A Cold War ghost town sold: Skrunda-1 is an abandoned Soviet military town in Latvia. The Baltic republic sold the unpopulated ville to a Russian business concern for a mere $3.1 million, which just might be the perfect post-Cold War short story.
Skrunda-1 was one of those secret Soviet cities:
Built in the 1980s, Skrunda-1 was a secret settlement not marked on Soviet maps because of the two enormous radar installations that listened to objects in space and monitored the skies for a U.S. nuclear missile attack. Like all clandestine towns in the Soviet Union, it was kept off maps and given a code-name – which usually consisted of a number and the name of a nearby city.
How did it become a ghost town?
in 1998 the last residents of Skrunda-1 departed, leaving behind hundreds of vacant apartments and dozens of buildings.
Now, here's a story idea:
It wasn't immediately clear what plans the buyer had for the 110-acre (45 hectare) property...
Although there's some horror, perhaps, to the idea of turning the thing into a giant pig farm.
(thanks to Andrew Connell)
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