“Festive preparation”. Baghnapara, Bardhaman, West Bengal, India. Two girls prepare for the Gajan festival. They will perform a play based on Indian mythology. (Photo by Krishnasis Ghosh)

These images of abandoned hospitals across Italy are not for the faint-hearted. Both of the hospitals featured in the photographs are Italian asylums – known as manicomios – that were used as mental hospitals. Shut down by law in 1978, the derelict buildings are visibly overgrown and make for very eerie portraits. Photographer Thomas Windisch, 32, of Graz, Austria, said the asylums, located in top-secret spots, can get very creepy when there aren't many people there with him. Here: a hallway within an abandoned hospital. (Photo by Thomas Windisch/Caters News)

From Manhattan and Brooklyn's trendiest neighborhoods to the far-flung edges of theouter boroughs, Will Ellis has spent the last three years photographing and researching the lost and lonely corners of the United States' most populous city. His photo book Abandoned NYC is packed with 150 color images of sixteen of New York's most beautiful and mysterious abandoned spaces, paired with detailed essays on the fascinating history of these forgotten sites. Here: Letchworth Village is located just an hour's drive from NYC in Thiells, NY. It was founded in 1912 to house the city's developmentally disabled as a ”state institution for the epileptic and feeble-minded”. (Photo by Will Ellis)

Woman taunts naked man. (Photo by riskms/Getty Images)

Attendees dressed as Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn arrive for opening day of the annual Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, United States July 21, 2016. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

Brittany Ching dressed as a character from the sci-film “Avatar” at the annual Denver Comic Con at the Colorado Convention Center on June 16, 2016. (Photo by AndyCross/The Denver Post)

Tyra Banks prepares to pose as she arrives at the iHeartRadio MuchMusic Video Awards (MMVA) in Toronto, Canada, August 26, 2018. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Reuters)

American singer-songwriter Madonna nearly bares it all while partying after the Fashion Awards with English singer Dua Lipa and photographer Mert Alas on November 29, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Instagram)