The Ruins Of A Swinging Seventies Spa That Kept A Siberian Tiger Behind The Bar

About a half hour north of Manhattan is a curious ruin: a giant, circular concrete drum resting on a narrow concrete plinth, and wrapped with floor to ceiling windows, most of them broken. More concrete can be found in the futuristic looking ramps that swirl around the peculiar structure, giving the abandoned building a Brutalist feel…

The Vault

This Ghost Town was aiming Nuclear Missiles at America from just 200km Away

When looking at abandoned places, I often think, ‘how sad’, and, ‘if only it could come back to life’. This place? Not so much. This is the secret Soviet city of Gudym, which once held enough nuclear weapons to wipe out half a continent. And during the height of the Cold War, had things gone south,…

Pssst! You've stumbled across content that is exclusive to Nessy's Keyholders.

There’s a new way to access the really special stuff from Messy Nessy Chic …

Hidden beneath the surface layers of the internet, there’s a place where we keep our most secret addresses, untapped archives, creator’s inspiration, collector’s guides, explorer’s manuals, obscure research and much more… And it’s made for our keyholders only!

Apply now to unlock the Vault

Keyholder Login

The Town Where It’s Illegal to Die

Candy coloured houses dot the icy valley of Longyearbyen, one of the world’s northernmost towns in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, a place with some seriously uncommon protocol. It is illegal, for example, to leave home un-armed in the event of an encounter polar bear. It is also illegal to die. It sounds like a…

Inside the Drawing Board of the Soviet Subway

It doesn’t get much better than this, especially for a morning commute: space-age chandeliers, marble statues, ‘golden’ ornaments, and a floor so clean you lick your lunch clean off it. Well, it’s all a part of the Moscow Metro, which has been shuttling Russians to-and-fro in opulent style since 1935. The stops were designed to…

Wild Card Destination Du Jour: The Unsung Secrets of Sarajevo

Sarajevo might be quite unlike any other city in Europe. Nestled in a valley surrounded by the beautiful Dinaric Alps, it is a beguiling mix of old world cultures, where centuries of Ottoman Empire rule meet the grandeur and elegance of the Austro-Hungarian Hapsburgs. Wander through the maze of cobbled winding streets in the Old…

Oh, Just a Decaying Soviet City in the Middle of the Sea

In the waters of the Caspian Sea, about 40 kilometers from the coast of Azerbaijan, lies an intricate network of bridges and man-made platforms which is currently home to around 2,000 people. Encompassing about 17 miles, this real-life water world is a veritable city called Neft Daşları (Neft Dashlari or Oily Rocks). It’s sole purpose…

Buried Secrets of Montauk’s Menacing Military Camp that Inspired “Stranger Things”

There are places in New York and the northeastern coast of America, where a pleasurable trip to the seaside can take a turn for the peculiar. You may be wandering along a bucolic beach only to stumble across the abandoned ruins of brutalist concrete structures lying half buried in the sand, evoking the iconic end…

America’s “Secret Sonic Weapon” Against Communism

This is the story of that time the United States decided to influence countries “at-risk” of falling to communism … by introducing them to jazz. In a Cold War “Jazz Ambassador” initiative, they sent famed artists such as Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Galespie, and Duke Ellington, among others, to share “their Western music” and to hopefully, introduce some American…

I Dream of a Dacha

I‘ll never forget the first time I watched Dr. Zhivago and the chills it sent down my spine as Yuri and Lara walked into their abandoned ice palace; the winter dacha of the Varykino estate. I haven’t been to Russia yet, but I dream of it; of boarding the Trans-Siberian Railway, travelling deep into mother Russia, blanketed…

The Stylehunters of Soviet Russia

In communist Russia of the 1950s, members of a provocative subculture put their own original twist on street style. Labeled “Stilyaga” or “Stilyagi” (plural) by disapproving outsiders – a name that literally translates to stylehunter – a group of dandy youngsters dressed up in colorful American-inspired get ups to meet on Leningrad and Moscow’s main…