I once ran into a couple atop the roof of an abandoned factory who were there just to watch the local fourth of July firework display. It was strange because they expressed zero interest in urban exploring and the roof itself was pretty difficult and dangerous to access.

Posted by lelandro Yeah I am talking high patrol, high crime, sketchy areas. Locations where you look out of place.

For the most part, you're gonna look out of place pretty much any where unless you have a reflective vest and a clipboard, because no one fucks with those guys. In those cases, just disappearing is likely a good thing and stay that way for a couple hours if you can't get out of the place. Security guards have to switch patrols eventually. Same with cops. and squatters are likely there to sleep. The drug dealers will sell their shit and leave. Then the place is all yours again.

Personally i've started carrying a pack of cigs just in case I run into someone, which thankfully hasn't happened yet, though i'm sure its inevitable.

We run into people all the time. I generally just give them the bro nod and say "How's it goin?" and keep doing what I was doing.

I run into people fairly frequently as well. Best time was when I scared the crap out of a couple other urbexers. The most memorable occasion was when a trio of meth-head scrappers came in behind us in a school in Gary. My friends and I had already split up so I was alone on the ground floor, I had left my camera standing on the tripod in the hall and stepped into a classroom to close a curtain when I heard a loud shriek of metal out in the hall. I came out to see Twitchy McTwitchypants hauling part of a radiator assembly into the hall from a neighboring classroom, dude didn't even notice me as he hauled it down the hall and around a corner. I started packing my gear up and he came back around at a near run and dashed back into a room, only to come right back out and stare at me like a deer in headlights.
I smiled, said "Hi" and and got started to head up the stairs when he launched into his story about he needed $350 before 4pm today. He wasn't hurting everybody and I wasn't going to call the cops was I? I laughed and said we were cool, after all I was trespassing too. After asking if we were cool one more time he went back to tearing another assembly out and we went our ways. I spotted his other two meth-head buddies in separate areas of the school, they never even noticed me.

i once ran into two guys at an abandonment, i just said hey and we went our separate ways.

Posted by kensonet My friend and I had a creepy incident during a visit to an abandoned mental asylum. Walking through the woods we were startled to come across an old woman in a purple dress hovering near the train tracks. She asked if we intended to visit the hospital, and then asked if she could accompany us. Apparently she had worked there before the institution closed and came back to visit? Anyway, we think she was a ghost. But she walked around a bit outside the building and then bid us farewell, disappearing back into the woods. I included a picture, you can see her in the background on the right side.

Cool story, bro.

If its kids do your best to frighten them otherwise say hey and hang out with them but thats me

Once, but just a couple of high school kids. They seemed to just wander and add a little marks to the wall. Not too happy about that, but I thought it was best to leave them alone. Ya know? We were in a poor area and didn't want to start any trouble.

Brach's: Photogs and graff writers
Royal Crown: Same; graff to a much larger extent.
Gary: Cops at two locations, photogs at several.
Hoarder house: Raccoon.
Dixie Square: Cops, photogs, dogs, and scrappers...

^^ There is nobody driving that truck. ... Ghosts

This was weird...
So, I was downtown this one time, and I found an abandoned building that was undergoing some kind of construction, but nobody was there, and the building was mostly untouched.
So I go inside, look around, take pics, then out of nowhere, this pack of construction guys appear. Except they didn't even care. They said hi, and went about their business. I guess these guys really don't get paid much.
Somewhat creeped out, I finished up there, and decided to leave. Just as I'm about to go through the front door, about half a dozen homeless guys run into the building, without saying a word.
Shit was weird.

Posted by HackTheRipper This was weird... So, I was downtown this one time, and I found an abandoned building that was undergoing some kind of construction, but nobody was there, and the building was mostly untouched. So I go inside, look around, take pics, then out of nowhere, this pack of construction guys appear. Except they didn't even care. They said hi, and went about their business. I guess these guys really don't get paid much. Somewhat creeped out, I finished up there, and decided to leave. Just as I'm about to go through the front door, about half a dozen homeless guys run into the building, without saying a word. Shit was weird.

They probably thought you lived there too! I had a similar account as yours Hack The Ripper, except I was ordered to scram by the construction worker.

quote from my father who has been construction all his life
"When we see homeless people or trespassers who arnt up to anything we leave them alone. 99.9% of construction workers dont get paid enough to give a shit. now heres 5 bucks go buy me a pack of cigarettes. and get me a beer before you go"

Posted by BrandonFireKing quote from my father who has been construction all his life "When we see homeless people or trespassers who arnt up to anything we leave them alone. 99.9% of construction workers dont get paid enough to give a shit. now heres 5 bucks go buy me a pack of cigarettes. and get me a beer before you go"

"But grandpa, it's 2005, they no longer..."
"Damn inflation. Here's $20. And pick me up a stag mag or 2 if there's any change left over."

Only time I've ever run into anybody was at an old warehouse. The first time, it was three gang members who passed me as I finished scouting the premises, and flashed a knife at me. The second time was at the same warehouse a week or so later, and this time it was a couple of middle schoolers with weed as I was finishing. I just left the area both times, and came back later when there was nobody around.

The only time I actually ran into someone was the police at an abandoned theme park. They said someone reported vagrants living there and didn't mind me being there. They told me to have a good vacation and left. I also ran into a dog at an abandoned factory. It started to chase me but then wouldn't leave the part of the building it was in. I stayed but avoided that section of building. On other threads, I've shared lengthier versions of both stories.

I've also had a couple of almosts. One was at a very large school this summer. After being in the building about 20 minutes, I began hearing random noises. There was no glass in the windows and they weren't boarded. It was really windy that day and the wind had been blowing classroom doors shut that I had forgotten to close. Because of this, I didn't think much of the noises until I looked out a window and saw a car parked in front of the school that wasn't there before. Because of the size of the building, I kept exploring, hoping we wouldn't cross paths. We never did. I have no idea who was in there.

At another abandoned school in a small village, I went inside without realizing there was a birthday party happening on the property. The school is next to the road and there is a gravel driveway that leads back to a small occupied house behind the school so I knew I'd have to be careful. The school is a fairly large 3-story building so it pretty much blocked everything directly behind it from the road. I could hear kids being loud somewhere but I couldn't see them so I grabbed a couple quick outside shots from the road and then went in. Once inside, I could hear adults talking and children playing and realized all this was going on in the yard between the school and the house. At one point they sung Happy Birthday to someone named Alyssa. Since the kids were being really noisy, I figured nobody would notice me if I was really quiet so I kept going. When I was about ready to leave, I heard a woman yell "Don't you dare go in there, David!" I'm assuming a little kid was trying to sneak into the school. I'm glad David got caught. Running into him would have been awkward. I quietly left the school using the door next the road and walked to my car without looking back to see if I was noticed. Unfortunately, I was only able to get outside shots of the front and one side of the building since I was basically using the school to block myself from the house. Also was tempted to drop by and try to score a piece of cake but I'm not sure how well that would've gone.

I was recently exploring a hospital I knew very little about. We were walking around the first floor, when I stopped my friends. An all too familiar scent crossed my path. "Do you smell grape Dutch?" I asked one of my friends. Then I heard the footsteps. I assumed it was my girlfriend, until I turned around to see both my girlfriend and our friend with alert looks on their faces. A short Hispanic man came around the corner, cigar and bathtub handrail in hand. I assumed he was a scrapper, until he asked us if we had talked to the head of security and gotten permission to take photos inside the building. It then struck me that this man wasn't a scrapper, its was the fucking maintenance guy. We of course said yes, and he smiled and went along his way. I assume he was trying to replace the handrail in a patients room in the active part of the hospital. We didn't stick around to find out.


As it turns out they just finished up filming a tv show at the hospital the day before, and the maintenance guy thought we were part of the film crew. Luckiest coincidence of our lives.


Here are some photos of the hospital if anybody is interested: https://www.flickr...72157647985945089/

Posted by Jonno23 Clearly this was a ghost.

While Kensonet does provide a great story (along with a single photograph of an unknown woman wearing an outdated purple dress), to blindly agree that "she was a ghost" without further evidence to the claim of her assumption is ludicrous.

It could have been someone playing a prank, or maybe not. The coin has 3 sides, not 2. Which angle are you viewing it from? Being an Atheist, my mind would prevent me from believing it's a ghost and it'd default into seeking a logical explanation (if not a scientific explanation) to why I heard this or saw that.

If you do believe in ghosts, then your mind has already made a predetermined judgment about the nature of the ordeal.

Disclaimer: I am not calling anyone a liar.


RE: Kensonet: Being the extrovert that I am, I wish I could have been there to ask the lady questions.

A Through Z Explorations

It was a ghost, its always a ghost. You approach them, offer them your batteries for their electro-ghost-power supply and chat with them about ghost things of course