The railway network was built by political prisoners during Franco's rule, but it was never completed. Now said to be the unfinished Cantabrian Tunnel at Engaña it is haunted by those who died trying to build it.
Have you ever been tempted by a dim and mysterious place? If so, you won't want to miss visiting the haunted entrance to an incomplete railway tunnel in Spain called the Engaña Tunnel.
It is an amazing place shrouded in darkness and legends. As you explore its depths without lights on your sides, you may find yourself surrounded by ghosts of the past.
The unfinished Engaña tunnel
At the entrance to the Cantabrian Tunnel in Engaña, people claimed to have seen strange apparitions and heard mysterious sounds coming from the incomplete tunnel running through the Cantabrian Mountains.
The tunnel was intended to lead to the Bay of Biscay and connect it with the Mediterranean Sea by rail in 1942. At almost 7,000 meters long, it was intended to be the longest railway tunnel in Spain, but no rails were laid at all.
Hundreds of people built on this patch, and after the end of the Spanish Civil War, political prisoners of the Franco regime also built the structure.
When they started the project, they believed it would only take a year, but nothing went as planned. This project took 17 years to build, but funding for the project ran out and the final section of the section was abandoned in 1959 and was never completed.
However, the tunnel was built and sometimes used as an alternative route when other roads were closed due to snowfall, but the perilous tunnel was closed after multiple collapses and was closed.
According to reports, hundreds of prisoners forced to build it died during the unfinished construction.
This number is tough to confirm with facts because the first years of construction were not recorded. However, we know that at least 16 workers died during construction between 1951 and 1959. So who really knows the truth about what happened earlier?
The structure itself was not the only thing that killed tunnel workers, as a vast number of workers eventually died from lung disease caused by inhaling toxic crystalline silica dust from the tunnel.
The spirit of prisoners
The project itself was considered a failure and was a dim entry into a much darker past. Until it closed, the site was mainly used by impatient drivers, people transporting illegal contraband and paranormal seekers.
After the project was abandoned and the prisoners' lives were almost forgotten, stories about seeing their ghosts began to be told in the area.
People told of unfortunate prisoners who died while building it, and of drivers who claimed to have seen their ghosts as they passed through the tunnel opening or dared to pass through it as a shortcut through the mountains.
Bibliography:
We discover the “Stonehenge Charro” wine route and the Sierra de Francia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enga%C3%B1a_Tunnel
The 10 most mysterious road sections in Spain
Image Source: Pixabay.com
