This abandoned church is all the rage among filmmakers! The City Methodist Church, located in Gary, Indiana, is a Gothic church sitting empty since the beginning of the 1970s. It may be a bit less of a historic relic compared to other buildings on this list, but Hollywood seems to think quite highly of it.
Movies like “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Transformers 3” filmed scenes there, and they’re definitely not the only ones.
The Ta Prohm Temple in Cambodia
The Ta Prohm temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia was founded and built in the late 12th century as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university. What's unique about it is, it was preserved almost impeccably and is very similar today to what it looked like back then.
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, it's a highly visited tourist site. Most of the temple complex has been restored and some parts have been thoroughly reconstructed. As the image shows, it blends in beautifully with the jungle around it.
The Bodiam Castle in England
This super ancient, lovely-looking castle was built in the 1380s by Sir Edward Dallingridge and his wife Elizabeth, who were both thoroughly immersed in the English high society of the time. Think "Bridgerton" but real. And a few centuries older.
While the inside of the medieval castle was ruined, its exteriors survived wonderfully, remaining a fascinating attraction for archeologists, and later on for tourists.
The Bodie Ghost Town in California
The Bodie Ghost Town in California, which is in fact a state historic park, used to be a gold-mining town with a population of almost 10,000 people. The town was named after William Bodey, who found some gold near Mono Lake.
Presently, it's nothing but a tourist attraction, but a pretty decent one! In the image, you can see the general store of Bodie, preserved in tip-top shape.
The Bannerman Castle in New York State
This abandoned and ruined castle has a unique back story: it used to be a storage facility for weapons. Located on Pollepel Island in the Hudson River, New York, the Scottish-styled building is now owned by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation.
Most of it has been utterly ruined and neglected, except for the bits seen in the picture.