Some called them the ‘UFO houses’ or ‘ruins of the future’
on account of their bizarre appearance. And there’s little doubt that the
abandoned buildings making up Sanzhi Pod City constituted one of the world’s
strangest modern ghost towns before they were torn down in late 2008. This
series of images takes us on a retrospective wander through the ruins, which
became an offbeat tourist attraction and remain the subject of online
discussions and articles.
Resembling Futuro houses, the unique structures in New
Taipei City were built in 1978 as a holiday resort aimed at US military
personnel serving in East Asia. But the project failed to take off and was
abandoned two years later amid rumours of unfortunate accidents that cast a
bleak shadow over the development.
Local folklore holds that the site had been a burial ground
for Dutch soldiers, who had somehow been disturbed by the construction work.
Others suggest that the widening of a nearby road had interfered with the
sculpture of a Chinese dragon, bringing ill-fortune to the so-called UFO
houses. Whatever the truth behind the myth, a series of financial failings
appear to be real reason for Sanzhi’s demise.
