They may look like scenes from a post-apocalyptic horror film or the last place anyone would want to go on holiday, but these eerie ghost towns are drawing millions of curious travellers every year. From thriving cities that were evacuated due to man-made catastrophes to bustling towns that died when the local industry fizzled, these are the creepiest ghost towns that you can still visit. Pictured top left is the Wild West town of Bodie, top right the island of Hashima, used in Skyfall as the lair of Bond's enemy, bottom left the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane, which was the scene of a horrific wartime massacre committed by the Nazis, bottom right is the former mining town of Kolmanskop in Namibia and inset is the church at Imber in Wiltshire, used now only by British soldiers on training exercises.

The helpless animal was discovered by a motorist on the side of a road in Scalloptown Park, Rhode Island, on September 11, covered in feces and barely able to walk. The feline, who was the twice the size of a normal domestic cat, was covered in feces, barely able to move and in poor health, so he was taken in by the East Greenwich Animal Protection League. Nancy Davis, who is in charge of cat adoption center, was desperately trying to find the cat a new home and had put him on a diet the abandoned pet is now looking for a new home. Sadly, he was unable to recover, and passed away over the weekend. The organisation wrote on their Facebook page: 'May you rest easy our beautiful big boy Jabba...knowing that so many people loved you!'

NEW A couple has married in an all-autistic wedding to embrace relationships between people on the spectrum. Anita Lesko, 54, and Abraham Nielsen, 28, were drawn to each other out of a shared ambition to change the general perception of people who have conditions such as Asperger's. And so, as they exchanged vows in San Diego, California, on Saturday, it was only fitting that the ceremony gave a nod to that goal.

Erica Maison, a mother-of-five from Detroit, Michigan, filmed 14-year-old Corey's heart-wrenching reaction to finding her estrogen prescription hidden behind a couch cushion. The teen, who realized she was transgender when she was 11-years-old, had been waiting two-and-a-half years to be approved for hormone therapy. The emotional 30-second clip has been viewed 1.3 million times since it was posted on YouTube on Friday.

If a mansion with a movie theater is an absolute must for your new home, shopping around the country could help you save millions. This list, compiled by Business Insider with the help of Point2Homes, shows the most expensive home on the market in every U.S state plus Washington, D.C. The lowest entry on the list is a relatively humble five-bedroom home in North Dakota, on the market for about $2.78million. But on the other end of the spectrum, America's priciest property is, unsurprisingly, located in celebrity-filled Beverly Hills, California. The most expensive house for sale in the country boasts 12 bedrooms and 23 bathrooms, as well as its own vineyard - but it will set back prospective homeowners a staggering $149million.

Stephen Ross Kelly (right) pleaded guilty to raping, strangling and stashing the body of Briana Rabon (left) on February 26, 2014, in a South Carolina court on Monday, to avoid a lengthy trial. Half of the courtroom gallery was filled with Rabon's family members and friends on Monday during the court hearing. Rabon's mother asked for a maximum sentence. Kelly was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the horrific crime.

Emily Defries of Norfolk, Virginia is accused of killing the 20-month-old daughter of her partner, Anna Bell. Anna was found dead in May 2014 at the bottom of the stairs of the home Defries shared with her fiancee. Her attorney suggested in opening statements Monday that Anna's sister had violent outbursts toward Anna leading up to her death.

Two beautiful teenage girls were tragically killed when a Georgia State Patrol cruiser crashed into the vehicle the girls were riding in Saturday night. The deaths of 17-year-old Kylie Lindsey (left) and 16-year-old Isabella Chinchilla (right) shocked the campus at South Paulding High School in Douglasville as the students returned to classes following their fall break.

Mayor Beth Van Duyne (left) and a police official were today continuing to justify the arrest of 14-year-old Muslim teenager, Ahmed Mohamed (right), for bringing his home-made clock (inset) into school in Irving, Texas. An Image of the 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed handcuffed and escorted out of MacArthur High School, in Irving, Texas, went viral after teachers claimed the device 'looked-like a bomb.'

NEW Tyra, 41, and Chrissy, 29, both used make-up wipes to take off their cosmetics. They were joined by two co-hosts of Tyra Presents: FABLife, Leah Ashley, a DIY Youtube star, and Lauren Makk, an interior designer. Tyra and Chrissy have both shared no-make-up selfies on social media in the past, though Tyra admits that she feels more confident when she is wearing cosmetics, and calls make-up 'a beauty equalizer'.

A coroner's court has heard details of the tragic death of a high school teacher who was killed by a shark while he spearfishing with friends on a beach in South Australia. The coronial inquest in to the fatal shark attack that killed Sam Kellett (pictured), 28, on Goldsmith Beach, west of Adelaide, heard the great white shark was an estimate five metres long, according to a report by Adelaide Now.  Witnesses told the inquest of the devastating moment they saw the entire body of the shark come out of the water and start thrashing where Mr Kellett was last seen swimming, followed by bright red blood in the water.

Their commercials with scantily-clad celebrities biting down on their burgers have been known to set pulses racing. But a model who features in the new Carl's Jr advert claims the fast food chain has entered the immigration debate with their latest campaign for their TexMex burger. The new 'Borderball' ad features two teams - Team Tex and Team Mex - playing beach volleyball over a border wall. According to Kara Del Toro (far left), who has followed the likes of Kate Upton, Charlotte McKinney and Kim Kardashian as one of the faces of the burger brand, it is a 'bold move' from the company who are 'playing up on what's going on politically right now with immigration'.

The model who claims her drink was spiked at a party hosted for Justin Bieber has revealed that she was found 'unconscious and convulsing' in the street during an emotional TV interview. Bailey Scarlett, an 18-year-old model from New Zealand, said she 'screamed for an ambulance' before she collapsed in the gutter after attending an exclusive recording party in Australia on Sunday. The young model, who is based in Melbourne, said she did not blame the Canadian pop star but did not appreciate him joking that the terrifying incident was simply a case of 'Bieber fever'.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards is set to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform committee on Tuesday, amid calls to cut government funding. In her comments planned for the congressional appearance, Richards said she is 'proud' of its provision of fetal tissue for research. But she also sought to minimize the organ donations as a small part of its work. Trying to take the offensive, Richards also criticized the Republicans who control Congress for not investigating David Daleiden and the other anti-abortion activists who made the recordings. Daleiden obtained them after posing as an executive of a phony firm that buys fetal tissue for scientists.

Aeroplane food is like Marmite - you either love it or hate it. But the quality of in-flight meals varies greatly between airlines. Disgruntled passengers are now getting their own back by posting snaps of their worst meals on social media with the hashtag #planefood.

The 20-year-old from Chicago told People how Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, 'hated everything about me'. Mack and her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, 21, both from Chicago, were convicted in April of killing Mrs von Wiese-Mack while vacationing last August on the Indonesian island of Bali. According to Mack, and a family friend who was also interviewed by People, Mack shoplifted French cosmetics with her mother - 'thousands of dollars worth of make-up' - and was actively encouraged to do so, despite her family's wealth.

Set in the heart of The Cotswolds, where Kate, inset, herself resides, within its own secluded one acre plot of private woodland, the new five bedroom home claims to be a 'retreat away from the bright lights of the city and catwalk scene.' Inspired by a notion of stumbling across a hidden gem in the midst of the forest, the home features a double height reception space, five large bedrooms, a spacious outdoor entertaining deck, private pool and large retractable doors. But a home designed by a supermodel doesn't come cheap; prices start from £2.5 million for the five bedroom property.

Thousands of festival-goers were left stranded at TomorrowWorld and forced to sleep on top of cars and on wet and muddy grass. Organizers of the event offered refunds for Sunday's ticketholders as the bad weather made the last day of the three-day electronic dance music festival inaccessible. But those who tried to leave after Saturday night's closing set were left waiting in the rain for hours as poor planning led to traffic congestion around the festival site in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia.

Brady Bunch actor Barry Williams wants ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Kennedy (pictured together) to stop talking to the media and calling him a deadbeat dad. He says her claims that he abandoned their 3-year-old daughter Samantha (left) forced his reality show to be cancelled and ticket sales for his musical in Branson, Missouri to drop. He's requesting a California judge slap her with a gag order.

Brandon Griswold (bottom left), 20, and Whitney Gray (top left), 21, are facing two counts each of criminal homicide in the Nashville murders of Preston Claybrooks Jr. and his longtime girlfriend, Alexandra Grubbs (pictured in inset). The suspects told investigators following their arrest (center) Monday that they bludgeoned the couple to death while they slept, wrapped their bodies in bedspreads and stuffed them in a closet. Police believe Griswold and Gray continued living in the apartment for days after the murders.

Alberto Medina, 22, and Eric Marquez, 22, were arrested over the weekend, less than a week after 21-year-old Andrea 'Andy' DelVesco was killed. DelVesco, 21, was discovered dead in her Westwood apartment Monday following a fire. On Monday, her parents and little sister spoke out about Andrea, who they called a 'giver' who 'was an angel on Earth'.

NEW Marine biologist David Gruber came across the spectacular sight off the Solomon Islands and described it as looking like 'a big spaceship gliding into view'. In footage the turtle glows green and red, although it is thought that the red could be down to algae growing on the reptile's shell. Scientists are yet to work out why the turtle exhibits this unusual feature.

Just a day after sharing a picture of Trayvon Martin's lifeless body, George Zimmerman (pictured left) has responded to the controversy by continuing to troll his critics on Twitter. Alongside a disgusting meme featuring Barack Obama and Vester Flanagan (top right), who shot his co-workers dead on live television, he wrote: 'Gee.. I sure hate offending people that have plotted and tried to kill me and my family.' Zimmerman followed up the post with a picture of his beach view and a cigar (bottom left), with the words: 'As much as I love owning all you trolls I have to work... On my tan!' 

A Reddit thread has invited a whopping 13,000 comments, with people posting photos either of themselves of their celebrity-lookalike friends. One man, who looks so much like musician Ed Sheeran it's frankly terrifying, wrote alongside his portrait: 'I keep getting stopped in the street because people think I'm Ed Sheeran.' Pictured, the lookalikes alongside their star 'twins', clockwise from top left: Ed Sheeran, Ryan Gosling, Emma Watson and Scarlett Johansson.

Bros Being Basic, which was launched in 2014, mimics the 'basic' photos posted by some women. The parody account now boasts 280,000 followers, with its photos regularly earning thousands of likes. Men are seen wearing beauty masks, doing yoga and indulging in sweet treats in the amusing pictures.

St. Louis Cardinals rookie Stephen Piscotty was carted off the field Monday night following a violent collision with teammate Peter Bourjos. In a frightening scene at PNC Park, Piscotty lay motionless on the grass in left-center field for several minutes. He was strapped to a backboard and waved his left hand as he was driven away, eliciting a big cheer from the Pittsburgh crowd. It was later determined that Piscotty has a bruise on his head and all tests conducted were negative, the Cardinals said.

Designers have long envisaged what a life on Mars might look like, but now Norman Foster's firm has revealed their vision for man on the red planet. The concept has won Foster + Partners second prize and the People's Choice award in a Mars habitat competition organized by design institute America Makes and Nasa. The proposal outlines plans for a settlement constructed by a number of pre-programmed, semi-autonomous robots before the arrival of any astronauts.

Astonishing photographs have emerged of the heartwarming moment an adventurous seal rides a wave with a surfer. Surfer Russell Quinn and his brother Adam, from Huskisson in New South Wales, got a massive surprised when the playful mammal interrupted their session at Sussex Inlet on the South Coast. The pair had been out on the water enjoying the winter waves early in July when they noticed the adorable animal circling the area and playfully splashing in and out of the ocean.

Daisy fell backwards into the four foot-wide well while grazing in a field in Saskatoon, Canada forcing her owners to call a local tow truck company to help rescue and free her from the hole. Daisy had to be attached to the tow rope and pulled from from the hole in an operation taking 45 minutes. But despite the incident, Daisy was uninjured and is back roaming the pastures again.

With its tiny arms outstretched to the hills in Alberta, Canada, this squirrel (above main) could be recreating the opening scene from the 1965 Oscar winning movie The Sound of Music. In the opening sequence of the film (inset) Maria, played by Julie Andrews, raises her arms in the air and sings 'The hills are alive with the sound of music.' Bricklayer Ian Duncan, 27, who snapped the squirrel, described the moment as 'perfect.'

The leather-bound album containing 240 photos - four of which are of Maharaja Duleep Singh (left) - was discovered by a house clearer who had won a contract to clear out a property. It was taken to an auctioneers in Rochester, Kent, along with three other albums containing more photos (top and bottom right), where it was expected to make about £1,000, but sold for 22 times that. Duleep Singh was exiled to Britain at the age of 15 after his four predecessors were all assassinated and he developed an unlikely friendship with Queen Victoria. He was invited by her to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight where the photograph was taken by Prince Albert.