Urban Exploration - The Gabriele House
We received photos from a traveler and compiled them into a historical summary.
The least I can say is that I didn't expect this at all. It was what we call a "map check." You spot on Google Maps that a building is isolated in the vegetation and no longer has a clear access road, so you go and see. A hit-or-miss approach. It’s often like that. Here, the forecast was for a massive ruin, or perhaps a construction project that was never finished.
On-site, the invisibility of the path is what surprises you most. In fact, it’s completely lost in the abundant nature of the Cévennes. And once you reach the front of the dwelling, you’re met with a literal deluge of brambles. I wandered the grounds and finally concluded: it’s a construction site abandoned a very long time ago. The estate is vast, chaotic, and confusing. Then, as a last resort, there was what looked like a house left to check.
And honestly, what a surprise. I was greeted by a disgusting, half-cadaverous "zombie baby." The house is in a state of total chaos, half-putrefied. It’s ultra-dark, ultra-dirty, ultra-grim (glauque). Yet, absolutely everything remains in this mess. Upstairs, the floors are being sucked into the void; they are in a state of catastrophic rot. It’s dangerous.
How long has this place been left to itself in such dreadful solitude? But it doesn't end there. My eyes were drawn upward. What on earth is that thing? Is it a completely moldy ham hock, or is it a dead rabbit or cat, totally hairless? I can make out eyes, ears, and severed paws; underneath lies a pair of rusted metal wire cutters. Okay, this place is pure horror.
This was the secondary residence of a German couple: Götz and Gabriele. He was born in April 1940 in Berlin; she was born in April 1950 in Munich. Neighbors mention that she is a Baroness, a theory strongly supported by her surname. While she still declared a German address in 1992, he listed a recurring address located in Arles. We also found an address in Les Vans.
As far back as we can trace, the house belonged to Julien DELENNE in 1966. He was in the timber transport business. Later, neighbors explained that the place was occupied by "soixante-huitards" (hippies/post-May '68 activists). There were many of them, and they began all sorts of renovations that were never completed. It was after this that the German couple moved in.
Numerous clues suggest the couple were restaurateurs in Arles, running "Au Bon Coin" at numbers 1 and 3 Rue de la Cure. The business was established in 1985 and ceased operations in 2007. Street View reveals an establishment in a state of complete abandonment in 2018.
It is impossible to determine the exact date of abandonment here. It likely occurred around 1998. The reason? They own several properties, and this one being very demanding in terms of maintenance, their age may have led to exhaustion—a conscious or unconscious decision to simply walk away.
