Creepy high voltage installations

Russian countryside yields sometimes most improbable sights - abandoned artifacts and installations from bizarre military/scientific research, strangely futuristic forms left to rust and decay - to be found by a curious photographer. "Master" stumbled upon this installation close to Russian city of Istra (50 km from Moscow) quite by chance, and these mysterious shots were percolating for a while around the web, until the answer was found. According to this little, cryptic, and quite secretive website, the weird alien-like towers are the Experimental Grounds for High-Voltage Generation, the only open-air kind in the world. Amazingly, it's still in use... as the powerful lightnings rip through the night and the darkened forest - much like in "The Prestige" movie.

Generator tower height: 43 meters
Maximum output voltage: 9 Megavolt
Record length of lightning discharge attained - 150 meters

The structures were erected in the late 70s, and certainly are not in the best condition today. However, they are still in active use, according to official research papers...

images credited to master-z-great.livejournal.com

Abandoned ionospheric research station

During the 80s this place had the functioning antenna complex the size of a soccer field, plus the "Ural" super-computer presiding over it all... The Ionospheric Research Station is located near Zmiev, close to Kharkov and is still used from time to time by (no doubt desperate) scientists - the area was declassified recently (it used to be a top secret installation, hm... I wonder why). This marvel of Soviet technology seems to be no match for HAARP Research Station in Alaska, but looks can be deceiving - and in the meantime it serves as a good "stomping ground" for all sorts of explorers of creepy and abandoned places.

The High Frequency Transmitter and Antenna Array

The biggest antenna is capable of producing 25 MW impulse power (compare it to the HAARP station's 12.5 MW) and is 25 meters in diameter. The IS (incoherent scatter) radar is quite unique (there are only 9 in the world) and covers 100 meter x 100 meter area.

images are courtesy Neal, from KharkovForum and Fata-Morgana from Sun-Skadi site.