Few things raise the hairs on the back of your neck like an abandoned power station. Here, we’ve compiled a list of five of the eeriest around the world for your viewing pleasure.
South Fremantle Power Station – Australia
Recently snapped up for redevelopment, Western Australia’s South Fremantle Power Station opened in June 1951 and worked in conjunction with the East Perth Power Station to supply the metropolitan area with power until it was closed in 1985. The site has significant heritage value and was recently listed on the State Register of Heritage Places. The monolithic building has sat empty for decades and urban legend has it that underground tunnels connect the power station to the Fremantle Prison.
Power Plant IM — Belgium
Originally built in 1921, the Power Plant IM used to be one of the largest coal burning power plants in Belgium—its massive cooling tower cooled 480,000 gallons of water per minute at the height of operation. In the interwar period, the new power plant helped the rapid development of the Belgian industry. The IM power station was owned by Electrabel, which produced electricity and heat, providing electricity and natural gas to six million people. But with its massive output this particular plant was responsible for 10 per cent of the total CO2 emissions in all of Belgium, and after environmental group Greenpeace protested, the site was shut down in 2007. And while they may no longer provide any electricity, the abandoned towers still provide plenty of eerily beautiful vistas.
Delaware Power Station — USA
The Delaware Station of the Philadelphia Electric Company is a closed 468MW coal-fired power plant along the Delaware River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Construction for the foundations began in 1917, and the first 30MW turbine of the six planned was put in operation on October 30, 1920. The plant was retired to standby status in 1984 and in 2015, developer Cescaphe Event Group acquired the site for $3 million.
Power Plant Szombierki — Poland
The Szombierki power station in Bytom, Poland used to be one of the largest coal-powered power plants in Europe, however, most of the station has been decommissioned and abandoned for decades. Due to major holes in the roof, lack of heating, moist and fungus, missing window elements, no functioning water supply, and a broken sewage system, the power plant is in a very poor state. The power station is shortlisted for the 7 Most Endangered Programme by Europa Nostra in an attempt to prevent demolition of the historic building.
Antioch College Power Plant — USA
Antioch College was a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, that was founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection. Completed in 1930, the Antioch College Power Plant was initially conceived as a way to heat its enormous new science building without devoting any of its vast but precious interior space to a boiler or a furnace. To achieve this, the designers opted for steam. The college was closed in 2008 and its campus shuttered. The asbestos-lined steam tunnels are one of the vestigial remains of an Antioch that no longer exists.
