Eerie Photos Of The World’s Most Bizarre Ghost Town
The Sands Of Time
Rising out of the sands of the Namib Desert is an eerie remnant of another time. The town of Kolmanskop was once a bustling, prosperous German settlement. Now it's slowly being swallowed by sand. What happened?
Rocks In The Desert
In 1908, a Namibian worker named Zacharias Lewala found some large, interesting stones while working at a railway station. He had a feeling they might be diamonds, so he showed them to his supervisor.
Ancient Dunes
The Namib Desert is the oldest on Earth, having remained arid and barren for over 50 million years. It was still largely unexplored by the time Lewala found those stones—but that was about to change.
Diamond's Are A Town's Best Friend
Lewala's hunch was right. His supervisor, a German named August Stauch, confirmed his suspicion. There were diamonds in these hills. The rush was on.
Time To Get Rich
Stauch reported on the find, and soon German settlers swarmed the area. The German Empire declared the area around the mines a "Forbidden Zone," barring anyone but miners from entering, and set about exploiting the region as much as they could. And it all centered on the small town of Kolmanskop
