5 ghost towns to visit in France

The name sounds like something out of a horror film, but it is not. When we talk about ghost towns or villages, we are of course referring to cities that are deserted because they are uninhabited. Natural disasters, wars, industrial accidents, economic crises, lack of natural resources, accessibility problems... each one has its own story.

Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne

Sadly known for the massacre it was the scene of, Oradour-sur-Glane, in Haute-Vienne, is one of France's most famous ghost towns. On 10 June 1944, the town was stormed by the 2nd Walfen SS Division "Das Reich", looted and burned. 643 people (men, women and children) were killed by the German army's firearms. The rest of the inhabitants were relocated to a small village in the vicinity.

A national symbol of Nazi barbarism, Oradour-sur-Glane now serves as a memorial. Since 1999, the "Centre de la Mémoire d'Oradour-sur-Glane" has been offering visitors a permanent exhibition recounting the massacre that decimated the town, thanks to rigorous and passionate research.

Occi in Corsica

In the north of Corsica, above Lumio, in the Balagne region, lies the small village of Occi at an altitude of 377 metres. Once inhabited by the former inhabitants of Spano who had come to take refuge there during the Saracen attacks that devastated part of the Corsican coastline in the Middle Ages, the village was, a few centuries later, abandoned by its inhabitants in favour of Lumio.

After the death of its last inhabitant in 1918, the village gradually fell into ruin. Today, partially rebuilt, Occi, which is located 10 km from Calvi, welcomes a few visitors who come by foot to appreciate its magnificent landscapes and panoramas overlooking the sea and the Sant Ambroggio navy.

Cumières-le-Mort-Homme in the Meuse

During the First World War, on 16 March 1916, the German army captured the heights of Mort-Homme in the Meuse after a 10-day battle. A month later, the village of Cumières, to the east, was also attacked before falling to German troops. At the end of the war, Cumières was given the status of "destroyed village, dead for France". And in 1922, the name of the Mort-Homme hill was added to that of Cumières.

The Hair in Provence

Perched at an altitude of 1,200 metres, Poil is a small village in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region. While it counted nearly 300 inhabitants in the 20th century, year after year, Poil is gradually emptying. This was mainly due to the rural exodus caused by the very difficult living conditions during the inter-war period. In the 1930s, the village had no inhabitants.

Today, the hamlet is nothing but ruins, or almost. But the association Les Amis du Poil has not abandoned it and is trying to renovate it so that it can retain all its charm. A gîte has even been opened to welcome visitors who wish to spend the night there.

Brovès in the Var

In the early 1970s, Brovès, a small village in the Var, was literally eliminated following the creation of the Canjuers military camp. The place was then used as a training ground before being abandoned because it became too dangerous. If the village was forbidden to the public, its former inhabitants, today dispersed in the department, have the authorization to meet there once a year, on Whit Monday, in order to take part in the pilgrimage organized for the occasion in the chapel of this village which, little by little, falls however in ruins.