Desert "Gin"

It was one early morning on one of my many desert adventures in my Jeep with another one of my friends that we go on every weekend with him driving his Jeep as well. That day we decided on a place called Ghost Town known for being a full furnished abandoned village miles away from any civilization smack in the middle of the towering sands. With the destination chosen we put the coordinates into our GPS and snaked our way through the dunes and after about 45 minutes of driving a pillar seemed to appear out of no where as if it was a mirage glimmering in the mid day sun. We were the only ones out there.

                  This town was known for producing spirits called Gin, in Arabic meaning evil ghosts. It is believed in the Islamic religion that these spirits torture those that come near an area inhabited by them. As soon as we stepped out of the car, there was a dead silence. There was a strong breeze blowing but either the sand or trees around us were moving. We slowly walked toward the mosque on the outskirts of the town walking over dunes that have completely engulfed the houses and walls. Upon stepping inside the mosque, glass shattered beneath our feet and the windows started to crack around us and the breeze began to blow through the door. The feeling that was present was as if people were crowded around you with no space to move. As we started to feel even more claustrophobic we rushed out the door back to the cars, neither one of us saying a word. When both of us got back in the cars, we tried to start the cars, but they would not turn over and acted as if they were out of gas. Eventually they started up and as we rapidly drove out of the area the village vanished in the rear view mirror, but not before a mirage that seemed to be a line of people running away from the town. 

                Was it the unknown that was scaring us, or was it real? To this day I have never gone back to that place.