Ras Al Khaimah’s abandoned 'ghost town' comes alive

Ras Al Khaimah’s abandoned ‘ghost town’ comes alive

Posted March 10, 2019

Once shrouded in mystery with stories of jinns and ghosts, Al Jazirah Al Hamra is now a vibrant space for people to rediscover the cultural heritage of Ras Al Khaimah.
It is hosting the seventh edition of the Ras Al Khaimah Fine Arts Festival.

There is an unmistakable air of mystery surrounding the crumbling ruins of an abandoned fishing and pearling village that lie around 20 kilometres from Ras Al Khaimah’s city centre. For almost half a century, emptied of its inhabitants and their belongings, this 16th century village with its houses and mosques built in coral stone and sand, had remained a silent testimonial of an era when pearling was the prime source of prosperity.

Standing on what was once a tidal island, this coastal town was at the mouth of a strategic location that attracted wealth, foreign powers and immigrants from across the region.

A neighbourhood community of around 280 houses, Al Jazirah Al Hamra, which literally translates from Arabic to mean “red island”, has remained a mute witness to the march of progress that accompanied the discovery of oil in the 1960s. As towns and cities around it grew and prospered, with business establishments, hotels and shopping malls springing up in quick succession, the abandoned town continued to remain untouched, retaining its old-world charm.

In the years that followed, just as its labyrinthine alleyways and large houses with visible signs of affluence conjured up images of a thriving life of the past, so too did the myth and mystery shrouding this little village grow as stories of djinns and ghosts now began to be whispered, heightening the eeriness that permeated the walls of its quaint houses.

Very soon, the desolate ruins that stood in a land marked by tribal conflicts, scorching summers, strong winds and heavy sandstorms, earned itself the unsavoury sobriquet of a ‘ghost town’ and a ‘haunted’ neighbourhood. The rich and fascinating history of the community that once flourished here soon faded into oblivion as it was with a deep sense of dread and fear that curious visitors trod cautiously among the piles of stones in the day time, consciously opting to stay clear of it at night.