Abandoned Lighthouses 8. Aniva Rock

Mike Grist August 5, 2011Lighthouses, Russia, World Ruins

The Aniva lighthouse was built by the Japanese in 1939, on a chunk of rock off the southern coast of Sakhalin, a thin 950 km long island situated just east of Russia, between the sea of Japan and Russia’s Sea of Okhotsk. The island was largely uninhabited until the 1800’s, when both Japan and Russia became interested in annexing it; the Russians for use as a penal colony.

Almost a fairy-tale castle on the water.

That led to years of conflict, retrenchment, and buildup of military forces, with both nations agreeing to split the island across the 50th parallel. A ring of light-houses were built on Sakhalin’s rocky coast to signal incoming troop carriers and merchant ships.

After around 50 years of sharing the island, the Russians annexed it all in the Second World War, causing some half a million Japanese to be evacuated back to Hokkaido. In 1951 the Treaty of San Francisco was signed, officially handing tenure of the island over to the Russians, though plenty of territorial issues remain over surrounding, smaller islands.

A dangerous and rocky approach. Building the lighthouse required extensive blasting of the rock it sits upon to make a level surface.

Now the Aniva lighthouse is abandoned. Its seven stories of diesel engines, accumulator rooms, keeper’s living spaces, radio facilities, storerooms, large clockwork pendulum (for regulating optical system), and 300kg pool of mercury (as a low friction rotation surface for the lens) are still, and echo only with the crash of waves against the surrounding crags.

– Sakhalin Lighthouses

Now rusted and swarmed by gulls.

Candy-pole heyday.

Isolated and perilous.

I read about this location first on English-Russia. There are interior photos taken by an urban explorer claiming that the lighthouse was radioactive, having been powered by a small nuclear unit that had breached. Though looking at the size of the structure and the total lack of evidence elsewhere on the net (that surely a breached nuclear site would attract), I rather doubt its true. It is dramatic though.

Apparently this reads Radioactive. Surely someone’s idea of a joke.

Text Sources- English-Russia, Sakhalin Lighthouses

Dead Sentinels: 10 abandoned lighthouses

1. Rubjerg-Knude, Denmark	2. Talacre, Wales

Construction of the Rubjerg-Knude lighthouse in Jutland, Denmark straddled the last two centuries, beginning in 1899 and finishing in 1900.	The Talacre lighthouse, officially titled ‘Point of Ayr’, has stood on Talacre Beach in various incarnations since 1776, watching over ships make the trek across Liverpool Bay from the Welsh town of Lllandudno.
3. Tillamook, USA	4. Mogadishu, Somalia

The Tillamook Rock Light was built in 1881 on a rock off Oregon coast. It was born in blood; with its grand opening overshadowed by a nearby shipwreck just days before its guardian gas-light was lit.	The crumbling Italian lighthouse perched on the edge of Mogadishu’s Old Harbor was built over a century ago, and abandoned some 20 years ago as trade dried up to the failed state of Somalia.
5. Grand Cay, Bahamas	6. Klein Curacao, Caribbean

The lighthouse on Great Isaac Cay, a small island in the Bahamas around 20 miles north-east of the Bimini Islands, was built in 1859 to guide trade-ships carrying exports of sun-dried sea salt from Inagua	The Klein Curacao (‘Little Curacao’) lighthouse was first built in 1850, on a tiny spit of land 11km off the southeastern tip of Curacao in the Caribbean Sea.
7. Capo d’Otranto, Italy	8. Aniva Rock, Russia

The Capo d’Otranto lighthouse was built in 1867, situated at Italy’s most eastern point, marking the point where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet. It was abandoned in the 1970’s	The Aniva lighthouse was built by the Japanese in 1939, on a chunk of rock off the southern coast of Sakhalin, a thin 950 km long island situated just east of Russia.
9. Ship John Shoal, USA	10. Fish Fluke Point, Canada

Construction of the Ship John Shoal Lighthouse in Delaware Bay took 27 years, from a decision by the US Congress in 1850 that a light was needed through various incarnations.	The Grand Harbor Lighthouse on Fish Fluke Point, Ross Island, was built in 1879, a square wooden tower 32-feet tall with the Keeper’s dwelling attached.

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Abandoned Lighthouses 7. Capo d’Otranto

Mike Grist August 5, 2011Italy, Lighthouses, World Ruins

The Capo d’Otranto lighthouse was built in 1867, situated at Italy’s most eastern point, marking the point where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet.

It was abandoned in the 1970’s, but restored and reopened to tourists in 2008, where it hosts the Centre on Environment and Health of the Mediterranean ecosystems and a multimedia museum of the sea.

Prior to restoration, in crumbling and colorless condition.

Italy’s easternmost point.

The 32 m (105 ft) tall round stone lighthouse rises from a 2-story keeper’s house, the tip of which requires advance booking on New Year’s eve, when many Italians flood to the cape to watch the new year’s sun rise over the ocean.

Capo d’Otranto by pink dusk light.

After the 2009 refurbishment, looking spic and span.

In mint condition, facing the new museum. Image from Lighthouse Postcards.

The setting sun lights up the tower daily. Image from Lucera Dente.

Text Sources- Lighthouses of Italy, Wikipedia

Dead Sentinels: 10 abandoned lighthouses

1. Rubjerg-Knude, Denmark	2. Talacre, Wales

Construction of the Rubjerg-Knude lighthouse in Jutland, Denmark straddled the last two centuries, beginning in 1899 and finishing in 1900.	The Talacre lighthouse, officially titled ‘Point of Ayr’, has stood on Talacre Beach in various incarnations since 1776, watching over ships make the trek across Liverpool Bay from the Welsh town of Lllandudno.
3. Tillamook, USA	4. Mogadishu, Somalia

The Tillamook Rock Light was built in 1881 on a rock off Oregon coast. It was born in blood; with its grand opening overshadowed by a nearby shipwreck just days before its guardian gas-light was lit.	The crumbling Italian lighthouse perched on the edge of Mogadishu’s Old Harbor was built over a century ago, and abandoned some 20 years ago as trade dried up to the failed state of Somalia.
5. Grand Cay, Bahamas	6. Klein Curacao, Caribbean

The lighthouse on Great Isaac Cay, a small island in the Bahamas around 20 miles north-east of the Bimini Islands, was built in 1859 to guide trade-ships carrying exports of sun-dried sea salt from Inagua	The Klein Curacao (‘Little Curacao’) lighthouse was first built in 1850, on a tiny spit of land 11km off the southeastern tip of Curacao in the Caribbean Sea.
7. Capo d’Otranto, Italy	8. Aniva Rock, Russia

The Capo d’Otranto lighthouse was built in 1867, situated at Italy’s most eastern point, marking the point where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet. It was abandoned in the 1970’s	The Aniva lighthouse was built by the Japanese in 1939, on a chunk of rock off the southern coast of Sakhalin, a thin 950 km long island situated just east of Russia.
9. Ship John Shoal, USA	10. Fish Fluke Point, Canada

Construction of the Ship John Shoal Lighthouse in Delaware Bay took 27 years, from a decision by the US Congress in 1850 that a light was needed through various incarnations.	The Grand Harbor Lighthouse on Fish Fluke Point, Ross Island, was built in 1879, a square wooden tower 32-feet tall with the Keeper’s dwelling attached.

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Abandoned Lighthouses 6. Klein Curacao

Mike Grist August 5, 2011Caribbean, Lighthouses, World Ruins

The Klein Curacao (‘Little Curacao’) lighthouse was first built in 1850, on a tiny spit of land 11km off the southeastern tip of Curacao in the Caribbean Sea. It’s exactly the kind of place that Jack Sparrow would have pranced around.

Now it is hollowed out, crumbling rapidly, and nominated for endangered status, despite being rebuilt once in 1879 and again in 1913.

White masonry tower, red brick keeper’s dwellings. Image from Philip Stevenson

Located on a barren flat of rock and low scrub.? Image from Luciano Gollini

The 20m (66ft) tall lighthouse tower is abandoned, along with the two ruined 2-story keeper’s houses flanking it, but still functional. It was reactivated with a solar-powered LED beacon during the restoration of Curacao’s aids to navigation in 2008, having stood utterly dormant for many years prior. A stretch of coast dotted with rusting shipwrecks attests to its necessity. Now the LED emits two white flashes every 15 seconds.

A rusting wreck sits on the shallow rocks at left.

Wreck of the tanker Maria Bianca Guidesman. Image from here.

Klein Curacao is only 1.7km squared, with no permanent population but a few small huts used by fishermen. The windward side of the island is littered with wrecked boats, hundreds of washed-up flip-flops, and thousands of plastic bottles.

Its bigger brother Curacao sits off the coast of Venezuela, with a permanent population of about 140,000, some of whom day-trip to Klein Curacao to dive around its beautiful coral and underwater caves. Curacao officially became a Dutch colony in 1815, despite German expansion efforts in 1888, when a German naval base was established on Klein Curacao. However they were soon beaten off by the stormy weather. No ruins of the base remain.

Without the sea in sight, it seems a very strange and lonely building, though a beautiful place to visit via India Flight Deals

20m tall tower looms against Caribbean skies. Image by M. J. Hagen

Rocks and endless scouring wind. Image from Prajeesh Prathap

Text Sources- Wikipedia, Lighthouses of the Netherlands Antilles

Dead Sentinels: 10 abandoned lighthouses

1. Rubjerg-Knude, Denmark	2. Talacre, Wales

Construction of the Rubjerg-Knude lighthouse in Jutland, Denmark straddled the last two centuries, beginning in 1899 and finishing in 1900.	The Talacre lighthouse, officially titled ‘Point of Ayr’, has stood on Talacre Beach in various incarnations since 1776, watching over ships make the trek across Liverpool Bay from the Welsh town of Lllandudno.
3. Tillamook, USA	4. Mogadishu, Somalia

The Tillamook Rock Light was built in 1881 on a rock off Oregon coast. It was born in blood; with its grand opening overshadowed by a nearby shipwreck just days before its guardian gas-light was lit.	The crumbling Italian lighthouse perched on the edge of Mogadishu’s Old Harbor was built over a century ago, and abandoned some 20 years ago as trade dried up to the failed state of Somalia.
5. Grand Cay, Bahamas	6. Klein Curacao, Caribbean

The lighthouse on Great Isaac Cay, a small island in the Bahamas around 20 miles north-east of the Bimini Islands, was built in 1859 to guide trade-ships carrying exports of sun-dried sea salt from Inagua	The Klein Curacao (‘Little Curacao’) lighthouse was first built in 1850, on a tiny spit of land 11km off the southeastern tip of Curacao in the Caribbean Sea.
7. Capo d’Otranto, Italy	8. Aniva Rock, Russia

The Capo d’Otranto lighthouse was built in 1867, situated at Italy’s most eastern point, marking the point where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet. It was abandoned in the 1970’s	The Aniva lighthouse was built by the Japanese in 1939, on a chunk of rock off the southern coast of Sakhalin, a thin 950 km long island situated just east of Russia.
9. Ship John Shoal, USA	10. Fish Fluke Point, Canada

Construction of the Ship John Shoal Lighthouse in Delaware Bay took 27 years, from a decision by the US Congress in 1850 that a light was needed through various incarnations.	The Grand Harbor Lighthouse on Fish Fluke Point, Ross Island, was built in 1879, a square wooden tower 32-feet tall with the Keeper’s dwelling attached.

See many more abandoned places in the ruins gallery.

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Abandoned Lighthouses 5. Grand Isaac Cay

Mike Grist August 5, 2011Bahamas, Lighthouses, World Ruins

The lighthouse on Great Isaac Cay, a small island in the Bahamas around 20 miles north-east of the Bimini Islands, was built in 1859 to guide trade-ships carrying exports of sun-dried sea salt from Inagua, rum from Nassau, and aragonite lime-stone to markets in the US.

The lighthouse, though scoured by the sea and surrounded by the tumbledown buildings of the keeper’s house, is actually still in operation as an unmanned light.

A tiny island not even visible on Google maps.

Local lore tells of ghostly noises swelling about the lighthouse during a full moon- apparently the spectres of a mother and infant child shipwrecked on the island in the late 19th century. She is known as the Grey Lady.

2008 image by Anthony Rue.

In 1969 two of the lighthouse keepers disappeared and were never found again; some believe they were victims of the nearby Bermuda Triangle. Others claim a hurricane around that time simply swept them out to sea. Better weather locations via Last Minute Bargain Holidays

Rusted but operational, shooting a flash of white light every 15 seconds across a range of 23 nautical miles. Image from Marinas.

Text Sources – Wikipedia

Dead Sentinels: 10 abandoned lighthouses

1. Rubjerg-Knude, Denmark	2. Talacre, Wales

Construction of the Rubjerg-Knude lighthouse in Jutland, Denmark straddled the last two centuries, beginning in 1899 and finishing in 1900.	The Talacre lighthouse, officially titled ‘Point of Ayr’, has stood on Talacre Beach in various incarnations since 1776, watching over ships make the trek across Liverpool Bay from the Welsh town of Lllandudno.
3. Tillamook, USA	4. Mogadishu, Somalia

The Tillamook Rock Light was built in 1881 on a rock off Oregon coast. It was born in blood; with its grand opening overshadowed by a nearby shipwreck just days before its guardian gas-light was lit.	The crumbling Italian lighthouse perched on the edge of Mogadishu’s Old Harbor was built over a century ago, and abandoned some 20 years ago as trade dried up to the failed state of Somalia.
5. Grand Cay, Bahamas	6. Klein Curacao, Caribbean

The lighthouse on Great Isaac Cay, a small island in the Bahamas around 20 miles north-east of the Bimini Islands, was built in 1859 to guide trade-ships carrying exports of sun-dried sea salt from Inagua	The Klein Curacao (‘Little Curacao’) lighthouse was first built in 1850, on a tiny spit of land 11km off the southeastern tip of Curacao in the Caribbean Sea.
7. Capo d’Otranto, Italy	8. Aniva Rock, Russia

The Capo d’Otranto lighthouse was built in 1867, situated at Italy’s most eastern point, marking the point where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet. It was abandoned in the 1970’s	The Aniva lighthouse was built by the Japanese in 1939, on a chunk of rock off the southern coast of Sakhalin, a thin 950 km long island situated just east of Russia.
9. Ship John Shoal, USA	10. Fish Fluke Point, Canada

Construction of the Ship John Shoal Lighthouse in Delaware Bay took 27 years, from a decision by the US Congress in 1850 that a light was needed through various incarnations.	The Grand Harbor Lighthouse on Fish Fluke Point, Ross Island, was built in 1879, a square wooden tower 32-feet tall with the Keeper’s dwelling attached.

See many more abandoned places in the ruins gallery.

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Abandoned Lighthouses 4. Mogadishu

Mike Grist August 3, 2011Lighthouses, Somalia, World Ruins

The crumbling Italian lighthouse perched on the edge of Mogadishu’s Old Harbor was built over a century ago, and abandoned some 20 years ago as trade dried up and the failed state of Somalia descended into a home for extreme jihad and piracy.

Now it stands as a reminder of the spectacular city Mogadishu once was, a bullet-pocked shell left to rot as a haven for homeless fishermen and qat-junkies.

A view across Mogadishu’s Old Harbor to the Indian Ocean. Image from

“[The lighthouse’s] spiral staircase is in a state of mid-collapse. Its hollowed-out rooms smell of sea rot and urine. Young men sit cross-legged in the rubble, chewing qat, a plant whose leaves contain a stimulant; and playing a dice game called ladu for hours. Some huddle in a corner and smoke hashish. They seem like ghosts in a city left for dead. But the lighthouse is quiet and it is safe; if anyplace in Mogadishu can be considered safe.”

– Robert Draper, National Geographic

From the reverse angle, where the fishermen enter. Image by Alex Strick.

Sitting at the dock of the bay- image by Frank Keillor

“Yet amid the exoskeletons of banks and cathedrals and luxury hotels overlooking a glimmering coastline that once buzzed with pleasure boats, an awful truth dawns. Mogadishu was never like other African cities. Mogadishu was a spectacular city. Even in its disfigurement, the beauty is still there; above all, in ghostly Hamarweyne, where photographer Pascal Maitre and I [Robert Draper] stand in the empty boulevard and squint out at the sea until a call to prayer from a nearby mosque reminds us it is almost five in the afternoon, after which all outside activity ceases. Anyone on the streets of Mogadishu by evening is inviting misadventure.”

– Robert Draper, National Geographic

Visit Somalia via Cheap Holiday Package Deals .

Inside the lighthouse, deteriorating spiral staircase, image by Pascal Maitre, National Geographic.

Text Source- National Geographic

Dead Sentinels: 10 abandoned lighthouses

1. Rubjerg-Knude, Denmark	2. Talacre, Wales

Construction of the Rubjerg-Knude lighthouse in Jutland, Denmark straddled the last two centuries, beginning in 1899 and finishing in 1900.	The Talacre lighthouse, officially titled ‘Point of Ayr’, has stood on Talacre Beach in various incarnations since 1776, watching over ships make the trek across Liverpool Bay from the Welsh town of Lllandudno.
3. Tillamook, USA	4. Mogadishu, Somalia

The Tillamook Rock Light was built in 1881 on a rock off Oregon coast. It was born in blood; with its grand opening overshadowed by a nearby shipwreck just days before its guardian gas-light was lit.	The crumbling Italian lighthouse perched on the edge of Mogadishu’s Old Harbor was built over a century ago, and abandoned some 20 years ago as trade dried up to the failed state of Somalia.
5. Grand Cay, Bahamas	6. Klein Curacao, Caribbean

The lighthouse on Great Isaac Cay, a small island in the Bahamas around 20 miles north-east of the Bimini Islands, was built in 1859 to guide trade-ships carrying exports of sun-dried sea salt from Inagua	The Klein Curacao (‘Little Curacao’) lighthouse was first built in 1850, on a tiny spit of land 11km off the southeastern tip of Curacao in the Caribbean Sea.
7. Capo d’Otranto, Italy	8. Aniva Rock, Russia

The Capo d’Otranto lighthouse was built in 1867, situated at Italy’s most eastern point, marking the point where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet. It was abandoned in the 1970’s	The Aniva lighthouse was built by the Japanese in 1939, on a chunk of rock off the southern coast of Sakhalin, a thin 950 km long island situated just east of Russia.
9. Ship John Shoal, USA	10. Fish Fluke Point, Canada

Construction of the Ship John Shoal Lighthouse in Delaware Bay took 27 years, from a decision by the US Congress in 1850 that a light was needed through various incarnations.	The Grand Harbor Lighthouse on Fish Fluke Point, Ross Island, was built in 1879, a square wooden tower 32-feet tall with the Keeper’s dwelling attached.

See many more abandoned places in the ruins gallery.

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Abandoned Lighthouses 3. Tillamook Rock

Mike Grist August 3, 2011Lighthouses, USA, World Ruins

The Tillamook Rock Light was built in 1881 on a rock off Oregon coast called Tillamook Head. It was born in blood; with its grand opening overshadowed by a nearby shipwreck just days before its guardian gas-light was lit. 16 people died when the barque Lupatia wrecked on the rocks in a storm, proving the necessity of a lighthouse there.

Tillamok Rock. Image from Wikipedia.

Due to the extensive surveying and blasting necessary to build a lighthouse on the Tillamook sea-crag, combined with the erratic weather conditions, it was the most expensive West Coast lighthouse ever built. It soon became known as ‘Terrible Tilly’, for the dangerous commute required for Keepers bringing supplies back from the mainland.

1891 Tillamook Rock.

Long haul to the Tillamook Rock. (Photo by Scott Sutherland. Source.)

Terrible Tilly ravaged by the waves. (Photo by Gary D. Moon. Source.)

Tilly has proved a popular model for both painters and modelers. In fact both pottery and paper models of lighthouses are available in the States as collectibles.

A lone light in the storm. Painting by John Foster.

Rough skies and rough waves. Painting by Lynn Wright.

Neat little paperweight. This one from Little Lights.

Buy your paper model of Tilly here.

Over the years ferocious storms damaged the lighthouse, shattered its Fresnel lens, and eroded the rock it stood upon, causing it to be decommissioned in 1957 and sold into private hands- ultimately beginning its final lease of life as a columbarium; a final resting place for urns filled with the ashes of the dead.

Crag-top mausoleum, accessible only by helicopter. Photo by Steven Astillero.

The Eternity at Sea Columbarium interred 30 urns between 1980 and 1999. To this day those ashes still remain, sitting on wooden boards overlooking the raging Pacific Ocean.

Your soul’s final resting place? Image by Dick Locke.

Text Sources- Pruned, Wikipedia

Dead Sentinels: 10 abandoned lighthouses

1. Rubjerg-Knude, Denmark	2. Talacre, Wales

Construction of the Rubjerg-Knude lighthouse in Jutland, Denmark straddled the last two centuries, beginning in 1899 and finishing in 1900.	The Talacre lighthouse, officially titled ‘Point of Ayr’, has stood on Talacre Beach in various incarnations since 1776, watching over ships make the trek across Liverpool Bay from the Welsh town of Lllandudno.
3. Tillamook, USA	4. Mogadishu, Somalia

The Tillamook Rock Light was built in 1881 on a rock off Oregon coast. It was born in blood; with its grand opening overshadowed by a nearby shipwreck just days before its guardian gas-light was lit.	The crumbling Italian lighthouse perched on the edge of Mogadishu’s Old Harbor was built over a century ago, and abandoned some 20 years ago as trade dried up to the failed state of Somalia.
5. Grand Cay, Bahamas	6. Klein Curacao, Caribbean

The lighthouse on Great Isaac Cay, a small island in the Bahamas around 20 miles north-east of the Bimini Islands, was built in 1859 to guide trade-ships carrying exports of sun-dried sea salt from Inagua	The Klein Curacao (‘Little Curacao’) lighthouse was first built in 1850, on a tiny spit of land 11km off the southeastern tip of Curacao in the Caribbean Sea.
7. Capo d’Otranto, Italy	8. Aniva Rock, Russia

The Capo d’Otranto lighthouse was built in 1867, situated at Italy’s most eastern point, marking the point where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet. It was abandoned in the 1970’s	The Aniva lighthouse was built by the Japanese in 1939, on a chunk of rock off the southern coast of Sakhalin, a thin 950 km long island situated just east of Russia.
9. Ship John Shoal, USA	10. Fish Fluke Point, Canada

Construction of the Ship John Shoal Lighthouse in Delaware Bay took 27 years, from a decision by the US Congress in 1850 that a light was needed through various incarnations.	The Grand Harbor Lighthouse on Fish Fluke Point, Ross Island, was built in 1879, a square wooden tower 32-feet tall with the Keeper’s dwelling attached.

See many more abandoned places in the ruins gallery.

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Abandoned Lighthouses 2. Talacre Beach

Mike Grist August 3, 2011Lighthouses, UK, World Ruins

The ‘Point of Ayr’ lighthouse has stood on Talacre Beach in Wales in various incarnations since 1776, watching over ships make the trek across Liverpool Bay from the Welsh town of Lllandudno.

Abandoned since 1840, it has lived through numerous cycles of disrepair and refurbishment, with the latest reconstruction in 1994, leaving it a cheery red and white candy-pole on the beach, framed by the nearby offshore wind-farm.

Point of Ayr on Talacre Beach, North Wales. Image from Richard John Linnett.

White and red in the distance.

Beginning another cycle of decay; the white paint peels away. Image from Adrian Evans.

Over the year the lighthouse witnessed many changes- during World War 2 it saw Air Force Fighters strafe the beach for target practise, shooting at wooden targets in the dunes and drogues towed by aircraft. At one point it witnessed the whole nearby village of Talacre coated in silver foil, as a guinea-pig for a new anti-radar technology. Now it’s a quiet tourist spot for beautiful views across the bay- Great Hotel Deals here.

Adjudicant to the installation of the new energy- an off-shore wind-farm.

The lighthouse is well-known in the area for its hauntings- allegedly by a ghostly lighthouse keeper walking around the top of the tower. Mediums visiting the location have claimed feeling the spirit of a lonely man, Raymond, who died of a broken heart. Some tourists have come away feeling unwell and disturbed.

To commemorate this lost soul, the lighthouse’s owner commissioned local artist Angela Smith to create The Keeper, a 7-foot tall sculpture made of hundreds of pieces of highly polished, medical-grade stainless steel pieces. The many holes in his body are intended to let the wind pass through and create ghostly chimes.

The Keeper on the beach. Image from BBC Wales.

At his post- the first time the lighthouse has been manned since 1840. Image from BBC Wales.

Silver sentinel of the sands. Image from BBC Wales.

In 2009 the lighthouse opened its doors to the public for one day, and the BBC went along to peek inside-

235 years old and counting. Image by Mark Broughton.

Text sources – Wikipedia, BBC Wales.

Dead Sentinels: 10 abandoned lighthouses

1. Rubjerg-Knude, Denmark	2. Talacre, Wales

Construction of the Rubjerg-Knude lighthouse in Jutland, Denmark straddled the last two centuries, beginning in 1899 and finishing in 1900.	The Talacre lighthouse, officially titled ‘Point of Ayr’, has stood on Talacre Beach in various incarnations since 1776, watching over ships make the trek across Liverpool Bay from the Welsh town of Lllandudno.
3. Tillamook, USA	4. Mogadishu, Somalia

The Tillamook Rock Light was built in 1881 on a rock off Oregon coast. It was born in blood; with its grand opening overshadowed by a nearby shipwreck just days before its guardian gas-light was lit.	The crumbling Italian lighthouse perched on the edge of Mogadishu’s Old Harbor was built over a century ago, and abandoned some 20 years ago as trade dried up to the failed state of Somalia.
5. Grand Cay, Bahamas	6. Klein Curacao, Caribbean

The lighthouse on Great Isaac Cay, a small island in the Bahamas around 20 miles north-east of the Bimini Islands, was built in 1859 to guide trade-ships carrying exports of sun-dried sea salt from Inagua	The Klein Curacao (‘Little Curacao’) lighthouse was first built in 1850, on a tiny spit of land 11km off the southeastern tip of Curacao in the Caribbean Sea.
7. Capo d’Otranto, Italy	8. Aniva Rock, Russia

The Capo d’Otranto lighthouse was built in 1867, situated at Italy’s most eastern point, marking the point where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet. It was abandoned in the 1970’s	The Aniva lighthouse was built by the Japanese in 1939, on a chunk of rock off the southern coast of Sakhalin, a thin 950 km long island situated just east of Russia.
9. Ship John Shoal, USA	10. Fish Fluke Point, Canada

Construction of the Ship John Shoal Lighthouse in Delaware Bay took 27 years, from a decision by the US Congress in 1850 that a light was needed through various incarnations.	The Grand Harbor Lighthouse on Fish Fluke Point, Ross Island, was built in 1879, a square wooden tower 32-feet tall with the Keeper’s dwelling attached.

See many more abandoned places in the ruins gallery.

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Abandoned Lighthouses 1. Rubjerg-Knude

Mike Grist August 3, 2011Denmark, Lighthouses, World Ruins

Construction of the Rubjerg-Knude lighthouse in Jutland, Denmark straddled the last two centuries, beginning in 1899 and finishing in 1900. It was built on a dune-less cliff 200m away from the sea and 60m above sea level, but as the years passed the sea drew closer, and with it came the dunes, which gradually began to swallow up the base of the lighthouse.

The Rubjerg-Knude, buried in sand. Image from Milan Kuminowski.

Initially it was 23 meters tall, but by 1968 only some 15 meters was accessible- the rest, including all the entrances, were stopped up and buried, finally shutting the lighthouse down.

Early architectural plans. Image from Rubjerg-Knude.

1899 construction- no dunes in sight. Image from Rubjerg-Knude.

The finished lighthouse, with the dunes slowly climbing up the rise towards it. Image from Solar Energy Dream.

Efforts were made to protect the lighthouse over the years, with sand pine grates installed and lyme grass planted on the dunes in an attempt to halt their encroachment. It didn’t work, and the lighthouse was shut down, but life around it didn’t halt completely- after 1968 the surrounding buildings were converted to a sand drift museum and coffee shop, which continued operation until 2002. Now though the sand has swallowed them too, caving in their roofs with its weight.

Soon, as the sea draws closer and the winds endlessly blows the dunes inland, there will be nothing left of the Rubjerg-Knude at all.

Swamped museum and cafeteria. Image from Ricardo Massino.

Roofs buckled under the flowing weight of sand. Image by Christoph Grimlowski.

Growing into the dunes. Image from Solar Energy Dream.

Peeking up like Lady Liberty’s hand in Planet of the Apes. Image from Solar Energy Dream.

Dead sentinel of the dunes.

Text sources- Wikipedia, Solar Energy Dream, Rubjerg-Knude

Dead Sentinels: 10 abandoned lighthouses

1. Rubjerg-Knude, Denmark	2. Talacre, Wales

Construction of the Rubjerg-Knude lighthouse in Jutland, Denmark straddled the last two centuries, beginning in 1899 and finishing in 1900.	The Talacre lighthouse, officially titled ‘Point of Ayr’, has stood on Talacre Beach in various incarnations since 1776, watching over ships make the trek across Liverpool Bay from the Welsh town of Lllandudno.
3. Tillamook, USA	4. Mogadishu, Somalia

The Tillamook Rock Light was built in 1881 on a rock off Oregon coast. It was born in blood; with its grand opening overshadowed by a nearby shipwreck just days before its guardian gas-light was lit.	The crumbling Italian lighthouse perched on the edge of Mogadishu’s Old Harbor was built over a century ago, and abandoned some 20 years ago as trade dried up to the failed state of Somalia.
5. Grand Cay, Bahamas	6. Klein Curacao, Caribbean

The lighthouse on Great Isaac Cay, a small island in the Bahamas around 20 miles north-east of the Bimini Islands, was built in 1859 to guide trade-ships carrying exports of sun-dried sea salt from Inagua	The Klein Curacao (‘Little Curacao’) lighthouse was first built in 1850, on a tiny spit of land 11km off the southeastern tip of Curacao in the Caribbean Sea.
7. Capo d’Otranto, Italy	8. Aniva Rock, Russia

The Capo d’Otranto lighthouse was built in 1867, situated at Italy’s most eastern point, marking the point where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet. It was abandoned in the 1970’s	The Aniva lighthouse was built by the Japanese in 1939, on a chunk of rock off the southern coast of Sakhalin, a thin 950 km long island situated just east of Russia.
9. Ship John Shoal, USA	10. Fish Fluke Point, Canada

Construction of the Ship John Shoal Lighthouse in Delaware Bay took 27 years, from a decision by the US Congress in 1850 that a light was needed through various incarnations.	The Grand Harbor Lighthouse on Fish Fluke Point, Ross Island, was built in 1879, a square wooden tower 32-feet tall with the Keeper’s dwelling attached.

See many more abandoned places in the ruins gallery.

Explore more Japanese ruins (haikyo) in the galleries:

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You can also read SF & Fantasy stories inspired by ruins.

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Murakashi Derelict Industrial Ruin

Mike Grist July 26, 2011Featured Story, Haikyo, Mines / Factories, Tochigi

The ruins of Murakashi mine trail up the verdant Tochigi mountainside like a Studio Ghibli dreamscape, scattered about with the rusted-stiff robot arms of cranes that guard its approach like frozen heroes in Medusa’s cave.

Zoom out and the blaring red canopy roofs of this rustic industrial graveyard begin to look like the shiny spilled guts of a snake, slithering languidly out of the mountain’s clean-cut grey-granite belly.

Guardian arms.

Murakashi mine drilled limestone and dolomite out of the Japanese mountainside topsoil for 50 years, closing down some 30 years ago. Now it’s a relic of a bygone age, when Japan actually had natural resources to mine. I visited with Rob and Jan after seeing the Western Village cowboy theme park.

We drove up the half-rubbled road to an old chemical dump, now sandy car-park, and surveyed the beast before us.

“Do we climb?”

“Looks like it.”

Rob took off his shoes, because that is the kind of thing Rob’s (much like Tiggers) do, and we climbed up the mini-ridge you see below.

A scrabbly, tumbley affair.

The mountain god’s red viscera bared for us to see, like the kraken’s eye.

Rob leapt into the rusting framework with glee, clambering quickly up shaky stanchions and within the rotted-concrete scaffold, soon peeking his head out for a wave and a grin. Jan wandered off to the side, and I shot the beast head in, unafraid of its glimmery crimson eye.

Yellow tanks. These contained chemicals, or coal. I believe this was a mountain-top coal mine.

With their bloody red innards scattered at their feet.

A second giant arm watches over the lush overgrowth. Imagine Medusa standing before this, as though on holidays to crete ,with her flailing snake hair blasting it to stone.

Pieces of vital importance once; now just grist for the rag and bone man’s mill.

Beyond the first row of vast yellow tubs, a second row latticed with intertwining gantries.

A great concrete pipe narrows my gaze onto a workman’s control cab.

Rob and Jan off on their own, I dived head-first into the ruins like a mole in the dirt, wriggling my way amidst these looming stacks of red iron rebar and through the grasping brown fingers of twisty vines.

Inside was hallowed, like a temple built out of broken toys and blessed by the sun.

A path I could take, if I so chose.

I rabbled and rubbled about some, hopping from cross-walk to gantry as the iron underfloor netting gave out, as the snarls of vinery grew too thick, passing all manner of strange mechanical thingimibobs that watched me as I went by.

Thingimibob.

At times my head would peek clear of the ever-present red and green to spy a familiar face and glimpse of the place as a whole.

A shoeless Rob grins at me.

I look over the rows of coal-scuttle chutes.

I look down on the tumbled bits of factory furniture.

One of the chute-heads, just above a yellow vat.

A nervous system of chutes and ladders as complex as any board-game, even Game of Life.

At last I emerged atop the vats, and was free to walk about as though a Lord of the Morning. For a while all sign of Rob and Jan was absent, and I stood there and cried out-

“I’m the King of the World!”

Though not really.

Many things, on a field of green.

Soon after I ventured inwards, to investigate the rumblings of that still steel beast. Did it’s heart yet beat? Did the wagglings of its tongue still jostle avalanches an dearth-slides? Up the mountain, up countless ragged staircases I beat my path.

Here are various cables I considered making into jump-ropes, you know, for kids.

An interior cross-walk.

The knobbled side of some sleeping grey behemoth, that obviously thought it could hide away from the ravages of time indoors. Still, his skin flakes away.

An inner square. I imagine the Village People standing around this scene singing YMCA.

Conveyor belt for new life. Begins at conception?

Funnels and chutes.

Towards the top the air was rarefied. Excitement filled us all. What great treasures would await inside the beast’s dying brain?

A long axon ending in a dendrite of control.

Looking down the thing’s polished blue bib.

At the top was the mouth, facing back towards the mountain as though it had twisted upon itself like Linda Blair in the Exorcist. Climbing up its oesophagus and taking pause in the roof of its mouth, we studied the chains it used for teeth, the tongue bed that conveyed rocks down, down, to be crushed in the belly.

Above the stomach pit (the first of many, like a cow), looking up to the mouth.

A ray-gun, for blasting rocks apart.

A side-room, for enjoying a game of cards and the breeze of a fan.

Peeking out of one of the eye-holes.

Rob poses, shoeless as ever, atop the things inner gum-line.

Rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Down it’s neck side. We clambered the final stretch up a stretch of twiney vine- hair

Nice wig on that hut.

From above, looking down its gullet and maw.

What it has been eating. Chomp chomp. Good bye mountain.

Its mouth.

Rob and Jan in the mouth.

Here they would tip everything into the digestary tract to be processed, cracked open, and all the goodness sucked from within.

At the last, we walk down a very easy path, pack up into the car, and say goodbye to that dead snake-god squatting on the hill.

Here is video of the quest:

Explore more Japanese ruins (haikyo) in the galleries:

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See a curation of world ruins in the ruins gallery.

You can also read my SF & Fantasy stories inspired by ruins.

Killin Jack $0.99 on Kindle

Mike Grist July 22, 2011Featured Story, Jabbler's Mons, Kindle, Writing

I’m launching my short story Killin Jack on Kindle!! It’s a story of revenge and dark morality in the ramshackle fantasy city of Jabbler’s Mons, available now for $0.99

Killin Jack

Killin Jack is a man-made monster stalking the blood-slicked warrens of Jabbler’s Mons, a brutal city where back-street mogrifers sculpt living flesh into twisted zoo-morphized contortions.

Jack hunts the Bunnymen, lascivious cross-breeds that once rutted the city to the point of oblivion. But when his last victim proves to be a baby, Jack’s moral certainy falls away, and the final leg of his long-wrought revenge begins.

Contains KILLIN JACK (@ 5,000 words), plus excerpts from CELIBATE JAYNE and FREEMANTLE MONS.

The story was originally published in the online magazine AtomJack (2008), and published again in Aoiffe’s Kiss (2009).

Densely vibrant, brutally honest and utterly surreal, this is a steampunk-weird story for the post-fantasy generation.

Why put stories on Kindle?

It seems e-readers are blowing up. Guys like John Locke are making millions selling their stories online. Even J.K. Rowling is putting Harry Potter online for e-readers. It’s easier than ever to do, it’s free to upload stories, and the only cost is the time it takes to do it (and cover art if you’re prepared to pay for it).

– John Locke’s story.

– Kindle publishing page.

– J. A. Konrath’s great blog on e-publishing.

– For relaxing, consider sharm el sheikh holidays

For such a long time I’ve wanted to be published. At the same time I’ve steered far clear of vanity-publishing; paying for it just seemed wrong. This Kindle zone seems to walk the line pretty nicely. I already offer all my published short stories on my website for free. That won’t change. But putting them on Kindle offers a new easy to read, productized version of the stories.

Images

People judge books by their covers. To that end, I hired my friend Mike Beddall to do some graphic design art for the cover of Killin Jack:

Above are three covers I considered. The first is utterly simple and took me 5 minutes on pixelmator. The second was Mike’s first run at it. The third is the final cover- which I love for how striking and multi-layered it is. I’m so glad Mike was up for doing it- since he’s read the story several times, already done one painting of the characters, and knows what imagery will work. Thanks Mike!

If you already know the story of Killin Jack, perhaps you’ll get the meaning. If not, hopefully it will intrigue you enough to read the story.

Support

I’d love to have your support. I’m not begging you to buy the story- but if you’ve read it already and have a few minutes to click ‘like’ or leave a review on its amazon page, I’d be hugely in your debt :). Reviews and likes make a big difference on possible success, it seems.

Thanks for your support!

See all of MJG’s stories on Kindle.

Read stories for free.

See art and news about MJG’s upcoming novel DAWN RISING.

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