Urban Explorers Share Their Biggest 'F*** This, I'm Out' Experience While Exploring An Abandoned Building
Show me the exit!
It's as if nobody has ever watched the Halloween or Freddy horror franchises. You NEVER go into the abandoned house or building in your neighborhood. You especially steer clear if the place has a history of mayhem and murder. The darkness in the corners of those abandoned buildings still has evil. I know of what I speak. Why do we feel so tempted to explore the darkest, possibly most dangerous places? People need better hobbies. Ghosts are real and serial killers are lurking.... spread the word.
Redditor u/Inertia_Comrade wanted to hear about the times when some people found themselves in the middle of a little too much adventure by asking.... People who like to explore abandoned buildings. What was the biggest "f**k this, I'm out" moment you had while exploring?A Warning
Im Out GIF by The BachelorGiphyWell, a homeless guy with a knife said I shouldn't be here, I agreed.
In Pitch Black
A group of us went into an old abandoned care home. (We got in legally). It was pitch black and I mean the type of darkness where you cannot see you hand in front of your face even when you let your eyes adjust. Fortunately we had a few light sources with us. After walking around and finding copious amounts of evidence that there was squatters staying there (not at the time of our arrival thank god).
We found ourselves standing in a room filled with graffiti but not graffiti from a paint can. This was spelled in dried blood and excrement. The stench was horrendous. We got out of there so quick and have never been back since.
"prove my story"
Broke into an abandoned house in the village I grew up in in England back when I was a teenager, maybe 15 year ago now.
Was with a couple friends but broke off by myself and ventured upstairs, when I turned at the top of the stairs I saw a figure standing in the darkness just staring at me.
I bolted out of the building as quickly as I could and my friends heard me and panicked, they weren't far behind. Went back there a couple of weeks later with a bigger group to "prove my story" and to my embarrassment.. it was a tall mirror at the top of the stairs, the figure I saw was me. Not my proudest moment.
The Vapors
dickanddom indabungalow GIF by CBBCGiphyFound a bottle of some liquid in an abandoned drive in theatre building. Knocked it over and the concrete starting smoking and we got nosebleeds instantly. Still no clue what it was but we got the hell out.
When Trespassing....
I used to walk around an abandoned building near a forest which was initially a child hospital in the 70s, a refugee housing in the 90s and a language school for Chinese students till 2007. Since then it's abandoned. The students left quite suddenly, so I found diaries, certificates and even food. It was interesting since the place was not vandalized at that time. Once I was inside the building again when I realized someone else was walking upstairs.
I never left this place so fast, jumped over the gate and headed to my car. When I reached there, a police car stopped in front of the building and the two officers jumped over the fence to enter the building. No idea what was there, but sometimes I wonder if I avoided more than just a report for trespassing.
Got you on Camera
Late to the party but used to work for a guy renovating houses. He'd buy dumps for like 5 to 10 thousand that had been abandoned for years, we'd fix them up, and he'd rent the houses out. His daughter would go to houses to take pictures after he bought them since he'd buy a lot of them site unseen because they were so cheap.
One house she went to take pictures at and she was kinda creeped out by the basement and did not want to go in. She just opened the door, leaned in, reached her arm out and took a picture. When her dad reviewed the pictures he saw a man standing in the basement about 5 feet from the camera staring directly into it.
In the Chapel....
Several years ago, a man was murdered in the city I was working in and parts of his body were turning up at various locations. I think his hand and foot had been found and a week had passed. I'm an architectural designer and I was surveying an abandoned chapel that was slated to be renovated into condos. It was apparent that homeless people had been squatting in the chapel but I wasn't sure how recently they had been there. When I went into the basement though, it was clear someone was either there or had just left based on the smell.
There were no lights due to the power being cut and I didn't stick around long enough to see if anyone was currently occupying the space.
Two days later someone reported that they found the torso and head of the murdered man in a building attached to the chapel. I had been too freaked out by the smell in the basement to continue on to the attached building. But I'm almost certain I would have been the one to find the body.
finding the dead.....
schitts creek no GIF by CBCGiphyFound a dead deer on top of an old grain mill. All of the stairs were removed so people couldn't climb them. Getting up there is hard enough without carrying a deer carcass on your shoulders. I think about it all the time lol.
I can Explain....
Got busted by a soldier who told me, rather calmly, that the spot was used for training with real bullets and that I'd better get out of here before he drags my butt to the cops.
The guy was really nice, took the time to explain why it was dangerous, and send me on my way. I didn't insist
Weirdest part is we explored for one or two hours before getting busted and met no one. We weren't hiding or anything.
Piggy? Is that You?
scene ms GIFGiphyFound what looked like the remains of a pig and it was wearing lingerie.
Danvers
Danvers State Mental hospital. Stumbling across an overgrown graveyard full of tiny little headstones with nothing but patient numbers - no names, no dates. The overwhelming inhumanity that all of those nameless graves represented hit me at once. I'm not easily frightened, and exploring an abandoned mental institution in the middle of the night had been an exciting adventure until that discovery. Even then, I wasn't afraid. Deeply saddened and nauseated, I lost my curiosity. I felt ashamed to be intruding on a space that had seen levels of human cruelty and suffering far beyond what I could ever imagine so I left and never went back.
Abandon the plan...
Exploring an abandoned prison part of the ceiling collapsed. It didn't hit me but it was close enough to knock me over. I fell on an old needle. I got tested to make sure I didn't get anything from it but it scared me enough to stay away from abandoned buildings to this day.
The Squatter
Scared Asustad GIFGiphyMy friends and I went into the Gibraltar Mansion in Wilmington, DE. It was cool until we came across a room with and older man squatting in it. He was terrified of us and we felt pretty horrible, so we left after apologizing.
Edit: Squatting is a term meaning living somewhere illegally. The confusion this caused is absolutely hilarious though.
In the Coffin
There was a coffin, a real coffin. We were in an abandoned factory that some rich family had owned, and there was this one room with a bunch of personal stuff, letters from the fifties, furniture, old photographs, clothes, even booze, like someone's home had been put in there. In the middle of it all a coffin. I swear. The room was gloomy, it was a late summer afternoon, no power and we didn't have flashlights.
My friend was like "we gotta open this coffin, we can't leave unless we do, we gotta" and straight up lifted the lid. A sweet smell came from the darkness. When my grandmother died I was the one to find the corpse and I remember that one quite well. So my heart skipped a couple of beats. The coffin was full of candles. They had a sweet smell.
Exploring can be an Issue...
Exploring an abandoned manor with some friends. We had been drinking and thought it would be cool. The ground floor entrances were covered with bricks so we had to enter through the first floor (~8 ft height) using an improvised ladder made of old trash and wood pieces. It was quite unstable and hard to climb and we were 5 or 6 people. Being the only way out, and knowing how slow it was, I was on edge the whole time.
We were exploring the floor, cool glass ceiling, lots of debris, but suddenly we find a room filled with plastic containers with pink and brown liquids... Some friends decide to explore the ground floor, which was pitch black and involved going down a broken staircase missing several steps. They heard someone coughing in the dark and feel several people moving in the darkness as their eyes get used to it.
At this point I was hearing someone slowly walking in a room on the first floor, carefully stepping over the broken glass on the floor (to not make noise) which was really creepy. We got the hell away and on our way out we saw a roughed up man with bloodshot eyes leaving a shack outside the house and staring at us. I still shiver when I remember his look. Probably just some junkies living there but for overly high 15 year olds it was scary as hell.
Into the Woods
revenge running GIF by HULUGiphyAs 12 year old kids, we were exploring the woods as kids do.
The forest parted to an open field and in the distance was an abandoned farm. Naturally we crept inside and in one of the horse stalls were all discarded hypodermic needles and old food. Our parents were quite mad when we told them what we found.
Bats Away
Wow, I can't believe I have a place to tell this story. When I was in middle school we went upstate in the summer. There was an abandoned house in the woods we explored. Top floor was pretty pristine - the beds were made and drawers/closets shut with stuff neatly arranged inside. There were bats.
The lower you went the more disordered. The basement/garage was in complete disarray. Books and random crap thrown around. Beer cans and used condoms. We went to the far end of the house where the wall partially collapsed and that's when we saw the bear. Foolishly ran with all our might. Thankfully the house between us and bear's lack of interest is why I'm typing this.
Center of the City
There's a big abandoned factory near the center of our city that teens regularly visit. My friend was telling me a story about how she and a group of friends were walking around the ground floor (almost pitch black in places) when they saw a lone chair in the middle of a big room.
They started joking about how it looked like the type of place a kidnapper would tie a victim up, when in the distance they heard glass being smashed. They all took one look at each other, turned around and got the hell out of dodge, scared it was someone trying to escape.
Cursed
Exploring an old trailer that had been left abandoned for years, I found a little stone statue of Jesus at the base of a large, dead tree. I squat down and touched it, causing it to instantly crumble from the pressure. Felt like I'd activated some ancient curse.
Teenagers
texting teenagers GIF by A24GiphyUsed to break into this old abandoned children's hospital with some friends when we were teens.
One time (I think perhaps the last time) there was a fresh, child-sized hand print in the dust on a wall, and what seemed like blood droplets/spray nearby.
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Teenagers living in small towns without a ton to do all share one distinct quality: they love abandoned buildings.
16-year-old punks also carry another key trait. They are bold as hell. Combine those two and scary things will come their way.
Now, those same teenagers have become slightly more fearful adults, and can look back on those experiences from behind the comfort of their computer, understanding how dumb and risky they were.
But the adolescent feeling of assumed invincibility sure makes for some good stories.
u/Halyndon asked, "Urban Explorers: What is the creepiest 'We're not alone' experience(s) you've had?"
Thanks for Cleaning the Place Up
So there's a moderately well-known abandoned mental hospital close to my town, a few months back a few friends and I went to explore a bit.
We found this setup of a few folding chairs and a couple of old mattresses with blankets and whatever else you'd imagine on them. We chilled there for about 10 minutes and then went on with our adventure upwards.
When we were coming back down we passed through the room and all the chairs were folded up and neatly stacked against the wall and the beds were made.
Those Eyes
The area I'm currently in is a touristy beach place so being winter it's completely devoid of life, there's a lot of apartments/hotels around that are just shells, no windows or doors.
I was walking past one such building when I felt like I was being watched, I looked up and around but I couldn't hear or see anything.
Suddenly every single dog around just went crazy barking, like dead silence to deafening barking in a second. Made me jump 10ft, looked up and on the 3rd floor of a apartment that got no windows or doors put in yet is a single dog just staring at me.
Doesn't Have to be Supernatural
So I take a lot of time lapses of nature and stuff. I found a lake that seemed like a cool spot to shoot and set up.
About 20 minutes in I hear a noise and sure enough a drone is right above me just hovering. It freaked me out so I booked it out of there.
A Whole Grain Nightmare
There's an old flour mill on Harbor Island, in Seattle. It's been abandoned and locked up for awhile.
Inside this flour mill we're working our through some of the regular block areas, and our buddy swears he heard something. We all stop dead in our tracks, lights pointed down, just listening.
Then I start to hear it, it was shuffling, with the sound of somebody dragging something across concrete.
One of my other friends, looking back down the factory area we came through gets startled and yells "F*CK" at the sound of stepping on a water bottle. We immediately heard the most chilling, deep, scream.
Hell of a Way to Teach a Lesson
My house has a double door / split door, so the top can open independently of the bottom. I often leave the top open when the weather's nice.
It's nighttime, I'm reading, and the door's more or less directly in front of me.
Then my eyes or brain recognizes it: the outline of a hoodie, drawstrings, hood up. In that instant I am frozen and my heart is pounding--someone is literally standing right there, hood up, holding my door open.
I can't see his face, but he sees me noticing because he says, "You should keep your doors locked." MOTHERFU**ING WHAT?
In Their Sights
I explored part of an old Nike or Atlas missile site one night with a few friends. As we were leaving, someone started shining a laser pointer at us from the woods.
I still wonder if it was just a laser pointer and not a laser sight instead.
Only Minutes Ago
There was a decommissioned Naval Base in the town I grew up in. We used to sneak into the old barracks and one time i turned the corner into the hallway and found a lit cigarette on the ground.
There was nobody around from what I could see or hear. We noped the f*ck out pretty shortly after that.
Maybe Time to Cut Your Losses
My friends and I explored an abandoned psych hospital in Suffolk County, Long Island. After checking out the building with the cafeteria and bowling alley, we decided to leave by exiting through the patient room window that we entered in.
I realized I had left my flashlight back in an adjacent patient room.
When I went to the other patient room to retrieve it, I noticed that the door was closed and a light flicker was occurring on the other side of it.
"Guys I'm No Detective But We Are Screwed"
I was exploring an abandoned rehab near my house with two of my friends and it had just freshly snowed, literally while we were exploring.
I was approaching one building there when I looked down and saw a very large set of obviously men's footprints in the snow, heading into the building.
We never saw anyone but I haven't been back since, it creeped me out far too much.
Bad Time for Cults
When I was in high school, my girlfriend live in Topanga Canyon. One night I was leaving her house and I had to walk down the "road" to get to my car.
I get to my car and get in, it's pitch black. I sit there for a moment and before I turn my car on, I hear a noise. I switch on my headlights and drive the rest of the way down the hill.
That's when I saw them. As I turned onto a wider road, I see two people with black cloths draped over their entire bodies, no shoes, walking slowly down the road in the direction I'm driving. The cloths must have been velvet or similar, because they were pitch black even as my headlights passed across.
Just a Couple Nerds With Their Wires
I was on the other end of this.
There was an abandoned nunnery on the coast behind a suburban development, a very creepy but beautiful place. It had an entirely stone chapel, and any sound you made inside had true reverb- an echo a second long almost.
I brought a friend in to make some recordings in the dead of night, as we're leaving a group of laughing neighborhood kids came in on us crouched in the dark over a bunch of electronics. They ran faster than I've seen anyone run before.
At Least He Grooms
My friends and I were exploring an abandoned restaurant in this beach town one winter night.
We wander into this room off one of the hallways, and shine our flashlight in the corner, and we see an unmade bed / cot, with all of the trappings of someone currently living there (a safety razor next to the mirror, random other belongings).
It's Always a Cat
I was at an abandoned medical school in a pretty bad city with my friend.
We were then in this room and heard a louder noise and look over to see a cat just chillin'. We assumed it was a stray and wanted to get it help, so we agreed that if it followed us out we'll take it somewhere or to someone who will care for it.
Then this like 6ft+ dude walked out and yelled at me "Yall f*ckin wit my cat?"
Gotta Occupy Yourself SOMEHOW When You're Alone in 40 Acres
There's this building in my city that has been abandoned for over a decade. The building itself covers over 40 acres so it's pretty well know by explorers.
We come across this section of the building that was a large outdoor amphitheater. We walked down to the center and went up to the boarded up windows, and ever so faintly on the other side of the wood you could hear someone talking.. to themselves...
Guy Was Just Tryin' to Sleep
I spent 2004-2009 living in a dilapidated warehouse that had a space over it converted into an apartment.
A buddy of mine and I were discussing how the place smelled and was haunted when something shattered on the wall near us.
We were seriously startled and contemplating what it could have been when when someone shouts "Shut the f*ck up!" and there's a homeless man throwing what I assume is a second bottle at us from across the space.
Not That Creepy, But Certainly Illegal
I decided to climb a tree with a friend in the middle of a large college campus at 2am. Then a car pulled up and parked nearly right below us.
One guy gets out. Driver stays put with the engine running. 5 minutes pass.
A whistle comes from behind a nearby building. And one is returned from the guy below us.
A few minutes later someone walks up. There's a short exchange, we can hear and see everything. The guy walks away and the car leaves.
Technically those guys should have felt "not alone", but instead we did for weeks.
A Friendly Ghost
Definitely not urban, and more sweet than scary. I was once camping in the desert, at least 30 miles in every direction from any human settlements.
When I woke up, there was a full, cold, 5-gallon jug of water outside my tent.