ghost town

It's hard to imagine in a world that seems so densely populated that places could be deserted by their residents, but the following towns and villages in UK have been deserted and never repopulated:

Hallsands, Devon - destroyed by storm 1917
Imber, Wiltshire - given over to army for training purposes WW2
Knapstoft, Leictershire - deserted in 17th century
St Kilda, Scotland- evacuated 1930
Sturston, Norfolk - given over to army WW2
Tottington, Norfolk - given over to army WW2
Tyneham, Dorset - given over to army WW2

Other towns are simply lost due to development or climate:
Ashopton, Derbyshire - under reservoir
Derwent, Derbyshire - under reservoir
Dunwich, Suffolk - under the sea
Shipden, Norfolk - under the sea

It's more serious on USA and other countries with more population movement: for instance here are more than 6,000 abandoned sites of settlement in the state of Kansas alone. source wikipedia

Other town's are abandoned because of disaster's that make them uninhabitable; Chernobyl in Russia being a good example of the ultimate ghost town. Here you can read the accounts of one woman's trips back to Chernobyl on a motorcyle: elena

Of course you can't say the word Ghost Town without conjuring up the Special's song of the same name