Urban Exploration Thread / Abandoned Buildings Autists - Homeless tent city not included

[AF 802]

What's the most fascinating urbex blog/video/picture gallery you've seen online, or have you done an urbex session yourself?

I've been really getting into videos of abandoned malls and big box retail recently, seeing a trend that was once was big, now on the edge of losing people to online. One of these channels, This is Dan Bell, takes a pretty in depth look into these malls.

My favorite is the Rolling Acres Mall video, where the police in Akron caught him and his friend inside the mall. He didn't get arrested, just got escorted out:

 

[Rumpled Foreskin]

I used to do this shit when I was younger. It’s extraordinarily dangerous, but very fun and interesting. These dipshits going into abandoned malls and stuff, though? That’s fucking stupid; Pick an abandoned mental institution or something.

 

[AF 802]

I used to do this shit when I was younger. It’s extraordinarily dangerous, but very fun and interesting. These dipshits going into abandoned malls and stuff, though? That’s fucking stupid; Pick an abandoned mental institution or something.

Those definitely are interesting, too.

But yeah, it's dumb to go into abandoned malls and places like that. Most of the abandoned mall ones I've seen are not actually "abandoned" per se, but very close to it (i.e. ~80%-90% vacancy).

 

[Rumpled Foreskin]

Those definitely are interesting, too.

But yeah, it's dumb to go into abandoned malls and places like that. Most of the abandoned mall ones I've seen are not actually "abandoned" per se, but very close to it (i.e. ~80%-90% vacancy).

It’s dumb to go into any abandoned place, if you’re not properly prepared. Not only do you have to worried about drugged up and crazy homeless people, the current state of the building (structural integrity and shit like asbestos, etc.) is also something you have to worry about.

 

[Lunete]

I'm fascinated with ghost towns and abandoned amusement parks.

 

[snuffleupagus]

I’ve done some urban/abandoned exploration but don’t have a ton of pictures since most of my exploits was pre cell phone era.

I do have a few pictures of a Rockefeller estate in NC that I’d heard about via word of mouth. It’s on a military installation but the gate was not secured so we just drove on in. We were driving down this heavily rutted dirt road in the middle of the woods. It was difficult because I was trying to avoid enormous washouts while simultaneously searching pine tree trunks for faded spray painted arrows directing us to this location I’d “heard tell” about. As I was taking a curve a convoy of military trucks came driving past and I just knew we were fucked as civilians in a training area on a closed military installation.

Thankfully the soldiers just waved as they passed us but we sat there in a nervous panic trying to figure out if we should try to find a way to turn my car around on this dirt road from hell and leave or just keep going. We eventually chose to keep going, not because we were brave but because I couldn’t turn my car around safely. I was fully determined the chicken shit my way out of there as soon as I could get turned around and then we saw the polo barn and we were like nope we’re staying here because this is bad fucking ass.



I backed my car far far up in the trees and brush to try and conceal it in case MPs came looking and we jumped out to explore. It was pretty awesome. We climbed through the polo barn for a good hour before we decided to move on to find more of the buildings.





I wish I had more pictures of the rest of the grounds but they’re not easily accessible from my phone. I do have a few pictures of what I think was the hunting lodge though.









We looked through so many cool buildings, most of them were crumbling and falling apart and because the military base does a lot of urban combat training there they were even more torn up. There was graffiti and trash everywhere from punk ass fuckers exploring and the main house/lodge was burned down several years back by some douche canoes.

We had a blast and went back a few years ago when we were in the area. We didn’t get a mile down the road when some military guys came up in a humvee and waved us down. They warned that MPs were cracking down on civilians exploring the estate because there had been a recent incident and suggested we turn around. So we did. It’s a bummer, there’s an awesome lake and dam that we swam at the first time and this amazing golf course out there. Apparently it was designed by some premier golf course designer and a bunch of golf enthusiasts are foaming at the mouth over its lack of maintenance and because of it’s historical significance. Actually the whole place should be on some kind of protected list but it’s too far gone for restoration which is a huge pity.

 

[snuffleupagus]

Here’s some more from a trip to Nevada. The pictures with buildings are from a failed mining town called Candelaria. I can’t remember the name of the other ghost town but there wasn’t much left besides a nifty wall, stumps, and debris. It was insanely beautiful out there in Nevada.

Spoiler: Nevada Ghost Towns

I worked in Nevada for a month and a half and every minute I had off was spent exploring. I have a pretty hard rule about going off on my own, and give multiple people my location and post a check in with map on social media in case I go missing. So I’d check in with coworkers before heading out and eventually a couple of them started tagging along because I was seeing so many cool sights. I found a hidden Nevada guide online and talked to locals for good places to check out, especially hot springs. And yes, I did drive past the clown motel and no, I did not stop.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

Finally, I have a place to put this link:
https://opacity.us/

This guy basically does this shit all over the world. He's even been to a place pretty close to me that I've always wanted to explore.

Edit:
Good to know he's still at it. He was pretty sparse with updates for a while.

 

[Cat Menagerie]

Picher, Oklahoma is one I'd been to many times, mostly before it was abandoned. The last time I was there was around 2011 or 2012, and the pharmacist was still there. He did not want to close up shop while there were even a few people around; he passed away a few years ago from a sudden illness. I stopped in briefly and had a short visit before heading out.

The town had to be abandoned due to high levels of lead and other heavy minerals due to mining practices. Lead poisoning was rampant in the city, over half the children had dangerously high levels. It's a fascinating place but obviously you have to be really careful, particularly on windy days when the toxic dust is blown around.

http://www.ghostsofnorthamerica.com/toxic-town-picher-oklahoma/

 

[Ryker]

Finally, I have a place to put this link:
https://opacity.us/

This guy basically does this shit all over the world. He's even been to a place pretty close to me that I've always wanted to explore.

Edit:
Good to know he's still at it. He was pretty sparse with updates for a while.

I've followed him for a long time, off and on. Amazing photographs.

Here are a few links I check in on from time to time....

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ghost-towns/
http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/
https://www.whateversleft.co.uk/
http://www.abandoned-places.com/

 

[The Shadow]

After the housing bubble burst in Cali we'd use the half finished tract homes as a place for suburban camping trips, complete with boozing and accidental pregnancies.

 

[Outer Party Member]

Nara Dreamland was a Japanese copy of Disneyland that opened in 1961, 22 years before Tokyo Disneyland, and closed in 2006. For 11 years, it was the top spot for urban explorers and adventurers. It was demolished 2016-17, and now is a senior citizen’s living center, a fitting end that reflects the aged and shrinking population.

I regret to have not learned about this place before it was too late. The photos are not mine.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

Nara Dreamland was a Japanese copy of Disneyland that opened in 1961, 22 years before Tokyo Disneyland, and closed in 2006. For 11 years, it was the top spot for urban explorers and adventurers. It was demolished 2016-17, and now is a senior citizen’s living center, a fitting end that reflects the aged and shrinking population.

I regret to have learned about this place before it was too late. The photos are not mine.

Nothing worse than a missed opportunity. The place I mention earlier ended up burning down before I was able to get in there.
5 alarm fire.
Good thing he got there first.

 

[snuffleupagus]

I don’t have any pictures of my trip to the Xanadu house in Kissimmee, FL but here’s a link with some decent (daylight even) pics. It looks all cleaned up and emptied out, it was not like that when I explored the place.

https://everchem.com/abandoned-spray-foam-house/

Here’s a video tour from 2005 and is basically what I got to experience.
https://youtu.be/KNl21ZX84-4

When I went there with a bunch of friends, we were planning to camp out and stay the night, but the plans changed quickly because it smelled horrible. It had basically been turned into a storage unit/homeless squat.

The mold in there was so bad, our eyes were burning and one of my friends started having trouble breathing after about half an hour of walking through and kicking up a bunch of dust and mold. She ended up heading outside to get some fresh air but quickly reappeared saying she heard footsteps and voices heading our way.

We’d already explored what there was to see and decided beat feet because we were nervous that whoever was squatting there was returning and would take issue with a bunch of teenaged sightseers.

The house was so cool in its heyday, it’s a pity it fell into disrepair like it did, but foam is not a good building material. I don’t know who thought it would work in a moist and humid climate like Florida. I heard the owners patched it up and put it on the market for some insane amount of money but it’s been torn down since. I haven’t been out that way in ages but I’m sure it’s a strip mall or some lure for tourists to spend some of that sweet Disney cash.

 

[Francis E. Dec Esc.]

http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/

This guy visits old fallout shelters and Nike SAM batteries in North Texas.

 

[Sam Losco]

I don't know if these guys are the most fascinating, but they are the only channel in this category I follow. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73dVtWf9mpjiWYkXyIlm7A/videos

They explore lots of abandoned places around the world.

Edit - Make sure you have subtitles on for English.

 

[dunbrine47]

I really should be following more urbex channels on Youtube but here are some of the more active ones I follow (besides Dan Bell):

^ The Proper People.

^ RnK All Day

^ BrightSunFilms (Associate of Dan Bell)
As a bonus here is another Urbexer I like but he is not as active as he used to be:

^ Lee Riley

@Cat Menagerie Was going to be near Pitcher for a road trip and tried to convince a trip mate to make a stop there, he was not impressed in the planning stages.

@Sam Losco One does not mention that channel without posting this:

 

[Yellow Shirt Guy]

The most autistic urban explorers are the kmart lovers, MY VIEWERS MY SUBSCRIBERS
Manny Qucaqioua

Wallieb26

Slightly remind me of elevator autists.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

I really should be following more urbex channels on Youtube but here are some of the more active ones I follow (besides Dan Bell):

^ The Proper People.

^ RnK All Day

^ BrightSunFilms (Associate of Dan Bell)
As a bonus here is another Urbexer I like but he is not as active as he used to be:

^ Lee Riley

Wow, I never even thought to look for YT channels on this subject...how do they avoid trespassing prosecution?

 

[Yellow Shirt Guy]

Wow, I never even thought to look for YT channels on this subject...how do they avoid trespassing prosecution?

Most of them justify by "it doesn't have a no trespassing or keep out sign"