Abandoned Places: Battleship Island - Japan's rotting metropolis

By Alex Hoban

These days the only things that land on Hashima Island are the shits of passing seagulls. An hour or so’s sail from the port of Nagasaki, the abandoned island silently crumbles. A former coal mining facility owned by Mitsubishi Motors, it was once the most densely populated place on earth, packing over 13,000 people into each square kilometre of its residential high-risers. It operated from 1887 until 1974, after which the coal industry fell into decline and the mines were shut for good. With their jobs gone and no other reason to stay in this mini urban nightmare, almost overnight the entire population fled back to the mainland, leaving most of their stuff behind to rot.
Today it is illegal to go anywhere near the place as it's beyond restoration and totally unsafe. The Japanese Government aren’t keen to draw unwanted attention to this testament to the hardship of the country’s post-war industrial revolution either.

The punishment for being caught visiting Hashima Island is 30 days in prison followed by immediate deportation. But the other week, after getting up before sunrise and cutting a secret deal with a local fisherman, some friends and I landed on Hashima Island.

The port of Nagasaki is an international fare where you’re more likely to find granny-laden cruise ships and large oil tankers filling the docks than buck-toothed fisherman willing to break the law for a few extra bob, so we took the early morning ferry to the still-inhabited Takashima, the closest island to Hashima. After asking around – and being politely turned away by every Japanese we mentioned it to – finally we found our man. The rules of Japanese politeness dictate you never say what you want directly, so even once we were aboard the boat we weren’t sure we were actually going to set foot on Hashima – we’d only agreed for our fisherman to take us close enough to see it.

Bobbing into view, the grey seawall’s artificial angling of the island gives it the shape of a battleship – hence its Japanese name in popular mythology, "Gunkanjima" - Battleship Island.

Haunted Places: The Ghost Town of Rajasthan

Haunted Bhangarh Fort

                                    Garden at Bhangarh Premises
Bhangarh is a deserted town with some 10000 dwellings established in 1613 by Madho Singh, younger brother of great Mughal general, Man Singh of Amber. Bhangarh was abandoned soon after being built and supposedly after it was cursed by a magician. Bhangarh fort offers an intact view of the medieval past. Apparently, the Bhangarh town had been desolated by an old mughal invasion, and is just reverting back to being habited again.

                         Chhatri on the hill top on the side of Bhangarh fort
Bhangarh premises are enclosed by a partially ruined wall. Other than dwellings, ruins of Bhangarh also include gardens, havelis, banyan trees and temples of Lord Someshwar, gopinath, mangla devi and Keshava rai. But the enigmatic attraction is a secluded chhatri on the hill top which catches attention of all the travelers. In entirety, the random placement of all these sites within Bhangarh premises may look freighting and mysterious at the same time.

Haunted Places: Joelma Building

THE ENIGMA OF JOELMA

The Joelma Building, one of the most imposing buildings in Sao Paulo Brazil,  burned down by more than four hours on February 1st, 1974. The result of this tragedy were 345 injured and 189 killed. Even today experts ensure that the place is surrounded by a strange spiritual energy. Witnesses said the building Joelma carries a curse.

In 1948, there was a house where is now Joelma Building. There lived a chemistry professor, Paul Campbell, 26 years, along with his mother and two sisters. Paul shot and killed his mother and sisters and buried the bodies in a pit that had built in the backyard. After Paul committed suicide. The police worked with two hypotheses for the crime. The first is that the family would have rejected a girlfriend. The second is that Paul would have killed his mother and sisters because they had serious health problems and he did not want to take care of them.

The mystery of the death of the entire family has never been solved. After the recovery of bodies, a firefighter also became a victim of the curse and died of corpse infection. The triple murder-suicide shocked the population of Sao Paulo and became known as "The Crime of the Pit". The place became famous for being haunted.

In 1972, the house gave way to a modern building of 20 floors. It was the Joelma Building. Because of the Crime, the number of the street was changed, but the curse was not forgotten.

On February 1st, 1974, at 8:45 am, a short circuit in the air conditioning of the building started the fire. With nowhere to run, people panicked. The heat reached 700 º C and many jumped from the top of the building. The fire virtually destroyed the Joelma. There was no water in the cars of the Fire Department ladder Magirus and only managed to reach a part of the building.

Thirteen people managed to escape by elevator, but could not save themselves. The bodies were not identified and were eventually buried side by side in St. Peter's Cemetery in the capital. The thirteen bodies gave rise to the mystery of the thirteen souls and to them are attributed miracles.

After the fire, the building was four years closed for construction. When reopened, it was renamed the Plaza of the Flag. Witnesses said the dead spirits roam the building today. The Building Joelma has dozens of empty rooms, but the attempt to rid the place of spirits continues. The stories about the old Joelma are still a great mystery. Some believe, some doubt and some are sure that everything is true.

Robot 'Cheetah' Sets Land Speed Record

American Voices

Robot 'Cheetah' Sets Land Speed Record

March 8, 2012 | ISSUE 48•10

A quadrupedal machine known as the Cheetah set a land-speed record for legged robots, running 18 mph on a treadmill in a U.S. military–funded lab. What do you think?

• 

  This is the first step on the road to a glorious future where everyone has a robot to do their exercising for them.

  Kyle Gonsales
  Welder Helper

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  Sure, it performs great in a lab, but can it defuse bombs like a real cheetah?

  Jerry Rose
  Kitchen Clerk

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  If we can make a robot cheetah that runs 18 miles per hour, maybe we could even build a robot polar bear that freezes and breaks below 32 degrees.

  Hanly Gibbs
  Bead Builder