Operating covertly from inside Estonia, the infamous Soviet secret police force demonstrated their innate ability for brutality and terror, against citizens accused of political subversiveness.

Any unfortunate local suspected of such a “crime” was more often than not sent off to the gulag.

However, their fate would first be sealed in the subterranean cellar of Tartu’s “Grey House”. Used as a holding cell, torture and interrogation would take place to ascertain the full nature of the misdemeanor and whoever else might be involved.

Information extracted, summary executions could follow.

Those that escaped that would fair only marginally better, in the form of a prolonged death sentence inside a Siberian work camp.

Today, the KGB Cells Museum functions out of the very same location. A dark but fitting tribute to the atrocities that once took place against innocent Estonian peoples.

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History of the Tartu KGB Cells

One of the most chilling aspects of the “grey house” was how the exterior was designed to look completely ordinary so that it didn’t raise any suspicions

Built in 1938 and was taken over by the NKVD (later renamed to the KGB) just 2 years later, the Soviets made very few alterations to the building.

The upper floors were used as office space for what looked like a drab, nondescript government department, (but was in fact the secret police); the cellar was used for the trial, torture, and execution.

Fitting in seamlessly with other such buildings on the street, locals had no incline of what was taking place under their very noses.

The darkest, busiest period of the KGB in the grey house was throughout the 1950s. Thousands of innocent Estonians passed through its doors, with many never seeing their family or friends again.

The brutality eased during the latter stages of Soviet rule, however, the KGB still ran an office there right up until the end of the USSR.

In 1991 the building was returned to the descendants of its original Estonian owners (can you imagine occupying such a place with the knowledge of the murders that took place there?).

10 years later in 2001, the basement was opened as a museum and memorial.

• Related Content: KGB Cells Museum – Tartu, Estonia

Where is the Tartu KGB Cells Museum?

• Address: Riia 15b, 51010 Tartu, Estonia
• Phone: +372 746 1717
• Website

Visiting Tartu KGB Cells Today

The basement cells have been restored to demonstrate the original conditions for the prisoners. Visitors can walk inside and imagine the terror of being held against your will for a crime you very often didn’t do.

Some cells display information about the Estonian resistance to their Soviet overlords. One such band was a secret society called the “forest brothers” who acted against the communist rule in any way they could covertly get away with.

The punishment chambers have also been restored. These were used to force prisoners into excruciating positions where they would be held for days without being able to sit or lay down.

Artifacts made by Estonian prisoners sent to the Gulags are on display, along with fliers that were once distributed by the anti-Communist resistance.

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There are also a number of exhibits with details of the KGB, including plans that were prepared for the mass deportation of Estonia’s educated classes (politicians, skilled workers, clergy, educators, farmers entrepreneurs, and managers).

The aim was to render the country defenseless against the occupying power. Total subjugation was the goal.

The museum also contains photos and documents illustrating Estonia’s history under communist oppression.

In keeping with the way the basement was during the time of the KGB, the museum is one of the few sites in Estonia that reflects its dark purpose during Soviet occupation.

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Featured Image: Flickr/Adam Jones

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I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

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Built by gulag inmates during Stalin’s big purge in the 1930s, this desolate region on the very edge of Europe was given purpose by the rich deposits of coal discovered nearby.

However, what was once the lifeblood of Vorkuta has now disappeared. After the collapse of the U.S.S.R., the mines were privatized, and within a few years, almost all were shut down.

Surrounded by abandoned mines and filled with derelict apartment blocks, the city – which is the coldest place on the continent (clocking in a record -52 degrees C) – is in steep decline.

The population plummeted from 217,000 in the late 1980s to less than 50,000 today. Vorkuta is now Russia’s fastest dying city.

History of Vorkuta

Vorkuta was discovered during an expedition by Russian geologist Georgy Chernov in the early 20th century.

Once Stalin was aware of the vast wealth waiting to be mined there, the region became vital in his efforts to industrialize Russia.

In tandem with the tyrant’s plans to “re-educate” vast swathes of the population (in the “Great Terror” repressions of 1937 and 1938), Gulags were hastily constructed in the district.

Vorkutlag was the largest camp in European Russia. Political prisoners sent there were forced to work the mines and build the necessary infrastructure. From this, Vorkuta was born above the permafrost.

For 25 years, prisoners and exiles battled the elements to transform the remote arctic landscape into one of the largest coal sources of the Soviet Union.

At its height, the complex had 20 mines, roads, and railroads, power stations, and a small community of mining towns. The city of Vorkuta was the hub between them all.

By the 1960s people from all over Russia moved to Vorkuta for the promise of employment and higher salaries offered by the mining industry and surrounding economy.

So much so, in the 1980s Vorkuta could boast of being one of the richest northern cities in the USSR.

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Then the iron curtain fell. The collapse of the Soviet economy set a chain reaction of chaos through communities like Vorkuta.

Industry dried up as the now Russian Federation scrambled to function in a capitalist market economy. Unemployment and inflation grew, crime was rampant, living standards plummeted.

The exodus from Vorkuta began.

Within a short space of time, whole suburbs turned into ghost towns.

Jobless and with no prospects of work for the foreseeable future, many people packed what measly belongings they could and headed for the southern cities of Russia.

To this day, whole apartments still contain the rotting furniture of the last inhabitants to live there, decades ago.

As the community shrank, schools, hospitals, nursery schools, and many other governmental institutions had to close through lack of numbers and investment.

Today, Vorkuta’s population continues to decline every year. Before long a city that once had close to a quarter-million residents will be down to its last few thousand.

Where is Vorkuta?

Visiting Vorkuta today

Vorkuta today is a depressing, desolate place to be. Decaying Soviet block housing is blanketed in heavy snow for most of the year. In many instances, one family may live in a building meant to house 50.

And that’s where the people still live. Across large parts of the city (particularly along the Vorkuta River), apartments have been abandoned long ago. Derelict and forlorn, they stand windowless looking out onto the frozen tundra.

The few mines that still run and connected by old railroad tracks that are desperately in need of repair.

Positioned at the horizon on the edge of town, their distant smokestacks belch black threads into the pale arctic sky.

The city is full of old folk, too tired to leave and with no other options anyway. They huddle in decrepit courtyards, or outside the stores that remain open.

The few children around, jostle in ruined playgrounds under the shadows of old Soviet statues.

The desolation is almost poetic, only if you are lucky enough to not live there.

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Walking around Vorkuta

A dark tourist making a trip to Vorkuta will find vast areas of the city empty and easy to explore.

Many of the aforementioned abandoned homes can be roamed freely; their shelves, wallpapers, curtains, and lamps relics of the 1980s and before.

Vorkuta cannot be classed as a ghost town mind you. The locals who still number in the tens of thousands, live and work amid the ruins.

To them collapsed buildings on the end of the street, or the empty stairwell on the way to their front door is ordinary life.

The lack of infrastructure means that many turn to fishing and hunting to sustain themselves.

Self-made cars are another strange, yet common sight on the streets of Vorkuta. Resourceful locals have built themselves these large tank-like vehicles, known as Karakaty, that enable them to move through the thick, snow-clogged tundra.

The indigenous Nenets also remain. The dwindling community makes a living through reindeer herding. Every autumn, reindeer in their thousands are brought to Vorkuta to be traded.

Outside the city limits, most of the old mining settlements are completely abandoned.

Some, such as Yurshor and Rudnik are worthy of a visit. Once part of the gulag camp system, the dark history attached to these locations makes for a poignant experience.

Whipped by the wind of the cold arctic, these empty ghost towns are both eerie and beautiful in their decay. Nature has taken over, the white-blue vastness surrounding you is nothing but humbling.

Featured Image: f-Lars / CC BY 3.0)

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I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

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This part of Siberia is known for something else too, the devastating brutality of its Gulags.

For decades, the name Kadykchan was uttered in hushed tones by anyone unlucky enough to live under Stalinist rule. Nicknamed the “land of the white death,” the town was populated by hundreds of thousands of prisoners relocated for “reeducation” in the local work camps.

Today, Kadykchan is an abandoned ghost town. Situated along the route of the “Road of Bones”, (a highway built by prisoners to connect the many mines of the Kolyma region); it is a place only the most discerning dark tourist is likely to visit.

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The History of Kadykchan

Kadykchan was originally founded during World War II after rich deposits of gold, silver, copper, uranium, cobalt, diamonds, coal where discovered in the region.

The gulag prisoners used to build the town and work the nearby mines endured appalling living conditions. The mortality rate was tragically high.

However, the mines were prosperous. After the death of Stalin in 1953 and subsequent closure of the gulags, many of the former prisoners stayed on in Kadykchan to continue working the pits.

Although now free men, the conditions were still harsh. The Far Eastern Federal District in which the city is situated is one of the most remote areas of the former Soviet Union.

The long, cold winters and almost constant permafrost meant that the growing season was reduced to a mere three months. It was not an easy place to live.

All that said, by the 1980s, Kadykchan had a population close to 10,000 people. Gradual modernization had taken place (in line with Soviet levels of progress) and there was a collective infrastructure comparable to other industrial cities in Siberia.

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The collapse of Communism

The eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting disruption to the value and level of coal production spelled doom for Kadykchan and its residents.

It wasn’t long before people were fleeing the town in droves, many for larger cities miles from Kolyma.

The town faced further problems in 1996 after a pit explosion claimed six lives. This was the proverbial nail in the coffin for the mine that was already destined for closure.

Throughout the 1990s the population of Kadykchan dropped from over 10,000 people, to under 300. By the early 2000s, there were very few people left.

The turn of the century also saw the Russian government offer the remaining inhabitants meager subsidies in an effort to convince them to relocate.

As of the 2010 Census, it had no recorded population. A deathly silence had settled upon Kadykchan. It is now the largest ghost town in Siberia.

Where is Kadykchan?

The town is just off the Kolyma Highway, approximately 1,300km from Yakutsk and 700km from Magadan. The closest city is Susuman, (100km in the direction of Magadan).

Visiting Kadykchan Today

Since many of the residents left unceremoniously, packing just essential belongings and heading by train to other parts of Russia, Kadykchan is now eerily filled with the decaying relics that were left behind.

Aging posters peel from walls, furniture lays haphazardly among ruined apartments, and rusted cars dot empty streets.,

Battered by glacial winds for much of the year, and hidden within the frequent snowy fog, to say a visit to Kadykchan is a melancholic experience is an understatement. It really does feel like the edge of the known world.

A walk through the town offers such apocalyptic sights as dilapidated, Soviet apartment blocks, decaying children’s play areas, and a cultural center whose façade still displays the word Sevodnya, (an announcement for the entertainment of the day).

To remind one further of the communist links, a bust of Lenin is still visible in the central town square.

Evidence that this was once a bustling town is everywhere. Enter one of the town’s larger schools and old textbooks litter the floor, equipment lays smashed in the science labs and gym gear can still be found in a ruined sports hall.

The old city cinema can also be explored. It is not hard to imagine a crowd of moviegoers enjoying the latest cinematic release in what are now rows of torn and broken seats.

Like many ghost towns of the communist era, a walk through Kadykchan is to travel through time.

Good to know

Vistors to Kadykchan enter at their own risk. There are potential health and safety issues and the Russian government has not opened the site to tourists, i.e there is no infrastructure to support you being there.

Roads throughout Kadykchan are not passable to traffic due to debris and decay. You are advised to park close by and to cover the town on foot.

Featured Image: Laika ac from USA / CC BY-SA

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Stew Baxter

I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

darktourists.com/

The tests were not always with the intent to one day nuke the USA, however. Conducted by the military under the banner of “Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy”, the aim was to investigate the feasibility of using nuclear weapons to help drill for oil or move earth in the construction of canals and reservoirs.

It is easy to forget that the Atomic Era was once wrapped up in a sense of positivity. The benefits of nuclear power seemed endless. Chernobyl was still decades away.

The US had a similar program (“Operation Plowshare”), however, while America quickly realized it was a bad idea (conducting 27 tests before stopping in 1977), the Soviets continued until the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. It is believed that over 120 nuclear tests were conducted in total.

One area that copped it was the Chagan long-range bomber base.

The now-abandoned region on the Irtysh River contains a crater lake caused by one of the tests as well as the nearby abandoned town and airbase.

It has been completely left to nature and is a mecca for dark tourists and abandoned junkies that make it to this area of Kazakhstan.

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History of the Chagan Nuclear Tests

Chagan was the largest test that Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy program conducted. Interestingly, it was also the first.

Some believe that the Soviets managed to get their hands on top-secret information pertaining to the American Project Plowshare program. The first peaceful nuclear explosion conducted at the Nevada Test Site in July 1962 was the 104 kt Sedan test.

Chagan was a near clone of this and was detonated on January 15, 1965. It had increased yield making it the equivalent of 140 kilotons of TNT. The aim was to produce a large cone-shaped crater suitable for a lake.

The location of the Chagan test was within the Semipalatinsk Test Site, on a dry bed of the Chagan River. The position was chosen so that the edge of the crater would dam the river during the high spring flow each year.

By all accounts, the test was a success in terms of the resulting crater that was filled to become Chagan Lake, (more on this below).

However, what the Soviets had not fully accounted for was the radioactive plume. Chagan released a large amount of steam and pulverized rock and what could have been as much as 20% of the bomb’s fission byproduct into the atmosphere.

The small but measurable radioactive plume was detected over Japan. This caused an international uproar with the US quick to complain that the Soviets were violating the October 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty.

The protest did not stop the Soviets from conducting their tests. However, subsequent nuclear explosions under the program were significantly smaller.

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Chagan Lake

Lake Chagan still exists today and can be visited without the need for a guide or special permission. This is despite the fact that it continues to be radioactive.

The Chagan test that caused the initial crater, created a 178-meter-deep (584 ft) hole in what was a dry section of the Chagan River. The blast caused a 400 m (1,300 ft) wide hole that has appropriately become known as “Atomic Lake”.

The crater was quickly filled with water from the Chagan River with the deepest section today being over 100m.

The water contains 100 times more than the permitted level of radionuclides in drinking water. It is not a place for boat tours or swimming either.

The Soviet government was once proud of Lake Chagan and the nuclear testing that created it. They even made a film with the Minister of the Medium Machine Building Ministry, (the department responsible for the Soviet nuclear weapons program and the tests at Chagan).

In the film, the Minister joyfully takes a swim in the crater lake. The film also depicts how water from the lake was used to irrigate local farmland and feed cows.

Chagan Ghost Town

The abandoned town of Chagan used to house the military personnel (and families) that worked at the nearby Chagan military airfield and Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site.

Over 10 thousand residents used to live within the town before the break down of the Soviet Union. With funding cuts and the military base fully closed by 1995, the site has been a ghost town for 25 years.

This fact alone makes it a fascinating dark tourist experience.

Where is Chagan Ghost Town & Crater?

Chagan is about a 1hr drive from Kurchatov along the R-174 highway. The ghost town is just a mile off the main road, with entrance to the former airbase a few miles south of the town.

Visiting Chagan Today

There are three areas of interest when you reach Chagan, the abandoned ghost town, the former military airbase, and the lake.

Inside the Ghost Town

The town was once full of stereotypically, grey and drab Soviet-style apartment blocks. Many still exist but in a completely dilapidated state.

Initial looting and the elements over more than two decades have really taken their toll. However, fans of abandoned ghost towns will love the derelict malaise.

An interesting memorial will greet you at the entrance to the town. The pyramid-shaped block of granite features a plaque with the image of a T-95 long-range strategic bomber in flight.

In Russian are the words:

“Part of our hearts remain here forever. People of Chagan of different times and countries. 1954 – 1994”.

Large piles of rubble line the road into the Chagan, evidence of some of the demolition work that has been attempted over the years.

The main residential areas can be ventured around, however, you do need to exercise caution when entering any of the buildings. With collapsed ceilings and broken staircases, you have to tread carefully, with some areas being completely off-limits.

One large public building stands to the west of the town. This is in such a state of ruin it is difficult to ascertain what it might once have been used for. Close to this is the shell of what might have been the town public swimming pool.

Despite the forlorn condition of most of the buildings, it is still an exceptional experience walking around the remnants of what was once a bustling soviet community.

The Former Airbase

Once you have explored the main town, there is still a lot to see at the former military airbase.

This is located a few miles south of the main Semey-Kurchatov road and much like the town, the aerodrome (as it is known by the locals) is in an equally ruined condition.

Barrack buildings stand with collapsed roofs and missing walls, there are also a number of small tunnel-like bunkers around the site that were once used to store bombs, missiles, and other ammunition.

A double runway still exists, albeit overgrown with weeds. Alongside the runway, the main “terminal building” (complete with the Soviet red star) still stands. This is quite the sight and is a definite photo opportunity.

Overall, it is a somewhat eerie experience to wander around the airbase in the knowledge that this was once the home of nuclear technology that could have potentially been used against the west.

Both the abandoned ghost town and the airbase are essential dark tourism destinations for those adventurous enough to find themselves in this remote part of Kazakhstan.

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I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

darktourists.com/

That all changed quite dramatically in 1948 after Stalin’s government decided to open a top-secret biological weapons research facility on the island.

Kantubek, A quiet village on the north of the island was closed to the outside world and transformed into a military town named Aralsk-7. The laboratories were built to the south.

For the next 40 years, Soviet scientists experimented with some of the deadliest pathogens known to man.

In an attempt to weaponize these diseases, they conducted open-air tests on smallpox, anthrax, and the bubonic plague.

Kantubek is now a ghost town. Furthermore, due to the shrinking of the Aral Sea, Vozrozhdeniye Island is no longer an island.

With the abandoned facility now connected to the mainland, and untold amounts of deadly substances potentially buried in the soil, this is possibly one of the most dangerous dark tourist locations on earth.

History of Kantubek, Vozrozhdeniye Island

A child of Stalinist paranoia and the “arms race” to develop biological weapons to use against the West, Kantubek was the Soviet’s largest research center devoted to the cause.

Approximately 1,500 inhabitants lived on the island full time, all of which risked their lives, both in doing the job and if they spoke out about it.

Kantubek was chosen not only for its remote, off-limits location but also for the warm, dry climate of the Aral region. With a ground-level temperature of 6 degrees Celsius, the conditions were perfect for limiting the spread of pathogenic microorganisms.

Professor Ivan Velikanov, a specialist in bacteriological warfare headed the facility, leading some of the most ambitious tests so far conducted in the field.

However, after a decade in charge of the unit, he became a victim of Stalinist terror. For undocumented reasons, he was discharged and later, executed.

For a short while, the facility was put on hiatus. This ended after a 1952 ratification by the Soviet authorities (still led by Stalin) to resume the experiments.

More funding saw a large scale expansion of Vozrozhdeniye Island. An airport was added to the west of the island, the only one in the USSR with four tracks in a star-shape, (created so that planes could land from any direction during strong winds).

More sophisticated laboratories were developed. A port complex was also built to enable constant patrol of the waters around the island. Secrecy, after all, was sacrosanct.

Experiments were now being conducted on the most dangerous pathogenic agents in the world, including anthrax, botulinus toxin, typhus, and brucellosis. Any data leak could have proved catastrophic to the Soviet government, these substances had the capacity to decimate populations on a grand scale.

Alarmingly, we do know that soviet scientists did release these substances into the atmosphere. Tests were conducted over the uninhabited areas of the island, often dropped from airplanes.

They were also injected into animals within the experimentation zone.

In the 1980s it is reported that 500 monkeys imported from Africa by the USSR Foreign Trade Department were subjected to biological tests. Infected with a microbial strain of tularemia, their bodies were burned and buried on the island.

The tests came to an abrupt end, not long after the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1992, Moscow decided to relocate the entire “Barkhan” complex to Kirov.

Kantubek was quickly abandoned and has been a ghost town ever since. Vozrozhdeniya Island meanwhile, is now part of modern-day Uzbekistan.

Sinister Incidents on the island

The island has long been implicated with a series of deadly sinister incidents.

In 1971, a scientist fell ill after the research vessel she was on was engulfed by a brownish haze. A few days later she was diagnosed with smallpox.

She did recover, however, the outbreak spread to nine other people in her hometown, three of which subsequently died.

Another incident occurred a year later in 1972. Two fishermen went missing on the waters of the Aral sea. Eventually, the bodies were found, drifting in their boat. It is believed that they had caught the plague.

Other strange events have been connected to the island, including spells where locals would land whole nets of dead fish.

A well-documented incident occurred in May 1988. 50,000 saiga antelope that had been grazing on a steppe not far from the island, dropped dead – all in the space of one hour.

Shrouded in mystery, with the unlikelihood that the Russian authorities will ever release information on the circumstances surrounding these events, one can only wonder what else went on, and how many more fatalities occurred.

Getting to Vozrozhdeniye Island and Kantubek Ghost Town

There is a gravel road from the Uzbek town of Moqnay that leads to the former base and city on the island.

Visiting Vozrozhdeniye Island and Kantubek Ghost Town

Visiting the island can be considered dark tourism on an extreme level.

Aside from the potential dangers, this is not an easy place to get to. Arriving in this region of Uzbekistan is an adventure in itself.

What greets you at first instance is a normal soviet ghost town malaise. Communist-style apartment blocks with glassless windows and collapsed ceilings, roads littered with weeds and debris, and dilapidated industrial installations.

However, as you proceed it is possible to see signs of where the military burned the more hazardous areas in order to limit contamination.

The former laboratories are burnt out shells, wrecked army trucks, and destroyed equipment indicate that this was no ordinary town.

Not much is left of the former airport. The unique 4-way runway has been all but devoured by the desert.

Needless to say, very few people go there. One notable exception is the Russian urban explorer Ninurta. A frequent visitor to the area, he has published this very interesting video about his time on Vozrozhdeniya Island and the abandoned facilities of Aralsk-7, (see below).

Decontamination

It is worth knowing that there have been some attempts to decontaminate the island.

In 2002, Brian Hayes, a biochemical engineer with the United States Threat Reduction Agency, led an expedition to Vozrozhdeniye.

The aim was to neutralize what was considered the world’s largest anthrax dumpsite. Hayes, along with a team of 113 people collected approximately 200 tonnes of anthrax over a three-month period.

Good news to a degree. The zone is still considered to be highly dangerous with stocks of biochemical agents waiting to be discovered among the ruins of the abandoned facility.

Image Credits: MACTAK

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Stew Baxter

I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

darktourists.com/

Situated near Plokščiai village, north of Plungė, Lithuania, the remote Plokštinė forest made for a perfect location for a series of top-secret missile silos.

Furthermore, the chosen area (Žemaitija National Park) was 160m above sea level, all of Europe was in missile range, including Turkey and islands of the Mediterranean.

The small local population was paid 4.5 roubles to move their farms and in 1960, 10,000 soldiers descended on Plokštinė for construction work to begin.

History of the Plokstine Missile Base

Incredibly, the four missile silos were dug out with shovels. Even with the amount of manpower involved, the works took almost 2 years to complete.

Beside the silos, a large hole was excavated to house the support structures, control rooms, communications centers, and sleeping quarters for the soldiers that arguably had one of the most stressful jobs ever conceived; control of a button that once pressed could kill millions of innocent people.

Quite how the Soviet government managed to keep the construction and operation a secret from the allies for over 18 years (it was revealed by U.S. reconnaissance in 1978) is a mystery.

These were not nuclear bunkers mind you. They were designed so that personnel could survive underground for just 15 days in lockdown mode.

In case of a nuclear attack, the silos could sustain life for 3hours. Enough for a retaliation strike.

Other works around the site included a 2.5 km trench connecting the Plateliai lake as a water supply to the base. A new road to Plokštinė was also constructed.

On December 31, 1962, the site was deemed operational. At 10 pm the first shift started work, seeing the new year in with their hand on the button.

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Operational Years

For the remainder of the 1960s and most of the 70s, the base operated in secret.

The active team was around 300 military staff. Most of these were to guard the facility.

The silos housed 4 R-12 Dvina missiles with nuclear warheads. These stood 23 meters high and were some of the most powerful missiles in the world at that time. It was the first base in the Soviet Union with the capacity to launch them.

Weighing more than 40 tonnes including a 3,300 lb (1,500kg) warhead, the armed surface-to-surface missiles had a range of approximately 1,600miles (2,500kms).

They were fuelled with a mixture of kerosene and nitric acid and were intended to last 10-15 years.

The rockets were each aimed at different western countries. It actually gives you chills to think that these deadly weapons were ready to be launched at a moment’s notice.

Norway, Great Britain, Spain, West Germany, and Turkey were the targets.

However, during the active life of the base, no missiles were ever launched.

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Where is the Plokstine Missile Base?

• Address: Plateliai Visitor Centre Didžioji g. 8, Plateliai LT-90420 Plungės raj
• Admission Price: 3 EUR (1 Nov and 30 April) 3.48 EUR (May/June), 5 EUR (July to October)
• Website

Plokstine Missile Base Today

After being in full operation for 12 years the site was decommissioned. The military left along with the warheads. Untouched during the remainder of the Soviet Union, it was fully abandoned in the years following the collapse of the USSR.

For almost 2 decades it was then a mecca for urban explorers and locals stripping the base for scrap metal.

A new life for the former missile base began in 2012. Extensive reconstruction works financed by the Lithuanian government saw the complex made safe and the opening of a Cold War Museum inside the main bunker.

A guide is essential when you take a trip to the museum as the most interesting sections do need explaining.

(A comprehensive, prearranged guide should also take you to other areas within the forest associated with the base, which is definitely worth doing.)

Inside the exhibition area of the museum, you will find text-and-photo panels, (with dubious English translations) as well as original artifacts and documents.

What you would expect from a cold war museum is all present and correct (gas masks, uniforms, rifles, communications equipment, etc), however, there are also some gems to look out for.

Of particular poignant interest are the launch keys that would have been used should an attack have been ordered.

It is also worth spending time taking in some of the audiovisual displays. Videos on loop include original footage of the construction works, how the silos were loaded with missiles, how the warheads were installed, and a launch sequence reconstruction.

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It is possible to explore (with a guide) areas of the missile base outside the renovated museum. Little remains in the way of equipment of course, (what wasn’t removed by the Soviets was taken by salvage hunters), however being shown where the rocket fuel tankers were once located, (only the support struts remain) is chilling when you think what they were supporting.

Just walking the long corridors between the different sections of the bunker is also an experience. You can imagine the soldiers scurrying about their business in this top-secret location.

The room that used to be the Communications Centre is still intact. Two dummy mannequins in uniform sit ominously at controls desks that would have contained the button.

The highlight of the trip however is going inside one of the missile silos. You walk to this from the main bunker along a long, dark tunnel and the atmosphere is extremely foreboding.

The silo is empty obviously, however, the sheer scale of it, provides a very visual representation of how large the missiles must have been.

There’s also a giant steel lid on top of the silo which would have automatically slid to one side during the launch process.

If you are fortunate enough to organize a guide that will take you to locations around the base, highlights here include the former warhead storage facility and some outer fence security guard posts. The water pump station by the lake can also be visited.

Featured Image: Wojsyl / CC BY-SA

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Stew Baxter

I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

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These were great adventures, however, there is one route that has a firm place on my bucket list: The Road of Bones in Russia.

This has to be one of the most epically, bleak road trips anyone can ever hope to take.

Officially known as the R504 Kolyma Highway, this enormous road stretches for 1,262 miles (2,031 km) through the Russian Far East. Considered by some, and not unfairly, as beyond the edge of the world.

The endpoints of the road are Nizhny Bestyakh to the west and Magadan, infamous for its Soviet gulags to the east.

And how did it come by the name “Road of Bones”? A simple, tragic truth. It is estimated that over 250,000 people died during its construction, their bodies unceremoniously laid beneath or around the road as the workers soldiered on.

Construction of the Kolymá Highway

The road gets its official name because it passes through the region of Kolymá. The territory is best known for the many Gulags that were built there.

Thousands of zeks (political prisoners) were sent to Kolymá. One of the motives being the rich deposits of gold and minerals located there.

However, despite the fact Stalin had been using forced gulag labor in the area since 1929, the only possible year-round access was via boat from Khabarovsk.

This was cumbersome and unreliable. In an effort to speed up production, a road was required along with more workers.

A total of 80 concentration camps were built in the Kolymá region to meet the demand. Led by the Latvian Eduard Berzin, an officer of the Cheka Political Police, a great purge was conducted across the entire Soviet Union to build and fill the gulags.

In 1932 the construction of the city of Magadán and the Kolymá highway finally began. The cheapest way to do this of course was by the use of prisoners.

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Death on the Road of Bones

It is said that the Kolymá highway cost one death for every meter of road built. Conditions were horrific.

The prisoners had little more than shovels and wheelbarrows to build over 1,000 miles of road in some of the harshest terrains on earth outside of the poles.

The grueling work was undertaken in all weathers. In winter, temperatures could drop to minus 50 degrees, in summer the mosquitoes could drive you insane. On top of this were the hunger and brutality.

In the majority of cases, prisoners worked until they literally dropped dead. And when this happened the sentries did not order for the bodies to be buried. Corpses were simply left inside the foundations of the road. Flesh made for good mortar, bones were a handy substitute for stone.

To traverse the Road of Bones today is to travel a mass grave of many thousands of corpses.

Where is the Kolymá Highway

Driving the Kolymá Highway Today

Traveling the Road of Bones is not for the faint-hearted. For most of the year, the route is covered by snow or mud and is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world.

It is also incredibly remote. Locals call the road ‘Trassa’ (“The Route”) as no other road exists in the region.

In fact, it is worth knowing that the safest time to tackle the Kolymá highway is during the winter.

Armed with sufficient supplies and equipment to withstand the cold, the route is at least firm and more predictable in the freezing months.

In spring, the melting snow fills the road with mud and debris from the ice-flows. The formally frozen rivers are also more difficult to pass.

To add to the dangers there is also the threat of hungry bears and ticks; the latter which transmit encephalitis, a particularly debilitating ailment you do not want in such depopulated areas.

But do not let all of this put you off, it only adds to the adventure.

Must-see Sights along the Road of Bones

The best way to drive the road of bones is to fly into Magadan and make that your starting point.

Motorcycle or 4×4 is the only way you are really going to make the entire journey and these can be rented in Magadan. Organized tours along the Kolymá highway also start from here.

If you are arranging the road trip yourself, there are some essential pitstops that should form part of your itinerary. They are as follows:

Dneprovskiy Gulags

About 300km west of Magadan is the abandoned Dneprovskiy Gulag. This is one of the most intact Gulags in Siberia due to the fact the Soviets attempted to destroy all existing remains of other camps before the fall of the Union.

As you arrive in the Dneprovskiy region you will need to take a small track leading off the highway to the right.

Travel this for approximately 20km and you will arrive at the ghostly carcass of the former gulag concentration camp.

Isolated deep in the taiga forest the site has not been touched by any kind of tourism authority.

What you see is how the gulag looked 80 years ago, only weathered by time and the elements.

You will be able to explore the camp completely alone. Be sure to check out the old watchtowers and mines on the perimeter of the main camp complex.

Kolyma Remembrance Museum

Further west along the Road of Bones you will find Yagodnoye. From 1949 until 1957, the town was the administrative center of the nearby SevLag forced labor camp.

There is a Kolyma Rememberance museum located here that must be visited. With the sights of Dneprovskiy Gulag fresh in your mind, you will surely be affected.

The museum contains thousands of photographs of former prisoners. Artifacts from the camps are on display as are the work tools and objects that once belonged to the incarcerated.

Kadykchan – Abandoned Coal Mining Community

The coal-mining community of Kadykchan was founded during World War Two. However, the depleted deposits led to the town being abandoned in the early 2000s.

This is an extraordinary ghost town that you should definitely check out. Devoid of human life the town is being taken over by the enveloping Taiga forest.

Dilapidated blocks of flats with broken windows and doors still contain furniture that once belonged to the former inhabitants. Old cars rust along deserted streets.

The town is like a scene from a post-apocalyptic zombie movie. Riveting and creepy in equal measures, especially when you stop to consider that you are probably the only human around for several hundred miles.

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Oymyakon – The Coldest Settlement on Earth

Further along on the Kolymá highway, you will reach Oymyakon; often referred to as “The Pole of Cold”.

In this village of indigenous Yakuts and Evenki, (the only peoples that can physically withstand the intense cold) the coldest temperature in any settlement on earth was recorded: -71.2C.

Stop by, just to say you have visited the coldest village on earth.

Oymyakon to Khandyga – Scenic Beauty

There are no landmarks along this section of the highway as such, however, you will be awestruck by the spectacular scenery.

This part of the Road of Bones features pristine lakes with the backdrop of forest and mountain.

In some places, the road has simply been etched out of the mountain rock, affording incredible views across the valley.

Khandyga to Yakutsk – Ferry Crossing Adventures

The drive from Khandyga to Yakutsk will involve two river crossings; the Aldan and the Lena.

This is done via regular transit ferries. Organizing boarding permission on these with the local captains is an adventure in itself. But the services are regular so no need to book in advance.

The region is one of the world’s biggest producers of diamonds, (it also exports large amounts of gold, oil, and gas) so expect to see trucks loaded with expensive cargo as you travel this section of the road.

Spend some time in Yakutsk once you reach the city as there is a number of things to do here.

It also represents the end of the journey for most travelers. The airport is relatively well connected (there are regular direct flights to Moscow) and the endpoint of the Road of Bones is at nearby Nizhny Bestyakh.

For all intense and purposes, you have completed the route once you reach the city.

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The Old Summer Road – For the Intrepid

For lovers of high adventure (and are confident with either the 4×4 or off-road motorbike), The Old Summer Road section needs to be traversed when taking the Road of Bones.

It involves a slight detour, however. After the Russian government upgraded part of the Kolyma Highway in 2008, they bypassed a 200km sector between Tomtor and Kadykchan.

This section (called the Old Summer Road) has now been left to the Siberian wilderness for over a decade. With collapsed bridges, often flooded roads, and deserted settlements along the route you really are at the mercy of fate when you take it. Good luck if you try.

Featured Image: Missy Leone / CC BY

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Stew Baxter

I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

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Located at 60 Andrassy Boulevard, the Hungarian Nazi party claimed the building as its headquarters after taking control of Budapest in 1944.

It is here that they administered their particular brand of brutal terror on the local population. Decisions with wide implications were made, citizens were brought there to be tortured and killed.

Known as the Arrow Cross Party (NYKP), this local fascist organization mercifully did not hang around for long, (the defeat of Hitler’s Germany was not far away).

However, the Nazis were replaced with another tyrannical power; the Soviets.

For the remainder of the communist rule in Hungary, the House of Terror struck fear in the minds of the Hungarian public.

That is why the building is now a museum dedicated to the memory of those that suffered and to remind future generations of the atrocities that took place.

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History of the House of Terror

For the few short months that No 60 served as the Arrowcross HQ, hundreds of “dissidents” were tortured and murdered in the basement.

In a similar vein to Hitler’s methods, those that did not follow party rule, or happened to be born with the wrong genetic code, risked ending up dead.

After WW2 Hungary became a client state of the Soviet Union. The Soviet State Protection Authority (AVH) simply took over where the Nazis left off. The brutality continued inside No 60, only now under a different ideological regime.

Anyone that was caught speaking out against the communist party risked a stay at the House of Terror. And the Secret Police had the means to reach into all areas of a person’s private and public life. If they had you in their sights, the future did not look good.

Few that were arrested and incarcerated within the House of Terror made it out alive.

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Creation of the Museum

Plans to turn the building into a museum stalled for many years. In the aftermath of the end of communism, Hungarians understandably wanted to move on. Remembering the somewhat painful, recent past was not a priority.

However, by the early 2000s, a renovation project was underway. The center-right government of Viktor Orbán agreed to sell the building to the Public Foundation for the Research of Central and East European History and Society.

From the outset, the aim was to commemorate these two dark, bloody periods of Hungarian history.

Construction work lasted for a year, with a new internal design (the building had been used as general office space for over a decade) that sought to recreate the conditions victims of political repression would have experienced.

To this end, the architects attempted to restore the building back to its bleak origins. Adding to the gloominess, composer Ákos Kovács created a morose background score that is played throughout the museum.

Other redesign work included the incorporation of the main exhibition hall. There is also an inner courtyard that is large enough to house an original T-54 tank.

The exterior of the building was also reconstructed. As a result No 60 now looks like a monument more than anything else.

The black structure with decorative entablature and granite footpath is extremely imposing and effective. You cannot miss the museum as it stands out against the other buildings on Andrássy Avenue.

On 24 February 2002, the museum was finally opened to the public, with tens of thousands of Hungarians and foreign tourists visiting every year since.

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House of Terror & Nearby Accommodation

Booking.com

• Address: Budapest, Andrássy út 60, 1062 Hungary
• Entrance Fee: Adults – 3000 HUF (US$10.80) / Concessions 1500 HUF (US$5.40).
• Getting there: Metro line 1 to Vörösmarty utca station or tram 4 or 6 to Oktogon
• Website

Inside the House of Terror Museum Today

Over four floors, the museum tells the comprehensive story of the Nazi and Communist rule

The displays are vivid and informative, providing not just a visual experience but a distinct emotional one too. Photographs, historical mementos, and video are all used to great effect.

Visitors are presented with a detailed overview of life in Budapest during the period of the two regimes.

The most harrowing section of the museum is the basement. Here the House of Terror building cellars remain as they were when citizens were brought there for questioning.

The fact so many individuals were tortured and killed within these rooms evokes a gut-wrenching response.

An effective slow elevator ride down into the bowels of the building only adds to the sense of foreboding. It is not something you forget in a hurry.

Essentially 60 Andrassy Boulevard is a very well thought out and executed monument and museum to all that suffered during some of the darkest days of the 20th Century in Hungary.

It is a must-see visit for dark tourists in Budapest.

Featured Image: Michal Huniewicz / CC BY

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I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

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During the Soviet occupation, Estonians joked that the Hotel Viru was made of micro concrete. They were referring to the number of microphones that were hidden in the walls.

Rumors abounded that the KGB had a presence there. After the fall of the Iron Curtain almost 20 years after the hotel began servicing international guests, the rumors were proved correct.

The top floor was a small KGB headquarters housing elaborate technical listening equipment. The hotel was riddled with cameras and microphones that the agency used to spy on anyone unfortunate enough to stay.

Today the Soviets are long gone of course. However, the current owners of the hotel have kept that once off-limits top floor as it was when the KGB was there.

Now it is a mini-museum, and visitors can take guided tours that provide insight into life under surveillance, within a regime hooked on espionage at whatever cost.

History of the Hotel Viru

The Viru Hotel began construction as a prestige project for the Intourist agency. From the outset, it was designed for foreign travelers to Tallinn. It was supposed to show off the wealth and grandeur of the Soviet Union.

Ironically, this involved bringing in foreign builders and materials to construct the hotel. A Finnish construction company was charged with building Hotel Viru. They set to work in 1969.

Upon completion 3 years later, the building became a major landmark of Tallinn. It was the first high-rise building of this type in the Baltics. Intourist was justly proud. When it came to promoting the beauty of Tallinn, the Hotel Viru graced the front page of every brochure.

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The KGB Presence

It didn’t take long for the sinister rumors to circulate, however. With the KGB closely connected to Intourist, and the fact foreign visitors stayed at the hotel, it seemed clear to the average Estonian that the building was bugged.

Officially the hotel only had 22 floors, however, those that worked there were aware of the 23rd floor. Today signs in the stairwell leading to the top floor state rather enigmatically: “Nothing Here”.

This is a rather tongue in cheek nod to the response given during Soviet times should anyone venture near.

It wasn’t until 1994 that the rumors were proved correct. After Estonian independence the truth about floor 23 became known to the wider public; it was a KGB surveillance control room all along.

Suffice to say, the hotel was literally packed with spying equipment. Cameras and microphones were hidden in most of the guest rooms, even tables in the restaurant had devices built into them.

The staff was also constantly spied on, (the hotel was considered a privileged place to work at as it provided an opportunity for getting hold of “valuta”, foreign currency), any inappropriate behavior or conversation could result in dismissal.

As a result, the majority of those that worked at the hotel were very tight-lipped about floor 23. They valued their jobs.

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Where is the KGB Museum in Tallinn?

• Address: Viru väljak 4, 10111 Tallinn, Estonia
• Booking: Restricted, by pre-booked guided tour only (Max 25 places on each tour).
• Cost: 9 EUR, and 7 EUR for hotel guests.
• Phone: +372-680-9300
• Website

Visiting the KGB Museum (Hotel Viru) Today

The museum is really more of a guided tour through sections of the Viru Hotel where the KGB used to operate its surveillance technology, (you do not need to be a guest of the hotel to enjoy the tour).

Information about the stay of important guests during Soviet rule adorns the walls of the corridors leading up to the top floor.

There are also panels and display cases containing photographs and Intourist brochures from the hotel’s heady days as a landmark in Tallinn.

After enjoying the views from some top floor balconies, the tour takes you into a small room that was once a KBG office.

Here a dummy KGB officer stands behind a desk. A phone with no dial (it would have had a direct link to the Moscow KGB headquarters) and some Soviet-era newspapers are placed in front of it.

After this, you are led into the main control room. Here the absurdity of Soviet surveillance and paranoia is very clear to see.

The room is packed with the types of spying equipment the Soviets used throughout the 20th Century. Racks of old electronics, telephones, tape recorders, and cameras are on display.

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There’s also other interesting Cold-War-era paraphernalia such as uniforms, gas masks. The guide is most vocal here too, with a number of stories relating to the items in the room.

Despite being short, the tour is definitely worth it for any dark tourist in Tallinn.

Afterward be sure to sit and have a Russian spy-themed cocktail in Viru hotel’s “Valuta Baar”, (currency bar).

Refurbished in a similar style to its Soviet-era predecessor, you can almost imagine yourself as James Bond, deep behind enemy lines waiting to follow a Russian spy.

Featured Image: Leif Jørgensen / CC BY-SA

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Stew Baxter

I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

darktourists.com/

Stalin’s Five Year Plan and tyrannical push to prove that Russia was an industrialized nation, meant that the canal was rushed to completion.

The collateral death toll was massive. Official records state that between 12,000 and 25,000 laborers died in the process. Contemporary historians put that number as high as 250,000.

The end result was a canal that was too shallow for purpose. The Soviet propaganda machine didn’t waste time in declaring it a success mind you.

It was seen as a flagship achievement, and the fact it never played a significant role in Soviet commerce or industry was largely ignored… as was the brutal treatment of those that made it.

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A Short History of the White Sea Canal

The white sea canal opened on Wednesday 2 August 1933, (until 1961, it was known as the “Stalin White Sea-Baltic Canal”). The canal runs for 141 miles along a route that was considered strategically important for the shipment of cargo.

Two major seas off the coast of Russia were connected as a result. Now transit could be made between the White Sea, in the Arctic Ocean, with Lake Onega that connects to the Baltic Sea.

However, as we have already mentioned. Stalin was so intent on having the canal finished on time, proverbial corners were cut: the shallow draught stunted the economic advantages of the canal. Most sea-going vessels could not use it.

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Construction – Forced Labor

The white sea canal was constructed between 1931 and 1933 in a mere 20 months. This was 4 months ahead of schedule.

Everyone involved outside of the head engineers was forced labor. In fact, the Gulag camp administration (BBLAG, the Directorate of the BBK Camps) was fully responsible for the project.

It is estimated that they managed a workforce of over 100,000 convicts at any one time.

Conditions were horrific. Although the Soviets were keen to portray a positive use of the Gulags, (the idea being that they were “reforging class enemies” through “collective labor”), the harsh treatment of the inmates was borderline barbaric.

Prisoners were forced to dig out the canal with primitive hand tools. This was totally inappropriate for the task. The mortality rate (using official records) was close to 10% with an even larger percentage becoming ill or infirm.

Working hours were long, in what at times were below freezing temperatures. Months of brutal toil broke even the hardiest of inmates.

In the early days of the construction, those that died were simply thrown in the ditches running parallel to the canal.

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The Unmarked Graves

Historian Yury Dmitriev, of the “Karelian Commission on the rehabilitation of former political prisoners under Stalinism”, has spent decades uncovering the truth behind the lives that were lost during the construction of the White Sea Canal.

He has also conducted a large amount of research in order to locate the various unmarked graves that line its route.

It has been no small task. Dmitriev estimates that the Chekists buried approximately 86,000 people along the length of the works during the 1930s.

Uncovering archival documents he has managed to locate scores of unmarked mass grave sites. In a 2015 interview with Meduza.io Dmitriev states:

“It’s the purpose of my life as a person and as a historian to look for the tortured and executed, but a whole lifetime still isn’t enough. Now, I can confirm and point out where the pits and ditches are.”

Doing so comes at a risk, however. Dmitriev is not much liked by local officials or, surprisingly the public.

Maybe they would prefer to forget. Nevertheless, he carries a gun as he walks the canal side uncovering the locations of the long dead.

In much the same way that the Soviets tried to hide the truth, officials today find Dmitriev a nuisance and would prefer him to quit.

A recent attempt by the government to unearth the burial pits around Sandormokh (the aim was to eradicate evidence of the death toll), was thwarted by Dmitriev.

Vigilante to the core, the Historian threatened to use his gun on the driver of the bulldozer if he didn’t turn it off.

The construction worker didn’t hesitate and the excavation came to a halt

Even after the police and officials arrived, the latter ordering workers to continue, no more digging was done. They didn’t want to cross Dmitriev and his gun.

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Where is the White Sea Canal?

The Route Today

The White Sea-Baltic Canal sees very little action from cargo ships today, (in truth in never did).

A survey conducted back in 2008, showed that only light traffic of between ten and forty boats use the canal per day.

With the tourism development in Karelia most of these boats belong to tour companies. It is easy to see why the canal has become popular for recreational users.

It passes through a number of the area’s top natural attractions, including several canalized rivers and Lake Vygozero. Old lighthouses and preserved buildings from Tsarist rule are of particular interest along the route.

At one section of the canal, positioned directly on the bank is St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker church.

If you are doing a private tour or manning the boat yourself, you can also stop off close to Sandarmokh (not far from the Belomorkanal’s first gateway) and walk along the edges in search of the unmarked grave areas.

Dmitriev has erected small plaques at certain locations to draw attention to these sacred sites.

Unfortunately, the Russian government is doing little to raise awareness of the history. Only two small memorials to the Gulag victims can be found along the canal route.

One monument has been erected at Povenets in honor of the prisoners that perished. Another smaller memorial can be found in Belomorsk near the White Sea end of the canal.

Featured Image: Alexxx1979 / CC BY-SA

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Stew Baxter

I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

darktourists.com/