Ten of the World's Most Unusual Towns-- Part 2: Watch Out for the Polar Bears

5.  ORDOS, China.  Inner Mongolia, China  Built for over one million people, but only 2% of it was ever occupied.  Built 20 years ago for a coal rush.  It is the largest ghost town in China.

4.  LONGYEARBYEN, Norway.  Northernmost city in the world.  If a person is found to be dying, they are flown out to another part of Norway to do so.  Bodies buried there do not decompose because of the extreme cold.  Citizens here are allowed to tote rifles around with them because of the some 3,000 polar bears also living there.

3.  ASYMMETROC WARFARE TEACHING CENTERAWTC in Virginia.  This town is uninhabited and built by the Army to train soldiers for duty in Afghanistan and Iraq villages.

2.  MARLOTH PARK,  South Africa.  Wild animals from Kruger National Park.

1.  HALLSTAT, China.  The real Hallstat in in Austria and is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.  This one in Chona is a mock-up town built for $940 million to look just like the one in Austria.

--Cooter

Ten of the World's Most Unusual Towns-- Part 1: Golf Cart City in Florida

From the February 3, 2015, Listverse by Elizabeth S. Anderson.

10.  The VILLAGE OF FLORIDA has a population of 100,000 retired people where most get around on golf carts.  Every year they hold the longest golf cart parade in the world.  According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it once had 3,321.  Children are forbidden.

9.  BUSINGEN AM HOCHRHEIN in Germany.  A German town in Switzerland.

8.  WHITTIER, Alaska.  Most of the 200 residents live in a single 14-story building.

7.  COLMA, California  The town has 1,500 living residents and 1.5 million dead.  73% of the land in the town consists of cemeteries.  It got so big because people can't be buried in San Francisco.

6.  MONOWI, Nebraska.  Founded by Czechs and has just one resident, Elsie Eller, who runs the town's only tavern and library.

Golf Cart Drag Racing?  --DaCoot

10 Towns That Capitalized on Their Name and Fame-- Part 2

5.  Halfway, Oregon--  Sold their name to an internet company.

4.  Hell, Michigan  Go to ____!!  Been there, done that.

3.  Aberdeen, Washington--  Grunge rockers Metal Church from there.  It is also the western terminus of US Highway 12.  (Eastern terminus id Detroit.)

2.  Hobbiton, New Zealand  A full-size set of "Lord of the Rings."

1.  Fu*~king, Australia  Their sign gets stolen a lot.

Beware the Orcs.  --DaDwarfter

10 Towns That Capitalized On Their Name and Fame-- Part 1

From the October 7, 2013, Listverse.

10.  Vulcan, Alberta, Canada.  Star Trek, Mr. Spock

9.  The Town With a Name Too Long for the Town in Britain.  The name starts with Lianfairpwhllgwyngyll... and then goes on longer than I care to type.

8.  Muff--   in County Donegal, Ireland

7.  Ballycastle, Ballymoney, Northern Ireland-- where "Game of Thrones" is filmed.

6.  Springfield, Vermont.  The Home of the Simpsons, well, maybe.

--CooterHomer

So You Wanna Buy a Town?

From the April Time Magazine.

Those looking to buy a town in the United States, and I mean a whole town, have lost out on two of them.  But, one still remains.

For a crisp $1.4 million, you can buy Henry River, North Carolina.  Then appoint yourself mayor, police chief and tax collector, I suppose.  The 72-acre abandoned mill town served as District 12 in the movie "The Hunger Games."  Perhaps you can open it as a place for movie and book fans to visit.

You can roam the decrepit streets of the Hob, traverse the area forest, visit Peeta's iconic bakery, or even just charge fans to come see.

ALREADY SOLD

Buford, Wyoming.  America's smallest town (pop. 1) now owned by anonymous Vietnamese investor and has a trading post, gas station, post office and its very own ZIP code: 82052.  Sold for $900,000.


Scenic, South Dakota.  This Badlands area beauty sold last fall to a Filipino church which hasn't announced what it plans to do with it.  Once a popular stop for travelers to Rapid City, SD.  Sold for $700,000.

Way Too Out of My Finances.  --DaCoot