A virtually deserted town has been dubbed “the place destroyed by racism”, with the crumbling post-apocalyptic remains resembling “something out of the Walking Dead”.
Situated where the Mississippi River meets the Ohio River, the port settlement of Cairo once flourished, capitalising on the steamboat trade during the 1800s. The formerly bustling city centre now stands hauntingly vacant – dotted with brick and plywood-boarded windows.
While over 15,000 people called the town home in the 1920s, that figure has now crashed to less than 1,500. So why did people flee the town? Cairo has an ugly history of racism, notorious for lynching in the early 1900s.
The bigotry and violence eventually drove people out, contributing to the ghostly place it is today. The decline of the once-thriving industrial centre began in “uptown” Cairo (north west) but has now spread into the residential areas as well.
While economic hardship played a crucial part in Cairo’s current dilapidated condition, its infamous legacy of racial conflict certainly made matters worse.
After the US civil war, many previously enslaved individuals were transported to Cairo which coincided with the tail-end of the steamboat period when employment began to dwindle.
Regrettably Cairo’s inhabitants viewed this as a danger and remained antagonistic towards the Black community throughout the 1900s. The tension intensified as the shipping and ferry industries kept declining, and finally exploded in 1909.
A Black man called William ‘Froggie’ James was accused of raping and murdering Anna Pelley, a 24 year old white woman, despite little evidence against him. Cairo’s sheriff hid James in the nearby woodland, but a furious mob hauled the defendant through the streets before placing a noose around his neck.
From this moment onwards, racial violence escalated, and by the late 1930s, Cairo recorded the state’s highest murder rate. This drove many residents away, coupled with the town’s geographical position making it susceptible to regular and catastrophic flooding.
This mass departure depleted the town’s population, workforce and resources, transforming it into the “ghost town” it remains today.
On the YouTube channel Here to There, the presenter who investigated Cairo said: “It’s no wonder so many chose to leave. Crime runs rampant here and just walking through the streets resembles something out of the Walking Dead.”