r/Documentaries • u/double-happiness • Apr 07 '23
Travel/Places 156.4K Miles of Dying Towns | Abandoned (2023) - Canada’s east coast is scattered with dead and dying fishing towns. From kids on ATVs to angry caribou, Rick finds there's still plenty of life left in these remote communities. [00:43:55]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZCSChqMRmk103
u/DumbThoth Apr 08 '23
I'm a young man who literally lives in the place this was filmed and I can't watch it because I'm not in the US. I know what they're gonna say but it would have been cool to see a vice thing on my home
Maybe we're all leaving to see georestricted videos
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u/bigwebs Apr 08 '23
So what’s your take on why your town is supposedly dying ?
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u/DumbThoth Apr 08 '23
It's not one town. It's our entire coast outside the main city.
Most the towns are only a couple hundred people with no infrastructure or businesses let alone malls or public transport or educational and work opportunities. It can take 12 hours or more to drive from one end of the island to the other. The main city is on the far Eastern point and it and the 3-5 other "cities" (quotes because most are 5 figure populations) are all saturated. Add that to the regular small town angst and rose tinted glasses of people who think anywhere is better than their town and you get a lot of people headed for greener pastures.
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u/Whatsthemattermark Apr 08 '23
Sorry for the barrage of questions but genuinely curious:
What do you do on a Friday / Saturday night?
How big is your house and garden?
How much does a pint of beer cost in the local bar?
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u/DumbThoth Apr 09 '23
- Okay, so here in the city (St.John's) it's a proper city of a few hundred thousand. We have a famous nightlife street (George Street) with the most bars per capita in North America which is arguably also one of the oldest streets in North America.
Kitchen parties and shed parties are also the norm but in the smaller towns in the province they're the only option outside of divebar/diners which many towns don't have.
I don't want to talk about my property but you can get a quarter acre plot with a 3 bedroom townhouse in the city for 250k(CAD). For the same cost in the most rural spots you can get 5 bedrooms with a garage and a couple acres.
5-10$(CAD) depending where you are
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u/Whatsthemattermark Apr 09 '23
Ah ok, sounds pretty sweet to be honest! Always curious about life in other countries. Cheers for taking the time.
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u/JohnnyAK907 Apr 08 '23
This. Many youth leave rural Alaskan communities for The Big Village of Anchorage or even Fairbanks. They get high paying summer jobs in tourism, construction etc but given a lack of experience with budgeting and planning, often they find themselves broke when those seasonal jobs end in September. Many end up on the streets or in various bad situations depending on whether or not they have family in town to fall back on. Some are lucky enough to get scholarships to the local university, but even for them it's an uphill battle as the graduation rate among that demo is tragically low. You would think the highly profitable native corporations would invest in and support this group, but they show less concern and care than the state government does, which isn't much. There are some success stories, like my neighbor who majored in petroleum engineering and is now one of the most successful people I know, but he had a lot of support at home and in Anchorage from extended family and is just one of those types who "have a motor on them," as my grandpa used to say. One thing I respect about those Alaskans is the sense that community is everything, at home or away, and one's success in life is more often than not tied to their strength in said community.
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u/pm_me_your_good_weed Apr 08 '23
Fishing towns, mining towns, logging towns, you want abandoned towns we got em by the bucket load! Be there for Red Dot Sunday when all specially marked abandoned towns are 2 for the price of 1!
I'm surrounded by abandoned houses in rural Nova Scotia.
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u/MonsieurReynard Apr 08 '23
Once global warming really kicks in there's gonna be a gold rush up north.
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u/DukeVerde Apr 08 '23
I'm surrounded by abandoned houses in rural Nova Scotia
Time to expand your property. Surely they won't mind?
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u/pm_me_your_good_weed Apr 08 '23
If it were that easy. Squatters rights for example takes 20 years here lmaooo. I'm not sure I want to be here in 20 years tbh.
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Apr 08 '23
Eh might as well start now just in case
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u/HortenseAndI Apr 08 '23
I enjoy that some people decided to upvote the other double post, and this one got no love
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u/Inside-Cancel Apr 08 '23
Where in NS are you? I'm lifelong HRM, but I've been pretty well everywhere in the province. I'd never seen anything like route 340, somewhere around Weaver Settlement. So many abandoned 1 room shacks, an old mink farm. It was pretty 3rd world.
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u/pm_me_your_good_weed Apr 09 '23
On the 215 along the bay, there's so many old farm houses. One of my favorites up by Anthony Park just collapsed last year, it's a shame. The shed was full of really old tapes from ATV news that need a special pro player to use. They said they should be returned, wonder if they still want them haha.
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u/Knichols2176 Apr 07 '23
There’s 3 episodes, another is about the death of malls. There’s a third. I think about skateboarding. But all 3 are great watch.
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u/shortblondeguy Apr 07 '23
I saw the one about the death of malls and the reporter also skateboards in it.
But there's an episode just about skateboarding?
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u/Knichols2176 Apr 08 '23
There’s a third one. I thought it was about skateboarding personality and lifestyle? But I’m not 100% sure. He does skateboard in all of the episodes. I just recall there was one episode with a ton of skateboarding vs the other 2 episodes. My memory is shit but I know I liked all 3 episodes.
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u/Vietzomb Apr 08 '23
Didn't skateboarding just become an Olympic sport?
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u/valdentious Apr 09 '23
Yes, and the women’s was pretty cool as there’s a bunch of 14 year old kids that are great at it, and look like they’re having fun doing it.
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u/woieieyfwoeo Apr 07 '23
Kinda related, he absolutely tears up that skatepark, and the folks there are like "this is a treat for us". Love the community.
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Apr 08 '23
Yeah the whole "not enough girls" thing is a nice thumbnail but this is documentary about something else. Why does vice think they need catchy titles? Its a legit film about those communities and it does minimal education honestly.
Stop being stoned Vice.
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u/TotallynottheCCP Apr 08 '23 edited Apr 08 '23
You don't think that's a factor?
Edit: For the record, this is talked about at 12:26 in the video.
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Apr 08 '23
Well not only boys are born there. The girls must almost all choose to leave... and at an early age too. It goes both ways. Girls also leaving.
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u/Lifekraft Apr 08 '23
I lived few year in a remote place in slovakia (central/easter europe) . Group of several village with one school , girls were studying and basically aiming for middle class job. Boys were playing foot , and taking job in local place , like logging , construction and several plant and farm. Girl were going to move to bigger cities or even abroad, they were tired of machism and basically village boy/life. Slovakia is still quite rural and many aspire for a more modern western lifestyle.
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u/AndrewHainesArt Apr 08 '23
If you watch it the kids featured are not girls and they talk about what it’s like to live there and they mention there’s no girls so they’ll most likely end up moving to where there are more people when they can.
Just because there’s kids there doesn’t mean it’s an equal split. Also the families that tend to stay there are pretty dedicated, loyal, and aware of the crumbling towns, I’d assume most parents moved to St John’s to raise their kids
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u/fillmorecounty Apr 08 '23
Yeah but when there's not a lot of people in general, everyone's number of choices go down so I don't see why that isn't a valid complaint. It makes it harder to find someone you'd be a good fit with.
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u/TotallynottheCCP Apr 08 '23
I'm just saying, males usually follow females. There's a show I used to watch called Bar Rescue, and it's common knowledge in the bar industry that the way to get the most people in the door is to get women in the door. That's why "Ladies Night" is so common to see. Women almost never follow the men, the men usually follow the women.
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u/ThatPlayWasAwful Apr 08 '23
This is objectively the funniest comment I've ever read on this site.
Doubly so if you were actually trying to make a legitimate point.
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u/NoItsWabbitSeason Apr 08 '23
Dang you must not have read very many comments if that one is literally the funniest one you've ever seen. That's setting the bar so low. He didn't have a punchline
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u/DukeVerde Apr 08 '23
setting the bar so low
Well, the bar has to be low...because women are short. :V /s But, really, women and children only followed men in the early days because those men were already married, and were setting up property. If the property already exists, then I would assume the reverse can just as easily play out.
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u/ThatPlayWasAwful Apr 08 '23
I've been on here like 10 years! Ive probably read millions of comments. I guess we just have different senses of humor!
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u/The_Kurrgan_Shuffle Apr 08 '23
Something funny about this being blocked in my region.
I sorta live on Canada's east coast...
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u/FlatSpinMan Apr 08 '23
No you don’t. I just saw on Reddit that the whole place is abandoned. You should look into it.
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Apr 08 '23
[deleted]
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u/Kenway Apr 08 '23 edited Apr 08 '23
I'm from Newfoundland but don't really have an accent. There are dozens of accents depending on which bay you're from and some people can pinpoint where you're from based on how you speak. Most Newfoundland accents are really similar to west country English or Irish accents for the most part, as that's where most Newfoundlanders originally immigrated from. My family comes from Wales on one side and Jersey on the other but have been on the island since the 1700s.
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u/double-happiness Apr 08 '23
Most Newfoundland accents are really similar to west country English or Irish accents for the most part
That was 100% my impression. I was either getting the Irish lilt or the west country 'twang'. Definitely shades of Joe Grundy out of the Archers at times, which I suppose is a Norfolk accent or thereabouts. The Newfoundland accent is delightful anyway, I could listen to it for hours.
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u/zeolus123 Apr 08 '23
I date a Newfie, can confirm the English bit. When I first met her parents I thought they were English, not Newfs lol.
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u/AgencyTurbulent1672 Apr 08 '23
I am on the east coast of Canada princeEdwardIsland..it is blocked here I cannot view this
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u/jeffersonairmattress Apr 08 '23
The uploader has not made this video available in your country.
Canada. I’ll just assume it’s an NBC property and that network can lick my post hockey left sac. Wait: Vice can lick the right one- unless it’s hiding.
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u/Tokyosmash Apr 08 '23
I loved this show, shame it’s over. Rick Mccrank is one of my top 5 all time skaters too.
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u/teatimebandit Apr 08 '23
https://pluto.tv/en/on-demand/series/abandoned-vice/details/season/1
Loved this show. I am not sure of this has all the episodes but has all the ones I enjoyed. Rick is a great personality for the content and the shots of the structures are excellent.
PS. Not sure if this is region blocked. Am in the USA.
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Apr 08 '23
Very well done show. Melancholic and beautiful.
The 6 year old kid on the 4 wheeler had me rolling. And his two buddies riding on the back, no helmets, nobody cared. Reminds me of the US back in the 80’s when I was a kid.
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u/Blokin-Smunts Apr 08 '23
That heavy Newfoundland accent is something else- Immediately made me think of the Irish when I heard it. There’s something sad to me about these regional accents fading away.
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u/Xx_SwordWords_xX Apr 08 '23
I'm IN Canada (the subject of this documentary), and it says it's not available in my country. 🙄
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Apr 08 '23
[deleted]
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u/SsumdaySmebMarin Apr 08 '23
they'll only want the job if it's 70F and 50% RH indoors.... all year!
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Apr 08 '23
[deleted]
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u/MonsieurReynard Apr 08 '23
It's affordable if you have a job. Can you cut down trees or run a fishing boat?
Seriously I wonder if global warming will cause a population shift that revives northern communities.
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u/thereia Apr 08 '23
Weird to hear him in one sentence make a distinction between "young men" and "girls" referring to people the same age, but it is Vice so ...
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u/buffalo_Fart Apr 08 '23
Some of those towns are really cool. At least the ones you can drive to are the ones that I was able to see. I wish Canada would get a connector road from Quebec to Labrador going along the St Lawrence River. It would be a purely tourism road but that's some of the prettiest stretch of road in Labrador and Quebec that I've ever seen.
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u/anotherkeebler Apr 08 '23
When I read Ducks by Kate Beaton, that's one of the things I found most poignant, that her Cape Breton hometown had become unsustainable.
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u/archaeo_shane Apr 08 '23
This entire series is great.
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u/double-happiness Apr 08 '23
Link, for anyone who's interested - https://video.vice.com/en_uk/show/abandoned
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u/JohnnyAK907 Apr 08 '23
Think again, Ricky. Alaska's rural villages were doing fine until the internet became available in most households. Previous generations didn't know what the Outside was like before that, but once newer generations got a taste, they wanted to leave because duh. Slowly but steadily, those villages and communities are now dying as every year more of their youth leave. Those that stay face a skyrocketing rate of substance abuse, sexual assault and suicide.
"Plenty of life left," is something only an ignorant idealistic tourist would say when observing the situation.
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u/greyfoggydaynl Apr 08 '23
Filmed here in Newfoundland and I had to jump through a tiny hoop to watch it. Foolishness.
Very well shot though. The town/island/community my family hails from has long since been resettled, however people still have homes/cabins there for the summer and early fall.
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u/TheOGUncleBadTouch Apr 07 '23
this video is blocked in my country.
im canadian