Abandoned Stuff

[Sage]

So my friends and I drove through rain for like 2 and a half hours to get to this abandoned WWII air force base in the middle of nowhere, which had been abandoned in the 70s.

It was awesome. We went into this old power plant and wandered around in there; had to be careful because the catwalks overhead were in horrible shape (the floors in many of them were completely gone), and there was just amazing damage everywhere.

Went through a couple of the barracks buildings that were still standing; same deal. Had to be careful on the upper levels because of holes in the floor.

Amazing how much decay could manifest in only 30 years... but then, we have an absurd degree of variation in temperature. A range of 80 degrees Celsius would harm anything left to the elements, I guess.

But it gets better!

The runway was massive, and in really, really, really good shape. So we raced up and down it a few times and messed around drifting and stuff. I'm absolutely shocked at how good the condition of the runway is. Remember, 30 years without any maintenance whatsoever. And it's better than some of our highways. XD XD XD

Anyway, what are some neat abandoned places you guys have visited? Urban decay (or I guess the decay of anything man-made) really fascinates me.

[Ashe]

That sounds amazing. How the hell was that not locked up watched in some way to prevent people from doing what you did?

[Sage]

Well, the land was purchased by hog farmers a long time ago, so half the grounds have been converted into hog barns and stuff while the other half is more or less isolated and completely abandoned (although there was an obviously functional genset with a modern day battery attached to it just sitting there for some reason).

I guess the owners feel that what remains deserves to be explored; that history should be shared. Or maybe it's not that deep and they just don't care.

To their credit, a lot of the holes or busted catwalks were cordoned off or covered (and our crossing those ropes and such is our fault, innit?). Some places we just refused to go (like the basements which were pitch black and potentially - we really had no idea - flooded), because common sense indicated it was a bad idea.

And I really think that's what it boils down to; common sense. We took obvious risks doing what we did, and if something should have happened, we would have been held accountable.

I'm really not sure how to answer your question, though. Legal provisions require that buildings and whatnot accessible by the public be safe, but this is a derelict air force base. It's abandoned and not in use, and it isn't public property anymore. So I guess the law would hold us accountable in the event of an unfortunate event, and not the owner. It's not like he was hosting a tour.

[Cain]

Sounds like fun Sage.

[Vad]

Awesome man. Did you find anything cool?

[Ashe]

Sage: More what I meant was that I would expect (in America at least) them to have some type of sealed gate or something that you would have to jump and traverse on foot from the entrance. But then, I've also seen on TV where episodes happened where groups of random people would be using abandoned bases as shelter and such.

[Sage]

Awesome man. Did you find anything cool?

A couple straight six engines. One a Ford 402 diesel (401? can't remember), and a Detroit Diesel. They were huge. Like, half the size of my car. =/

Uh... beyond that... not really. It's not like the Air Force just vanished from the site. They took pretty much everything of worth with them. The base had a swimming pool which still smelled of chlorine despite how long it had been left alone (although we decided it might just be the mental association between pools and chlorine playing tricks on us). That was pretty cool.

There was a really beautiful fireplace just sitting on a concrete pad in the open. We assumed that the officer's quarters or something special like that had once housed the fireplace (which was really extravagant, and very large, much like one you might find at a high-end ski lodge).

There was also a big concrete ...something built into the ground which had no discernible point of access. It was very large and had a huge steam pipe going from it into some kind of service building, which was still in use. It was pumping water out into the field, so we can only assume that the hog farmers have converted it for some reason. It wasn't locked, but because it was also no longer abandoned, we didn't go in (though I wanted to anyway, my friends wouldn't let me).

@Ashe: You guys are litigation-crazy, though, and Americans are forced to go to outrageous lengths to protect themselves from being punished for the stupidity of others.

EDIT: Though I suspect if the military still owned the land, they would have gone to greater lengths to keep people off of it, abandoned or not.

[Waffuru]

This guy takes photos of urban decay if you're interested.

http://photos.dobi.nu/

[Ashe]

This guy takes photos of urban decay if you're interested.

http://photos.dobi.nu/

That was pretty cool. I used to explore abandoned mobile homes in this abandoned trailer park I lived in about ten years ago. Some stuff was kinda cool in them, but dangerous too. Never knew if someone else might randomly be in there too. I've also done it in the mountains and such. There's a few abandoned homes out on the river at this path people walk a lot, but they have a wooden fence in front of them so that you can see into them (and all the random magazines and other crap). You could easily just walk right over the broken fences into them, but its a bit more in public view and I don't think you are supposed to.

[Sage]

This guy takes photos of urban decay if you're interested.

http://photos.dobi.nu/

Cool!

Thanks.

Er, for reference, the airbase was... more... 'decay-ey' than the stuff I looked at on that site so far.

[Waffuru]

Here's another favorite: http://home.f01.itscom.net/spiral/hashim...ma002.html

and their main page: http://home.f01.itscom.net/spiral/research.html

[Sage]

Wow...

That's amazing. Very cool stuff, Waff. Didn't know you were into it. =D

[Waffuru]

Yep, I really should scope out some places nearby to visit. Not entirely sure how you find these places though.

I find it fascinating as well.

[Vad]

Everything I like that's decaying is in the Ocean. My babysitters husband from 1991 or so went scuba diving off the eastern coast of Connecticut or so and brought back a platter with a giant swastika on it. It's down here in the basement. He had found a German u-boat.

[Tyr]

I'm amazed a related 'your mum' joke isn't already in this thread to be honest.

In Denmark, there's no restrictions on visiting places like this, but the problem is we don't really have that much decaying stuff. Damned government keeping shit in shape. Only thing we have is bunkers which are on logical locations at the time, but now not so.

My city has a bunker in the forest and one at the local school, at the playground though. Naturally the one at the school has been blocked off so it's safer for the kids, but the one in the forest I briefly visited. Sadly it wasn't that special, nothing exciting.