REVEALED: The British-built ghost town situated in the jungle where clocks stop at same time

The Serra do Mar mountains blocked efficient transport of coffee from São Paulo's interior to the coastal port of Santos.

British engineers, administrators and skilled workers established this company town to operate a modern rail system complete with a funicular designed to haul Brazil's most lucrative export down the mountainside.

The settlement provided housing, schools and clubs for its mixed workforce of British and Brazilian labourers.

When British operations wound down during the 1950s railway decline, they departed leaving behind tunnels, workshops and an iconic timepiece that would never function properly again.

The village retains its original Victorian character through wooden dwellings, narrow lanes and railway infrastructure from the era of British management.

A clock tower modelled on Big Ben dominates the settlement, its four faces permanently stuck at 11.47.

Every attempt to repair the mechanism since 1932 has failed, whether through mechanical restoration, digital conversion or satellite synchronisation.

That year, the tower's keeper, Alistair McBride, took his own life following the loss of his family in a landslide.

Approximately 1,000 residents now inhabit this fog-shrouded community surrounded by crumbling structures.

The village harbours numerous tales of supernatural activity rooted in genuine tragedy.

In 1902, Lídia Makinson Fox barricaded herself with her children in an attic during a yellow fever epidemic, all three perishing before assistance arrived.

Her brass handbell, now displayed under glass, has reportedly sounded 19 times on its own before dawn.

Eight railway workers died in October 1921 when a steel cable failed, sending Car Number 7 into a ravine.

The Bride of the Mist legend tells of a young woman who leapt from Grota Funda Bridge on her wedding day after her groom was prevented from attending.

A 1954 derailment in the 1.2-kilometre Soul Tunnel claimed a dozen more lives.

On 17 October 2021, marking one hundred years since the funicular disaster, residents reported an extraordinary convergence of phenomena.

The brass bell rang its familiar pattern while the cable at Plane 3 shifted without explanation.

Lanterns illuminated the tunnel interior and the frozen clock tower produced a single chime despite having no functioning mechanism.

Moments later, power failed across the entire settlement.

Every device capable of displaying time showed 11:47 for sixty seconds before returning to normal.

The village continues welcoming tourists, particularly during its winter festival, though locals caution that Paranapiacaba operates according to its own peculiar schedule.