Mystery of the abandoned town

By on July 27th, 2007

How strange: an entire Italian hill town near Genova apparently abandoned and falling to bits. I found the page of photos on del.icio.us popular; it turns out to be part of a larger site of pictures of abandoned places. What’s with the one building with curtains and shutters in the windows? The rusting bicycle and motor scooter? The room with the bits of cloth all over the floor? And, the image I keep coming back to: the door where someone has spray-painted "Torno subito!" ("I’ll be back soon!"). Eerie.

I’m feeling the strongest impulse to write a ghost story.

Categorized under: Grab bag.
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3 Responses to “Mystery of the abandoned town”

  1. Mike says:
    July 27, 2007 at 9:59 pm

    Write it! I’d love to see it.
    I’ve been finding out more about the underground waterways that honeycomb Highland Falls, where I live, and I’m thinking about some of the Army’s xenophobia and wanting to connect it to H. P. Lovecraft’s xenophobia and his stories about things watery and subterranean.

  2. Jeannette says:
    July 27, 2007 at 10:39 pm

    It reeks of war stories.
    Did you read Umberto Eco’s latest? _The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana_

  3. Amanda says:
    July 29, 2007 at 5:07 pm

    Mike, does this mean you’ll be posting more fiction soon? [hint, hint]
    Jeannette, I’ve only read the chapter that was published as a stand-alone story in the New Yorker, but I can totally see what you mean.