A Haunted Brothel
Though the summer blogs have not finished, let’s skip ahead to the present.
One of the first things I did this new year was to visit a brothel. Possibly a haunted one at that, since it has been abandoned for some time now. Though a little dangerous since areas have been burnt down and the only entrance was through a broken window, we made it in and out safe and sound.
The broken window around the back of the building led us into a room that was fully burnt down. You could see remains of people having lived there – I would figure the women who worked there. Bunk beds and a kitchen was barely made out in the charred mess that was left behind but you could tell what they were. A wall had partly fallen toward the beds but that was our only way through so we carefully slid through trying not to make the wall fall on us. This led us to a hallway.
The hallway made me feel like I was in a ghost movie, and a really high-budget one too. It was pitch black and the light from our torches could only go so far. It wasn’t too long however, and before we knew it we were in the main hall. Unfortunately none of the photos I took there did any justice to the hallway and so I deleted them all. It’s not like I could bring a tripod in either, as it would be too difficult to manoeuvre and I don’t own one.
The big hall was decorated with a chandelier and a wall painting of three naked women whom have been graffitied on. There was a bar and a great staircase leading the men upstairs to their women. A sign on the wall where the staircase read: 上に行ったら死ぬ “If you go upstairs, you will die.” We ignored this and went upstairs.
Each of the floors had the same layout: three rooms that each included a bed and a grand bathing area. This is where I found the name of the place: Queen Chåteau. We kept going up and eventually made it to the roof.
From here, there were great views of Mito, and a lot of rusty water tanks and the machine that takes the lift up and down the building. Here, I also witnessed the largest wasp nest in my entire life, and thankfully it was dormant. There was a ladder built into the wall leading to the very top part of the roof and some convincing from my counterpart, I eventually made it to the top. Here, I took some final photos and made my way back down.
Quite an interesting day I hope you will agree, and somewhat different in comparison to your usual holiday activities. Others of this type from last year included Greenland (an abandoned theme park in Fukushima) and Niigata Russian Village. Best to do this in pitch black with a torch too. Adds to the experience.
