When you think about ghost towns, your imagination will likely go wild. It conjures images of abandoned houses left behind in the Wild West. It’s so hard to imagine a town being abandoned in the modern world, that you may even begin to think about a zombie apocalypse, like The Walking Dead. Believe it or not, finding abandoned ghost towns is more common than you think. Many of these towns were abandoned due to the economy, and people moved to areas where they could find work. Or, a construction project fell through, leaving empty houses behind. To make things more interesting, many of these houses even went up for sale! Here at Home Addict, we have several juicy ghost town stories for you to enjoy.
20. The Indian Ridge Resort in Branson, Missouri
In 2006, it was announced that construction would begin on a project called Indian Ridge Resort in Branson, Missouri. This was situated near the Ozarks and Table Rock Lake. The idea was that they would invest $1 billion into building several luxurious mansions, a hotel, conference hall, and a water park. Construction began on the houses, until a number of things fell apart. We all know about the 2008 recession, but things were much worse for these owners. It turns out that the Indian Ridge Resort may have been a front for money laundering, because 5 of the developers ended up going to jail for bank fraud.
Drive-by footage of this ghost town recently went viral on Tiktok. People who had no idea that Indian Ridge Resort existed suddenly became interested in the development. Since these homes are halfway finished, you would wonder why no one has bought these and at least completed the ghost town. However, with these legal issues on the table, it may be a long time before anyone can begin construction again.