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Woman visits abandoned UK village 'sealed off from world' and makes disturbing discovery

Imber village was 'liberated' by the US Army as they prepared for the D-Day landings with families expecting to return, but it has now become an abandoned ghost town

[Imber in Wiltshire]

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Imber in Wiltshire was taken over by the US Army ahead of the D-Day landings(Image: Anna Barclay/Getty Images)

A woman who visited an abandoned UK village that is sealed off from the world was left disturbed by what she found. The village of Imber in Wiltshire was liberated by the US Army in 1943.

People living there were given just 47 days' notice to vacate their homes as the American troops moved in to make it a World War II training base ahead of the D-Day landings. Before the war a number of farms around the village were already purchased by what is now the Ministry of Defence.

They were subsequently turned into the Salisbury Plain, the largest military training ground in the United Kingdom. Villagers in Imber reportedly thought they would be allowed to return home after the war.

But the area remained an important training facility and the village has now largely become abandoned. However St Giles Church, in Imber, opens once a year to welcome visitors on a dedicated bus.

Ghost hunter Emma Watts, who goes by the moniker Watts Life on YouTube, visited Imber to see if she could find evidence of spirits. Emma however was taken aback almost straight away when she arrived in the village.

[Abandoned houses in Imber]

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Abandoned houses in Imber(Image: Anna Barclay/Getty Images)

In a YouTube video, she said: Im standing in Imber village, a haunted and abandoned village sealed off from the rest of the world. The village was abandoned but the dead refused to leave.

She added: One of the slightly disturbing things is that theres absolutely no signal. I cant ring out at all, it just keeps saying the call failed, so thats not good.

[Houses, now used for military training, are seen as people take part in the village of Imber ]

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Families were given under two months to move out(Image: Anna Barclay/Getty Images)

Emma later found the perfect place for a ghost investigation after finding a building she could get inside. Once inside she believes she heard someone trying to spook me or a potential ghost.

Later she added: I think the noises were potentially spirits and not a person. Unless theyre just keeping dead quiet and listening in to what Im doing, maybe.

[A military jeep parked near the former Bell Inn pub in the abandoned village of Imber, Wiltshire, April 1948. ]

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A military jeep parked near the former Bell Inn pub in the abandoned village of Imber, Wiltshire, April 1948. (Image: Chris Ware/Keystone Features/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Imber is said to date back to Roman rule, with the earliest reference to the village being made in 967AD. It was recorded as having seven households in the 1086 Domesday Book.

The Grade I-listed church is said to be the oldest building still standing in the village, alongside the old pub. Many of the buildings in the village were destroyed during military training.

[ sign warns of the danger of unexploded military debris near the village of Imber on December 31, 2025 on Salisbury Plain, England. ]

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Imber is now used for military training(Image: Anna Barclay/Getty Images)

Most of the other properties in the village are now hollowed out shells or rebuilt modern structures built for military simulations. The village was last opened for visitors over the Christmas period.

Speaking to the BBC, custodian Neil Skelton said: There are very few of the original houses left because when they evacuated in 1943 they were mostly cob and thatch. Of course once the thatch went, the water got in and the cob fell to the ground."

Neil says that while it is sad to see the once occupied buildings fall to ruin, it can be lovely to see the wildlife reclaiming the area. You've just got the owls, badgers, birds and foxes for company, he added.

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