Influencers blamed for ruining ‘beautiful places’ as Welsh ‘cavern of lost souls’ is blighted by graffiti and litter

3 April 2024, 09:42 | Updated: 3 April 2024, 10:19

Influencers have been blamed for ‘ruining’ special places after volunteers spent two days cleaning out a Welsh cave blighted by rubbish, excrement and graffiti.

The Welsh cave, also known as the Cavern of Lost Souls, had been left in ‘a mess’ after a YouTube video of the spot went viral in 2019, amassing six million views.

Instagram opportunists began visiting the 19th Century slate mine near Corris Uchaf, Gwynedd in north Wales, to take photos for their social media profiles.

But the influx of visitors at the ‘car graveyard’, which contains mounds of rusting cars and televisions that were dumped there when it closed in the 70s, has left the selfie spot in a state.

Anthony Taylor, 42, from Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, blamed 'influencers' for ‘killing these special places’.

“They are beautiful places, and a lot of people don't want them to be ruined,” he told the BBC.

“Instagram seems to be the killer of a lot of things. People turn up, take a picture and then leave [a mess].”

Mr Taylor said the now-abandoned spot, which began mining in 1820, had been “destroyed” following the viral video.

“It’s just disgusting – really sad and disheartening.

“The people that go to these places, influencers they call themselves… they go because they've got inherent value to them. Why destroy it for everyone else?"

He said the route into the spot and the cave itself is covered in graffiti, littered with glow sticks, faeces, inflatable dinghies and discarded bin bags people have used to keep their feet dry.

Gaewern car cave clean up part 2

The main appeal of the selfie hotspot is due to the way the heap of old cars is illuminated when the sun creeps into the cave.

“How often do you see hundreds of cars underground with lights coming onto them from the sun?” Mr Taylor added.

On March 22, Mr Taylor said he and six other volunteers decided to carry out a huge clean-up of the cave, as he said “something had to be done”.

They spent two days clearing out the influencer hot spot, scrubbing spray paint from the walls and removing rubbish.

He estimated his group, and another from the YouTube channel Hell on Earth, removed a total of 30 dinghies from the cave.

Mr Taylor added: “If these things keep happening, it's going to be lost to everyone forever.”