Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Illinois Ghost Towns

By Ian Kleine

Ghost towns are pretty much littered around the state of Illinois. But what are ghost towns? Are they old, creepy towns inhabited by spiritual entities that refuse to leave the physical plane and choose to haunt the people in it instead?

No, much as it sounds like it is. Ghost towns are essentially, yes, they are old towns that have been abandoned by their residents for probably different reasons. Natural disasters, economic reasons, sociological, government or war. What stands are probably a few houses and community structures, some landmarks and derelict roads. Ghost towns are more numerous in the state of Illinois. Towns are made ghost towns if the number of residents exceed the supposed population density of the area.

Most of the ghost towns have been abandoned for human safety, usually by disasters and situations caused by people themselves. Some of which, have been found out for potential health concerns in the area, others for testing and for progress. Usually, when these happens, the town starts to depreciate little by little. The buildings lose their luster when no one uses them and cares for them anymore. The roads start to be overgrown by flora, and the roads around the area become incomprehensible. Vines and plants also invade the buildings, and electricity is cut off, leaving the town dark at night. Animals start taking in and the whole town either gets preserved or falls down.

There are some ghost towns available for tourism, those that are deemed safe for travel. Others are not accessible to the public, due to private owning or because of apparent danger in the area.

Illinois at least has forty two ghost towns in the area, some of which can be visited like Benjaminville and Kaskaskia. The tour would offer good history, and research for some of the visitors. Some of the towns have offered tours for the ghost towns, most are the nearby towns who benefit from the tourism. - 16651

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