Quick facts: haunted and abandoned places in India (data verified May 2026)
- ●4,659 geolocated abandoned places in India, across all 28 states and 8 union territories
- ●Bhangarh Fort (Rajasthan) is the most-searched haunted place in India with 165,000 monthly Google searches
- ●The Archaeological Survey of India has officially banned night entry to only one site in India: Bhangarh Fort
- ●Dhanushkodi (Tamil Nadu) is the most famous ghost town in India, destroyed by the 1964 cyclone that killed 1,800 people
- ●Mumbai's Mukesh Mills is the most-photographed abandoned site in India, appearing in over 200 Bollywood films
- ●The 1984 Bhopal Union Carbide disaster remains the deadliest industrial accident in history (15,000 dead, 500,000 injured)
- ●All GPS coordinates in this guide are free to access via the "Add to my map" button under each spot
The 20 most iconic haunted and abandoned places in India: comparison table
| # | Spot | State | Type | Abandoned since | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bhangarh Fort | Rajasthan | Cursed fortified city | 18th century | ASI, day only |
| 2 | Dhanushkodi | Tamil Nadu | Ghost port town | 1964 cyclone | Free, daylight |
| 3 | Kuldhara | Rajasthan | Abandoned village | 1825 | ASI, day only |
| 4 | Ross Island | Andaman | Colonial ruins | 1941 earthquake / 1942 Japanese | Navy ferry |
| 5 | Mukesh Mills | Maharashtra | Industrial textile | 1982 fire | By appointment |
| 6 | Lakhpat | Gujarat | Ghost port | 1819 earthquake | Free |
| 7 | Mandu | Madhya Pradesh | Sultanate city | 16th century | ASI |
| 8 | Hampi | Karnataka | Hindu metropolis | 1565 Talikota | UNESCO, free |
| 9 | Kolar Gold Fields | Karnataka | Mining town | 2001 | Free |
| 10 | Fatehpur Sikri | Uttar Pradesh | Mughal capital | 1610 | ASI |
| 11 | Bhopal Union Carbide | Madhya Pradesh | Toxic industrial | 1984 disaster | Local guide |
| 12 | Shaniwar Wada | Maharashtra | Peshwa palace | 1828 fire | ASI |
| 13 | Begunkodor Station | West Bengal | Railway station | 1967 (haunting) | Free |
| 14 | Raghupur Garh Fort | Himachal Pradesh | Mountain fort | 1840s Anglo-Sikh wars | Trek, free |
| 15 | Champaner-Pavagadh | Gujarat | Sultanate city | 1573 (Akbar) | UNESCO |
| 16 | Old Goa St Augustine | Goa | Colonial church | 1842 collapse | Free |
| 17 | MV MAA shipwreck | Andhra Pradesh | Beached cargo ship | 2010 grounding | Free |
| 18 | GP Block Meerut | Uttar Pradesh | Military cantonment | 1990s | Cantt area |
| 19 | Lambi Dehar Mines | Uttarakhand | Limestone mines | 1990 closure | Free, trek |
| 20 | Murud-Janjira Fort | Maharashtra | Sea fortress | 1947 | Ferry from Rajpuri |
Haunted and abandoned places in India form one of the richest urbex landscapes on Earth. From the cursed fort of Bhangarh in Rajasthan, whispered to be the most haunted place in India, to the ghost port of Dhanushkodi wiped out by the 1964 cyclone, to the colonial ruins of Ross Island swallowed by banyan trees, India offers an unmatched playground for urban explorers: over 4,659 geolocated abandoned spots on our map across all 28 states, from the Himalayas to the Andaman Sea.
In this guide we have selected the 20 most iconic haunted and abandoned places in India: forgotten forts, ghost villages, abandoned colonial cantonments, derelict mills, cursed mansions and railway stations frozen in time. For each spot, the GPS coordinates are available for free on our interactive map. No credit card, no email gate, just click "Add to my map" under each location.
The terms haunted places in India, ghost places in India, horror places in India, abandoned places in India and lost places India all refer to the same reality: an architectural, industrial and military heritage that history has left behind : massacres, plagues, partition, mass migration, communist insurgencies : and that today attracts photographers, paranormal investigators and urban explorers from across the country and the world.
Why Urbex Maps changes the game for India
Before we dive into the 20 spots, two words on what makes this guide different. Most websites that talk about abandoned places in India publish thin listicles with stock photos and no coordinates. The handful that do publish coordinates hide them behind paywalls of 500 to 2000 rupees, or behind closed Telegram groups requiring a "vouch" from existing members.
Here the promise is concrete: under each location below you will find an "Add to my map" button that drops the exact GPS coordinates into your personal space, with a free Urbex Maps account. Behind this mechanic, a community of over 40,000 explorers that has been reporting from the field since 2021. Every coordinate published in this article has been verified at least twice: first by the original contributor, then by a regional moderator who confirms the place still exists : not bulldozed, not converted into a hotel, not sealed off by the Archaeological Survey of India.
The 20 spots below are ordered by visual impact and historical importance. We open with the undisputed star, Bhangarh Fort, and close with the lesser-known but visually stunning Mukesh Mills in Mumbai. For each region crossed you will also find a link to our dedicated catalogue : Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and so on : with the full map of abandoned places in that state.
1. Bhangarh Fort: India's most haunted abandoned city (Rajasthan)
In the Aravalli hills of Rajasthan, 280 km southwest of Delhi, lies the ruined city of Bhangarh : a 17th-century fortified town that local legend says was cursed overnight. Built in 1573 by Raja Bhagwant Das, Bhangarh once housed 10,000 inhabitants across seven gates, a market street, temples, and the royal palace of Madho Singh. By the 18th century, the city was abandoned. Two competing legends explain why: one tells of a tantric sorcerer named Singhia who fell in love with Princess Ratnavati and was crushed by a falling rock as he cursed the entire city; the other points to a holy man named Baba Balak Nath who decreed that no building in Bhangarh should ever cast a shadow on his hut, a curse activated when a later palace did exactly that.
What is certain is that the Archaeological Survey of India has officially banned entry to Bhangarh between sunset and sunrise : the only ASI monument in the country with such a restriction. A signboard at the entrance reads: "Entering the borders of Bhangarh before sunrise and after sunset is strictly prohibited." Locals will not stay inside the walls after dark. Trespassers who do report screams, footsteps, and a sudden drop in temperature.
For urbex photographers, the daytime ruins are equally compelling: 9,000 houses in various states of collapse, the Hanuman Temple still standing with intact carvings, the Gopinath Temple with its perfectly preserved Govind statue, the Nakkar Khana (drum tower), and the ruined three-storey palace with its pillared courtyards. The site receives the highest search volume of any urbex destination in India : over 165,000 queries per month on Google.
2. Dhanushkodi: the ghost town wiped out by a cyclone (Tamil Nadu)
At the southeastern tip of Pamban Island, on the slim strip of land that once connected India to Sri Lanka, lie the ruins of Dhanushkodi. A thriving port town of 5,000 inhabitants with a railway terminus, customs office, hospital, post office, and Catholic and Hindu temples, Dhanushkodi was the closest Indian point to Ceylon, just 31 km of sea separating it from Talaimannar.
On the night of 22 December 1964, a category 5 cyclone made landfall on Dhanushkodi with 280 km/h winds and a 7-meter storm surge. The Pamban-Dhanushkodi passenger train, packed with 110 passengers, was hit by the surge as it approached the station and washed off the tracks. The entire town was destroyed in a few hours. Official death toll: 1,800. The Madras government declared Dhanushkodi a "ghost town" and unfit for habitation. Sixty years later, the verdict still stands.
Today the ruins of the railway station, the church of Our Lady of the Rosary, the post office and the railway hospital sit half-buried in sand, slowly returning to the sea. A fishing community of about 500 people lives in temporary huts along the road. The 17 km road from Rameswaram to the tip of Dhanushkodi was rebuilt in 2017 and is now drivable until the last 3 km, where you can walk to the absolute land's end of India.
3. Kuldhara: the village abandoned overnight (Rajasthan)
Eighteen kilometers west of Jaisalmer, in the heart of the Thar desert, Kuldhara is the most famous ghost village in India. Founded in 1291 by Paliwal Brahmins originally from Pali, the village grew into a prosperous agricultural community of about 1,500 inhabitants spread across 84 surrounding hamlets. The Paliwals were skilled at desert farming, channeling scarce water through underground reservoirs and building distinctive stone houses with carved facades and central courtyards.
In 1825, according to local oral history, the entire village was abandoned in a single night. The reason most commonly cited: the Salim Singh, the despotic prime minister of Jaisalmer, set his eyes on the daughter of the village chief and demanded her hand under threat of crushing taxation. The chief gathered the elders, and rather than submit, the entire Paliwal community of 84 villages left in the dark, never to return. As they left, they allegedly cursed the village so that no one could ever settle there again.
Whether you believe the curse or not, the archaeological evidence is striking: every house carefully shut and locked, no signs of violence, no graves, no destruction. Modern theories point to earthquakes and groundwater collapse as the actual cause. Today the site is protected by the ASI : entry from sunrise to sunset only : and you can walk through hundreds of intact stone houses, climb to the rooftops, and visit the central Krishna temple.
4. Ross Island: the British capital swallowed by jungle (Andaman)
Two kilometers east of Port Blair in the Andaman Sea, Ross Island (renamed Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island in 2018) served as the administrative headquarters of British India in the Andamans from 1858 to 1941. The island was the residence of the Chief Commissioner, with a Government House, an Anglican church, a printing press, a bakery, tennis courts, a swimming pool, a ballroom, and luxurious bungalows for senior officials. The British called it the "Paris of the East".
In 1941 a 7.7 magnitude earthquake severely damaged most of the buildings. Then the Japanese occupation of 1942-1945 used the island as a POW camp and gun emplacement, finishing what the earthquake had started. After independence, the Indian Navy maintained a small detachment but the colonial structures were abandoned to the tropical forest. Today the banyan, ficus and rubber trees have literally consumed the ruins: roots wrap around the columns of the church, push through the floors of the ballroom, and lift the iron gates off their hinges.
A short ferry ride from Port Blair brings you to the island. The Indian Navy runs guided tours, and a small museum displays original photographs of the colonial era alongside Japanese war artifacts. The peacocks and spotted deer that roam the ruins are descendants of the British officers' pets.
5. Mukesh Mills: Mumbai's haunted Bollywood mill (Maharashtra)
In Colaba, South Mumbai, the Mukesh Mills complex is the most photographed abandoned site in the city : and the only one freely accessible (for a fee) to film crews and photographers. Built in the 1870s as one of Mumbai's first textile mills, Mukesh employed thousands of workers in the city's industrial golden age, when the Girangaon ("village of mills") district housed 130 cotton mills and was the engine of the Bombay economy.
In 1982, a mysterious fire gutted the central section of the mill. The cause was never officially determined. Workers refused to return, citing a series of accidents and "presences" in the burnt-out halls. The Bollywood industry, however, embraced the eerie ambiance: Mukesh Mills has appeared in over 200 films since the 1990s, from horror movies to action sequences. Several crews report unexplained phenomena : voices, equipment malfunctions, shadows on monitors : and at least one major studio has banned night shoots on the premises.
The complex includes the main spinning hall with its cast-iron columns and saw-tooth roof, the boiler room with rusted pressure gauges and exposed pipes, the water tower, and the administrative block with peeling green walls. Access is by appointment with the mill management (the Mukesh family still owns the site) and the going rate for a half-day shoot is around 50,000 rupees.
6. Lakhpat: the ghost port of the Indus (Gujarat)
On the northwestern edge of Kutch, where the Rann salt flats meet the Arabian Sea, the fortified town of Lakhpat was once one of the richest ports of western India. In the 18th century, the Indus River flowed past its walls into the sea, making Lakhpat a major trading hub for rice, indigo, spices and timber moving between Sindh and the Indian interior. At its peak, the town generated one lakh (100,000) korias in daily customs revenue : hence the name Lakhpat, "city of a hundred thousand".
The 1819 Rann of Kutch earthquake changed everything. The 8.2 magnitude quake raised a vast section of seabed by several meters (the geological feature now known as Allah Bund) and forced the Indus River to change its course westwards, into present-day Pakistan. Within a generation, Lakhpat was left high and dry, cut off from the sea by silt deposits and salt marshes. The merchants left. The population collapsed from 15,000 to less than 500.
What remains today is a 7 km perimeter wall built by Fateh Muhammad in 1801, with seven gates and several watchtowers, still mostly intact. Inside, the Gurudwara Lakhpat Sahib (visited by Guru Nanak in 1506), the mausoleum of Pir Ghaus Muhammad, and the Muslim quarter with abandoned havelis and stepwells. Outside the walls, the dry bed of the Indus stretches to the horizon.
7. Mandu: the abandoned Sultanate city in the clouds (Madhya Pradesh)
On a plateau 633 meters above the Narmada valley, Mandu (also called Mandavgad) is one of the most spectacular abandoned cities in India. Founded by the Paramara dynasty in the 6th century, Mandu reached its peak between 1401 and 1561 as the capital of the Malwa Sultanate under the Ghuri and Khalji dynasties. At its height the city stretched over 45 km of fortified walls and housed over 100,000 inhabitants, with palaces, mosques, baths, water tanks and pleasure gardens.
The architecture is uniquely Afghan-Indian: massive sandstone domes, pointed arches, and crucially the use of running water and reflecting pools throughout the palaces, an obsession of the Sultans in the hot Malwa plains. The Jahaz Mahal ("Ship Palace") is the icon: a long narrow two-storey palace built between two artificial lakes, which from a distance appears to float like a ship. The Hindola Mahal ("Swinging Palace") with its dramatically sloping walls, the Hoshang Shah's Tomb (first marble structure in India, predecessor and inspiration for the Taj Mahal), and the Rupmati's Pavilion overlooking the Narmada are the other masterpieces.
Mandu was abandoned in the late 16th century after the Mughal conquest. The Mughals preferred Burhanpur. By the 18th century the entire plateau was reclaimed by jungle. Today the ASI maintains 12 km of monuments accessible by road, but hundreds more ruined structures lie outside the protected zone : in farmers' fields, beside village wells, hidden in the bamboo groves that cover the plateau.
8. Hampi: the ruined Hindu metropolis (Karnataka)
On the banks of the Tungabhadra River in northern Karnataka, the ruins of Hampi stretch across a 36 square kilometer landscape of granite boulders and palm groves. Capital of the Vijayanagara Empire between 1336 and 1565, Hampi was at its peak the second largest city in the world after Beijing, with an estimated population of half a million. Portuguese, Persian and Italian travellers described it as more magnificent than Rome.
In January 1565 the empire was crushed at the Battle of Talikota by a coalition of five Deccan Sultanates. The victorious armies entered Hampi and systematically destroyed it over six months: every temple defaced, every palace razed, every market burned. The city was abandoned and never rebuilt. The Tungabhadra silted up. The trade routes shifted. By the 18th century, Hampi was a memory.
Today 1,600 monuments remain, scattered across the boulder fields. The Virupaksha Temple is still in active worship (the only one). The Vittala Temple with its musical stone pillars and stone chariot is the most photographed structure. The Lotus Mahal in the Royal Enclosure, the Elephant Stables, the Queen's Bath, the Hazara Rama Temple with its detailed Ramayana friezes, and the Achyutaraya Temple with its decaying bazaar street are the must-see ruins. Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but most of the 1,600 monuments are unprotected and freely explorable.
9. Kolar Gold Fields: Asia's deepest abandoned mine (Karnataka)
Hundred kilometers east of Bangalore, the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) was one of the world's deepest gold mines and a vast industrial complex that operated for 121 years. The British company John Taylor & Sons began commercial mining in 1880. By 1902, KGF became the first town in Asia to receive electricity : powered by hydroelectricity transmitted 175 km from the Shivanasamudra Falls. At its peak the mine employed 30,000 workers and produced 95% of India's gold.
The mines went 3,200 meters deep : the second deepest in the world after the South African Tau Tona. The descent took nearly an hour by cage elevator. The geothermal heat at the bottom reached 60°C; ventilation required massive surface fans that ran continuously. The infrastructure included a railway line, a power station, hospitals, schools, churches (KGF had a large Anglo-Indian community), the Skeen Club, the Bowring Institute, and entire residential colonies modelled on British towns.
In February 2001 the mines were closed by the Government of India due to depleted reserves and unsustainable losses. Overnight 5,000 employees lost their jobs. The town never recovered. Today the shaft heads, conveyor towers, processing plants, ore piles, miners' quarters, the abandoned hospital, the railway sidings, and the entire colonial-era residential zone sit in various states of decay. The mines themselves are flooded. The cyanide tailings (a major environmental hazard) form artificial yellow hills visible on satellite imagery.
10. Fatehpur Sikri: the Mughal capital abandoned in 14 years (Uttar Pradesh)
Forty kilometers west of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri is the strangest ghost city in India: a perfectly preserved Mughal imperial capital that was abandoned just 14 years after its completion. The emperor Akbar founded the city in 1571 after the Sufi saint Salim Chishti predicted (correctly) the birth of his son. Akbar wanted a new capital that would symbolize his religious tolerance and political ambition. He spared no expense.
The result is one of the most refined architectural ensembles of the Mughal era. The Buland Darwaza (54 meters high, the tallest gateway in India), the Jama Masjid with the marble tomb of Salim Chishti, the Diwan-i-Khas with its central pillar resembling a lotus stem, the Panch Mahal five-storey pavilion, the Anup Talao music platform where Akbar's court musician Tansen allegedly lit oil lamps with the power of his voice : every structure is built in red sandstone with extraordinary detail.
In 1585, Akbar moved his court to Lahore to deal with the Afghan frontier. He returned to Fatehpur Sikri briefly in 1601 but the city was already drying up : water shortages and the changing political map made it unsustainable. By 1610 the imperial complex was empty. Today the surrounding village still has people (about 30,000), but the entire imperial city, sealed by the ASI, sits exactly as it was left : no graffiti, no modernizations, no looting. The only fully intact abandoned Mughal capital in India.
11. Bhopal Union Carbide Plant: the world's worst industrial disaster site (Madhya Pradesh)
On the northern edge of Bhopal, the abandoned Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant is the site of the deadliest industrial accident in human history. On the night of 2-3 December 1984, 42 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from tank E-610, drifted over the sleeping residential neighborhoods of Old Bhopal, and killed an estimated 15,000 people within hours. Over 500,000 people suffered chronic poisoning. Cancers, birth defects and respiratory illnesses still afflict the survivor population 40 years later.
The plant was shut down the day after the disaster. Union Carbide (now Dow Chemical) abandoned the site in 1989 after paying a 470 million USD settlement to the Indian government (widely considered insufficient). The Madhya Pradesh government took over the property but has never properly decontaminated it. Today, 30 hectares of the plant remain exactly as they were on the morning of 3 December 1984: control room with manuals open on the desks, reactor vessels with rusted valves, MIC storage tanks E-610 and E-611 visible (E-610 still leaks small quantities of contaminated water), worker locker rooms with employee uniforms still hung.
Heavy metals (mercury, lead, chromium) continue to leach from the soil into the groundwater of surrounding neighborhoods. Activist groups have campaigned for decades for the site to be properly cleaned, with no success. The site is technically closed to the public but local guides (often disaster survivors themselves) can be hired to enter. This is not a casual urbex destination : it is an active toxic site and a memorial. Treat it accordingly.
12. Shaniwar Wada: the burnt Peshwa palace of Pune (Maharashtra)
In the heart of old Pune, the ruins of Shaniwar Wada are all that remain of the seat of the Maratha Empire from 1732 to 1818. Built by Peshwa Bajirao I as a seven-storey fortified palace, Shaniwar Wada housed the entire Peshwa administration, with thousand-person audience halls, marble fountains, gold-leaf ceilings and elaborate water gardens. At its height the complex covered 25,000 square meters within imposing teak and stone walls.
The palace is most famous for the murder of Narayanrao Peshwa in 1773. The 18-year-old young Peshwa, returning to his quarters in the Ganesh Mahal, was hacked to death by hired assassins acting on the orders of his uncle Raghunathrao and aunt Anandibai. Narayanrao's last words : "Kaka mala vachva!" ("Uncle, save me!") : have entered Maratha folklore. Locals living near Shaniwar Wada still report hearing the same cries on the night of every full moon.
The palace was destroyed in a mysterious fire on 27 February 1828. The cause was never determined. The interior wooden structures burned for seven days. Only the granite outer walls, the Dilli Darwaza main gate, and the foundation outlines remained. The Marathi state has preserved the ruins as they are : you walk through the foundations of the audience halls, climb the stairs to nowhere, and read the plaques marking where Narayanrao fell.
13. Begunkodor Railway Station: the platform abandoned for 42 years (West Bengal)
In the dry red-soil belt of Purulia district in West Bengal, the small station of Begunkodor holds a singular distinction in Indian railway history: it is the only Indian station ever abandoned because of a ghost. The South Eastern Railway opened the station in 1960 as a stop on the Adra-Chandil line. In 1967, the station master reportedly saw a woman in a white sari walking on the tracks at night and died of cardiac arrest the next morning. Then his successor saw the same figure. Then a station guard.
By September 1967, every railway employee posted to Begunkodor had refused to stay overnight. South Eastern Railway formally closed the station, removed the staff, and let the building sit empty. Trains continued to pass through without stopping for 42 years. The platform fell into ruins. The waiting room ceiling collapsed. The signal post rusted. Vines grew over the station name board.
In 2009, after sustained pressure from the local political establishment (and a public demonstration by CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharya, who spent a night in the empty station to prove there were no ghosts), the station was finally reopened. The original colonial-era platform has been preserved alongside a new functional one. You can still walk along the abandoned platform 1, see the decaying station master's office with its rusted equipment, and visit the spot on the tracks where the apparition was reportedly seen. The locals still avoid the place after dark.
14. Raghupur Garh Fort: the abandoned Himalayan citadel (Himachal Pradesh)
At 3 640 meters above sea level, a 90-minute hike from the Jalori Pass in the Kullu valley, the ruins of Raghupur Garh sit on a flat alpine ridge with panoramic views of the snow peaks of Inner Himalayas. The fort was built in the 17th century by Raja Raghbir Singh of the Suket kingdom, originally as a fortified summer refuge against the seasonal raids of the Mughal armies of Aurangzeb that penetrated the hill country. The Mughal armies never actually reached Raghupur Garh.
The structure is unusual for the region: dry-stone masonry walls over 4 meters high in places, built from local schist and tessellated without mortar, with five bastions and a single fortified entrance. The interior shows the foundations of a central two-storey building (the raja's quarters), barracks for a garrison of about 60 soldiers, an underground water cistern still holding rainwater, and a small Hindu shrine carved into the rock face at the back of the fort. The roof timbers (cedar) collapsed in the 1905 Kangra earthquake. The walls held.
After the Anglo-Sikh wars of the 1840s, the British dismantled the political relevance of all hill-state forts and Raghupur Garh was abandoned by its garrison. Today the fort is reached only on foot, by the well-marked trail that climbs from the Jalori Pass through oak and rhododendron forest. In winter (November-March) the entire ridge is buried under several meters of snow and inaccessible. The reward in summer: complete solitude inside the walls, except for the occasional shepherd and his flock.
15. Champaner-Pavagadh: the abandoned Sultanate citadel (Gujarat)
At the foot of the volcanic peak of Pavagadh in central Gujarat, Champaner is the only abandoned pre-Mughal Islamic city that has been preserved largely intact. The Khichi Chauhan Rajputs built the original city in the 8th century, but the Champaner of today is the work of Sultan Mahmud Begada of Gujarat, who captured the citadel after a brutal 21-month siege in 1484 and made it his new capital.
Begada and his successors spent the next 70 years building one of the most refined Islamic cities of medieval India: the Jami Masjid (the most beautiful surviving Sultanate mosque, with 172 pillars), the Sahar ki Masjid, the Kevda Masjid, eleven additional mosques, the citadel of Pavagadh on the volcanic peak, the Mahmud Begada palace, royal gardens, granaries, and a sophisticated water-management system with stepwells and reservoirs.
In 1535 the Mughal emperor Humayun captured Champaner and dismantled the political structure. His successor Akbar formally abandoned the city in 1573, preferring Ahmedabad. Within a century, the entire urban core was depopulated and the jungle returned. The Pavagadh peak (with the Kalika Mata temple) remained an active Hindu pilgrimage site, but the Sultanate city below was forgotten. The ASI began excavations in the 1970s; UNESCO declared the site a World Heritage Site in 2004.
Today, the lower city is largely unexcavated : you can walk for hours through forested ground that hides foundations, walls and stepwells. The major restored monuments are concentrated around the Jami Masjid. The peak of Pavagadh is accessible by ropeway and offers panoramic views over the abandoned plain.
16. Old Goa: the Portuguese capital ravaged by plague (Goa)
Nine kilometers east of present-day Panjim, on the banks of the Mandovi River, Old Goa (Velha Goa) was once the most important Portuguese colonial city in Asia. Captured by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510 from the Bijapur Sultanate, it became the capital of the Estado da Índia Portuguesa : the seat of the Viceroy, the Inquisition tribunal, the Archbishop of Goa, and over 200,000 inhabitants by the late 16th century. Contemporary Portuguese chroniclers called it "Rome of the East".
Old Goa was devastated by a series of plagues between 1543 and 1635 : cholera, smallpox, malaria. The death toll was estimated at over 100,000 across multiple outbreaks. The Mandovi River silted up, killing the port. In 1759 the Portuguese moved their capital to Panjim, and in 1835 the religious orders were suppressed across the Portuguese empire, completing the abandonment. Within decades, the jungle returned.
What survives today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising six major monuments. The Basilica of Bom Jesus holds the relics of Saint Francis Xavier. The Sé Cathedral is the largest church in Asia. But the truly haunting sites are the abandoned ones: the Church of St. Augustine, of which only a 46-meter bell tower remains, the rest collapsed in 1842; the Convent of Santa Monica (now restored as a museum); the Chapel of St. Catherine; and the Viceroy's Arch standing alone on the riverbank. The surrounding jungle hides foundations, walls and stepwells of the vanished city.
17. MV MAA: the rusting cargo ship of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)
On the long sandy beach 15 km south of Visakhapatnam, in Andhra Pradesh, the MV MAA cargo ship sits exactly where she ran aground in 2010. The 95-meter Panama-flagged general cargo ship was caught in a tropical storm en route from Singapore to the Middle East. The crew of 19 was rescued by the Indian Coast Guard. The ship was declared a total loss and never salvaged.
For 15 years, the rusting hull has become an icon of the Vizag coastline. Beach-goers walk around her hull at low tide. Fishermen use her as a landmark. Photographers come at sunrise and sunset to capture the wreck against the colored sky. The interior has been stripped by scavengers : copper wiring, fittings, engine parts : but the steel structure remains. The bridge tower leans at a 30-degree angle and is no longer safe to climb.
The Indian Maritime Authority has periodically discussed cutting up the wreck for scrap, but the operation cost (estimated at 8 crore rupees) and the popularity of the site with tourists have kept it in place. Local environmental groups argue that the wreck has become an artificial reef supporting marine life and should be left undisturbed.
18. GP Block Meerut: the cursed cantonment colony (Uttar Pradesh)
In the Meerut Cantonment of Uttar Pradesh, the GP Block is consistently cited in Indian "most haunted" lists alongside Bhangarh and Dow Hill. The block consists of a cluster of abandoned military residential quarters dating from the British colonial era, on a quiet road just off the Mall Road in Meerut Cantt. Built in the early 20th century to house officer families of the Bengal Native Infantry, the houses were taken over by the Indian Army after independence and remained in use until the 1990s, when they were progressively decommissioned and left empty.
The local legend that propelled GP Block to viral fame is a 2009 viral cellphone video : three teenagers approached the block at night to film a school project on local superstitions; the footage allegedly captured four people drinking and laughing at one of the windows of an empty house, before the camera operator realized the house had no roof and the building was a known abandoned ruin. The video spread across Indian forums and television channels in 2010. Multiple visitors have since reported the same phenomena: voices, lights, and the smell of alcohol drifting from the empty rooms.
The colonial houses themselves are visually striking: red-brick walls with the original lime mortar, deep verandahs, peeling green wooden shutters, and gardens reclaimed by wild grass. The Indian Army still owns the property and security patrols pass occasionally, but the block is not formally fenced and the houses can be approached on foot from the Mall Road side. Visit during the day, ask the Cantonment Board for informal permission, and do not enter the structures (the floors and beams are unstable).
19. Lambi Dehar Mines: the haunted limestone mines of Mussoorie (Uttarakhand)
Eight kilometers from the hill station of Mussoorie, on a forested ridge between the cantonment and Kempty Falls, the Lambi Dehar Mines are the most notorious abandoned industrial site in the Indian Himalayas. The limestone quarry was opened in the 1960s by private operators supplying the cement industry of northern India. At peak operation in the 1980s, over 5,000 workers : mostly migrant laborers from Bihar and Garhwal : worked the open-pit and underground galleries.
The mines were closed in 1990 after a public health crisis: the workforce was decimated by silicosis and tuberculosis from limestone dust exposure, with conservative estimates placing the death toll at over 50,000 workers across the operating decades. The Supreme Court of India intervened. The mining licences were revoked. The site was abandoned overnight, leaving the conveyor towers, crushing mills, open-pit galleries and worker shacks exactly as they were.
Today the site is a 30-minute walk from the Mussoorie-Kempty road. The rusting industrial structures sit in the open, slowly being swallowed by the Himalayan forest. The galleries are unsafe to enter (chronic rockfalls). The local Garhwali villagers refuse to walk past the site after dark, attributing the reported screams and laughter to the spirits of the dead miners. The haunted reputation is now national, with regular paranormal investigation parties and YouTube urbex teams visiting on weekends.
20. Murud-Janjira: the unconquered island fort (Maharashtra)
On a rocky island three hundred meters off the village of Murud in the Konkan coast of Maharashtra, the fort of Janjira is one of the most extraordinary military structures in India : an oval sea fortress that was never conquered in its 350 years of active history. The original fortified settlement on the island was built by the local Koli fishermen in the early 15th century to defend their fleet against pirates. In 1490 the Ahmadnagar Sultanate took over and rebuilt the fortifications. The current massive walls were completed in 1567 by the Siddi Janjira dynasty of Habshi (Ethiopian) admirals who ruled the Konkan coast.
Janjira's walls are 12 meters high, completed with 19 bastions that still hold the original 572 cannons, including the famous "Kalal Bangadi" cannon weighing 22 tons. The interior originally contained a royal palace (the Surul Khana), barracks for a garrison of 500, freshwater tanks (Janjira had two underground reservoirs that filled with rainwater, sustaining the garrison through any siege), a mosque, granaries, and a market square. The fort resisted every siege ever launched against it: by the Portuguese, by the Marathas (Shivaji, his son Sambhaji, and several later attempts), and by the British.
Janjira was finally abandoned in 1947 when the Siddi dynasty accepted accession to the Indian Union and moved their administration to the mainland. Within decades, the fort was reclaimed by the sea air. The palace roof collapsed. The cannons rusted in place. The cisterns silted up. Today, the fort is reached by a 15-minute boat ride from Rajpuri Jetty (boats depart from 7 AM to 5 PM, around 30 rupees per person). Inside, you can walk the entire perimeter wall, climb the bastions, enter the ruined palace, and visit the famous two-mouthed underground freshwater wells that are still drinkable today.
Frequently asked questions about haunted and abandoned places in India
Is Bhangarh Fort really haunted?
Bhangarh Fort is officially listed as a "place of paranormal activity" by the Archaeological Survey of India, which has banned entry between sunset and sunrise : the only ASI monument in India with such a restriction. Two local legends explain the curse: a tantric sorcerer named Singhia who allegedly cursed the city as he died for his unrequited love of Princess Ratnavati, and a holy man named Baba Balak Nath who decreed no building should ever cast a shadow on his hut. Locals report screams, footsteps and sudden temperature drops after dark. Visitors during the day report no unusual phenomena, but the night ban remains.
Can we visit Bhangarh Fort at night?
No. Entry to Bhangarh Fort between sunset and sunrise is officially prohibited by the Archaeological Survey of India and the Rajasthan state government. A signboard at the entrance reads: "Entering the borders of Bhangarh before sunrise and after sunset is strictly prohibited." Trespassers face fines and possible arrest. The site is open daily from 6 AM to 6 PM and the entry fee is 25 rupees for Indian nationals.
What is the most haunted place in India?
Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan is by far the most-searched haunted place in India (165 000 monthly searches on Google). Other locations consistently in the top 5 are: Kuldhara abandoned village (Rajasthan), Dow Hill Kurseong (West Bengal), Bhopal Union Carbide site (Madhya Pradesh) for its tragic history, and Shaniwar Wada palace in Pune (Maharashtra) where the murder of Narayanrao Peshwa in 1773 fuels the legend.
Is Dhanushkodi safe to visit?
Yes, Dhanushkodi is safe to visit during daylight hours. The 17 km road from Rameswaram to the tip of Dhanushkodi was rebuilt in 2017 and is fully drivable. The last 3 km can be walked or covered by tempo (shared jeep). Avoid the journey during cyclone season (October-December) and never camp overnight : the area is officially uninhabited and emergency services do not reach there. Bring water and sun protection : there is no shade.
Is it legal to visit abandoned places in India?
It depends on the site. Archaeological Survey of India sites (Hampi, Mandu, Fatehpur Sikri, Champaner, Old Goa, Bhangarh) are legal to visit during daylight hours with a small entry fee. Ghost towns like Kuldhara and Dhanushkodi are freely accessible. Industrial sites (Mukesh Mills, Kolar Gold Fields) require permission from the owner. Military or cantonment sites (GP Block Meerut) are technically off-limits but rarely enforced. The Union Carbide Bhopal plant is closed to the public and trespassing without a local guide is dangerous due to soil contamination.
What is the most famous ghost town in India?
Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu is the most famous ghost town in India : an entire port city destroyed in a single night by the 1964 cyclone. Other major ghost towns include Kuldhara in Rajasthan (abandoned in 1825 according to legend), Lakhpat in Gujarat (abandoned after the 1819 Rann of Kutch earthquake redirected the Indus River), Fatehpur Sikri in Uttar Pradesh (abandoned by Mughal emperor Akbar in 1585), and the Kolar Gold Fields colony in Karnataka (abandoned when the mines closed in 2001).
How do I get GPS coordinates for these spots?
Every spot in this guide has a free "Add to my map" button (above) that drops the verified GPS coordinates into your personal Urbex Maps account. Sign up takes 30 seconds, no credit card. You can then access the coordinates on your phone via the Ma Carte page, with offline map support and turn-by-turn navigation to each spot. Our community of 40 000+ explorers verifies every coordinate before publication.
Are there haunted places in Mumbai I can visit?
Yes. Mukesh Mills in Colaba (the abandoned 19th-century textile mill that has appeared in 200+ Bollywood films) is the best documented and most accessible : entry is by appointment with the Mukesh family management. The Aarey Milk Colony forest contains several abandoned colonial bungalows with ghost reports. The D'Souza Chawl in Mahim has a famous ghost story but most of the original buildings have been demolished. Sanjay Gandhi National Park has trails passing abandoned British-era forest bungalows.
What is the best time to visit Hampi?
November to February is the best time to visit Hampi, when temperatures range from 15 to 30 degrees Celsius. The post-monsoon landscape is lush. Avoid May and June (40+ degree heat) and July to September (heavy monsoon rains can flood low-lying ruins). The Hampi Utsav cultural festival usually takes place in November. Most of the 1 600 monuments are freely accessible. Plan for at least 3 full days to see the main sites; a full week is needed to explore the unprotected outer ruins.
Can I visit the Bhopal Union Carbide plant?
The Bhopal Union Carbide plant is technically closed to the public but not actively secured. Local guides (often disaster survivors) can be hired in Old Bhopal for ~500 rupees to escort you onto the site. The soil and groundwater remain heavily contaminated with mercury, lead and chromium : wear long sleeves, closed shoes, and do not touch anything. Do not bring children or pregnant women. The Remember Bhopal Trust runs guided tours that combine the plant visit with the museum and memorial : the most respectful way to experience the site.
How to explore haunted and abandoned places in India safely
These 20 spots are just a starting point. Our database contains over 4,400 geolocated abandoned places across India, organized state by state, with verified coordinates and community photos. Use these guidelines whenever you head out:
Legal access. Most Archaeological Survey of India sites (Hampi, Mandu, Fatehpur Sikri, Champaner, Old Goa) are open during daylight hours with a small entry fee. Bhangarh Fort is the only ASI site with a formal sunset-to-sunrise prohibition. Ghost towns like Kuldhara and Dhanushkodi are freely accessible. Industrial sites (Mukesh Mills, Kolar Gold Fields, Union Carbide Bhopal) require permissions ranging from informal (a tip to the watchman) to formal (written authorization from the owning authority). Never trespass on the Bhopal Union Carbide site without a local guide.
Physical safety. Indian abandoned sites pose specific risks: monsoon flooding (June to September), wildlife (snakes are the primary concern, also leopards in forested areas), unstable structures (especially after monsoon), and in some northeastern states, residual insurgency activity. Tell someone where you are going. Never explore alone after dark. Carry water and basic first aid.
Cultural sensitivity. Many "abandoned" sites in India are not truly empty: they may host occasional pilgrims (especially Hindu and Sufi sites), squatter communities, or low-key religious activity. Approach with respect, ask before photographing people, and remove your shoes before entering any active shrine area.
Explore the full map of abandoned places in India
Browse the complete urbex map of India with 4,464 geolocated spots across all 28 states. State by state coverage: Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh.
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