There is something eerily alluring about abandoned places. They are the land that time forgot; deserted buildings and decrepit structures that lie uninhabited, a relic to an era gone by. They’ve captured the imaginations of photographers, writers and historians for centuries, a vestige of communities, neighbourhoods and families that have moved on long ago.
In Turkey, an abandoned town went virtual for its Disney-esque castles, a spooky sprawling world merging fairytale fantasy with haunted nightmares, while in the UAE, the deserted town of Al Jazeera Al Hamra is a popular ghost-tour spot for travellers and filmmakers.
Houtouwan on Shengshan island, China’s eastern Zhejiang provinceGetty Images
On China’s Shengshan Island, another deserted village is drawing in thrill-seekers and ghost-hunters. Houtouwan is an abandoned fishing town, formerly home to 3,000 people. The island began losing locals due to its remote location – part of an archipelago consisting of 400 islands some 64 kilometres east of Shanghai. Workers would have to travel to and from the mainland, resulting in long, tiring hours and poor quality of life. The emigration began in the Nineties, and by 2002 the island was officially abandoned.
It didn’t take long for nature to work its magic. Thick vines crept into houses, puncturing windows and taking over room after room. Lush green blankets of vegetation lay claim to roofs; plants climb up building walls and lay roots across the town as man made structures crumble and crack under the strength of nature.
In 2015, pictures of Houtouwan went viral, and since then, the island has become a destination for travellers in search of eerie thrills. A viewing platform opened in 2017 to accommodate the influx of tourists, and hiking routes around the island soon followed. Now, the island sees hundreds of travellers on a daily basis, trekking carefully through the narrow pathways and rickety lanes of Houtouwan. During the summer, the village is at it’s most alluring, with verdant green carpets and speckled sunlight pouring through cracked windows and creaking doorways. For more spooky destinations, see this list of 45 abandoned places around the world that are eerily beautiful.
