We don't know what it is exactly, but there is something strangely beautiful about abandoned spaces—the eerie silence, muted colors, crumbling architecture, a mysterious past. And during the Halloween season, they only become more appealing. Doing a bit of digging for the holiday, we stumbled upon Web Urbanist's roundup of the most disturbingly spectacular ghost towns known to man. See some of our favorites below. (You might want to keep the lights on.)

(Above) Deserted Resort Village of San Zhi, Taiwan
The city of San Zhi was built as a futuristic resort town on the waterfront, but construction issues and a series of fatal accidents caused developers to abandon the project before completion. Now it sits rusted and dilapidated, but the Jetson-like fiberglass structures and faded pastel shells give it a magical, unearthly feeling.

Deserted Mining Town of Sewell, Chile
Once the largest underground copper mines in the world with some 15,000 workers, the town of Sewell sits at 6,000 feet high in the Chilean Andes and has been abandoned for decades. The dynamic backdrop of bright-multicolored buildings against the craggy mountain slopes throughout the village is stunning but the stairs to nowhere keep it creepy.

Abandoned City & Commune of Oradour, France
Burned to the ground during a tragic World War II massacre, the city of Oradour, France now stands as a memorial to the lost lives of hundreds of men and women. The destitute buildings and crumbling brick give the town a seriously solemn feeling, and the abandoned cars littering the driveways make it seem as though the spirits still linger.

Ancient Sunken City of Alexandria, Egypt
A few meters off the coast of Egypt, sits the ancient city of Alexandra. For years the sunken city was thought to be a fable until it was discovered just 16 years ago. Thousands of years ago the city slowly sank beneath the harbor due to earthquake subsidence. Today the ruins of Cleopatra's palace and hundreds of objects still lie on the ocean floor, including sphinxes, statues and shipwrecks. Too good to leave abandoned, it’s actually slated to be the site for the world's first underwater museum.
–Blaire Briody