| RAS AL KHAIMAH // Every request for directions to the haunted palace came back with the same response: You dont need directions, it finds you. As it turned out, the vast, sprawling mansion was easy to spot. Perched on a hilltop along the main road in A Diat, a suburb of Ras al Khaimah, it stood abandoned, with broken windows that kept watch over a driveway that began at a rusty gate. The palace, said to be worth Dh500 million (US$70m), was abandoned more than 20 years ago by Sheikh Abdulaziz al Qassimi, because, as a family member put it, there was no luck in the house. Although abandoned, the house is not empty, said people who live near its looming walls. You hear a woman screaming as if she is being strangled and you see what looks like little children watching you from the roof as you walk by, said Khaled Abdullah, who lives nearby. The woman is said to be a jinn, a supernatural creature that can take human form. The al Qassimi Palace is home to not just one, but an entire tribe, people here believed. Mr Abdullah said he had seen the spectres, but only from afar. He has never dared to enter the palace grounds. These children always come out at night and just watch you and sometimes even call out your name, he said, gesturing with his hands. Khaled, Khaled, they would call, Mr Abdullah said, imitating the childlike voice he claimed to have heard. Never. I will never go in. The National was made of sterner stuff. A reporter and photographer set out to explore the ... |
