Unexplained High-Rise

A decade ago, on the island of Taiwan, I encountered a mysteriously half-abandoned high-rise building. Located in the back of some alleys, this awkward seeming high-rise appeared like a beacon in its surrounding environment. My curiosity led me to explore this shadowy, yet intriguing structure. From the outside, the building looked fairly normal. All the exterior storefronts had vendors and it was business as usual. Yet, with one slight glance into the aisles of the interior, anyone could see something was out of place. Everything inside was dark, abandoned from use. As my interest peaked, I decided to find out more about this strange place and walked inside. This place made my heart pound, and frightened as I was, the looming structure beckoned me forth to explore.

From the start, I noticed that this building was designed as a typical high-rise in Taiwan. Easily evident was the building’s modern hardware; the elevators and escalators were all new models, indicating this building was recently constructed. There was a basement of at least three floors for parking. Starting at the ground level, the first three stories were retail areas for stores and shops. On top of that, the fourth to eight floors served as office space for various businesses. Even higher, there were a dozen or so floors of residential condominium and apartment suites.

Entering the ground level interior walkways, I could see something was wrong. Huge spider-webs occupied the corners of walls and ceilings. Leaves and trash, blown in by the wind, lined the walkways. All the indoor lighting was shut down. Luckily, sunlight peaking through the windows of the outside stalls gave enough illumination to fend off the darkness inside. I noticed how peculiar this place was. All the derelict shops inside had their store names and signs installed. I could see name brand stores like Rolex and other well known companies who had set up here. Some windows even had posters advertising a sale they were having. Inside some of these deserted shops, I could still see the display cases and furniture that was just left behind. It felt odd that so many well known stores seemingly moved out like a phantom in the night.

Strangely, when I looked to the outside shops and street, I could still see the regular bustling of human affairs. This helped me ground myself and place me in the normal world, yet I still felt as if I just stepped into an episode of the twilight zone. Even so, the novelty of this place prodded me on to discover more about this spooky building. I decided to go up, and see what the rest of this building had to offer.

While looking for a stairwell or elevator, I passed by an interior courtyard with a stagnant fountain. The fountain looked to be very upscale during its upkeep, but now it was a stagnant pool, a cesspool full of mosquitoes and dead things. The air here was musty and stale, and as I was holding back my disgust, I spotted a stairwell. Upon entering the stairwell, I noticed a perfectly formed sundae-shaped pile of feces resting in the corner at the base of the stairwell. I envisioned it to have been left by wild dogs roaming the building, but something in the back of my head thought it was too perfectly shaped for that. It was revolting in its own right, in both stench and substance, yet it seemed symbolic of something I didn’t understand. As I walked up to various floors, a pile of feces with the same form was left at each floor, in a similar corner of the stairwell.

Although there was a slight chill down my spine, I continued to find out more about this puzzling building. On the fourth floor, there were numerous neglected office suites. Upon inspection of one of these suites, I discovered that although devoid of human life now, this place still contained office desks and chairs. A large fish tank, half empty with putrid water, sat on a table in the corner. There were also papers strewn all over the place. This was indication that business was conducted here before, but no longer. Glancing at a newspaper on one of the desks, I carefully observed it was dated two years prior. Something shocking must have occurred here to allow such a large, occupied building to be deserted like this.

Going toward the stairwell, a sudden noise from one of the other empty offices startled me. A homeless person slowly walked out and gazed at me. It seemed I disturbed and intruded on his space. Recovering from this scare, I quickly stepped into the stairwell and proceeded to leave this forsaken place.

Occasionally, contractors run out of funds and a building is left abandoned without being fully constructed. However, this high-rise was fully built. Business suites and retail shops were well furnished and appeared to have conducted business. In spite of this, something tremendous transpired here which left this modern, newly constructed high-rise to be deserted like a ghost town about two years previous to my visit. Despite never discovering the true reason for this mass exodus, this opportunity allowed me to investigate a mysterious and enigmatic space. As for this foreboding high-rise, to truly explore it and learn its secrets is not for the faint of heart.