A town in Spain was evacuated by mistake, but residents still aren’t allowed to move back. The town of Granadilla, Spain while completely walled-in, is empty. Over 60 years ago, everyone who owned homes and lived in the small village was made to leave.
The town was first settled in the 800s by a Muslim group. The walls were erected to keep their homes safe from bad doers on the Ruta de la Plata, a popular trade route at the time. The town was inhabited for the next thousand years, until the 1950s. At the time, the country began making plans to build dams that would ultimately flood the city. “Gabriel y Galán reservoir on the Alagón River… officials decreed that Granadilla was in the floodplain and therefore had to be evacuated,” BBC reports.
As the dams were built over the next decade, the residents were simultaneously evicted. Many residents took the eviction and moved their belongings out. However. some stayed and were forced to pay rent for the homes they owned outright. By mid-1960, everyone had left and the dam was opened.
But, when the dam was opened and the land was flooded, Granadilla was left high and dry. Although some of the roads to the town were no longer accessible, there was still one that was. The residents were highly upset and wanted to move back into their homes.
Sadly though, in over 60 years, that has never happened. Today, the homes sit empty, an unnecessary ghost town. The dictator who put the decree in place has long since ruled the land. However, no other government has been willing to give the people of Granadilla their homes back. Castle Granadilla sits alone in the middle of town, waiting for its residents to return.