Al-Jazirah Al-Hamra, UAE

On the Persian Gulf coast, just south of Ras Al-Khaimah, sits a one-of-a-kind space-time anomaly: the abandoned settlement of Al-Jazirah Al-Hamra. It’s the only fully intact traditional pearling village left in the region, its houses built from coral stone. According to historical records, the residents moved to Abu Dhabi in 1968 after the pearling industry collapsed. Local legend, however, claims the town was seized by vengeful spirits—the djinn.

These days, superstitious locals treat Al-Jazirah Al-Hamra as strictly off-limits. The silence of the dead city is often shattered by eerie, unexplained sounds: hushed whispers, the echo of children’s laughter, phantom footsteps, and the unmistakable groan of heavy wooden doors that no longer swing on their hinges. Most visual phenomena cluster around the old mosque and defensive fort. Witnesses report roaming shadows, half-transparent figures standing in doorways, and glowing red eyes that flare up in the darkness. One well-documented incident tells of a researcher who stepped across the ruins’ boundary only to watch a clear summer sky turn black as an unnatural, vicious downpour hammered the ground—a sight taken as a direct act of aggression by the djinn.

In Bedouin demonology, empty homes become reservoirs for earthbound demons known as the Kings of the Earth. The most feared among them is Umm Al-Duwais, a shape-shifting djinniya. She appears after dark to lone men as a stunning woman in a black abaya, her arrival heralded by a heady, suffocating mix of expensive perfume and sweet jasmine. When the spellbound man draws near, the illusion breaks: her legs end in goat hooves, her golden bangles turn into razor-sharp sickles, and her face becomes a smooth, wax-like death mask with eyes blazing red. After she strikes, no blood and no body remain—only footprints in the sand.

For centuries Bedouins have relied on intricate magic to keep such entities at bay. Their strongest defense is the hajab, a triangular paper charm sewn into leather or cloth and inscribed with Qur’anic verses. They also wear silver breast pendants called samt, whose inner surface bears a tiny engraving of a shackled demon. If someone has already fallen prey to djinn, healers turn to musical exorcism, the qatur rite (burning a thread from the clothing of the envious), and cleansing homes with smoke from fresh pomegranate or mastic leaves—scents the spirits can’t abide.

From 100 Cursed Places · Fern Flower Press