Villa Epecuén was a tourist village in

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

, Argentina, on the eastern shore of Laguna Epecuén, about north of the city of

Carhué Carhué is an Argentine town in the Province of Buenos Aires, head of the Municipality (Partido) of Adolfo Alsina. Carhué is to the west of the city of La Plata and from Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Auto ...

. Developed in the early 1920s, Epecuén was accessible from

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

by train. The

Sarmiento Railway The Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Railway (FCDFS) (Spanish: Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento), named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, is one of the six state-owned Argentina, Ar ...

line served Villa Epecuén station, while the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

and the

Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway The Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (BAGS) () was one of the ''Big Four'' Indian gauge, broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company was founded by Edward Lumb in 1862 and the f ...

carried passengers to nearby Carhué station. Tourism was developed by an Englishman after taking the land on lease. He marketed the lake as having healing properties, hiring Italian scientists to bolster the claim. At its height, Villa Epecuén could accommodate at least 5,000 visitors. On 6 November 1985, a

seiche A seiche ( ) is a standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, swimming pools, bays, harbors, caves, and seas. The key requirement for formatio ...

, caused by a rare weather pattern, broke a nearby dam, and then the dike protecting the village; the water rose progressively, reaching a peak of . The village became uninhabitable and was never rebuilt. Many of the ruins are covered by a layer of white and grey

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

. At the time, there were up to 280 businesses in Epecuén, including lodges, guesthouses, hotels, and businesses that 25,000 tourists visited between November and March, from the 1950s to the 1970s. The town reached a population of 1,500 inhabitants at its peak. Until 2024 it had one resident, Pablo Novak, born in 1930, who returned to his home in 2009 when the waters receded after covering the town for 25 years. ''Pablo's Villa'', a 2013 documentary, chronicles the life of the town and of Novak. He remained living in the ruins of Epecuén until his death on 22 January 2024, after which Villa Epecuén was officially declared a deserted village. The town has been featured in the TV shows ''Abandoned Engineering'' (season 4, episode 1), and ''Mysteries of the Abandoned'' (season 4, episode 1). It was used as a location in the 2010 film '' And Soon the Darkness'', starring

Amber Heard Amber Laura Heard (born April 22, 1986) is an American actress. She had her first leading role in the horror film '' All the Boys Love Mandy Lane'' (2006), and went on to star in films such as '' The Ward'' (2010), '' Drive Angry'' (2011), and ...

and

Karl Urban Karl-Heinz Urban (born 7 June 1972) is a New Zealand actor. His career began with appearances in New Zealand films and television series such as '' Xena: Warrior Princess''. His first Hollywood role was in the 2002 horror film ''Ghost Ship''. ...

. The city features as the backdrop to one of

Danny MacAskill Daniel MacAskill (born 23 December 1985) is a Scottish trials cyclist, from Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. He works professionally as a street trials and mountain bike rider for Santa Cruz Bicycles. His YouTube channel has more than half a m ...

's street trials cycling videos.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
A familiar of Pablo Novak decided to found a club in Buenos Aires in his honour, called "Villa Pablo Fc".

References

External links

*
The Town That Spent 25 Years Underwater
, Messy Nessy Chic, 22 December 2017 *
Argentina's underwater town that was submerged for 30 years
, BBC News, 11 November 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Villa Epecuen Adolfo Alsina Partido Buildings and structures in Buenos Aires Province Dam failures in South America Dam failures Defunct resorts Environmental disaster ghost towns Floods in Argentina Ghost towns in South America Modern ruins Submerged places 1985 disasters in Argentina 20th-century floods in South America 1980s floods 1985 natural disasters