The spirit of 'dark castle' shines

Khara-Khoto, aka the 'black city', is a ghost town haunted by history. Its ruins bear testimony to life and death in the desert, and commerce and conflict along the Silk Road, Erik Nilsson reports.

The dead city of Khara-Khoto's legacy lives on in the Gobi. So, too, do its ghosts, according to - and certainly in - local legend.

They're said to stalk the desert garrison's ruins - remnants that are literally shaped by the sands of time.