THERE is more to spiders and piles of dust that has accumulated through the years when you enter this abandoned building that has played a big role during the second World War on Tinian.
Driving by this abandoned two-storey building at the North Field of Saipan will give you the creeps, as though you can expect to see someone peering from one of those windows anytime but venturing inside is another story. The sun was fast making its way down the horizon when I and two friends from Tinian stepped into the cemented door of the building some weeks back.
Dodging cobwebs and spiders that scuttled off to safety upon our arrival, we stood for a few minutes just inside the door of the building, getting the feel of the place. My imagination was working wildly as we picked our way and explored the empty rooms, our footsteps echoing through the stairs and corridors.
Climbing the two flights of stairs to the second floor, we explored all the rooms, glorying in the silently eerie atmosphere that you can only get in abandoned buildings but without the fear of stepping into something that will send us falling into the ground below because the building, made of sturdy construction materials, holds the promise of staying around for the next century.
Used for inter-island communication by the Japanese during those years of war, the Radio Communication Building at the North Field of Tinian was recently used by a ranch as a slaughterhouse but abandoned it later.
I imagined how those now-empty rooms served a big role during the war, bustling with activities as soldiers manned various equipment and communication tools for sending important messages from and to Tinian.
Light pouring through the huge open windows of the building serves as natural light to guide the tourists and locals who visit the place.
So rich in history, the Radio Communication Building is among the most-visited tourist attractions on Tinian, drawing hundreds of visitors from all parts of the world each year.
