Wittenoom · The Town Taken Off the Map

Wittenoom lies in a gorge in Western Australia and once thrived on asbestos mining: miners, their families and the whole town lived in the dust, and more than a thousand deaths were later attributed to it.

In the 1990s the government abandoned the town, withdrew its services and power, and deleted the name from the maps; what remains is a few households that refused to leave and signs telling people not to linger.

The gorge has waterfalls and pools, and it is genuinely beautiful. The sign by the highway says this: enter at your own risk.

Haunted Ruins / Western Australia · Australia / 1943