A Bedtime Story for Young Urban Explorers

lonelyskyscraper

Source for image: Jenny Lewis

When I was a kid I had a picture book called `The Lonely Skyscraper`. It was a haunting and beautiful story of a skyscraper who felt empty in the city, because nobody truly lived inside him. Sure, he was full of bustle and noise during the day, but at night he was left dark and alone, but for a few security guards patrolling his floors.
So he uprooted himself and ran away to the countryside, where gradually animals came to live in him, with dormice and birds making nests of his paper supplies, bears hibernating in his basements, and deer grazing the grass that shot up through his forecourt. With so much life inside him, he finally knew peace and happiness.

Source: The Prada store that got left behind | Michael John Grist

Haunted House Scenarios in Games

People think of haunted houses because they want to think every abandoned house is haunted. But, really, I think the real danger of an abandoned house is the actual house itself. Has anyone ever thought to make a game where the house is falling apart and you are exploring in the wreckage? With the addition of possibly meeting other people (living, not ghosts) who would not be happy to see you. Then, lets not for get the animals: insects, rodents and birds in particular.

Or is it just easier to be afraid of something fictional, like a haunted house?

Having written all that… I’d love to play something like Ravenloft if I could play without needing a group of others and all that extra set up (dice, character sheets, kit, etc). Best of all would be seeing the map, with the layout of the house and then exploring to see each room in all the architectural details. You can skip the ghosts and monsters for me. I’d just like to see the house, even a fictional house.

Source: Haunted Half-Dozen: Six Unforgettable Haunted House Scenarios for Tabletop RPGs – Geekcentricity

Old Canadian Cemeteries Book

Source: OLD Canadian Cemeteries Places OF Memory 1554071461 | eBay

I ordered this book and it has arrived. All packaged up very nicely. I was expecting more photographs, but we are becoming too dependent on the visual and instant gratification these days. I am very happy about the content and the poetry (atmosphere of the book). I started reading as soon as I had it out of the packaging.

The Abandoned Sex Club Place

Source: THE KENTUCKY FILES: Whiskey Row and Club LATEX

I guess this is what happens when groups break up or run out of active members. Kind of sad, it became it’s own dirty little secret.

Abandoned House Drawn for Inktober

Posted for Inktober but I think it’s great as an abandoned house. I especially like the rain. Rainy days tend to be great for photographing old places. At least they are for me. I worry about the camera and it isn’t easy trying to keep the raindrops from the lens, but I still like the rainy days best.
Source: Ello | rachelkatstaller

All the Abandoned, Forgotten Pornography

How many scantily clad women have been abandoned this way? I found this photo via Flickr (the urban exploration group I moderate). Here are these women, posing in bikinis for their photo to appear on the cover of a publication. Is it something relevant to women in bikinis? Not so likely. But there it is… thrown out, discarded and forgotten about. Does it make you feel at least a bit sad?

Urban (and rural) explorers find old pornography magazines at abandoned houses (and not just houses). Most of it is deteriorated due to weathering, animals, time, etc. I don’t know if anyone saves any of it. Not so likely.
bikinijournal
Photo from Flickr: Julien Lefebvre