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.

Revellers attend the Victorian Picnic during the Wave and Goth festival in Leipzig, Germany, May 22, 2015. The annual festival, known in Germany as Wave-Gotik Treffen (WGT), features over 100 bands and artists in venues all over the city playing Gothic rock and other styles of the dark wave music subculture. One of the biggest of its kind, the event attracts a regular audience of up to 20,000, the organisers said. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

A prototype battery-powered plane, called Greased Lightning or GL-10 is pictured flying at NASA's Langley Research Center in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters May 1, 2015. The plane, which has 10 engines and can take off like a helicopter and fly efficiently like an aircraft, is currently in the design and testing phase. (Photo by Reuters/NASA)

Children watch and react as a T-Rex moves and growls in an inter-active display at Field Station Dinosaurs in Secaucus, N.J on May 25, 2012. There will be 31 types of life-sized dinosaurs displayed at the Jurassic expedition that opens Saturday, May 26. (Photo by Mel Evans/Associated Press)

“Centuries ago, Inuit hunted the bowhead whale. At that time, whale hunting undoubtedly was part of a complex and very important ritual, if only because of the size of the catch. The position that the ancestors of today's Inuit occupied in the living world involved a relationship with the spirit that inhabited each animal but also their species”. (Photo by Robert Frechette/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

Lebanese-born American former pоrn star Mia Khalifa “received death threats from ISIS” after wearing hijab in scene. Khalifa, now 25, said the idea to wear the hijab came from the film producers, and she was “just 21 and moderately demure” and didn’t realise she could say no. ISIS shared a manipulated image showing Mia being beheaded. Here: former pornstar Mia Khalifa. (Photo by Instagram @miakhalifa)

A participant poses for a photograph at the annual Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S. on April 1, 2018. (Photo by Gaia Squarci/Reuters)

Migrant children run away from clashes with Mexican National Guards after their group crossed the Suchiate River on foot from Guatemala to Mexico, on the riverbank near Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, Monday, January 20, 2020. More than a thousand Central American migrants hoping to reach the United States marooned in Guatemala are walking en masse across a river leading to Mexico in an attempt to convince authorities there to allow them passage through the country. (Photo by Santiago Billy/AP Photo)