Life WTF

These Unbelievable Photos Show Spooky Abandoned ’60s Resorts Then And Now

These Unbelievable Photos Show Spooky Abandoned ’60s Resorts Then And Now September 6, 2017

abandoned '60s resorts then and now

In his Abandoned Places photo series, photographer Pablo Iglesias Maurer does something fascinating. He collects postcards, matchbooks and other vintage ephemera depicting Borscht Belt hotels and resorts in the 1960s. Then he recreates the images with new photos of the same places now long-abandoned, to show the difference 50 years makes. No man-made structure lasts forever, but time and nature march ever on. The images of these abandoned '60s resorts then and now prove that.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

Hi, I'm the Ghost of the Poconos. In the '60s, I vacationed here with my family every year. Now I haunt the long-abandoned husks of various Catskills resorts, trying to recapture those idyllic days. I remember this patio well. I drank a lot of gin-and-tonics under those umbrellas, let me tell you.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

The first time I returned here, to see if there was an open bar for ghosts, I ran into a total weirdo dressed like a clown. Said his name was Pennywise. Haven't been back to haunt that place since.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

This building was added to Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel in 1964. I remember when my family stayed there the year it opened.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

As a ghost, I tried to go up and down in the elevator, but it was broken. Plus, elevators, like all tangible objects, just go straight through ghosts instead of lifting them up. But I'd forgotten about the rules of incorporeality.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

Grossinger's installed this pool in 1949. My kids loved it there. I loved to watch them swim. My son Archie was like a fish. I used to call him my little fish. He hated that. He's dead now too.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

When I returned to haunt the pool, this is what it looked like, nothing but a small puddle of stagnant rainwater in the deep end. There were some little fish in it. They reminded me of my dead son Archie.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

Oh, boy. This lounge! I used to hang out here with some other dads. We smoked stinky cigars and drank old Scotch. We called ourselves "the gang." It was Heaven on Earth, boy.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

Looks like a different sort of gang hangs out here now.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

Oh, yeah, of course I remember this bowling alley. It was at the Homowack Lodge. This where I won $80 off Roy Mezvinsky in July of 1964. His wife Mavis was not too happy with me.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

The first time I came back here as a ghost, I found an old ball still sitting in one of those ball returns. I tried to roll it down the lane for old times' sake, but I couldn't pick it up. Forgot the rules again. I'll never get used to being an apparition.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

I saw Henny Youngman play this room in the summer of '66. Hardest I ever laughed while I was alive. I don't laugh very much these days. I'm a ghost.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

Folks say you can still hear Henny's ghost doing one-liners and sawing that violin of his in this now abandoned and dessicated theater. But it's actually just me messing with people.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

In the '60s, there was nothing like summer in the Poconos. The trees, the pulsing summer sun, the beautiful girls. I'll never forget it.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

In 2017, there are a lot of things like the Poconos. Graveyards. Haunted mansions. Abandoned psychiatric hospitals. Et cetera.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

I loved this dining hall. My wife Fran used to complain that there were too many tables, that it was always too cramped. But I loved it: all the people, the din of cutlery and glassware, and the rabble of happy vacationers.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

Fran would love it here now. But thank God she doesn't haunt these places too. Can you imagine?

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

My second favorite pool was the indoor pool at the Penn Hills Lodge and Cottages. It's not that the pool itself was so great, but that's where I met Rose, the first woman I cheated on my wife with. We carried on that affair every summer for four years.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

I have to admit, I was kind of hoping to run into Rose's ghost when I made my first haunting of Penn Hills. I didn't see her, but I realize now I forgot to look under that pile of trash. I should go back! Oh, Rose.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

This cocktail lounge. How many gallons of Scotch did I drink in this room? How many games of bridge did Fran and I play in this room with other vacationing couples? How many times in this room did I spill my guts to Fran about my extra-marital affairs? One, on that last thing. Just the one time.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

Once is also the number of times I came back to haunt the ole lounge. It used to be my favorite place, but it just wasn't the same without the bar and all the tables. Plus, I really spoiled it for myself that time I told Fran about my prodigious infidelity.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

They put this building up in the '70s after the previous one burned down. I never liked it. It was too modern. Also, it reminds me of the decade when my marriage finally fell apart.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

It does my heart good to see nature retaking that ugly facade. Who's modern now?

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

This was the indoor pool at Grossinger's. It was the jewel of the Borscht Belt, the most famous part of the most well-known resort hotel in the Catskills.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

Now it's like a greenhouse that grows graffiti and mildew. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Ghosts love mildew. It's what we eat!

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

Here's another photo of the indoor pool at Grossinger's. And there's me. I'm the one in the white bathing suit. I remember that day. I was pretending to listen to Roy Mezvinsky chatter on, but really I was just staring at those women, thinking about cheating on Fran.

Abandoned Resort Then And Now

abandoned '60s resorts then and now
IMAGE BY: Twitter / AbandonedStates

This room used to be synonymous with luxury. Now it's all but forgotten. It's filled with cobwebs and decay, not to mention less tangible things like desolation, despair and melancholy. But, to be honest, that all equals luxury to an old wraith like me.

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