Ruins of America: 7 Castle-Like Abandoned Modern Wonders

The word ‘castle’ may conjure up visions of medieval villages in places like Scotland or Romania, but believe it or not, America has its own incredible ruins of vast stone estates. They’re just not nearly as old. From an abandoned cement plant turned amusement park to luxurious private estates that are now claimed as state parks, here are 7 of the nation’s greatest castle-like abandonments and monuments.

Cementland: Abandoned Factory Turned Amusement Park, Missouri

A crumbling abandoned cement factory in St. Louis had become a dumping site for construction waste when local sculptor Bob Cassilly first saw it. Among all of the trash, debris and rusted metal, Cassilly envisioned the beginnings of a reclamation project that would not only clean up the site, but transform it into something positively regal. So he got a bulldozer and began the process of cleaning it up himself. All of the junk that was formerly piled around the property became the turrets, gates and bridges of a modern-day industrial castle. People began to notice, wondering what it might turn into. While Cassilly had every intention of turning the site into an amusement park, it wasn’t to be. Cassilly tragically died in an accident with his bulldozer onsite, and the park remains unfinished, becoming somewhat of a memorial to the man who saw so much promise in what other people considered an eyesore.

Ha Ha Tonka Castle, Kansas City

Also in Missouri, on a bluff overlooking Ha Ha Tonka State Park, this ‘castle’ is really just the ruins of a wealthy man’s failed dream. Kansas City businessman Robert Snyder bought 5,000 acres of land in 1905 and began construction on a lavish mansion complete with water fountains and grand arches hand-wrought by stone masons flown in from Europe. Snyder died just a year later, in one of the state’s first automobile accidents, but his sons kept the construction going, and one lived there for decades until the family’s money ran out. The property became a hotel and lodge. In 1942, the whole building was destroyed by a fire. When the state purchased the property to make it part of the park, they preserved the stone ruins as a unique historical monument.

Bannerman Castle, New York

Looking at photos of this striking castle facade, you might imagine that it’s located somewhere in Europe. Surprisingly enough, it’s actually within minutes of Manhattan. Bannerman Castle was built on an island in the Hudson River that had previously been used as a military prison by General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Businessman Frank Bannerman purchased it in 1900 and spent 17 years building his Scottish-style dream castle, which he used to house his enormous collection of surplus military equipment. The castle features docks, turrets, garden walls and moats, but for all its ornamentation, it was little more than a warehouse for decades. After Bannerman’s death, the estate was sold to New York State, the military goods given to the Smithsonian. However, a raging fire of indeterminate cause destroyed most of the buildings and the belongings that were left inside in 1969. All that’s left are these skeletal remains, which are now preserved by a historic foundation.

Bedford Limestone Pyramid, Indiana

Anyone who came upon this bizarre stone structure in the middle of the woods in rural Indiana might think they had stumbled upon ancient ruins. A series of partially-built pyramids can be found all over the property, as well as the remains of a large stone wall. But the origin of these structures are a little more mundane than the deteriorating history of a forgotten civilization. The pile of stones is all that’s left of a $7 million effort to build a limestone ‘amusement park’ that aimed to call attention to the ‘Limestone Capital of America.’ The town of Bedford wanted to compete with larger, more well-known cities for tourists and imagined that building a 1/5 scale replica of Egypt’s Great Pyramid, as well as their own miniature Wall of China, would do the trick. Bedford is, indeed, where much of the nation’s limestone is sourced, including that used to build the Empire State Building. But many locals felt that the project was wasteful, and soon, the funds to build it – in the middle of an open-pit mine in the neighboring town of Needmore – were depleted. The site has been abandoned for about three decades.

Coronado Heights Castle, Kansas

Did Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado really discover the mythical ‘Seven Cities of Gold’ in Kansas in the 1540s? Coronado went on an expedition across the flatlands with hundreds of Spanish soldiers and native American guides, keen on confirming the report of a Franciscan priest that the Native American community of Quivira was really and truly made of gold. It’s unknown whether he really scaled the heights of Lindsborg, Kansas, or whether his claims that what he saw there was truly Quivara – though he admitted it was no more than a collection of native huts, and hardly made of gold. But that spot has been named after him, and in the 1930s, a little stone castle was built to commemorate his supposed journey. The castle now contains picnic benches for the tourists who climb the hill.

Ozark Medieval Fortress

This building site in Lead Hill, Arkansas looks like the foundation of a 13th century stone castle. That’s exactly what it is – but it’s being built right now. An amateur archaeologist named Michel Guylot began the backbreaking work of constructing a castle entirely by hand using the techniques and tools of 13th century European castle builders in 2010, and it’s not expected to be completed until 2030. Located on donated land, the project acted as an active demonstration of these techniques for visitors who want to come and watch it in progress. Eventually, the castle was to have 70-foot towers, a six-foot-thick outer wall and a drawbridge. However, it stalled due to financial issues, and officially closed in 2012. Guylot is currently seeking financial backing to get it up and going again.

Gilette Castle, Connecticut

In 1914, actor William Gillette (most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on stage) built his dream estate on top of the southernmost of a chain of hills known as the Seven Sisters in Connecticut. The magnificent castle easily rivaled those of Europe, overlooking the Connecticut River from its perch on the ‘Seventh Sister.’ But when Gillette died without any heirs to inherit the property, his will simply directed that the castle not go to any “blithering sap-head who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded.” The state took over the property in 1943, deeming the entire state Gillette Castle State Park. The castle – which has a fascinating system of hidden mirrors for surveilling the public rooms from the master bedroom – is sadly not what it once was, but still a popular destination after an $11m restoration, drawing some 300,000 tourists per year.

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Landing Stripped: 8 Grounded & Abandoned Spaceships

Pitch Black Spaceship

Even if you’ve never visited Coober Pedy in southern Australia, you probably have seen it via your movie or TV screen. The inhospitable desert wasteland lies in the heart of OZ’s opal mining country and the otherworldly setting has been featured as a film location for Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Red Planet, and Pitch Black to name just a few. The latter flick featured the above wrecked spaceship, bought about a dozen years ago by a local shop owner after filming was completed.

While the Pitch Black spaceship prop has held up remarkably well thanks to the Outback’s arid conditions, those who feel tempted to have themselves photographed in front of it should advise their camera-person to ensure the “SHOWERS & TOILETS” sign doesn’t photobomb the shot.

Oklahoma Cement Mixer Space Capsule

Construction crews hard at work building a bridge over Oologah Lake near Talala, Oklahoma in 1959 couldn’t believe their eyes when the driver of a cement mixer loaded with liquid cement lost control of the massive vehicle. As he swerved off Winganon Road, the truck overturned and it wasn’t long before the cement inside began to harden. The truck was salvaged, mostly… the now solid cement-filled bell was too heavy to shift and has remained in place for over a half-century.

Pranksters have painted and otherwise decorated the mixer a number of times over the years; a recent redo occurring just after 9/11 when it was painted patriotically in the American flag’s stars and stripes. The latest extreme makeover dates from late September of 2011 when Barry & Heather Thomas used canning lids, garden hose and other household items to transform the mixer into a NASA space capsule as a way of celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary. Kudos to Flickr user Arkomas for posting the above cool pic.

Buran Buran

In post-Soviet Russia, Earth crash on spaceship! On May 12th of 2002 the hangar housing Buran, Russia’s only space shuttle to be launched into orbit and land successfully back on Earth, collapsed during a severe storm. Eight workers lost their lives in the accident and the shuttle was destroyed. Not many know, however, that Buran was only the first of FIVE Soviet shuttles completed or under construction when the program was cancelled in 1993. The second shuttle was named Ptichka; the third was named Baikal.

In October of 2004 Baikal, estimated to 30-50% completed, was moved from its hangar at the Tushino factory to an open-air car-park where it spent the next 7 years protected only by flimsy tarpaulins.

The curious image above dates from late June of 2011, when the fuselage of Shuttle 2.01 Baikal was floated down the Volga river by barge. Its ultimate destination was the MAKS 2011 international air show, which took place from August 16th through 21st at Zhukovsky town near Moscow. We don’t think that’s Russian president Vladimir Putin in the image above, returning from a bathroom break to resume towing the barge downstream, but we could be wrong (and we wouldn’t be surprised).

The Altai Spaceship Graveyard

Back back back to the former USSR we go, specifically the relatively unpopulated Altai region of Kazakhstan downwind of the Baikonur cosmodrome, where the former Soviet Union and now Russia launch rockets into space. For decades, spent stages and entire failed spacecraft have been raining down upon the Altai region. Most of the wrecks are scavenged by natives of the region who see the metal fallen from the sky as a free and useful unnatural resource.

Among the crashed and abandoned spacecraft and parts scattered across the windswept plains are several Soyuz spacecraft from aborted launches. Locals compete to be the first to salvage/scavenge the metal, often arriving while the components are still burning. This is extremely dangerous for a number of reasons, the main one being the toxic and carcinogenic nature of rocket fuel residues.

Planet of the Apes ANSA Capsule

The first entry in the enormously successful Planet of the Apes film franchise was shot on location in 1967 at Malibu State Park in California, which makes the ruined Statue of Liberty Taylor (Charlton Heston) stumbles across at the film’s end seem even more out of place. The park was also home to the famous “Fox Ranch” where 20th Century Fox stored used (and often reused) movie props including the dart-like ANSA spacecraft “Icarus” that brought the human astro-, er, Ansanauts to the apes’ world.

The prop spaceship appeared to sink into the sea in the first film but was dried off, modified, and splashed down once more (on land, ouch!) for the second film in the franchise, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, in 1970. In between, the prop spaceship made an appearance in another 20th Century Fox film, The Illustrated Man. By 1975, the much-worse-for-wear prop was retired permanently to the Fox Ranch and was presumably scrapped for its metal value when Fox returned the property to the State of California.

Planet of the Apes’ CALIMA/OBERON

Thirty-three years after the original hit the nation’s theaters, director Tim Burton’s reboot of Planet of the Apes was released. While Mark Wahlberg is no Charlton Heston by any means, the crashed space station Oberon (or “Calima”, as the apes refer to it) is indeed impressive as it’s not a CGI creation but a realistically-sized prop.

Oberon/Calima was built at one of the film’s locations amid the weird landscape of the Trona Pinnacles, not far from the equally odd Fish Rocks in eastern California. While suitably imposing on film, the futuristic decrepit downed space station looks less so in pre-production surrounded by porta-potties and a pickup truck. Hey, when an ape’s gotta go, an ape’s gotta go!

Shuttled Off This Mortal Coil

Rocketing into space has been described as a roller coaster ride but one space shuttle has found that comparison to be a bit too true. Built in 1988 by Carrington Engineering in Newcastle, Australia, this full-size mockup space shuttle was constructed with the full permission of NASA, who even provided access to some of the actual shuttle blueprints.

Carrington built at least two of the shuttle mock-ups before going into receivership; one of which ended up at the Space World theme park in Kitakyushu, Japan where it’s mounted in launch position within the confines of the park’s Venus roller coaster. Undignified perhaps, but better than Buran Baikal’s fate.

Final Destination Moon?

Holy Iron Sky, Batman, is that the remains of a downed spacecraft or merely the lunar version of the much-ballyhooed Mars Face? The answer depends partly on how open-minded one is; partly on how much credence one puts in the power of pareidolia, the “seeing faces in clouds” phenomenon. What the average observer might think they see is not a face, but something resembling the forward fuselage of a Boeing 747.

Images sourced from NASA’s Clementine moon-mapping mission in 1994 seem to show a long rectangular object lying roughly perpendicular to the rim of the Lobachevskiy crater on the moon’s far side – the dark side, as some call it. As the crater spans 84km (52 miles) from rim to rim, whatever that “something” may be, it’s BIG. The anomaly also displays interesting lengthwise striations and what appears to be a wide, regular concavity along one side.

You’d think if NASA thought they’d found an abandoned spaceship on the moon, they’d send a manned mission to check it out… and so they did, in November of 1969! Astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean, aboard Apollo 12, touched down on the lunar surface a mere 600 feet from the robotic Surveyor 3 lander which at the time had been there for over 2.5 years. The astronauts used a set of bolt cutters to remove several pieces of their automated predecessor and returned them to Earth for study. Reportedly Surveyor did not resist, because resistance is futile.

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