As usual, I have a small quibble with this list. Pyramiden is not a city, and is neither completely abandoned nor creepy. It is an interesting place that you can visit, if you are inclined to wander near the North Pole.
Pyramiden, Norway was once considered kinda-sorta part of the Soviet Union. Although technically on Norwegian soil (well, OK, Norwegian permafrost would be more like it), the Treaty of Svalbard allowed The Soviet Union to run it without supervision. Although it was not really a city, it had 1,000 inhabitants and included a library, a movie theater, a sports complex, a 24-hour store, and many other urban-style amenities. Pyramiden was one of three USSR-owned settlements on Spitsbergen that were administered according to Soviet societal norms. Because the mining operation was abandoned when the USSR was still intact, the site remains frozen in time as a model of the Glorious Workers’ Republic.
Given the site’s propinquity to the North Pole, the climate makes this a rare case where the phrase “frozen in time” is almost a literal expression.
They cleaned up the hotel and theater to hold a nostalgic Soviet Film Festival there in August of 2019, although it wasn’t exactly ready to rival Cannes, since only two dozen adventurous souls attended. The point is that it’s not at all fair to include Pyramiden on this list, because events take place there, and it is not creepy at all. Many facilities are no longer used, but it has a working electrical grid, a hotel and restaurant that have been refurbished, and tourism for hiking, snowmobiling, and tours of the complex.
I read somewhere that the complex is maintained by a caretaker staff in the winter, during which there is no daylight. What a job that must be! Can anyone say, “Here’s Johnny”?