Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

A member of a Chinese opera troupe applies make-up before performing at a shrine during the annual vegetarian festival in Bangkok, Thailand, on October 4, 2016. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Revelers of the “Societe des Champs Elysee” launch fireworks before boarding the Rampart-St. Claude street car line, which just opened last fall, to commemorate the official start of Mardi Gras season, in New Orleans, Friday, January 6, 2017. (Photo by Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)

A woman wearing a scarf to cover her face looks on as she waits for a passenger bus on a smoggy morning in New Delhi, India, November 8, 2017. The Great Smog of Delhi is an ongoing severe air-pollution event in New Delhi and adjoining areas in the National Capital Territory of India, in November 2017. Air pollution at this time peaked on both PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels. It has been reported as one of the worst levels of air quality in Delhi since 1999. (Photo by Saumya Khandelwal/Reuters)

Aerial view of pond cypress at Qinglongwan Forest Park near Ningguo, China on November 26, 2017. (Photo by Imaginechina/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A handout photo made available by the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities shows the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with the OneWeb communication satellites launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, 07 February 2020. Thirty-four satellites from OneWeb were successfully put into orbit on a single Soyuz rocket from Baikonur. (Photo by Roscosmos/EPA/EFE)

2016 Rio Olympics, Artistic gymnastics, Women's Training, Rio Athletes Park, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on July 27, 2016. A gymnast from Russia trains. (Photo by Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

A scantily-clad brunette is pictured passed out on the pavement. Mayhem hits the streets of Newcastle, UK as clubbers out on the Toon have a little too much to drink as they enjoy the Bank Holiday on August 29, 2016. Photographs take last night show scantily-clad women passed out on the pavement, while boozed-up men were caught arguing with police. (Photo by XposurePhotos.com)