Sanzhi UFO houses

The Sanzhi UFO houses, or the Sanzhi pod houses, or the Sanzhi Pod city were a set of abandoned buildings that were shaped like pods, situated in the Sanzhi District, Taiwan.

From jasonhutchinscg.com

I know of this oddly shaped futuristic ghost town since I started this blog, but I never got around to making a post about them. Maybe because there's actually no need, as their internet fame is already well spread and everyone knows about them. What I did not know is that they were demolished. That made me make this post about them.

Their construction started in 1978. They should have been a vacation resort for the U.S. military officers coming from their East Asian postings. Sadly, the project was abandoned 2 years lates due to investment losses and several fatal accidents during construction. Some say that the site was haunted because it was built on the top of the former burial ground for Dutch soldiers.

The pod-shaped buildings became a minor tourist attraction, and a major internet sensation, due in part to their unusual architecture. The place was used in a film, as a locatiojn by MTV for cinematography, visited by several urban explorers, and became the main subject in many online discussions, which described it as a ghost town or "ruins of the future".

They were scheduled for demolition in 2008, despite an online petition to retain one of the houses as a museum. Demolitions began in December 2008, with the intent of redeveloping the site into a tourist attraction with hotels and beach facilities.
By 2010, all the UFO houses were put to the ground and the site is being prepared for being converted to a commercial seaside resort and water-park.