History YouCantGoHomeAgain / RealLife

* The town of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittenoom,_Western_Australia Wittenoom]] in Western Australia was a case of this in the 1960s. The town was located around Australia's only asbestos mining site and when the dangers became apparent, the entire place was condemned and most of the residents relocated. Today, only three people remain in the town, which receives no government services, has been erased from maps and signs, and has all roads leading to it permanantly blocked off.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania Centralia]], PA. It was more or less condemned after a coalmine fire started in 1962, and the government moved everyone out, and only seven people remain. The old inhabitants and their children won't be able to come back here for a very, very long time, as the fire is ''still'' raging [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire deep underneath the town]].

* It used to be a common thing in American culture – still is in certain parts of the country – where parents would kick their children (especially boys) out of the house as soon as they turned 18 or graduated HighSchool depending on when in the school year their birthday fell (by law, hitting 18 legally makes you an adult). This is due to the belief that children are supposed to face the world on their own and survive on their own. In areas where this mindset is/was prevalent, children who lived with their parents were often branded as "lazy", "freeloaders", and/or "failures"; while parents who allowed it without preconditions (exorbitant rent, etc) were openly mocked by other parents.

** This is a good example of entertainment lagging behind reality, since living with your parents past high-school/college age ''does'' make you an {{Acceptable Target|s}} for comedians and the media.

* Many people find themselves displaced from their homes due to political turmoil, often losing, in the way, [[TheStateless their nationality]]. One noteworthy case was Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian national who ended up having to live in an airport terminal lounge for '''18 years''' because his refugee papers were stolen. It's said he eventually [[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/981/has-a-guy-been-stuck-in-the-paris-airport-since-1988-for-lack-of-the-right-papers made a sort of life for himself there]] and wouldn't leave even when he could.

* This happened on a ecosystem-wide scale with Africa. The Sahara used to be lush and green several thousands of years ago, but everything changed when Earth's Axal tilt increased temperatures and decreased precipitation five thousand years ago. As the sun got hotter in the Sahara, it caused a massive drought and famine that killed almost all of the vegetation in northern Africa and forcing the animals that weren't evolved to live in hot climates were to migrate southward of the continent where it was cooler in order to escape the heat.

** While this mindset is still around, especially in parts of the South, it has become increasingly rare thanks to America's perpetually-sluggish economy post-2008 and the ever-increasing cost of basic necessities (rent, utilities, food, gas/petrol) being at its highest since 1981. This reality has forced many twentysomething Americans to either find roommates or stay home with the family.

** While this mindset is still around, especially in parts of the South, it has become increasingly rare thanks to America's perpetually-sluggish economy and the ever-increasing cost of basic necessities (rent, utilities, food, gas/petrol). This reality has forced many twentysomething Americans to either find roommates or stay home with the family.

** The same thing happened with Greek and Roman slaves, or the Europeans, Africans and Indians abducted by the Ottomans. Being MadeASlave means that you are extremely unlikely to ever go home.

* Similar to the American and Australian SettlingTheFrontier examples above, for any planned manned trip to Mars or any other celestial body, the colonists would have to plan to stay there for a very long time-- long enough for a Hohmann transfer orbit back to Earth to be feasible, which could take about another half a year. This, and considering that they'd have to drag along a substantially larger volume of fuel and oxidizer to perform the maneuver, it's presently predicted that our first manned trip to Mars will involve doing away with the return trip, and the astronauts will have to stay on the red planet for good.

* The inhabitants of Pripyat and towns near the Fukushima nuclear power plant won't be able to go back to their homes for a very long time due to catastrophic nuclear meltdowns.

*** One of the more brutal examples of this is the flooding of the Welsh town of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capel_Celyn Capel Celyn]] by the Liverpool Coporation in 1960. The town was a center for Welsh culture, and one of the last towns where the entire population could speak welsh fluently. Capel Celyn, Wales, was flooded to provide Liverpool, England, with water. The action was brought to parliament by the Liverpool City Council. Every Welsh elected official from every party in Wales voted against the plan, as well as a good handful of Scots, but the plan was pushed through largely on the strength of English votes. It led to mass protests, the rise of the modern Welsh Nationalist movement, and a spate of bombings by a Paramilitary Organization known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudiad_Amddiffyn_Cymru Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru]]. The issue still isn't settled, with the Liverpool City Council issuing an insulting nonapology in 2005, which mentioned all the wonderful things Liverpool has done for Wales. When it isn't, you know, destroying parts of the country.

* It can happened if you came out to your parents if they aren't tolerant.

* Ever lived in a small town or a rural area that, after you'd left it, went through a sudden round (or two or three) of development? It's freaky, especially when landmarks like entire hills just disappear.
** This is ''more'' likely to happen in a large city. Compare New York City in 1850, 1900, 1950, and 2000, or compare Shanghai in 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010. You can scale this up to entire countries during times of industrial revolution.

** [[UsefulNotes/SpaceX Elon Musk]] has drafted a proposal for colonizing Mars that actually argues it's ''necessary'' that the first manned trip to Mars have the option for its astronauts to return to Earth because if the spacecraft can't return to Earth, then there would be a perpetually growing graveyard of spacecraft husks sitting abandoned on the outskirts of every manned Mars colony. His proposal is to send unmanned craft to Mars initially to begin the production of the fuel that would propel the first manned craft's return to Earth.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania Centralia]], PA. It was more or less condemned after a coalmine fire started in 1967, and the government moved everyone out, and only seven people remain. The old inhabitants and their children won't be able to come back here for a very, very long time, as the fire is ''still'' raging [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire deep underneath the town]].

** Same thing happened when the Barbary pirates from North Africa took Europeans as slaves, or when the Vikings enslaved the Saxons. Whatever the circumstances, if you were a slave, the chances of seeing your homeland again were slim to none.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania Centralia]], PA. It was more or less condemned after a coalmine fire started in 1967, and the government moved everyone out, and only seven people remain. The old inhabitants and their children won't be able to come back here for a very, very long time, as the fire is ''still'' raging deep underneath the town.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania Centralia]], PA. It was more or less condemned after a mine fire started in 1967, and the government moved everyone out, and only seven people remain. The old inhabitants and their children won't be able to come back here for a very, very long time.