Where the residents have been spirited away? (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
ghost town
'where the residents have been spirited away?' is the definition.
The answer is a location as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'where the residents have' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
'have' could be 'own' (to have something is to own it) and 'own' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'ghost' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ghost town that I've seen before include "There's nobody in it" , "Old settlement, now deserted" , "Haunted" , "Empty place" , "abandoned position" .)