The World's 7 Most Remote Destinations

Forget the Seven Wonders of the World. WebUrbanist takes a look at seven places that make you wonder why people ever settled there:

• St. Kilda, Scotland: Although this archipelago is known for 16-foot waves and wind speeds up to 130mph, humans called it home for 2,000 years—until 1930, when crop failure and land pollution drove inhabitants back to the mainland.

• Ballarat, California: A quick, dirty drive from Death Valley, this ghost town once attracted hundreds of gold miners. Now Ballarat is home to two permanent residents.
• Northern Siberia: Unlike the previous wonders, this one won’t inspire much nostalgia. It housed the Soviet Union’s infamous Gulag detention camps, where 1 million people died of hunger, subarctic temperatures, and inhumane labor.

For the complete list, click here. (More abandonment stories.)