Eerie Photos Inside Pablo Escobar’s Legendary Abandoned Estate
If there’s anything spookier than the decaying ruins of an old mansion, it’s one with a sinister history, and Pablo Escobar’s Colombian pad is among the more notorious of them. You see, the sprawling estate on which it sits was a tribute to the drug lord’s vanity before his deadly encounter with the law. But that’s just scratching the surface of the bizarre story behind this fascinating property.
No limitations
It’s no secret that Escobar earned his money as a cocaine baron, running drugs and reaping a fortune. At the height of his operations he was earning so much, no luxury was out of reach. And of course, when there are no limitations things get downright strange. After all, only the most eccentric magnate would populate his estate with dangerous exotic animals such as hippopotamuses!
Weirder
Things got even weirder after Escobar’s death, when officials turned it into a popular family-friendly attraction, among other things. The cocaine lord’s once-opulent mansion, now a shell of its former self, overlooks everything from its place on the hill. It lures treasure seekers and urban explorers alike with its promise of wealth and adventure, and it’s a journey we’re going on together.
Sordid palace
Before we get ahead of ourselves, if you’ve never heard of Escobar before at least you now know why he’s infamous. He also ingratiated himself with the locals by using his questionably-acquired fortune to buy homes for the poor and get a seat in congress. But Escobar’s own mansion was the opposite side of the coin, a sordid cocaine den with the trappings of a palace.
No object
Escobar’s massive wealth was actually earned in the 1970s from the U.S. cocaine market, and while the saying goes that crime doesn’t pay, the drugs baron must have thought it did. He was earning millions a day after all, so money was literally no object. He was a billionaire and flaunted his wealth with an immense ranch called Hacienda Napoles, in between Colombia’s capital Bogota and the city of Medellin.
