A castle that had lost it's magic. - Thread - Urban Exploration Resource

The skies were turning grayish black as google was telling us that we were maybe five minutes from our destination. When all of the sudden my buddy (Who we'll call J) makes a sharp left.
"Holy shit! Woodstock? Let's go!"
We pull into an empty parking lot only to see that the great Woodstock store was closed, and as soon as we made this realization it began to rain fairly hard. We went back on our course and after braving the rain we drove down a fairly busy road and past an old abandoned factory and castle that had lost its magic.

J, excited from what he had seen pulls over in front of the castle, but we opt to park in a nearby parking lot so as to not arouse suspicion. Once parked J starts searching for an umbrella (to no avail) and I put the weed we had bought earlier out from under my nether regions and into my pocket so I don't lose it on the walk there.

After a few minutes of walking through chilling rain, we make it to the front entrance of the once magical, now dilapidated gingerbread castle. Once we're done taking artsy snapchats we realize that we're not going to be able to climb over the front fence since there is barbed wire. So we decided to take an alternate route...

We had made it inside the fence, but we were standing on a part of the castle and we had to get down, we used a piece of wood to help cushion our jump down and we got down with no broken bones. As soon as we touched the ground we were elated, we took a few minutes to poke fun at the now ruined sculpture of Humpty Dumpty but we realized we still had a few challenges ahead of us. I had done a bit of research before coming and had seen that other explorer's main method of entrance into the castle was either through the underground portion or through a window up a set of stairs. We opted for the underground portion but both doors were locked that would have let us in. So we decided to go up.

Going up was going to be a bit more of a challenge since for most of the time you would be in direct view of the road in front of the castle, for all commuters and maybe even police to see. But we persevered with only a few non-life threating stumbles and walk up to the window only to see a massive lock hanging on it. We run back down and go back into hiding to discuss what our next move is going to be. We decide that there is no way we are getting in without bolt cutters so we opt to go to the other side of the property to what looked like the entrance to an old elevator to smoke a joint.

After muscling our way up the concrete wall we go into the hollowed out block of concrete and I take out the weed and J starts to roll. (Now I'd just like to say that it is an incredibly poor idea to bring illegal drugs to a place where you are trespassing. The main danger with being intoxicated while exploring is that you could hurt yourself, not that cops will catch you with drugs. I personally do it because I like to have the best time possible while exploring) So we spark up and we're having a fun time telling jokes and shooting the shit and we finish the joint and start to walk out of the structure when J and I both freeze.

Standing outside, a little less than 50 feet away from us is a pickup truck with a man dressed in all blue standing outside of it. Terrified we immediately turn back and go back into the structure. For the next 20-30 minutes, you could hear a pin drop in where we were standing. We silently listened in on what was going on outside, we could hear gravel crunch under the man's boots as he walked back and forth, we could hear fence being moved and pushed. Then the internal dialogue began in our heads "Why is he pushing the fence?" "Is he security?" "Does it sound like he is coming over here?". After an unmeasurable amount of time, we decided to peek out to see if he had gone and sure enough the car was gone and there was no sight of the guy.

Our minds at ease, J immediately says that he wants to leave but I convince him to do one more once over of the castle with me to see if there is any way of gaining entry. We walk around the perimeter of the castle and find nothing so I agree to leave with him. We hop the broken fence off onto legal ground and we have a moment of full relief. We had parked to the right of the building but J suggested that we looked at the outside of the old mill, and I agreed.

We walk for maybe a minute when, to our surprise, we see a way into the factory. So I precariously make my way inside expecting a dead end but look and see a large room with the floor slowly slanting upwards with something at the end. Once J gets's inside we walk up to see it's an old classic car, completely covered from top to bottom in spray paint. We walk past the relic to some stairs and open the door to see a massive open room (likely where the factory workers would be). As soon as I enter I immediately freeze and grab J.

"Do you hear that whirring? Is that an AC system?"

J also stops and then responds.

"Dude look outside the windows"

I walk over nearly stepping on some broken glass to see a river was creating the whooshing and whirring sounds that I thought was coming from the AC system. I am relieved and am finally able to relax inside the building. We continue our adventure exploring each floor, seeing incredible things like a massive open room with jet ski's and cars were strewn across the room, more classic cars, and amazing views. We eventually left and (after checking for ticks) we got McDonald's and enjoyed the rest of the day.

If anyone has any spots to trade hit me up!