JHQ Rheindahlen: 12,000 Brits Vanish, Squirrels Rule Abandoned Cold War City

JHQ Rheindahlen, once a British Cold War hub for 12,000, lies abandoned in Germany: urban explorers now dodge deer and overgrown garages while searching for âabandoned British military towns in Europeâ and asking âcan you buy a deserted village?â Colin Hodson, the Bearded Explorer, calls it âthe closest Iâve ever felt to The Walking Dead.â
With garages sealed by saplings and houses chilled year-round, this 376-hectare site once boasted five British schools, a NAAFI superstore, and a BP station. Trending queries like âwhy did JHQ Rheindahlen close?â and âwhat happens in an abandoned town?â get surreal answers here: wildlife hosts garden parties and police train hostage rescues beside locked wardrobes. âI cannot believe this whole estate is completely abandoned,â Colin marvels.
Entire families vanished overnight in 2013, leaving 12,000 toothbrushes and squirrel-occupied garages scattered across a city so preserved that even the postboxes still await mail.