I was just reading a thread about the Winnipeg Arena coming down and it got me wondering.....Is anybody here into exploring old, unused, empty buildings?

I'm into a hobby that is affectionately known as Urban Exploration (www.uer.ca) Basically it is the exploration, documentation and study of old unused empty buildings. The buildings can be anything from houses, farm buildings, factories, warehouses or any other type of structure.

A couple fella's from Toronto came up with the name as far as I know. It is also sometimes refered to as Infiltration (www.infiltration.org)

The websites that I have provided list countless locations all over the world that have been explored, documented and studied.

Just thought I'd ask and see what people's responses are.

 

they had a family on TV the other night that bought in old pants factory and turned it into a home, talk about space and hardwood floors everywhere.

 

most places i know of its tresspassing if caught, but besides that(i never care THAT much about laws!) i have done it a couple of times with some friends more out of curisity to see if there was anything in them than out of hobby.

 

Tresspassing is an issue to be aware of but don't let it stop you.

 

David Kohrman has done a bunch of just that in Detroit, here is a link to his site: http://www.forgottendetroit.com/index.html

 

[QUOTE=Crash687]David Kohrman has done a bunch of just that in Detroit, here is a link to his site: http://www.forgottendetroit.com/index.html[/QUOTE]

He didn't get shot or stabbed?

I've been in a few abandoned or almost abandoned buildings in Detroit.

Once I went into one, Had a group of guys in the stairwell, "What you doin here white boy?" I said "Leaving" turned around and walked out. We've got sites on three abandoned buildings, and they are all no night visit sites for a reason.

 

I explore outbuildings in the country.


this site might intrest you
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter1.html

 

http://www.actionsquad.org/

This is the local Urban Explorers in the Twin Cities area. Its a really interesting site and a good read.

Kiddofspeed is a great site too. Its kinda scary to think what happened there.

 

I liked exploring abandoned houses when I found one in the woods (I usually had a gun by the way). But those names just kind of sound like someone wants to be a super-hero, or the A-team .

I just don't get going into some dangerous down town areas, and explore buildings with no kind of security. But I didn't grow up in town so.

 

UEin' is a team sport....there's safety in numbers when you're faced with dogs, squatters, security guards etc.

 

the fisher body building is interesting

 

When I was ~17, I and some buddies were erring around downtown of a big city when we got the idea to "visit" an old abandoned hotel that was all boarded up. We found a rear second story window that wasn't boarded, piled up some junk, and climbed in. The bar and the restaurnt were sitting there just like the day they closed it - still beer glasses lined up on the shelf behind the bar, like they were waiting for someone.

Then we wandered up into the rooms - and found filthy mattreses on the floor, liquor bottles, needles - realized what we had stumbled upon, and got out of there quick.

Seeing the depravity in which some people live cured us of the desire to visit anymore old abandoned buildings in the city.

 

I love to go into old buildings and houses just to see how they were put together.
I don't go into old abandon buildings at night.

 

Studying the architecture and the details of it's construction are what draw many people to Urban Exploration. Also if you're a history buff and want to look at the ways people used to live and work UE can be interesting.

 

Dunno what might be left of it now, but in the seventies there was the remains of a building that had kind of got lost in the woods near Warwick Towers on University avenue in the Wheaton Maryland area.

Not much left but the basement and half of the main floor. Some people called it a "Toy Factory" but I think that was wishful thinking, we never did find out what it used to be.

In front of my house in TN on the neighbors land is a big round foundation that we have determined used to be a grain silo left over from the original farm that once covered hundreds of acres. Poppa Don said that if the silo was here, the headquarters of the farm was right nearby.

Also of interest is an old road that runs right down one of my property lines. The story on it, is that it used to be called "Wire Road" because the old telegraph line ran along it. During the civil war troops would have followed it from one town to the next. There is only about a hundred feet of it here, but a quarter mile away you can see where it continued on into the woods to what used to be the town of Barton.

On Miramar MCAS near the main gate is a large park and picnic area.

If you look at the concrete of the covered picnic areas, and the basketball court - you can see that they used to be the foundations of old buildings. Possibly the original barracks and headquarters, or maybe even the original O-club. To the south of the B-ball court is a slab that appears to have the outline of a fountain in it....