In 2012, Courbefy in central France made news when the entire village was successfully auctioned off for 520,000 euros (around $663,000 at the time) to a Korean-American photographer.
The village, which included around 21 buildings and the ruins of a 13th century castle, has been a ghost town since villagers began moving out in the 1970s, according to the Guardian. In the 1990s there was an attempt to turn Courbefy into a hotel and restaurant complex, but the plan was eventually abandoned in 2008 and since then the village has been left to nature and, according to Le Figaro, abandoned to thieves and squatters.
