There is an exciting sight in a forest near Chatillon, Belgium – hundreds of old, vintage cars completely overtaken nature. This place is called the Chatillon Car Graveyard – The Traffic Jam Was Stuck in Belgium Forest. The cars were left behind after a massive traffic jam stuck in the forest 50 years ago. The vehicles were abandoned, and plants and vegetation had grown all around and inside the antique cars.
The story begins in the winter of 1960. Temperatures plunged, and heavy snow blanketed parts of Belgium near the French border. During an icy night, a miles-long traffic jam unexpectedly formed along a highway passing through the forest of Chatillon. Hundreds of cars found themselves trapped, unable to move, with snow continuing to fall.
The drivers had to leave their cars behind since they could not move in the traffic jam. They had to walk through the snow to find help in towns nearby. Later, when officials tried to deal with the gridlocked cars and remove them, some vehicles could not be moved. So, the 1950s model cars and coupes were abandoned and left in the forest.
Over the following decades, those vintage automobiles were consumed by nature. What was once a jammed highway transformed into woods where trees and dense vegetation grew around and even through the cars? Half-century-old vehicles blended with the forest as they had always been there. Rust, moss, leaves, and branches covered the metal, erasing any sense they were artificial machines.
The Chatillon Car Graveyard, now famously called, almost seems like a fantasy world or post-apocalyptic scene from a movie. The cars slowly subsumed into the earth, provoking a sense of wonder in those lucky to stumble upon the site.
