# Fascinating! Ghost town Chernobyl. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 30, 2004, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273 "2004-03-30T07:57:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/1 "2004-03-30T07:57:06Z")
Check out [this website](http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/). It’s maintained by a 25 year old girl from Kiev, who’s hobby is… riding her Kawasaki Ninja through the dead zone of Chernobyl. :eek: Her English is not perfect, but it’s a captivating story nonetheless. The pictures tell a thousand words - an entire part of a country deserted, caught in a late Communism time warp. She’s got a radiation meter on her to indicate how safe a place is. I have no idea what risks she’s taking, especially with doing this repeatedly, but I can certainly understand the appeal of such a deserted, creepy place. Don’t know if I’d dare venture THAT close to the reactor, though!! Enjoy… ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/2 "2004-03-30T08:34:34Z")
I love these kind of sites! Thanks for the link. (BTW, that woman is hot! Here’s to growing another head and 2nd set of breasts, twice the fun!) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/3 "2004-03-30T09:25:59Z")
That is amazingly cool, and amazingly depressing at the same time. Oh yeah, and she is damn hot, I love those kind of eyes. ---
**Author:** ![welby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/4 "2004-03-30T12:52:40Z")
What a kick-ass link Coldie, thanks for posting it. I forwarded it along to **welbywife** because she and the brats were both living near Chernobyl when it went over the edge. Today both she and the kids have thyroid problems thanks to the superior nuclear regulatory experience of the former Soviet Union. She’s got some pretty cool stories about that time in her life. Scary scary stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/5 "2004-03-30T13:20:57Z")
Impressive link. I’m grateful you posted it. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/6 "2004-03-30T13:41:46Z")
Sure thing, Ed! E-mail me about the details. I bought a new PC and I think I’ve misplaced your old message, I’m afraid… ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/7 "2004-03-30T13:52:57Z")
Shit. 🙂 Errr, for those reading along, before I butchered Ed’s post, he asked me if we were still on for that ride in Holland in a few weeks time. To which I wanted to reply: "Sure thing, Ed! E-mail me about the details. I bought a new PC and I think I’ve misplaced your old message, I’m afraid… ", but I accidentally hit “Edit” instead of “Quote”. Heh. Just goes to show one has to use these powers carefully. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/8 "2004-03-30T13:55:18Z")
I guess the only question now is: will **Cajun Man** ban me for falsely attributing a quote to a poster? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/9 "2004-03-30T14:15:15Z")
Good grief. This woman is insane. 🙂 I can guarantee you, I would find it very difficult to smile for a photo sitting next to a dosimeter going “beep…beep…beepbeepbeep”. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/10 "2004-03-30T14:32:12Z")
## I found that link on The Millenium Project site. That was very interesting. I think she’s nuts, but some of the pictures were stunning. I was astonished to see that ‘ordinary’ people are allowed in. 1d 9:31 smoke-free, 69 cigarettes not smoked ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/11 "2004-03-30T14:39:56Z")
By the signs in the photos, what she refers to as the ghost town is Prypyat. Check out the location on [this map.](http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/commonwealth/chornobyl_radiation96.jpg) I hope she doesn’t make this kind of trip a habit. ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/12 "2004-03-30T15:40:21Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > I love these kind of sites! Thanks for the link. Wha…? You mean there are more like this? Give me some sites! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/13 "2004-03-30T15:55:01Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > I hope she doesn’t make this kind of trip a habit. From the text, it seems she goes with some frequency to the exclusion zones (for the sake of fast biking), but has been reconsidering getting so close to the maximum-heat zones. And yeah, dudes, she’s “hot”, and the bike is too, in more ways than one… only so much gallows humour you can bring to this one, I guess. The awe of terrifying fascination. A place where history did end under a cloud of fallout. …what a piece of work is Man, indeed… ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/14 "2004-03-30T16:31:07Z")
There is an interesting book called _The Sky Unwashed_ that tells the story of some of the older people of the Chernobyl region, the ones who wanted to return to live out their days at home. The Pryzwalski horses blew me away. BTW, they don’t let “regular” people in, really, she seems to have aquired a pass through her father who is a Nuclear Physicist. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/15 "2004-03-30T16:40:00Z")
It’s interesting to see that she isn’t the only one too concerned about the radiation. It looks like the town has been pretty trashed and stripped. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/16 "2004-03-30T18:07:10Z")
Wow! It’s easy to forget about all that devastation when you’re so far removed from it, and the press doesn’t talk about it anymore. Seriously spooky pictures! ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/17 "2004-03-30T18:09:31Z")
Wow, that is amazing. I have never seen pictures of the actual reactor, and to see the state that it is in now… The pictures of the towns were stunning. Beautiful and sad and the same time. Do they know what effect the radiation has had on the animals that are living there? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/18 "2004-03-30T18:16:41Z")
What a fascinating site and story. The picture of the tree growing in the middle of the room? The offhand mention of radioactive televisions showing up in black market stalls after having been removed from the danger area by looters? The room full of abandoned Soviet-era propaganda? I’m shuddering. Very, very evocative; very spooky. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/19 "2004-03-30T19:38:13Z")
> [@Elysian](#): > > Wha…? You mean there are more like this? Give me some sites! No radiation involved but I previously encountered a [Baltimore](http://www.btco.net/ghosts/) site. [Ohio site](http://www.forgottenohio.com/), mentioned by **Mudshark** in a couple of previous threads. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273/20 "2004-03-30T19:58:30Z")
Truly fascinating!! Here’s another interesting site in the same vein: [‘ghost stations’ on the London Underground](http://www.starfury.demon.co.uk/uground/) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-ghost-town-chernobyl/237273.md?page=2)