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Alnwick Poison Garden

Behind big black gates, the carefully curated garden contains about 100 legendary killers like Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade), Strychnos nux-vomica (strychnine), and Conium maculatum (hemlock). Guides explain their deadly properties while keeping ne’er-do-wells and curious children away from the plants, warning them: “Do not touch any of the plants, don’t even smell them. There are plants here that can kill you.”

Mirny Diamond Mine

The Mir mine, also called the Mirny mine, is an open pit diamond mine located in Mirny, Sakha Republic, in the Siberian region of eastern Russia. The mine is >525 meters (1,722 ft) deep (4th in the world) and has a diameter of 1,200 m (3,900 ft), and is one of the largest excavated holes in the world.

Peenemünde Army Research Center

The research and development carried out in Peenemünde was not only crucial to the course of WWII, but impacted the future of weapons of mass destruction, as well as space travel.

Juragua Nuclear Power Plant

Juragua Nuclear Power Plant was a nuclear power plant under construction in Cuba when a suspension of construction was announced in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the termination of Soviet economic aid to Cuba.

Barbarastollen Underground Archive

Germany’s “treasure chamber” is located in a disused mine near Freiburg. Documents from over a thousand years of history are stored in the underground archive.

Excelsior Tunnel

In 1959 it was the centre of project Military Atomic Energy Authority operation orpheus investigating the possibility of masking the seismic signal given out by underground nuclear tests.

RAF Barnham

In the early l950s, RAF Barnham was selected for development as a dedicated storage and maintenance facility for nuclear weapons, in particular for Blue Danube, Britain's first nuclear bomb.

Verkhoyansk

In the remote Yakutia region of Siberia, more than a hundred kilometers inside the Arctic Circle, lies the small town of Verkhoyansk. Winter temperature here regularly drops to minus fifty degree Celsius. It’s so cold that “no one can stay outside for more than 15 minutes”. The only way to protect oneself from the bitter cold is to wrap themselves up in skins and furs of animals, and keep moving.

Domino Sugar Refinery

The Domino Sugar Refinery is a former refinery in the neighborhood of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York City. It was the original refinery of the American Sugar Refining Company, which produced Domino brand sugar.

Vallone dei Mullini

The haunting buildings of the Vallone dei Mullini, or Valley of the Mill, in Sorrento, Italy were only abandoned in the 20th century, according to Atlas Obscura.

I.M. Cooling Tower

In a small neighborhood known as Monceau-sur-Sambre, within the Belgian town of Charleroi, sits an abandoned power station, the magnificent abandoned cooling tower of which still looms over the town no longer creating electricity, but providing plenty of dystopian vistas.