By Tim Binnall
Residents of a spooky-looking village in Turkey say that their tiny community has been wrongly deemed haunted by ghost hunters and paranormal thrill seekers who have recently begun visiting there in search of scares and spirits. At the center of the strange situation is the odd town of Lubbey, which reportedly once 'boasted' a population of 200 people before it was largely abandoned a few decades ago. As a result of the mass exodus, a mere eight people live in the village today and that minuscule number is actually something of a sign of growth as, prior to the pandemic, only five people called the community home. While one might think that this would make for a rather peaceful existence, an influx of ghost hunters has shattered any sense of tranquility in the town.
Blame for the their community's newly acquired creepy reputation, residents say, can be placed squarely on the shoulders of aspiring YouTube stars who often visit Lubbey and conduct 'paranormal investigations' in the various crumbling buildings which once bustled with activity. "They are shooting videos saying our village is haunted," lamented one denizen of the dilapidated community,"it would be better if they at least put a caption saying 'This is all fictitious'." To that end, residents of Lubbey insist that claims of ghostly happenings in the town are much ado about nothing and others who have visited the location seem to echo that assessment.
"Personally, I have not witnessed any paranormal events in the village," said traveler Suat Inan, who has spent some time in the town. He theorized that the decrepit buildings likely helped the fuel the rumors as "sometimes old rocks crumble and fall while people are visiting." While that may very well be the case, as any proprietor of a haunted location knows, shedding that chilling label can be particularly difficult, especially over time, which worries the people living in Lubbey. "We don't want people to be afraid of our village," declared one resident, who also lambasted the 'ghost hunters' for spray painting buildings and ruining the picturesque nature of the town's abandoned sites.
However, not everyone in Lubbey is against letting the outside world think that their village is haunted as some have argued that allowing the idea to take hold in the zeitgeist will encourage more tourists to visit their little community. "I am not sure if it is a good or a bad thing," mused one resident who is clearly torn on the issue, "because people are now talking about Lubbey due to this interest." If there is room for common ground, it may be in one concept which has been bandied about by the community as a way of having the best of both worlds: courting filmmakers who might want to use the largely abandoned village as a set for horror movies.