In the heart of North Wales, a disused quarry known as the Cave of Lost Souls, has become a disturbing attraction: a graveyard of rusted cars, household appliances and other abandoned rubbish. The mine, active from the 1820s until its closure in 1970, was the Gaerwen slate quarry. Over time, following the flooding, it was transformed into an illegal waste dump, hence the suggestive nickname of “Car Cave”. Various videos are circulating online depicting vehicles piled up deep underground, in a dark, damp and dangerous environment. French explorer Gregory Rivolet described the experience as “surreal”underlining the unexpected vision of “a mountain of old cars”.
The easy way
In a way, the colorful history has made the place an attraction, even though the phenomenon of abandoned cars is widespread all over the world. One of the most striking cases that have emerged in the news in recent times concerns the thousand Chinese electric cars, left to fend for themselves. And there would be much more to say about the historic Alfa Romeos left in a landfill in Detroit. The reasons can be of various types. The prevailing one is economic in nature. For example, owners sometimes get rid of them because the costs are too high to allocate to repairs, overhauls and ordinary maintenance.
Especially for old vehicles or vehicles with many kilometers, the investment is not justified, so it comes to this measure, when they should actually be demolished. Although it involves a cost, bringing the machines to authorized centers is an act of civility, in favor of the environment, which has too often been tormented in the past. Yesterday, after all, we did not have the same wealth of knowledge as today and the excuses disappear. A second plausible explanation concerns issues of a legal or administrative nature: avoiding problems with registration or insurance, as well as the theft of cars or their arrival at the end of their life cycle.
Destination for influencers
The Welsh quarry has become a point of reference for influencers, attracted by its macabre beauty. They often feature it on social media, given the high response rate from users. However, curiosity, bordering on morbid, has caused a huge increase in the abandonment of waste, including inflatable boats used to navigate through the quarry. Speleologist Anthony Taylor has launched an appeal against this conduct, using strong words: “At the end of the day, it was just a sea of boats, dinghies everywhere. It’s just disgusting, really sad and disheartening. The reason people want to visit a place like this is because they saw it on the Internet and think, ‘It’s great to go see,’ so why ruin it?”.
Together with some colleagues he organized expeditions to clean up the space, with the removal of around 30 discarded inflatable boats. Furthermore, the area is not very safe for visitors, who enter without being properly prepared. Asked by BBC NewsGregory Rivolet warned against the dangers arising, defining the mine “very dangerous because it’s really unstable” and adding that “pieces of slate fell from above our heads”.
