Sweden

Björnhammaren

Once the nail factory shut its doors, this Swedish factory town was abandoned, leaving behind a modern ghost town.

While it is not completely abandoned quite yet, the modern ghost town of Bjornhammaren has been all but forgotten now that its economically vital nail factory has closed.

Björnhammaren was once a thriving but small mill town in the Swedish countryside. The bucolic little town had sprung up around factories that had been built there. Most notably was the glass-making facility built in the early 20th century, and, later on, a factory where metal thread was prepared for a nail factory a few miles north.

The main strip in the town consisted of a row of simple houses that were built on a street known as Lyckliga gatan (Happy Street). Today they are all empty, comprising what can only be described as a ghost street.

Now the factories are all gone and even the grocery store was closed a long time ago, but still, some people choose to stay. In the early 1990s, around a hundred people still lived in Bjornhammaren. Today, only 20 or so residents remain. The explanation for their stubborn refusal to leave the ghost town could have something to do with the surrounding natural landscape which is a tranquil Swedish countryside paradise.

Many of the abandoned homes still have the debris of lives left in haste, with old coupon fliers and other piles of detritus littering the floors. But the buildings have yet to be torn down and they still stand out as a lovely, mostly abandoned, town.

Update: The abandoned homes have been torn down as of 2017. Nothing remains but debris.