Lawang Sewu · The Building with a Thousand Doors

Lawang Sewu means “a thousand doors”. It was the office of a Dutch colonial railway company; the basement once held prisoners, and executions were carried out there as well.

Today it is an empty building. The corridors run further than the eye follows, and the doors come one after another — count them and you lose track of which side you came in from.

Locals say a female ghost inside closes the door behind you as you approach. Others put it more simply: the building does not like anyone counting its doors.

Haunted Ruins / Semarang · Indonesia / 1904