These eerie images reveal the deserted remains of a city’s seedy underbelly once tied to notorious mobster Al Capone.
The stunning shots delve into the now abandoned and decaying heart of an Arkansas resort once frequented by Al Capone and his gangsters.
Tucked in a mountainous valley of the southern US city stands the thermal hot springs resort.
The location is a former hotbed of organized crime like gambling and prostitution that is now left to crumble into ruin.
Urban explorer Dax Ward, 37, was compelled to open a window into its forgotten remains, which include an old brothel and a haunted hotel.
Al Capone owned his own suite inside the Savoy Hotel, which was his favourite place to stay and is now said to be haunted
Maxine’s Bordello was often disguised as a club, and made use of the moniker ‘The Hot Springs Business Men’s Social Club’
The Dugan-Stuart building in Hot Springs, Arkansas was built in 1904 to house medical bultings and then later became a hotel
Notorious underworld figures such as Capone came to gamble, bathe in the natural springs and strike deals with bootleggers during the prohibition era.
Dax, who was born in Arkansas but now works as a teacher in Thailand’s Bangkok, said: ‘I was excited by the colorful history, and the fact it’s my home state.
‘The city was once a gambling, drinking and recovery mecca in the deep south – a sort of pre-Las Vegas -of the 1920’s.
‘Well-known gangsters like Al Capone, Lucy Luciano, and Bugsy Seigel were a regular presence in those times.
‘It was a neutral ground where mafia factions at ‘war’ in Chicago or New York could co-exist with relative peace and quiet.’
Maxine Jones once ran the most sought-after bordello in Arkansas before connections to organised crime landed her in gaol
Beneath the Dugan-Stuart building are underground tunnels that were used by Prohibition-era gangsters to hide from police
An Arkansas tour guide insists tthe Savoy Hotel is haunted, and that ‘full body apparitions’ appear at night and scare tourists
Among the dilapidated structures is the once booming bordello owned by Maxine Harris Jones, the walls now crumbling and daubed with graffiti.
The business, which operated from the 1940s to 1960s but is now used as a tavern, drew in high-flying clientele including doctors, politicians and underworld figures.
Another favourite for high-profile thugs was the Dugan Start building, which housed an underground bowling alley left waterlogged and riddled with decay.
Brave travellers can take ‘haunted’ tours of the Savoy Hotel, once a hotbed of organised crime and a favourite of Al Capone’s
America’s notable criminals would meet in the bowling alley, which was seen as neutral ground in the middle of the busy city
The scores of some Prohibition-era gangsters can still be seen on the wall of a bowling alley under the Dugan-Stuart building
The scoreboard contains Capone’s rumoured nom de guerre while he went on his leisure trips to the historic city.
So frequent were the Chicago mobster’s visit, he had his own suite, still known among some guests as ‘Al’s Suite’ in the nearby Arlington Hotel.
Also pictured is the spooky Savoy Hotel, which is said to be haunted and contains rooms with rusty baths and dust-caked kitchens.
Inside Maxine’s Bordello, where Maxine wrote in her memoir that she had ‘the prettiest girls in the country, high-class girls’
The Dugan-Stuart Alley (pictured) used to lead to the infamous basement bowling alley, which was seen as a neutral ground
For photographer Dax, who has unveiled a number of creepy abandoned sites throughout Thailand, it was an honour to delve into the history of his hometown in April this year.
Dax said: ‘Maxine entertained high-class clientele, including local businessmen, doctors, top state officials, congressmen, and prominent mobsters.
‘It sounds like it was a wild place. It’s certainly an ‘if these walls could talk’ sort of historic building, with a very colourful past.
‘The Dugan Stuart has this ornate, early 20th century architecture and design is still eye-catching, with mosaic tiles and D & S initials engraved into door handles.
‘The interior is reminiscent of the bustling 1940’s hotel that it once was. But much of it is lost, and all that remains of the underground bowling alley is the 90-year old scoreboard.
Maxine Jones paid $500 ‘entertainment tax’ to police each month to keep the brothel open, until police stopped taking bribes
The Dugan-Stuart building was abandoned in 1983, but original infrastructure remains including stairs, walls and windows
The Savoy Hotel is roumored to be haunted, with one story claiming that cold air always blows in through the hole in the door
‘The Savoy is said to be haunted and contains several rooms with old appliances and a beautiful wooden staircase in its heart.
‘I was given access by the owner’s to shoot these locations during a holiday.
‘It was like red-carpet treatment, and very different than many places I’ve shot in Thailand.
‘It was very special for me to be able to document some historical sites in the area where I am from.’