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.

Dr. P.A. Smithe was sent by the American Red Cross as a doctor and surgeon to work at a hospital in Vienna. He sailed to Europe in December 1915 and returned home in August 1916, according to his daughter, who donated his images to the National World War I Museum. Photo: Turkish army, including cavalry, infantry and artillery. (Photo by Dr. P.A. Smithe/National World War I Museum, Kansas City, Mo.)

An Afghan child practices walking with his new prosthesis at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), orthopedic center on September 10, 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan. After more than 30 years of war and a decade since the 9/11 attacks in the United States, thousands of Afghans, both military and civilian, continue to pay a heavy price from the conflict. The ICRC center makes prosthetics for amputees and helps them, as well as Afghans with spinal injuries and children with congenital birth defects, to learn to walk. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

In this photo taken on Thursday, July 23, 2015 migrants enter a train to Serbia at the railway station in the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija. The country has become a major transit route for thousands of Middle Eastern and African refugees and migrants who cross over from Greece and then continue into Serbia. (Photo by Boris Grdanoski/AP Photo)

A wild elephant that strayed into the town moves through the streets as people follow at Siliguri in West Bengal state, India, Wednesday, February 10, 2016. The elephant had wandered from the Baikunthapur forest on Wednesday, crossing roads and a small river before entering the town. The panicked elephant ran amok, trampling parked cars and motorbikes before it was tranquilized. (Photo by AP Photo)

Cha Huilan, a 40-year old Lisu woman, and her daughter leave Lazimi village with a zipline across the Nu River in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan province, China, March 24, 2018. Chinese mountain villagers, cut off from shops and churches by a raging river, use a zipline to cross its violent rapids and jagged rocks. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

Cuban migrant Yamilen Arbelo, 40, walks down a hill as she crosses the border from Colombia through the jungle into La Miel, in the province of Guna Yala, Panama November 29, 2015. According to local authorities in La Miel, some 100 to 150 Cubans have been entering Panama from Colombia every day for the last three months. Scores of Cubans have come to Panama as they seek overland passage towards the United States fearing a recent detente between Washington and Havana could end their preferential treatment. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

Rascal, and her brother Petey, were abandoned as pups near the railroad tracks in Union County, Arkansas. She is a pit bull cross and approximately 6 months old, in Arkansas, United States. These canine portraits will make any dog lover's day – and they're helping to get sheltered pups adopted at the same time. Kind-hearted photographer Tammy Swarek came up with the idea of dressing up rescue dogs to draw attention to their stories and help potential owners personally connect with them. (Photo by Tammy Swarek/Barcroft Images)