Vilarinho da Furna, in the municipality of Terras de Bouro in the Braga district, in northern Portugal, was an old village that was erased from the map in 1972 by the construction of a nearby dam. A reservoir up on the River Homem was filled and Vilarinho da Furna went down underwater, but not for eternity. Once in a while, when the water level of the reservoir falls below a certain level, the ghostly buildings of a once flourishing village emerges.

Vilarinho da Furna’s death was sudden, but the writing was on the walls for nearly two decades. It’s the same old story—Big corporation wants land for a big project; big corporation drives people out; big corporation demolishes people’s homes. The big corporation in this case was the Portuguese Electricity Company, and the big project was a 125 MW hydroelectric dam.

Photo credit: www.cm-terrasdebouro.pt