The ghost town loved by dark tourists a short drive from beautiful European city

11 September 2023 , 12:54

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Forty houses, a bar, a church and a post office were considered everything the labourers needed in this town (Image: Google Street View)

In a European city popular for its nightlife, architecture and food scene there is an abandoned village just 40 miles from the centre.

El Alamin is a 90-minute drive from Madrid but it is a world away from the Spanish capital, which is home to more than three million people. Meaning "the world" in Arabic, the abandoned village was the brainchild of the fourth Marquis de Comillas, Juan Claudio Güell y Churruca, who fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of Francisco Franco.

People who lived there didn't have to pay rent, but they had to cover their electricity bills. Forty houses, a bar, a church and a post office were considered everything the labourers needed. The farmland was exploited and started to rapidly deteriorate, leaving the village unable to sustain itself and eventually by 2000 the village had been abandoned, according to the travel blog Madrid No Frills.

The ghost town loved by dark tourists a short drive from beautiful European city (Google Street View)

The site then gained a reputation as a "ghost town" and attracted tourists but since 2021, visitors have required permission from the owners to walk the village's eerie streets. It is now fenced off as the owners are using it for private activities such as gaming and shooting. Tamar Shemesh, writing in Madrid No Frills, said despite El Alamín’s "short 44 years of existence" the stories and legends about it are extensive. He visited before it was closed off.

He wrote that legends around the village involve darker mysteries, ghosts and death and one legend explains the "real" reason for the abandonment of the village. He said there are "tales of a shepherd that led his cattle to the mountain." Continuing: "The following morning, all the sheep and the shepherd himself were dead, seeding panic throughout the town and causing inhabitants to flee. Another story involves the tragic death of a couple that got married in the church and, the following morning, were found dead in their marital bed. Spooky tails attract visitors to El Alamín that search for paranormal experiences."

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Dr Philip Stone, Executive Director at the Institute for Dark Tourism Research at the University of Central Lancashire, told Express.co.uk sites such as El Alamin can make some yearn for the past. He said: "These ghost towns give us a sense of the people coming before us, but also of our own fast-moving world. When we see places that have literally stopped, it can bring a sense of nostalgia."

Rachel Hagan