A number of ghost suburbs dot the nation and I imagine visiting any one of them would be enough for my purposes. It’s only by chance that I come across an entry that considers the phenomenon as a whole while passing ‘Echo Field-’ the very first of its kind. Hector and I drive through and find it unwelcoming, but only so far as any suburb is unwelcome to strangers.
‘The oldest of the ghost suburbs tend to be a bit more run down than newer developments, in part because of neglect, sure, but mostly because they were built to be a little run down. The opinion, at the time, was that ghosts preferred a ruined aesthetic to anything that smacked of new life and the misconception nearly caused the whole idea to flop. Taking nearly a decade to fill, ‘Echo Springs’ and ‘Sweet Abyss’ were verifiable ghost towns (figuratively speaking), before newer, nicer ghost suburbs were established and demand outgrew development. ‘Springs’ and ‘Abyss’ were reframed as ‘playfully retro’ and the remaining units sold at twice the original asking price.
Recent legislation has paved the way for significant government subsidies in regards to the construction and purchase of ghost-adjacent housing units. Even those normally in opposition of generous housing subsidies have turned a blind-eye to this one. Aging, conservative lawmakers have championed the reform- in fact, most already have their eyes on a ‘retirement home.’’
-traveler
