standing while others have been reduced to nothing but ruins and rubble. The stories that accompany towns like these in Europe have very different beginnings, and endings, to them.
One such town is Pripyat in the northern Ukraine. This town was an employee town, the fifty thousand residents being either employees of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant or their families. In 1986, when the meltdown occurred, the people left in droves to protect themselves from the fallout and radioactivity. That was when this company town joined other abandoned towns in Europe as another city abandoned by circumstances beyond the control of its people. Once called the city of roses, this ghost town is now home only to wild animals and stray dogs.
When the incident occurred that resulted in this city being abandoned it was a place that was looked on as a modern source of pride. Four apartment buildings were being prepared for new residents to move in. There were hospitals, swimming pools, a gymnasium and even a Ferris wheel. But when the reactor melted down the people left quickly leaving behind them anything that was not important. They were permitted to take only clothes, documents and a few books if things were uncontaminated. So, when the people first left this town everything remained and the homes looked like families were about to return. The apartments were filled with children’s toys, furniture and valuables. Plates were left on counters, sometimes with food still on them as residents made a hasty exit. Early in the 2000s, when it was believed to be safer to return to this ghost town, things in the buildings began to be looted, everything that was movable was stolen down to the toilet seats.
Towns that have been deserted by their residents have a strange draw for many people and these days it has been deemed safe to visit Pripyat. There are tours given by appointed tour guides that allow people to see what is left of this abandoned town. The radioactive isotopes are destined to take at least three hundred years before they will disperse; yet that does not keep the curious away from this contaminated site. They have seen the buildings flooded in the spring with trees growing through the roofs. The predictions are that in the next twenty years, because of the continuous damage the buildings will have been under, they will complexly collapse. Only two years ago a four-story school collapsed.
In this area, sometimes called the Exclusion Zone, there are police and guards to keep the curious from wondering without a guide. The place is fascinating to look through; it just is not one of the ghost towns that can be investigated alone. If you want to look it is not difficult to get the permits necessary to visit Pripyat and there are even conveniences nearby for tourists who want the tour. This includes lodges, hotels and even permanent housing for the tour guides or those who want to be long-term visitors to this ghost town.
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