History Main / GhostTown

A town or village that no longer has enough inhabitants to be considered a town (or in extreme cases may be abandoned entirely)[[note]]the legal term for this is "disincorporation"[[/note]].

* A location in ''VideoGame/Mother3'', at the end of chapter 7. It's [[spoiler:Tazmily Village]], as the residents are making their way towards New Pork City,

A town or village that no longer has enough inhabitants to be considered a town (or in extreme cases may be abandoned entirely).

* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'':

* [[TheHero Saitama]] from ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'' lives in the Z-City Ghost Town, a mostly uninhabited district of City Z which was abandoned by most of its former residents due to an unusually high frequency of [[OurMonstersAreDifferent monster]] attacks which began to plague the area. Despite this however, Saitama's apartment building still has electrical power and running water.

* ''VisualNovel/JunipersKnot'': The [[https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/256693729/movie480.webm Steam trailer]] sets the story in "An abandoned town... forgotten by time"

* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime''.
** Hollie Jollie Village was destroyed by the invading shroobs early in the game. The exploration of the ruins of the town is accompanied by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob2nLVXzABc the most depressing rendition of Jingle Bells ever.]]
** Toad Town suffered the same fate. The only survivors of the attack are a pair of grannies who act as shopkeepers. The rest of the inhabitants were kidnapped by the aliens after they laid waste to the place.

* A location in ''VideoGame/Mother3'', at the end of chapter 7. It's [[spoiler:Tazmily Village]].
* In ''VideoGame/MystV'' Myst Island became this after Atrus and Catherine abandoned it after ''{{VideoGame/Myst}}'' because it held too many memories. Nothing on the island works anymore, and even flipping one of the switches causes it to break. The imaging room is inaccessible, and there are no linking books or journals to be seen. [[spoiler:If you visit the age of Myst at all in this game, Eshar will leave you stranded here, which also makes this [[TheAlcatraz The Alcatraz.]] Don't count on Yeesha coming to rescue you either since she wrote in one of her journals that she will never return.]]

* Nancy Drew visits one called Dry Creek in ''[VideoGame/NancyDrew: Secret of Shadow Ranch''.

* In idSoftware's adventure shooter ''VideoGame/Rage2011'', the level "Dead City" is an abandoned megapolis, complete with crumbling skyscrapers, sand-covered vehicles, and bloodthirsty mutants. But then again, most of the planet is post-nuclear-disaster, with crumbling everything and bloodthirsty inhabitants...)

* Wakatu from ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'': Mondo from [[OneNationUnderCopyright Trinity]] used his connections to be assigned as the ambassador of this region and then proceeded to destroy it, massacring all of the population, to built his secret base here. Gen was the SoleSurvivor and can be found [[DrowningMySorrows drinking himself into a coma]] at the bar in Junk over [[MyGreatestFailure having failed to protect his home region]]. He's needed to access Wakatu as it is otherwise declared off limit by travel agencies.

* Garvoy Valley from ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts From the New World'': Shania and Natan's DoomedHometown. The place was destroyed and all its inhabitants killed by [[BigBad Lady]]... Simply because [[DisproportionateRetribution the settlement was in her way]].

* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'''s Wet-Dry World features an abandoned town hidden away by a tunnel at the very corner of the stage that requires a cannon to access. The world's main gimmick is that you can adjust the water levels by touching small rainbow pyramids, and it's hinted (and confirmed in the [[https://www.reddit.com/r/SuperMario64/comments/ms6r4z/wetdry_world_solved/ Super Mario 64 Guide]]) that flooding caused the former residents to leave. The world itself only has water striders and toy-like robots as enemies, with [[NothingIsScarier the town portion lacking even the robots.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' killing everyone you meet will result in all the towns you enter being almost completely empty. Partly because, well, you killed them and because the rest of the monsters are fleeing for their lives. The music also slows down to a crawl, adding to the empty and desolate feeling.

* ''VideoGame/WarioLand4'''s Crescent Moon Village, in both senses of the word (no inhabitants, but plenty of bloodthirsty undead ghosts).

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Marge vs. The Monorail", Marge goes to North Haverbrook, the town Lyle Lanley sold a monorail to before Springfield. She finds the town nearly deserted after their monorail crashed on its maiden voyage.
** North Haverbrook recovered and became a flourishing community again in the episode, "Little Big Girl".

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s hometown Argo City, a Kryptonian city which survived Krypton's destruction but became a space ghost town when all Argoans -minus Superman's family- were killed by Kryptonite radiation (in the original ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'') or Brainiac (in ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton2004''). ''[[ComicBook/SupermanFamily Every]]'' ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl1982 so]]'' ''[[ComicBook/LastDaughterOfKrypton often]]'' Kara has travelled back to her city to check it's still a massive, silent graveyard drifting in the void of space.

Not to be confused with the 2008 film ''Film/{{Ghost Town|2008}}'', whose [[BigApplesauce town]] is actually quite populous; or with ThrivingGhostTown, which is the LawOfConservationOfDetail as applied to the town's population; or with Music/TheSpecials song "Ghost Town".

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prypiat,_Ukraine Prypiat, Ukraine]]. Ever since the {{UsefulNotes/Chernobyl}} Meltdown, the town has been largely uninhabited; of the handful that do live in the area, most are stubborn, elderly holdouts.

* ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' has a ghost town cleverly called "Spook-ane" in "CreepyTrip to Lemon Twist."

!!Real-Life Examples:

* In ''Videogame/MystV'' Myst Island became this after Atrus and Catherine abandoned it after ''{{VideoGame/Myst}}'' because it held too many memories. Nothing on the island works anymore, and even flipping one of the switches causes it to break. The imaging room is inaccessible, and there are no linking books or journals to be seen. [[spoiler:If you visit the age of Myst at all in this game, Eshar will leave you stranded here, which also makes this [[TheAlcatraz The Alcatraz.]] Don't count on Yeesha coming to rescue you either since she wrote in one of her journals that she will never return.]]

* In ''Videogame/{{Undertale}}'' killing everyone you meet will result in all the towns you enter being almost completely empty. Partly because, well, you killed them and because the rest of the monsters are fleeing for their lives. The music also slows down to a crawl, adding to the empty and desolate feeling.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/JoeOrioloFelixTheCat'' TV cartoon [[Recap/JoeOrioloFelixTheCat1x41FelixFinderAndTheGhostTown "Felix-Finder and the Ghost Town"]] is set in a western ghost town, where Felix is heckled by Professor and ends up getting trapped inside of a derelict hotel hanging over a cliff.

* The town of Oakvale in ''VideoGame/FableI'' used to be a small village of farmers and carpenters deep in the forest coasted by the sea, surrounded by [[TheLostWoods a haunted cursed forest called Darkwood]]. It's a hub and the hero's home. [[VideoGame/FableII After 300 years from the first game]], the town had enlarged and the Barrow Fields region was unified with Oakvale, but because of Reaver and the Shadow Court, an evil and magical organization, the villagers were all killed and the town was cursed and eventually abandoned; within a few decades, the Darkwood forest claimed the village and the surrounding areas, turning it into the Wraithmarsh, a [[BigBoosHaunt dark and haunted]] [[BubblegloopSwamp wetland]] infested with [[NightOfTheLivingMooks undead, balverines, and banshees]]. The town's sign is still up when the player visits, though Oakvale's signature bridge is in ruins. The path leading in the inner town is flooded, making it impossible to explore the town further.

** Nipton and Searchlight in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' became this after the Legion came to town. The former had its residents beheaded, crucified, or enslaved, while the latter was irradiated, turning the NCR troops stationed there into feral ghouls.

* In idSoftware's adventure shooter ''VideoGame/{{Rage}}'', the level "Dead City" is an abandoned megapolis, complete with crumbling skyscrapers, sand-covered vehicles, and bloodthirsty mutants. But then again, most of the planet is post-nuclear-disaster, with crumbling everything and bloodthirsty inhabitants...)

* Snowfield, California, in Dean Koontz's ''Literature/{{Phantoms}}.''

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''
** The Hidden Village in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', and its Western music.
** Earlier than that, in ''[[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink Zelda II]]'', the town of Kasuto. Especially because [[spoiler: there are ''literal'' ghosts flying around, which can't be seen without the aid of a magic Cross.]]

** Now the Series/{{Mythbusters}}' second abandoned location to casually drive cars through.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adak,_Alaska Adak, Alaska]], an otherwise standard isolated fishing town which was for many years home to a naval operations base. Several buildings were constructed to complement it, including a college, movie theater, and a bowling alley. They even had Pizza Hut, Baskin-Robbins, and UsefulNotes/McDonalds. Almost all of the town was abandoned in 1993 when the naval base closed, leaving about 300 people (less than 10% of its 1990 peak) and a bunch of decaying naval support buildings. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw_u7A_eFxY Here]] is a video showing the abandoned [=McDonald's=].

** And the smaller village of Byrnesville, just south of Centralia. The last house was demolished in 1996.

** Gerzuun from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX''. By the time the hero and Co. arrived, the town has already been overrun by monsters. The only inhabitants left are the ghosts of the townsfolk who, unaware of their deaths, still look over the [[McGuffin Bodura grass]].

* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern': Coast City became a ghost town after its destruction at Cyborg Superman's hands. In ''ComicBook/GreenLanternRebirth'', while still under the Spectre's power, Hal Jordan seems to unconsciously recreate the layout of the pre-devastation Coast City. Nonetheless, it took a while until people dared to return to the rebuilt town.

* Coast City from the ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' comics became a ghost town after its destruction at Cyborg Superman's hands. In ''ComicBook/GreenLanternRebirth'', while still under the Spectre's power, Hal Jordan seems to unconsciously recreate the layout of the pre-devastation Coast City. Nonetheless, it took a while until people dared to return to the rebuilt town.

* ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'': When Tim's attempt to track a gun runner to his source gets completely derailed by an EldritchAbomination that's been slinking around the Appalachian Mountains for years hiding in human form his research into the creature leads him to a town that's almost entirely boarded up and abandoned save one paranoid holdout. Most of the population had been slaughtered one of the previous times the creature's disguise as a human was ruined.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comics have ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s hometown Argo City, a Kryptonian city which survived Krypton's destruction but became a space ghost town when all Argoans -minus Superman's family- were killed by Kryptonite radiation. ''[[ComicBook/SupermanFamily Every]]'' ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl1982 so]]'' ''[[ComicBook/LastDaughterOfKrypton often]]'' Kara has travelled back to her city to check it's still a massive, silent graveyard drifting in the void of space.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Ne Monte Ne, Arkansas]][[note]] [[ItIsPronouncedTropay Pronounced "mahn-tay nay" or "mahnt-nay" by locals,]] supposedly from the Spanish and Omaha words for "mountain water"[[/note]], a popular Ozark resort town of the early 20th century located near Rogers, AR, and founded by William "Coin" Hope Harvey. The town at one time had a general store, a livery stable, a grist mill, a post office, and a hotel. After failed attempts at a railroad and a turnpike, he helped co-found the Ozark Trail System, a forerunner of the U.S. Highway system. After the death of his son Hal, his wife and other son left him, and he attempted to build a pyramid as a monument to his legacy, but only a retaining wall was ever constructed. He attempted to run for president in 1932 as a member of the short-lived Liberty Party, gathering 53,425 votes but ultimately losing to UsefulNotes/FranklinDelanoRoosevelt by a landslide. Harvey eventually died in 1936 after a losing bout with deteriorating health, and after the property was sold off in lots, the rest of the resort and town was submerged after the construction of Beaver Dam, which formed Beaver Lake. However, the Corps Of Engineers misjudged the water level, and the lodge's multi-story concrete structures were ''not'' submerged (they're popular grafitti targets though).

* ''Film/SonOfPaleface'' (1952) takes place partially in a Ghost Town.

* Lawless, Arizona in ''ComicBook/MarvelTwoInOne #14''. This one had a literal ghost, a hanged {{outlaw}} that the ComicBook/TheThing and ComicBook/DaimonHellstrom AKA the Son of Satan battled.