Pigeons...

There was a giant silhouette just like that someone had nicely placed behind a door at a brewery in St. Paul. I almost shit my pants when I caught a glimpse of its giant 'shadow' through a window.

Those damn pigeons! On the last explore we got dive bombed twice by those things! Their wings make A LOT of noise in a old building.

A few scary experiences as a homeless waif/squatter 'exploring' in search of shelter and safety (sometimes it went better than others, but the worst was when someone knifed me in the hip).

As an adult explorer, probably the time I was escorting some tourists I connected with in the hostel on a baby explore in Detroit. It was noonish and we were at an old, wrecked school. I had cautioned these people over and over: stay close, get your photos, and remember the only out that you're sure of is the way you got in. For the most part they were alright. They stayed close to our POE, kept an eye on eachother, and were (most importantly) quiet and respectful. But one guy decides he needs to go to the second floor. It's dark, of course (school hallways aren't very well windowed) so I kind of rush to follow him. Having once lived in such places, I know (of course) that anyone who's made this their home is definitely on the second floor, and is definitely lower-functioning and/or desperate (else they'd have found a better squat of course). Needless to say this guy is not subtle about his presence. I'm trying to get him downstairs but no, he's not having it. We get to the top and down the hall there's three people silhouettes, the red embers of their smokes the only thing we see about them, and they're slowly coming towards us.

Now I know that Detroit has a bad rap, and these could've been just kids hanging out and smoking and feeling badass. On an intellectual level, this is true and rational. On an instinctive level though, this was bad.

I grabbed this guy and dragged his ass back down those stairs (he was a little more willing this time). The rest of the group were already out in the street, waiting for us. To top it all off, I sprained my knee (or something happened to my knee anyway) when I made the jump out.

I should've left the fucker to the mercy of fate.

Posted by TheSwanStation Those damn pigeons! On the last explore we got dive bombed twice by those things! Their wings make A LOT of noise in a old building.

Haha and they never seem to be able to fly out all the open windows, they just go ballistic!

I was doing my first real explore in an abandoned warehouse, where some gang members flashed their knives at me a week earlier while I was scouting the outside.

When I entered the second floor, a pair of barn owls took off, sending my heart rate from "nervous" to "borderline explosive."

Stupid birds...

This made me jump. https://flic.kr/p/bMu1bg

I was on a solo explore in an already creepy building that was filled with all kinds of weird sounds. I had my face completely buried in the camera setting up a shot when the wind slammed the broken screen door behind me closed. It doesn't take much when you're already a bit creeped out so needless to say it took me a few minutes to calm down.

I was exploring a school in Indianapolis today, walking down the hall all nonchalant. Seeing as I had been in the building an hour already, I wasn't too concerned with anyone surprising me; I had made noise to scare them off or to cause a reaction already. I'm in the middle of the hallway when doors start opening and shutting both in the rooms ahead and behind me. Alternating creaking and shutting. Creaking and shutting. Multiple doors, multiple directions. I freeze and get up against a wall and stay quiet. This keeps happening every so often for a few minutes before I realize there was a pressure situation going on. The doors would open based on the breeze and close due to negative pressure inside the hall of something. Much better than what I thought at first: multiple people fucking with me.

Nothing to frightening has happened to me yet. Once me and a few others were exploring this abandoned farmhouse far off from the road. The place itself has a very creepy feeling to it so the setting is already weird.

A very subtle gust of wind must have hit because as we were walking up to the house the front door slowly swung open by itself. Needless to say it took all of us by surprise and freaked us out. We still ended up exploring it though.

Here's a picture of the house.

I believe I mentioned this elsewhere...

Turned the corner with my camera up to my face, and came upon a 'body' on the couch. Turns out it was a fireman's dummy, but I jumped back and shouted. Startled a cat which had been camping in there, who bolted out making quite a racket, and startling me further before my brain could calculate all of which happened.

Posted by SouthPaw I believe I mentioned this elsewhere... Turned the corner with my camera up to my face, and came upon a 'body' on the couch. Turns out it was a fireman's dummy, but I jumped back and shouted. Startled a cat which had been camping in there, who bolted out making quite a racket, and startling me further before my brain could calculate all of which happened.

Oh screw all that. That would give me quite a startle.

Posted by IndoAnomaly Oh screw all that. That would give me quite a startle.

Oh, I booked it out of there. That's how I learned it was a cat, because they took off across the yard.

I almost sharted after two egg McMuffins and a greasy-ass hashbrown about an hour into an adventure in a sketchy factory on the wrong side of the tracks.
It was all I could do to slam my sphincter shut before imminent disaster befell me and ruined my skivvies. The large coffee wasn't helping matters, nor was the churning remnants of the previous night's debauchery.
Film at 11.

i think mine was when i tried opening a door to nowhere, turns out the door i tried checking to open lead to a 200 foot drop, which i only found out after goin and looking to where it was suppose to lead, the platform and stairs to it had already fell to the ground lol

On a recent explore I found a farm house who's entire floor was littered with tiny mouse skeletons. I don't know if they were poisoned or what, but it was disconcerting to hear them all crunching underfoot.

A lot of things made me jump but I don't really remember them. Got one on video though. I was alone sneaking through this place because the owner walks his dog on the premise every day, so I was in hyperfocus. Then, out of nowhere:
https://youtu.be/RRCVbzDC4jE?t=4m37s

Love the story.

Back in the 80's before photo journalism was popular in urbexing, we'd just and explore whatever abandoned places we could find. One place was an old college in Baker, LA (Leland College) and I brought a few friends with me for fun. In the middle of telling ghost stories to those following me, one guy stepped on a rotten board and his leg went though the floor, trapping him. Everyone else freaked out and took off running. By the time the dust settled, it was only him and I at the place and I was rolling on the floor while he was screaming something "Got Him"!

Posted by stickbeat A few scary experiences as a homeless waif/squatter 'exploring' in search of shelter and safety (sometimes it went better than others, but the worst was when someone knifed me in the hip). As an adult explorer, probably the time I was escorting some tourists I connected with in the hostel on a baby explore in Detroit. It was noonish and we were at an old, wrecked school. I had cautioned these people over and over: stay close, get your photos, and remember the only out that you're sure of is the way you got in. For the most part they were alright. They stayed close to our POE, kept an eye on eachother, and were (most importantly) quiet and respectful. But one guy decides he needs to go to the second floor. It's dark, of course (school hallways aren't very well windowed) so I kind of rush to follow him. Having once lived in such places, I know (of course) that anyone who's made this their home is definitely on the second floor, and is definitely lower-functioning and/or desperate (else they'd have found a better squat of course). Needless to say this guy is not subtle about his presence. I'm trying to get him downstairs but no, he's not having it. We get to the top and down the hall there's three people silhouettes, the red embers of their smokes the only thing we see about them, and they're slowly coming towards us. Now I know that Detroit has a bad rap, and these could've been just kids hanging out and smoking and feeling badass. On an intellectual level, this is true and rational. On an instinctive level though, this was bad. I grabbed this guy and dragged his ass back down those stairs (he was a little more willing this time). The rest of the group were already out in the street, waiting for us. To top it all off, I sprained my knee (or something happened to my knee anyway) when I made the jump out. I should've left the fucker to the mercy of fate.

Wait, so these people coming toward you just stopped after you took the guy back downstairs?

Posted this in another thread before, it's definitely the most scared I've been while exploring:

Last summer, I had been scouting out a few locations, and ended up noticing a large abandoned building as I was about to go home. Of course I navigated my way over to it, and found the front door to be unlocked. Thinking it was probably rare to have an access point into it, I decided to go for it and start exploring. First thing I see when I go in is a large pool of red, which I dismissed as fake blood (which it probably was) put there to spook anyone in there, although it still put me on edge. So I'm making my way up this 10 and a bit story building, when I hear what I thought was footsteps. Again I dismiss it, thinking it's pigeons, and continue my way up. I finally reach the top full floor (there were 3 more partial sized floors above it) and as I'm making my way around, trying to find a ladder to get farther up, I hear more footsteps, stop, listen, and as I'm about to continue, I hear a loud bang of a door slamming open, and hear frantic running towards me. I of course sprint down the stairs and out of there, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have ended well had they caught me.