There are more abandoned towns across the world’s deserts than you might first think. The desert plains across the USA play home to a plethora of Wild West towns that went from booming mining villages to lifeless towns within decades. Similarly, the likes of South America, Australia and Southern Africa unveil the crumbling shells of once-thriving towns and villages that were abandoned and reclaimed by the desert. Here are the world’s communities that have become eerie ghost towns and, interestingly, manmade attractions among the sands.