History Main / UnexpectedlyAbandoned

* In a cartoon [[TheMoralAlternative Moral Alternative]] to ''TheFarSide'' (most likely ''Reverend Fun''), a group of students are shown playing a prank on their Sunday School teacher by hiding in the closet of a classroom, after writing "Rapture" on the chalkboard with the end of the word trailing up off the top of the chalkboard.

A character comes to a building, town, ship, or some setting expecting people to be there--but there isn't.

-->''Hello? Anybody?''

* The ''Mary Celeste'' was found off the Azores in seaworthy condition and only its lifeboat and crew missing. What happened to these is still a mystery.

* ''ThePrisoner'' TOS episode "Many Happy Returns". One morning Number Six wakes up and finds the entire Village deserted except for a cat.

Definitely overlaps with GhostTown, GhostCity, and even GhostPlanet, but this trope is the "ghost" part coming as a surprise.

* In ''TheLangoliers'', most of the aircraft's passengers vanish, and the rest go through the plane, looking for the missing passengers.

-->Too many to list.

* In an episode of StarTrekTheNextGeneration, "Remember Me", Dr. Crusher finds herself being gradually abandoned by the crew of the Enterprise, as the result of being trapped in a NegativeSpaceWedgie. Each disappearance only heightens her horror as nobody else on the ship remembers the missing crewmen. Taken UpToEleven when she eventually finds herself alone on the Enterprise, and the computer tells her that she is and always has been the only crewmember of a ship that shouldn't be possible to run without a crew in the triple digits.

This is ''not'' about the setting being abandoned--and sometimes the setting ''isn't'' (especially type one). This is about the person's ''reaction'', and the reaction can range from annoyance to full-blown OhCrap.

This comes in two flavours:
# The person expects people [=s/he=] recognizes to be there (If a meeting was arranged, this is StoodUp).
# The person expects someone, ''anyone'' to be there.

* An example of Type 1, in a story about a young boy during the Russian Revolution, the boy comes to his uncle's house, only to discover that strangers are living there. It turns out his uncle was taken away by the Bolsheviks.

* ''TheTwilightZone'' TOS did this a few times.

* In a flashback to 2000 on ''MyNameIsEarl'', Earl, Randy, Joy and Donny think that everyone in the world except for them has been somehow destroyed by Y2K, but they're just at a New Year's Day parade.

* In the ''RippingYarns'' episode "Escape from Stalag Luft 112B", Major Phipps works on elaborate plans of escape, while all the other prisoners try to talk him out of it. Then one day he wakes up and discovers himself alone. All the other prisoners have escaped. The German soldiers all guard him. and then, one morning the German DrillSergeantNasty breaks into Phipps' barracks and demands to know what Phipps did with all the guards. They "escaped", too. ''And'' the commandant. Now Phipps can finally work on his escape plan in peace! He becomes the only man to ever fail to escape Stalag Luft 112B.

* At the beginning of ''{{Knights of the Old Republic}} II'', you wake up on an abandoned mining facility. Save for an old woman whom you find in the morgue and a man in a prison cell, the station is devoid of life. You must piece together what happened as you explore the station.

* On the ''{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'' episode "Gone", [=SpongeBob=] wakes up and finds all of Bikini Bottom deserted. Turns out [[spoiler:there's an annual "Get Away from [=SpongeBob=]" day, but they got carried away and made it a week.]]

* In ''[[{{Redwall}} The Pearls of Lutra]]'', Emperor Ublaz comes aboard the ''Waveworm'', which had been sent to retrieve the titular pearls. His confusion turns to horror when he finds no-one aboard, but blood everywhere. The pirate crew and the moniters have killed each other and the kidnapped Abbot Durral, who was locked in his room and thus the last living person aboard the ship, had buried everyone at sea.
* DeanKoontz's novel ''{{Phantoms}}''. Two sisters return to their home town and find it almost completely empty of people. All that's left are the bodies of a few murdered victims.

* There's a ''{{Goosebumps}}'' story called ''Be Careful What You Wish For'', where a girl gets three wishes from an old woman in exchange for helping her. Her second wish is for her rival to disappear. The next morning she wakes up and finds that ''everyone'' has vanished apart from her (and the old woman).

* At the start of ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'', Jim awakens in a hospital and is bewildered to find the hospital--and later all of London--almost completely abandoned. Aside from the [[HatePlague rage zombies]].

* DeanKoontz's novel ''Phantoms''. Two sisters return to their home town and find it almost completely empty of people. All that's left are the bodies of a few murdered victims.

* At the beginning of ''Knights of the Old Republic II'', you wake up on an abandoned mining facility. Save for an old woman whom you find in the morgue and a man in a prison cell, the station is devoid of life. You must piece together what happened as you explore the station.

* The ''Film/AloneInTheDark'' film has [[spoiler:the final scene, in which Carnby and Aline wander into a city and find it abandoned. A helpful subtitle informs the viewer that the city was magically evacuated in a single night, Carnby's final narration contradicts that and declares humanity is being wiped out just like the {{Precursors}}]].

* In ''BlazBlue'', the NOL branch office is usually mysteriously empty when characters show up there in story mode.

* ''BabylonFive'': In "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E08AndTheSkyFullOfStars And the Sky, Full of Stars]]", Commander Sinclair wakes and finds himself the only person left on the station. It proves to be a virtual reality simulation.

* ''{{Supernatural}}'': After receiving a distress call from Rufus in the episode "Good God, Y'All", Sam and Dean arrive at the location looking for the people in danger, only to find a town with signs of recent activity (an overturned car still playing music, blood spatters, signs of a struggle, etc.), but where the streets are strangely empty.

* The ''AloneInTheDark'' film has [[spoiler:the final scene, in which Carnby and Aline wander into a city and find it abandoned. A helpful subtitle informs the viewer that the city was magically evacuated in a single night, Carnby's final narration contradicts that and declares humanity is being wiped out just like the {{Precursors}}]].
* At the start of ''TwentyEightDaysLater'', Jim awakens in a hospital and is bewildered to find the hospital--and later all of London--almost completely abandoned. Aside from the [[HatePlague rage zombies]].

# The person expects people [=s/he=] recognizes to be there (If a meeting was arranged this is StoodUp).

* In a cartoon [[TheMoralAlternative Moral Alternative]] to TheFarSide, a group of students are shown playing a prank on their Sunday School teacher by hiding in the closet of a classroom, after writing "Rapture" on the chalkboard with the end of the word trailing up off the top of the chalkboard.

* The ''AloneInTheDark'' film has [[spoiler: the final scene, in which Carnby and Aline wander into a city and find it abandoned. A helpful subtitle informs the viewer that the city was magically evacuated in a single night, Carnby's final narration contradicts that and declares humanity is being wiped out just like the {{Precursors}}]].
* The start of TwentyEightDaysLater. Jim awakens in a hospital and is bewildered to find the hospital--and later all of London--almost completely abandoned. Aside from the [[HatePlague rage zombies]].

* In [[{{Redwall}} The Pearls of Lutra]], Emperor Ublaz comes aboard the ''Waveworm'', which had been sent to retrieve the titular pearls. His confusion turns to horror when he finds no-one aboard, but blood everywhere. The pirate crew and the moniters have killed each other and the kidnapped Abbot Durral, who was locked in his room and thus the last living person aboard the ship, had buried everyone at sea.
* DeanKoontz's novel ''Phantoms''. A woman and her sister return to their home town and find it almost completely empty of people. All that's left are the bodies of a few murdered victims.

* There's a {{Goosebumps}} story called Be Careful What You Wish For, where a girl gets three wishes from an old woman in exchange for helping her. Her second wish is for her rival to disappear. The next morning she wakes up to find that ''everyone'' has vanished apart from her (and the old woman).

** The first episode, appropriately entitled "Where is Everybody". A man finds himself walking along a road. He comes across a diner and later a town: both are completely empty of people. The TwilightZoneTwist is that [[spoiler:he's taking part in an experiment that has caused him to hallucinate]].
** "The Arrival". An airliner lands at an airfield. When the airfield personnel go to unload it, it's completely empty of people: no pilots, no passengers.
* In a flashback to 2000 on ''MyNameIsEarl'' Earl, Randy, Joy and Donny think that everyone in the world exceptfor them has been somehow destroyed by Y2K, but they're just at a New Year's Day parade.

* In the ''RippingYarns'' episode "Escape from Stalag Luft 112B" Major Phipps works on elaborate plans of escape, while all the other prisoners try to talk him out of it. Then one day he wakes up and discovers himself alone. All the other prisoners have escaped. The German soldiers all guard him. and then, one morning the German DrillSergeantNasty breaks in to his barracks and demands to know what Phipps did with all the guards. They "escaped" too. ''And'' the commandant. Now Phipps can finally work on his escape plan in peace! He becomes the only man to ever not escape Stalag Luft 112B.
* {{Supernatural}}: After receiving a distress call from Rufus in the episode "Good God, Y'All", Sam and Dean arrive at the location looking for the people in danger, only to find a town with signs of recent activity (an overturned car still playing music, blood spatters, signs of a struggle, etc.), but where the streets are strangely empty.
* ''BabylonFive'': In "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E08AndTheSkyFullOfStars And The Sky, Full Of Stars]]", Commander Sinclair wakes to find himself the only person left on the station. It proves to be a virtual reality simulation.

* In an example of Type 1 meeting Type 2, the ''Music/TheMightyMightyBossTones''' song "Where Did You Go?", a guy comes home and finds that the person he's singing to isn't home--and, apparently, isn't going to ''come'' home. The lyrics describe him waiting, wondering "Where did you go?" and finally leaving.

* At the beginning of Knights of the Old Republic II, you wake up on an abandoned mining facility. Save for an old woman who you find in the morgue and a man in a prison cell, the station is devoid of life. You must piece together what happened as you explore the station.

* On the ''SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode" Gone", [=SpongeBob=] wakes up to find all of Bikini Bottom deserted. Turns out [[spoiler:there's an annual "Get Away From [=SpongeBob=]" day, but they got carried away and made it a week.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', episode "Bridle Gossip," Twilight and Spike head into town, only to find it deserted. Eventually they figure out that everyone is hiding because their newest neighbor, Zecora, scares them.

Definately overlaps with GhostTown, GhostCity, and even GhostPlanet, but this trope is the "ghost" part coming as a surprise.

* In the ''Music/TheMightyMightyBossTones''' song "Where Did You Go?", a guy comes home and finds that the person he's singing to isn't home--and, apparently, isn't going to ''come'' home. The lyrics describe him waiting, wondering "Where did you go?" and finally leaving.

* In the ''MightyMightyBossTones''' song "Where Did You Go?", a guy comes home and finds that the person he's singing to isn't home--and, apparently, isn't going to ''come'' home. The lyrics describe him waiting, wondering "Where did you go?" and finally leaving.

* In a cartoon MoralAlternative to TheFarSide, a group of students are shown playing a prank on their Sunday School teacher by hiding in the closet of a classroom, after writing "Rapture" on the chalkboard with the end of the word trailing up off the top of the chalkboard.