Sunken rollercoasters, disused trains and ruined luxury hotels: Haunting images capture fascinating abandoned sites around the globe

After the mining industry  in Bolivia collapsed, the railways that served them fell into ruin. But today people are returning to the town just to see the rusting hulks of old steam trains in Uyuni Train Cemetery

Before Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, this Jet Star roller coaster in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, was an end-of-the-pier attraction. Unfortunately, the storm pulled down much of the pier, leaving the ride in the Atlantic Ocean

This vast, dramatic building in Warsaw was once the Wola gasworks, which first opened in 1888, destroyed during the second world war, then rebuilt. It finally closed in the early 1970s when the city switched to using natural gas. Today, part of the site is a museum, but other areas, such as the rotunda pictured, remain dilapidated

 A jungle tree covers the stones of the temple of Ta Prohm in Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia (left).  These haunting sights are the focus of Kieron Connolly's new book, Abandoned Places (right), which explores 65 fascinating lost worlds 

This bizarre hotel in the form of a face near Fengdu Ghost City on the northern bank of the Yangzi River in China was never quite completed, leaving the eyes blankly staring down the hill at the lands below

This old Evangelical church in Zeliszow village in Poland was left to ruin. The roof now has a huge hole, the paint is peeling and planks of wood lie scattered all over the floor 

A polluted lake, tainted with cyanide and other chemicals, is seen covering Geamana village in Romania, which was flooded to make way for a copper mine. All that can be seen now is the church steeple

This uncompleted castle was to feature at an amusement park called Wonderland located on the outskirts of Beijing, but funds were withdrawn due to disagreements over property prices with the local government and farmers

Built in the early 1980s, these solar-powered dome homes in Cape Romano, Florida, were occupied for ten years, but 1992’s Hurricane Andrew caused damage in the area. Then in 2005, Hurricane Wilma damaged the houses and tore away part of the coastline. Today, the houses can only be reached by boat

When Gold was discovered in the town of Bodie in 1859 (just after the initial California gold rush) it went from mining camp to boomtown but competition elsewhere soon lead to its decline. Today, Bodie is maintained in a state of arrested decay as a visitor attraction

Beelitz-Heilstätten Hospital in Brandenburg, Germany, was used as a military hospital during World War I. After World War II it served Soviet troops based in East Germany, but many of its wings were abandoned after the Russian army left in 1994

This  graveyard of military hardware remains at the Kabul Military Training Centre in Afghanistan. Soviet tanks and armoured personnel carriers stand rusting many years after the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan in 1989

Rubjerg Knude lighthouse in Denmark dates from 1900 but stopped operating in 1968. It's anticipated that by 2023 the cliff will have eroded so much - due to coastal erosion and continually shifting sands - that the lighthouse will fall into the sea

This diamond mine, in Mirny, Siberia - the second largest man-made hole on the planet - was closed in 2004, and the town around it abandoned

The capital city of the Caribbean island of Montserrat was buried in ash from a volcano in 1997 and hasn’t been re-inhabited since as this buried courthouse in Plymouth shows

 Metal World War II forts on tripods rising out of the Thames Estuary and North Sea off England make for an arresting image

The volcanic island of Hachijojima was once promoted as the Hawaii of Japan, boasting the opulent Hachijo Royal Hotel, which opened in 1963. The establishment was closed in 2003 and has not been tended to since

In 1959 more than 5,000 people were living on this small island of Hashima in Japan, working in its mines. In 1974, the mine was closed and the island abandoned. Its claim to fame is its appearance in the James Bond film Skyfall

When the Orpheum Theatre opened in 1912 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, it seated 1,500 people. But the theatre, also later used as a cinema, closed in 1958-59

The village of Oradour-sur-Glane in France was destroyed by the Waffen-SS in 1944 and left as a memorial after WWII