My father was in the Air Force and got transferred there in 1970. We lived there for two years. It was very remote. I was 7 years old. The base was too small to support a school so we had to go to the elementary school in the closest small town (Finland Elementary School). It got a crazy amount of snowfall in the winter. As a kid, I loved it!!! My son came to visit me last night and he likes to watch KZfaq videos of abandoned places and this clip was what he wanted to watch. I was looking at it and commented that it looked like Finland Air Force base and that was exactly what it was!! LOL. The guy actually went through the house that I lived in. It was definitely a trip down memory lane. My son couldn't believe it, especially when I was describing some of the things I remembered. LOL

To be Honest, if people left in such a hurry to leave so much stuff including vehicles, I would not go there unless testing was done.

I was active duty Air Force and its no mystery. Take a look at George AFB closed in early 90s but the whole base, hospital, schools, hundreds of homes just abandoned. Due to past chemicals used on base, asbestos, contaminated ground water and so on. Same with where you are if you search it also has contaminated ground water. That tiny housing area was used by someone else for 10 years after the station closed. Your flipped car was turned over to get the convertor, probably recently. 1 in 3 Americans lives within five miles of a contaminated area. Sad but mystery solved.

I get Fallout 4 Sanctuary Hills vibes! Great video!

Why does the government let places like this sit and rot. When they could have partnerd with habitat for humanity. And helped homeless vets and homeless people in and around that city.

Multiple factors here but I looked it up. Mostly abandoned due to underground tanks, radioactive materials, and hazardous waste contaminants in the ground and had spread through a pipeline causing infection of the whole area. Also, due to the entire base being built on a slope/peak the fear of landslide or runoff of said contamination was a huge concern. It truly is a wickedly hidden area, buried in greenery. I'm surprised the place was vandalized. Love the content tho! Thank you for wondering through this area and sharing a peak at what's hidden in those mountains. 💐🏆

They started demolishing the houses in august 2023, there’s few houses remaining that haven’t been torn down but is now fenced off and has security 24/7

I would be extremely careful if I were you walking around in an abandoned town. You just never know who you might encounter.

My husband was stationed at Finland Air Force Station from 1966-68. The video does not show the town of Finland, but the remains of base housing up at the radar site. I visited the area in 1998 or 99, when there were families living in the housing area. There had been mobile homes across the road, but I don't believe they were there any longer. I asked a couple boys on bicycles if it was okay to go up onto the base, and they said not to go into the buildings because the government was doing some kind of water testing. Quite a few of the buildings were still there, and I could make out the small commissary and the BX, which I had managed for several weeks in 1967. (We would go in a truck similar to UPS or FedEx to Duluth to replenish supplies from Duluth Air Force Base.) I would buy some of our groceries at the commissary, but bought meat and fresh veggies from Finland Co-op, down in the town of Finland. We lived in a small mobile home south of Finland that we rented from the property owner - later we lived in a cabin in Finland. Some of our friends lived in rented cabins not far from us. Seeing it after all those years was very ghostly, but seeing this video is heartbreaking. I'm guessing that the families left all behind because of contamination.

Update: the groundwater and soil is heavily contaminated… he has no idea why people left so many belongings behind, but after they all left it was a hot spot for squatters and people looking for a secluded place to party. To be honest, I’ve never been there but it gives me the creeps…

The yellow flowers look like Tanacetum vulgare, or Common Tansy. They’re sometimes considered a noxious week, because livestock don’t eat it and if they do, can be poisonous. It’s a perennial and it can be hard to get rid of because it spreads via rhizomes underground and since the roots do tend to go pretty deep, they often come back every year even as far north as northern Minnesota, because the roots are underground and are somewhat safe from the super cold winter temperatures. Source: a gardener who lived in North Dakota and Minnesota for more than 30 years.

I’m blown away, my first video of yours and i loved the view from the fire tower. Thank you for this experience, i can’t wait to watch more

Situated at the top of Lookout Mountain, with spectacular views of Lake Superior, Finland Air Force Base has 43 deserted homes in various stages of disrepair. While it might not be widely known, the base was used as a lookout for potential threats coming into the United States from Canada.

All the ground water is contaminated. They wanted to sell the whole base and all 40+ houses together, over 120acres for 800k but auction only got bid to 200k

What amazes me is this site is not trashed at all. Everything is preserved like they were left just yesterday

The amount of work that goes into these videos is just amazing. Keep it up big dawg.

They found out the water was contaminated, which meant just washing dishes or clothing and bathing meant you got exposed, they panicked or lead to panic and fled or possibly forced to leave, what is odd is not coming back for vehicles, which means they may have gotten insurance money and could not or did no have salvage rights.

These old base houses usually have a small crawl space attic usually used for a small amount of storage.... it would be interesting to see if there's anything up in there... stuff put away like that is usually sentimental or valuable in some way, and also easily forgotten if you have to move in a hurry...

Please, correct your story. This site is NOT Finland Mn! It's the long abandoned FInland Airbase site. Finland is miles away down on Mn Highway 1. I drove up to this site 15 or so years ago. All the houses but two were already empty and abandoned. Also, there were more houses up the hill nearer to the base itself. They must have been razed as you said. Later I heard that the site had been purchased for redevelopment, but on a return trip to see, I found that the road in was gated off. I'm not sure if you found the same and walked up or is the gate open?? Too bad the weather was so bad.

Incredible view from that lookout tower. Those houses look like National homes. National was one of the earlier builders of prefab houses. We had a neighborhood full of them in my hometown.

I used to do these explorations when I was younger...long before You tube. Used to find old farms in the middle of nowhere with portraits on the wall of the people that lived there. Always had the strangest feeling like I was trespassing or something.

It would be interesting to check the property records and contact some of the people who lived there and find out what life was like while they lived there.

You always find the BEST places! You work SO hard for us❤️❤️

Awesome video, love the tour. Keep up the good work.

I would be extremely concerned that the reason the place is abandoned with cars and all is because of some sort of contamination. I hope you don’t end up getting sick. Wow.

If you are in the Air Force and have a second home, being posted to a remote location means you accumulate stuff to get you through your posting but won't be shipping home, including cars.

Really enjoy this. Use to explore abandoned places when i was a kid. Fun to imagine who lived there and how it was before it all got run down. Thankyou..and i enjoy your voice too

That's so incredible thanks for showing us around and for the comments explaining what it is really cool I'm having respect that's very cool

I remember going car shopping at dealers in early 90's. The Suzuki Samurai was $8,900k out the door. The Geo Tracker's were $12k new and Jeep Wranglers were almost $16k. You do the best job of showing abandoned subdivisions on your channel!

Sad, it kind of reminds me of, "Flint Michigan" after General Motors, moved away their factories, many years ago, and thousands lost their jobs, and homes went into foreclosure. Micheal Moore did a documentary on it, back in the 80s. This is all both, sad and eerie. All those holmes just abandoned, and some still fairly in good shape, with good furniture.

This is what’s left of the Finland Radar Base built in 1950. Closed it in 1980 but some people lived in the homes for a few years after it closed. New technology basically closed the base. In 1950 Air Defense Command selected Finland, Minnesota site as one of twenty-eight radar stations built as part of the second segment of the permanent radar surveillance network. Prompted by the start of the Korean War, on July 11, 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite construction of the second segment of the permanent network. Receiving the Defense Secretary's approval on July 21, the Air Force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction.

Whoever vandalized that place have to be some of the most respectful I've ever seen in any of these kinds of videos. They left a modest amount of tags but pretty much left them be and didn't destroy everything in sight. Though I think they prob flipped that car to get that CC haha, but why not? Mad respect.

The seemingly pristine location is a Superfund site, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The buildings were constructed with asbestos and lead paint; the soil is contaminated with diesel fuel, PCBs, and TCE, resulting in the quick poisoning of freshly drilled wells.

I drove through there 20 some years ago and it was full of life. Like a happy little fairy tale. And now it looks like something out of a horror movie. Surreal. What a crazy world.

0:25 Cool Suzuki Jimny! Manual trans. One of my fav cars. Runs great in winter and snow. Switch transfer case to 4L and drive slowly.

According to the 2020 census, Finland, Minn. had a pop of 195. This looks like a Chernobyl-style evac.

Need to provide more history on this, what happened, why, where are the former owners, get their stories...would help understand this mystery.

I love seeing abandoned places like these. Its interesting to see things as though time has stood still. I just wish people would leave things alone as they are instead of screwing it up for those that come after them. Awesome video and its appreciated that you took the time to make it.

Awesome, Glad you made the trip and video.

New Sub! This was absolutely fascinating!

Situated at the top of Lookout Mountain, with spectacular views of Lake Superior, Finland Air Force Base has 43 deserted homes in various stages of disrepair. While it might not be widely known, the base was used as a lookout for potential threats coming into the United States from Canada. Listed for $800,000, the eerily empty property operated as a self-sustaining air base for nearly 30 years until it closed in 1980. It has since sold several times. There is this huge article about this on line people can look up, it's also kinda contaminated at this time, it's a long article. Ok have a good day

It's really strange that there's dishes left in the sink and cars ledt behind. 🤔 Were these people forceably removed ??

Great video. Im going to look up some history on this place and make a drive up there this spring.

Thanks for the walkthrough. I enjoy raw video like this.

It's easier to cut a catalytic converter off of a car if it is flipped . And it's easy to flip a car.

The mini van is a Chrysler Town and Country. Was considering the top of the line. The houses with the garages are most likely officers houses. The smaller houses enlisted. The table in the tower is used to set coordinates to direct personal to fires.

Thanks for sharing 👍🤓👍. Surprised nobody went through and took what they could for the needy. I'd love to go through a place like that and metal detect👍🤓

This is Australia watched your video it was fantastic great job mate well done I would love to watch more of your videos thank u so much

When I was a child we lived on an Air Force Radar and landing runway base in Eagle Pass Texas. It was a small neighborhood when we lived there. There were barracks for the pilots that came from all over the country to practice landings and takeoffs on the runways. The base was nice with a pool, a PX, a canteen, a bowling alley and a movie theater. It was decommissioned a year or so after we left. Some of the base housing was sold to individual citizen buyers, it's really run down and horrible now. I almost cried when I saw how horrible the house we'd lived in looks now. Really sad to see the terrible condition of the homes. The base was nice and clean when we lived there, the houses were pretty basic. Our house had 3 bedrooms, one bath and a carport with a storage building built at the back of the carport. The base had a nice community feeling with special events for the residents. We had a base beauty pagent, a big Easter Egg hunt, a special craft and kids Christmas shop, a halloween night with events for kids, like musical chairs, s cakewalk, pick up ducks, fishing for prizes. I remember a sports day with potato sack races, three legged race and an egg on a spoon race. For some reason there was zero TV reception there but I never missed it. There were enough other children to always have friends to play with outside. It was a nice place to live way back then. Now it's beyond awful. So sad.

I think there's a reason why these people ran away and left everything behind most likely because of contamination. And when article it states, they did find contamination in the water.

Interesting find, did the wiki, google maps and satellite views and images so I had a little background before I watched the video. I felt like I was actually there. Thanks again for the upload, enjoyed it very much.

Great video man!

What is kinda interesting to me? Is that if you see in the backyard of some of those houses you still see their propane tanks? Usually, the propane tank is not owned by the homeowner. Its owned by the propane company. So you would think that if they stop paying per propane, they would come and get the tank.

My dad painted the interior of several of these houses- he said it was in either 1974 or 75… he also has a hunting shack in the area. I’m curious now and should ask him if he knows why everybody left all their stuff behind

Cool video, and well presented. Thanks for sharing this with us.

I appreciate the fact you go out and look at these places and not just talk about them. GOAT Material

Its exciting to see new videos from new youtubers i hadnt seen before. This was very cool and im looking forward for more to come. Thank you for your hard work and sharing with us.

As a Finn, I almost had a heart attack thinking where in Finland something like this could happen.

I am really surprised that a Paranormal group has not covered this yet. I absolutely love the location of this neighborhood. It is very beautiful also looks very peaceful. I would enjoy waking up and seeing something like that everyday. 😊 If you find more history about this abandoned town, It would be nice if you covered it. I would love to know the history and why it was abandoned so suddenly.

I just discovered your channel, Totally love the view from the fire tower

It's wild that the grass isn't more over grown.

The entire area is CONTAMINATED dude. That's why people dropped everything and left. The seemingly pristine location is a Superfund site, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The buildings were constructed with asbestos and lead paint; the soil is contaminated with diesel fuel, PCBs, and TCE, resulting in the quick poisoning of freshly drilled wells.

Good stuff man, thank you

I will never understand why people go inside places like this and destroy it.😢

If you look at the garage door behind the tractor, it looks way too new and undamaged or vandalized, coupled with the fact that the oil filter does look like it was recently changed, leads me to possibly believe that the tractor belongs to the owner of the property and he possibly uses it for field mowing... I have a hard time believing that tractor would still be sitting there undamaged if it was not being maintained by the current owner. Other than that pretty crazy, pretty ominous. Thanks for the vid!

"How do you flip over a car in the middle of nowhere?" *Finds a tractor with a recently changed oil filter* Go on, I'll give you a minute.

You did a good job filming. It really is interesting area no the little bit of past. Thank you.

I just want to say that your video was like so awesome and you were saying something about using a new camera that it was better with yourself and I think that camera was pretty good because it made me feel like I was right there with you I was even talking to you you didn’t know that but but yeah, I thought it was a great video and I’m very interested in in these abandoned towns and why they became abandoned. It’s pretty cool and I really appreciate you posting it Up. Cheers.

A movie studio should buy this place. I saw a web site where the current owner says that the asking price is $800,000 for everything. (And he claims that the pollution is down to safe levels now. But I'd bring a company in to verify that. )

The weeds in the yards should be higher and there should be at least small trees growing in the yards also if it was completely abandoned. Someone must be mowing, possibly with the old tractor, at least a couple of times in the summers.

Suzuki Samurai was very reliable in my experience. Ive owned 3 and all 3 were great cars and surprisingly good 4x4s .

Thanks for the walk through bud. Would love to do that myself, but nothing like that here in NZ. Keep safe and God Bless.

Suzuki Samurai and Geo Trackers had a high center of gravity (if I remember correctly) as well as a thin wheelbase. They tipped over quite easily. A good friend of mine had a Geo Tracker when we were teens. He'd try to go off-roading and tip over. He'd take a corner too fast and tip over. I think his parents breathed a sigh of relief when he finally got rid of that thing.

Here we go, Australian who knows how to google. In 1951 the United States Air Force established the 756th Air Force station 3 miles north of Finland. It was located on what is now known as Lookout Mountain. Over the next 29 years the site was staffed by thousands of men and women from all parts of the United States. As part of the pine tree line of air defence the base was on constant alert searching for hostile aircraft and missiles coming over the North Pole.

Wow! Thats nuts! I had no idea this area had been completely abandoned. My step brother was stationed there when in the AF. I remember my mom and dad loading the car and us driving all the way to Finland from Texas when I was a young boy, probably in 72 -73ish. I have no recollection of where he actually lived......if he was on base or off base. Interesting video. Thanks

This is awesome. There was an abandoned neighborhood in Cary, NC that I got to check out. It's so eerie. Built in the 90's. Empty.

The buildings were constructed with asbestos and lead paint; the soil is contaminated with diesel fuel, PCBs, and TCE, resulting in the quick poisoning of freshly drilled wells. i hope you washed up good when you got home. i do wonder how that car got flipped over though.

The pretty yellow flower you handled looks like something we call Ragwort here in the UK 🇬🇧. It’s actually a nasty little thing that’s toxic and can give a painful reaction if you get the sap on ur skin. It also kills horses! Awful thing spreads like wildfire and is a nightmare to get rid of. Great video and very interesting, thank you

As a Finn I find this very interesting, heard there was a Finland in U.S. before, thanks for video!

This Camera works well gives really good footage, thought it strange that there is no street lighting it must be well creepy walking around there at night also all the cracks in the pavements and no local fire house or places to buy supplys etc interesting video

I'm so glad this showed up on my feed! I love stuff like this! Subscribed!❤

4:00 “Somebody stole the sink.” *The hot & cold water connections for the washing machine.*

Cool walk through! This is only an hour away from me and I didn't even know it existed.

Thanks for the video and stay safe and be blessed ❤ enjoy your channel

Great video, very much enjoyed this and the video about nopeming sanitarium. I subscribed. My sister and her family used to live here when her husband was in the air force. I have been here so many times. Loved seeing this place again. Lots of memories. I have been to nopeming as well. Thanks again.

It's like your walking through a real settlement from Fallout 4

My family owned this. I have so pictures and videos of it back in 2018

Looks like most of the people appeared to up and leave sometime in the early 2000's. The cars being left behind (especially the Suzuki) absolutely baffles me. The minivan you found in the garage was a 1999-2000 Chrysler Town And Country, and the flipped car is (I believe) a Mazda Millenia.

It looks like people have lived there since the town was abandoned. I also found a sale site for this place online. It mentiones and I quote "The buildings were constructed with asbestos and lead paint; the soil is contaminated with diesel fuel, PCBs, and TCE, resulting in the quick poisoning of freshly drilled wells." It was abandoned cos it wasn't necessary anymore. The place was used as a watch for russions coming in from Canada, According to the sale site. That tower I think was mentioned on the site too. Probably used as a watch out for the rains. Racket I think the site was called.

This is such an awesome destination. So fascinating & would love to explore something like that!! Thanks for a great video!!

Thanks for making this video. I live Hutchinson MN.

I wouldn't go anywhere abandoned alone, let alone without carrying a gun.

A lot of people know about the Finland Airbase lol. I grew up halfway down the hill. I hung out up there all the time in the 90s and early 2000s. There were about 20+ houses rented around that time, after the caretaker passed away the place went downhill. The current owners are trying to sell it as have your own little community but the wells are contaminated due to the fuel tanks burried underground leaking.

Listened to a radio story from WTIP that said that the Air Force station used trichloroethane (TCE) as a solvent to clean parts, and over 30 years of use, the groundwater got contaminated. The govt installation has been demolished and the soil removed, but the aquifer is contaminated. Private wells that are also contaminated may mean there's no safe drinking water for nearby houses. This wasn't in the story, but IMO the likely outcome was these residents got a settlement and left behind contaminated belongings.

These gomes defenitly give off 90s to cery early 2000s look. Mostly the 90s. The furniture and decorations and bedding gives me a nostalgic feel to it.

I do loved the 3rd vehicle u found with the flame

The instrument that you had seen when you were in the top part of the fire tower that was in the middle is what we used when I worked for the DNR to measure the distance from the fire towers and the reported smoke

No surprise here reading about how polluted this place is. Most armed forces installations are huge inhabitated pollution sites. SOP for motor pool waste oil was to spray it along base fence line perimeter...back in the day no worries, on one cared and most just ignorant with getting along with their jobs. Base housing was always built on lowest contract bid...cheap materials and good place for contractors to dump all the lead paint & asbestos siding. Base housing was most times worse than ghetto projects...and the dudes who repaired them were usually strapped for materials due to keeping that department within budget. Real cobble jobs. Basically on Base housing was slaves quarters... the barracks weren't much better...many dating back to early post WW 2. No wonder V.A. Healthcare is overwhelmed with sick folks with all the carcinogens armed force members are exposed too.

Minnesota here. Nice to see a location from my home state.

You sound like Johnny Bravo. Great find. So strange. And how was it that they flipped that car? Crazy!!!