Chernobyl Today: A Creepy Story told in Pictures
By Village Mayor • Mar 27th, 2009 • Category: Amazing Places, Dangerous, Latest Post, The Best of Village of Joy, WeirdIn the zone of alienation in northern Ukraine, Kiev Oblast, near the border with Belarus. Its population had been around 50,000 prior to the accident. Today, the only residents are deer and wolves along with a solitary guard.
Prypiat used to be proud for being home to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers. But something happened on 26 April 1986…
It took three days before all permanent residents of Chernobyl and the Zone of alienation were evacuated due to unsafe levels of radioactivity. People from around the Soviet Union were forced to come and work here in order to liquidate the danger and evacuate the residents. Many of the workers died or had serious illness from radiation. My father was also recruited for this operation, but he bribed corrupt local officers with some good sausages which were rare and a valuable item at those times, so he’s fine an alive today.
Let the story be told by these magical pictures taken ~20 years later after the accident.
All the texts put in the quotation-marks are mostly the quotations of comments made by the authors of the photos.
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
“The sign on the road to Pripyat, the town where the workers of the nuclear plant lived.”
The bridge of death
(Image credits:Vivo (Ben) via:villageofjoy.com)
“After the explosion at Reactor 4 the people of Pripyat flocked on the railway bridge just outside the city to get a good view of the reactor and see what had happened.
Initially, everyone was told that radiation level was minimal and that they were safe. Little did they know that much of the radiation had been blown onto this bridge in a huge spike.”
They saw a beautiful rainbow coloured flames of the burning graphite nuclear core, whose flames were higher than the smoke stack itself. All of them are dead now – they were exposed to levels of over 500 roentgens, which is a fatal dose.
P.S.: note that the photo above is made from 2 different photos (top photo of the reactor and bottom photo of the bridge in Pripyat joined together)
Schools
(Image credits:misterbisson via:villageofjoy.com)
“Deserted secondary school near Chernobyl, Illinsty, Ukraine. Dec 1995 0.96.07.01.19”
(Image credits:left: Vivo (Ben) and right: Anosmia via:villageofjoy.com)
Left: “One of the five schools of Pripyat, each teaching about 1000 children. The schools have remained relatively intact considering the problems with looters eight years ago. I guess books don’t hold much value to the poor. “
Right:”At a 20th anniversary Chernobyl exhibit on Capitol Hill.”
(Image credits:zbruch via:villageofjoy.com)
“Children will never run here again.”
(Image credits:oinkylicious via:villageofjoy.com)
(Image credits:Vivo (Ben) via:villageofjoy.com)
“Gym class”
Kindergarten
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
On the left: “Stairs on the creche/kindergarten near the center of Pripyat.”; on the right: “Broken doll on top of a corner cupboard in one of the rooms in the creche/kindergarten in the center of Pripyat.”
(Image credits:hanszinsli via:villageofjoy.com)
“Nursery in the creche/kindergarten”.
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
”Child’s big toy car in one of the rooms of the creche/kindergarten”. Notice the number plate of the car – 1984. It must be manufactured 2 years before the accident.
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
The note says “Rabbit”. I love those old-school soviet style drawings.
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
“Hay stuffed toy”.
(Image credits:Vivo (Ben) via:villageofjoy.com)
Pripyat funfair
(Image credits:Vivo (Ben) via:villageofjoy.com)
“Pripyat funfair was due to be opened on May 1st. The Chernobyl disaster happened April 26th.
No one ever managed to ride the ferries wheel. It remains one of the most irradiated parts of Pripyat since the disaster, making it still dangerous today, 22 years on.”
(Image credits:hanszinsli via:villageofjoy.com)
“Bumper car ride in the amusement park in central Pripyat, it was to be opened on the May 1st celebrations of 1986, five days after the accident”
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
“Ferris wheel control or ticket booth in the amusement park .. I’m sure the plush teddy bear was placed there later by someone looking for an emotional photo, but it’s interesting also to document the later attempts of using the accident to achieve certain media goals.”
Hospital
(Image credits:Vivo (Ben) via:villageofjoy.com)
“Hospital corridor”.
(Image credits:Vivo (Ben) via:villageofjoy.com)
“Found just outside the surgery in the hospital. This hospital received many of Reactor 4’s first victims for treatment immediately after the explosion. The hospital itself however was already exposed to huge amounts of radiation.
Every rescue worker who attended the initial explosion was killed by radiation poisoning.”
(Image credits:abandonia via:villageofjoy.com)
(Image credits:abandonia via:villageofjoy.com)
(Image credits:abandonia via:villageofjoy.com)
Swimming Pool
Olympic athletes must have been training here for the 70’s/80’s. The pool is really huge – this place must’ve been the best around.
(Image credits:oinkylicious via:villageofjoy.com)
(Image credits:oinkylicious via:villageofjoy.com)
Other buildings
(Image credits:rusocer via:villageofjoy.com)
“Pripyat, ghost city abandoned after chernobyl catastrophe, has grown to a forest. nature takes over and invades and collapses human creations the views remind some apocalipthic films like I am a Legend; Views from highst building in town, a former Hotel“.
(Image credits:Stuck in Customs via:villageofjoy.com)
“Radiated Apartment Building”.
(Image credits:Vivo (Ben) via:villageofjoy.com)
The Government have left us – “From what I saw inside, I’d presume this was the local government building. There was a political event scheduled for a few days after the explosion and there are many pamphlets and banners still inside. “
(Image credits:Vivo (Ben) via:villageofjoy.com)
“These extremely well preserved posters are the last evidence of what the city’s inhabitants were like. I’m unsure of the details but I believe these men were politicians”.
(Image credits:Stuck in Customs via:villageofjoy.com)
We can see hammer and sickle on the roof.
(Image credits:Carpetblogger via:villageofjoy.com)
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
Left: “Dismantled sofa-bed in one of the apartments in the 16 story residential apartment”
Right: “Elevator call button in the 16 story residential apartment building facing the central square of Pripyat.”
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
“Electrical junction box in the 16 story residential apartment building”
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
Left: “Sofa under an open back window in one of the apartments in the 16 story residential apartment building”
Right: “Broken ceiling light fixture in one of the apartments in the 16 story residential apartment”
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
“Newspaper used as a backing to glue the wallpaper in one of the apartments in the 16 story residential apartment building facing the central square of Pripyat.”
Newspapers title: “Pravda” (Truth) – the official propaganda newspaper of the Soviet Union
Newspapers date: “Wednesday, 25th of May 1983”
Articles title on the left: “Africa fights and builds”
Other title at the bottom: “Land owners”
(Image credits:Pedro Moura Pinheiro via:villageofjoy.com)
Translations from the top to bottom:
“Store #1”
“Rainbow”
“Happy to provide service from 11 to 20 (?)
Lunch from 14 to 15”
“Saturday from 9 to 17
Lunch from 13 to 14”
(Image credits:rusocer via:villageofjoy.com)
“400m away from the reactor (max allowed)” “2.0 rt being off-scale of the reader-device. average radiation level of a non contaminated area: 0.010 rt/m2″
(Image credits:Stuck in Customs via:villageofjoy.com)
Two more reactors, no. 5 and 6, capable of producing 1 GW each, were under construction at the time of the disaster.
Living creatures
(Image credits:rusocer via:villageofjoy.com)
“These whikeers-fish survived and devolped countermeasures against the deadly radiation levels of the contaminated water in the rivers surrounding Chernobyl. we didnt there to have a splash with them but we fed them big chunks of bread that were guzzled in the blink of an eye !! “.
If you want to read real stories of Chernobyl survivors you should definitely check: Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
“This book is a punch in the gut. There’s no nicer way to say it. It’s downright devastating. It’s something that every single person should read. Even if you only know Chernobyl vaguely, two things are made painfully apparent by this book: whatever you’ve read about Chernobyl in the past has probably grossly underestimated the magnitude of the disaster; and the death and injury toll from the accident hasn’t stopped yet. Not by a long shot.” – a review from Amazon.com.
Village Mayor is
Email this author | All posts by Village Mayor
January 2nd, 2010 at 10:32 pm
you can’t help feeling anything but sorrow for the people of chernobyl/prypyat/the ukraine, a terrible tradegy. We can only hope that raising awareness through new media like call of duty/stalker it serves to generate interest in a horrible, terrifying situation so that it may never happen again.
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:52 pm
That was an amazing introduction in pictures of Chernobyl, I remember the disaster on the news when i was a kid, I think i could have been in fourth grade around that time and even though there was so much sentiment towards system of government during that time such as Democracy vs Communism, Communism was still active in that region of the country the accident that occurred was that main stream in the news and regardless of sides, Meaning Pro Communist or Pro Democracy i think in general the World felt piety for anybody within ground zero of the explosion. I remember reading recent articles that stated that even till this day people are still not allowed to enter because it’s still radioactive. They should turn that place in to a haunted town because i know at nigh time that city would be pretty haunting if you were by yourself. I have also seen pictures from outer space satellites of the disaster online.Great website, Thank You, Antonio
December 28th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Okay everyone look. We all know, most of us, that this was a horrid, historic disaster. Some of the people on here, including my son, played a level in a game with this section, so it is natural they were surprised it was real. It is not acceptable to call them morons if they did not know Prypait was a real place. It is in very northern Russia. and I for one live in the US. I guess im kinda rambling, but don’t jump on the people who have never heard of the Chernobyl Disaster.
December 23rd, 2009 at 1:23 am
It just shows you how the Soviets treats its population, they just don’t give a dam about them. They do all this corner cutting and putting money in their pockets. and shit on everbody with lies. None of the Russian Government can be trusted, they look nice, they smile but they are just gangsters
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I sure hope that doesn’t happen around me!!!
December 22nd, 2009 at 7:16 am
These photographs are really astonishing, amazing and mighty! I feel so miserable and the strange emotion of fear and infinite monstrosity fills me. However, I have to visit the GHOST CITY some day, to be the part of the disasterous melancholy myself.
Thanx for the pics.
December 21st, 2009 at 1:43 am
I LOVE your pictures. They’re moth moving and very artistic. I envy your experience…
December 16th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
ok i dont really know much about wat happend but why havnt they put up a new, stronger dome over the reactor???
December 4th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
i am a gamer myself and just because im a gamer doesnt mean i have no concept of what goes on in the world or the real pain and heartache of the loss of lives. think before you say shit cunt
November 30th, 2009 at 5:04 am
i see lots of people go there.
although its a tragedy, i love these forsaken places.. remains of forgotten societies
can you just go there on your own behalf?
is it safe?
is it really desolated or has it beome a tourist attraction?
November 29th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
This is the reason why we need to use economic electric equipment…
November 29th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
I played this level on Call of Duty 4 !!!!!
November 29th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Thanks for sharing these pics.
I got to order me a geiger counter…
November 29th, 2009 at 3:08 am
I can only say that, as a teenager in PA, living through TMI, that I was lucky. Those people in Chernobyl, and the surrounding areas had NO warning. These photos of the barren lands that is all that is left of thriving villages. People died that day, or in the months following. The firemen had no idea that they would never be going home to their families again. The Russian Government played down the severity of this disaster so that OUTSIDERS would not come to investigate the conditions of the Power Plant. The sarcophagus was hastily constructed on their orders, and those workmen were not suited up properly for the job, so, I am assuming most of them are gone, as well as their families. Once the old sarcophagus gives way, what will happen when the wind blows? I had to stay inside and not attend school for days due to the incident at TMI. This was all that we were told to do. No one told us of the real danger inside the reactor core until months later. I just wish the families of Chernobyl were as lucky.
Oh, and by the way, for all the gamers out there,THIS WAS REAL!!!!!!!!!! Not some stupid video game. Get off your butts and explore the world we live in. GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 27th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
i was jusy watching the history chann;e about what would happen if all people died, and it mentioned chernobyl, and i wanted to know what happend so i researched it. and now im sad, poor people. all i know is that im going there someday. and im going to do somthing to help the place. make it better. livable. i just cant have it like that forever!!!
November 27th, 2009 at 6:17 am
I went to Chernobyl and Pripyat in October 2009 and got a few more pics as well. The links to my review, and pics are :
Pictures : http://www.krisisdnb.com/event-gallery/mx-ukraine-belarus-and-chernobyl-october-2009
Review : http://www.krisisdnb.com/content/mx-ukraine-belarus-and-chernobyl-october-2009
Hope you enjoy !!!
MX (Malcs)
KRISISDnB.COM
November 25th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Thanks for this. I was seven when it happened, I remember having to take iodine-pills, my brother had breathing trouble for a long time, and we live about 1500km from Chernobyl. Just last fall we had another bulletin about the fallout and its effects and remnants on mushrooms and fish. On certain areas even now, 20 years after, we should’t consume too much mushrooms because of this. And we are far, far away. Satellite pictures reveal the vast area of abandoned buildings and death, your pictures presented here give people some understanding how greatly undermined this tragedy was and still is.
But, all this is mind, I still think nuclear power is something we have to use. Unfortunately. I of course support other methods, but they just are not effective enough, and f.e. hydro power destroys fish etc. Chernobyl-plant was a model example on Soviet-style handling on safety and regulations, everything was done poorly and ignored on cost of human lives and large areas of wildlife. Hopefully it taught something to people, but how much, time will tell.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:54 am
Great collection of haikyo photographs.
I got into haikyo (urban exploring) when I lived in Japan and recently had a gallery exhibition of haikyo photographs from my time there.
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:21 pm
omg this couldnt be hapenning, that is horrible!
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:17 am
….because of the nuclear power plant…
it caused great damge to the city…
….we should think of other ways to prevent this thing to happen…
November 11th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Wanna go to Chernobyl- city? Play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. !!! Great game!
November 6th, 2009 at 11:41 am
have a look at kiddofsepeed.com very deep and informative with tons of chernobyl images
November 5th, 2009 at 11:42 am
@Jared
the problem with making a network of windmills, solar panels, or hydro power…all of those only work during certain times. Not all places have a river to pull hydroelectric power from, or a valley to flood(which ALSO destroys the environment) and place a dam at the end(creating a man-made lake to feed the hydro-electric dam). Wind Mills are very finicky, and a new type has been invented, but they’re no less dangerous to animals that try to nest in them, specifically birds. Solar panels require constant cleaning if you don’t want to immediately lose how much power you put out.
There’s also tidal energy, which would adversely affect oceanic flora and fauna, and then would require as much upkeep as dams–hydro-electric dams require constant cleaning from river mussels, who like to fill up certain tunnels in the works–right now those parts have to be cleaned by hand at places like the Hoover Dam. For tidal energy it’d be 3-4 times worse, because kelp, fish, and then mussels and such would be attaching to it, slowing it down and gumming up the works.
The other problem is that these are all very circumstantial ways to get power–solar only provides you during the day, and if you get a lot of sun/enough sun(It wouldn’t work in a place like say…Alaska or the Northern US). Wind power can only be done in very windy places, which there already are some wind farms, but a lot of people complain of them as eyesores, and in places that don’t get a constant wind–it’s not worth it. I’ve already illustrated the problem with dams. Tidal energy requires you to be on the coast.
On top of all this, you have to find a wealthy investor willing to put for all his money, for something that won’t cover all the power needs of a certain area, and then needs expensive upkeep.
Now you tell me what makes more sense in $$$.
I am an advocate of alternative power, I however, do not make bones about how tough it’s going to be to switch people over.
With that: This is a horrible tragedy, but a lot of people are studying these buildings now to see how things deteriorate. For the Discovery Special, Life After People, a lot of their information is pulled from this and other abandoned places. This is also a perfect place to see how wildlife copes with nuclear contamination—before, it was only surmised as to how a forest grows back after being destroyed by the blast, but now we actually know. For Pripyat, our best scenario is to never forget it, respect the dead, and learn from the mistakes made by them to avoid future needless deaths.
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:19 pm
wow- a picture paints a thousand words and yet I have so very few- that was a real tragedy.
November 1st, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Listening to “netsky – your way” in endless repeat and looking and reading this…
it’s like…
..
i can’t find the words for that.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:38 am
“All ghillied up”, is all I can say, best computer game level ever COD 4 MW, shame it was inspired by such tragedy
October 29th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
holy crud these pictures are really gut renching. i would love to go to pripyat at some point and get near the ferris wheel and the goverment building. i would also love to get some great photos of everything that is left.
Email me at Reillymcdermott@ymail.com if you have any more photos of this and anything relating to this.
thanks
October 28th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Reminds me of Fallout.
October 27th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Wow. Great pictures. Wish I’d taken ones this good when I was there.
October 24th, 2009 at 9:21 am
i cant beleave how i felt when i saw thoughs pics. : (
October 24th, 2009 at 9:18 am
i think the exploshing was hurrble it made me feel so dead its like it shut me down completly it just made me depressed
October 24th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Hummm…
Some ideas to RPG games, like World of Darkness, Vampire or Werewolf…
Great pictures!
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:23 pm
truly amazing pictures…
its unbeleiveable how this happened about twenty years ago, i think, and it is STILL radioactive… creeepy(:
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:37 am
its cazy and very scary but im in school bord and them are very cool pictures thanks for them
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:35 am
thats crazy and im doing a project about it
October 21st, 2009 at 2:10 pm
omg if any of you have left bad coments saying things like its nufin u go there and go through it half ur family dead no where to go everything contaminated and no belonging yess its all fine tho lol get a life cos the people there havnt got one
October 20th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
whoever took those photos has a real tallent, i felt like i was there absorbing everything wit a poisend heart…GJ
October 19th, 2009 at 11:20 am
How would one get into Chernobyl, I know you cant just walk in.
October 14th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
My fear that this would eventually occur is why I wrote and recorded Uranium-235, which was released in 1984 by Shadow Records. Although the lyrics reference radiating testicles, mongoloids, radiation reading soaring, thyroid glands abnormalized, metabolic rates minimized , and bands of mutants humanoids the words are meaningless noise contrasted with these images.
October 13th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
This is an extreme tradgedy. These pictures are so eery, but sad as-well.
It is like nothing ive ever seen, even the weather looks sad.
Just horrible to think an accident like this could completely run a whole town out, as-well as kill a lot of the residents ):
October 13th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
I’m sure you have seen her site before, but for those who haven’t check out Elena Filatova’s site. http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/
She goes into Prypiat and the areas around in the Ukraine and Belorussia, giving a detailed record of what it’s like there. Her photos detail much of the same that has been shown here.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:33 am
I remember of the repercution in my country. I was a boy. God bless the city’s vitims.
October 1st, 2009 at 10:41 am
these are call of duty 4 map call bloc
October 1st, 2009 at 6:39 am
Uau!
Belíssimas fotos, gostei!
Gostei do site também.
abraço
September 30th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I was 7 yrs old at the time of this accident. I remember having to practice the emergancy protocall in the event of something like this happening. The pictures of the severly deformed children born after is more disturbing than a contaminated ghost town. These were children that were not fortunate enough to die due to this horrific event. They live hidden from society to die alone. I like the question that was asked in a movie (that I can’t recall at this time) it was. Yes we can do it, but should we? This I imagine was an excellant reason to come up with a very resounding NO!!!!
September 30th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Hey there!
You got a lot of great shots there! This is one of our most surreal Living Tragedyes. I am really impressed by this pics. Great job, great pictures, and at the same time… Creepy.
Congratulations!
September 30th, 2009 at 10:07 am
hahaha u r all geeks why would u post things on this
September 30th, 2009 at 10:01 am
These pictures are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool
September 29th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Fallout 3.
Identico.
September 29th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
It looks like Silent Hill… Creepy…