14 Abandoned Movie Sets That You Can Go Screw Around in If You’ve Got the Time
A mill in North Carolina closed in 1987, transforming hundreds of people’s homes into a ghost town — which was great news for the producers of Hunger Games.
The Fugitive
After crashing a bus and a train together like a titan-sized toddler, director Andrew Davis never cleaned up his toys. The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad cruises right by the scene of the crash in Dillsboro, North Carolina, and hikers can access it by traveling through the wooded mountains.
Schindler’s List
A lot of the movie was filmed in real locales, but Płaszow concentration camp was completely dismantled by the Nazis when they learned the Soviets were on their way, to destroy evidence of their crimes. Thirty-four barracks and seven watchtowers were constructed in a quarry near Krakow for the film.
Westworld
The old, abandoned park in the show is actually a mall in California. Hawthorne Plaza Mall was open from 1977 to 1999, and has since served as a set for Westworld, Gone Girl and Minority Report.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Luke Skywalker’s dusty, dumpy home was built in Tozeur, Tunisia, a desert area whose sandy colors inspired both the architecture of Tatooine and the wardrobe of the characters who hail from there. The building was taken down after the original trilogy, but rebuilt to film the prequels.
12 Monkeys
Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary is a decaying, castle-like prison that was built in 1829 and once housed notorious tax evader Al Capone. You can go walk around it throughout the year, and they offer ghost tours around Halloween.
Jurassic Park
The iconic gates were built in Kauai, Hawaii, where the majority of the non-CGI scenes of the film were shot. They stuck around for a while, but were eventually replaced by two cement pillars you can still visit.
Jurassic World
While Jurassic Park was filmed out in the world, Jurassic World was filmed in a park. Six Flags New Orleans was closed permanently after Hurricane Katrina, and many film productions have braved the alligator-infested ruins to film — Jurassic World, Percy Jackson and Deepwater Horizon all filmed there.
The Hills Have Eyes
The abandoned Gas Haven Gas Station is rotting away in a desert in Ouarzazate, Morocco.
Bates Motel
Some scenes in the 2013-2017 A&E show were filmed outside of Vancouver. The hotel from the original movie is sitting around in Hollywood’s Universal Studios, but they built a replica that still stands at 1054 272 Street in Aldergrove, British Columbia.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Wallilabou Anchorage in Saint Vincent is a gorgeous tropical island off the coast of South America, and a lot of the Port Royale set and props are still lying around like a deteriorating Disney ride. The cast and crew grabbed a bunch of souvenirs from the set, as they often do, but supposedly none of the cursed coins were taken.
The Hunger Games
District 12 is, canonically, most likely somewhere in Appalachia. But Katniss Everdeen’s hometown was filmed in North Carolina’s Henry River Mill Village. It’s a rare East Coast ghost town that was abandoned in 1987.
M*A*S*H
Malibu Creek State Park is a gorgeous hiking area in its own right, and some of its trails are littered with old military vehicles and signs that were used in production.
Big Fish
The idyllic small town of Spectre, Alabama was constructed and drenched in patio string lights on a small island in Alabama. The owners of the island will sell you a day pass for $5, or an overnight camping permit for $15. The area was hit by a tornado in 2021, but most of the buildings (and the free range goats and sheep who live there) were mostly unharmed.
Lord of the Rings
Like bedbugs, Hobbits are extremely hard to eradicate once they’ve made themselves at home. The Hobbit holes of Hobbiton were built on a family sheep and cattle farm in New Zealand, and they’ve been kept well-preserved and open to the public.
