Ninjalicious exploring the MaRS Centre, Apr 26, 2004

This past Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the passing of Ninjalicious, sometimes known by his real (more boring) name Jeff Chapman.

For those of you who are not familiar with the history: Ninjalicious created a "zine" (sorta like a blog before the internet) and distributed photocopied copies of it throughout local Toronto shops. He also set up a website for the zine, infiltration.org, where some of the stories were mirrored. Many thousands of people (myself included) can cite Ninjalicious for bringing them together or introducing them to the hobby of Urban Exploration (a term that Ninj coined). Ninj had a history of health problems, and finally succumbed to cancer on Aug 23, 2005.

I was one of the lucky few who got to meet and explore with Ninj. He had such a friendly demeanor and happy attitude that worked in his favour to get out of sticky situations. Once, while exploring the greenhouses on the roof of a building at the University of Toronto, a professor who clearly knew we weren't supposed to be there asked if we "needed help". Ninj just smiled and told him "No thank you!" and kept walking, leaving the confused professor with not much more to say. Another time, we had snuck into the OCAD "Tabletop" as it was still under construction -- indeed, the construction workers were hammering away! Sneaking around, we heard one approaching, and quickly hid in the corner of a room. The worker came in behind us and rifled through a toolbox, as we stood as still as possible and tried not to breathe, no more than 4 feet away from him.

The part I loved most about Ninj was his ability to always have something positive to say. He had a way about him that was disarming, and people seemed to like him before he even opened his mouth. Online, this talent made him the perfect diplomat, as he diffused situations before they became volatile.

Ninjalicious may be gone, but as long as we don't forget him and the influence he had on us, he will never truly die. Please share your thoughts and memories here.

You can also read the responses from the last memorial thread, from 5 years ago, here:
http://www.uer.ca/...id=1&msgid=1254555

i never had the opportunity to meet him, but what I remember about him was that he had time to answer even the most mundane question. And no one was ever a 'noob'.
Ninj gave truth to the term 'only the good die young'.

Thanks for sharing Av, I've read A.A.A twice. Once I left my copy on the GOTrain and I was only half way through it, so I bought another copy so I could finish it.

He left quite a legacy and all of you who knew him must be very proud!

I remember landing on infiltration.org in the late 90s thanks to the "urban exploration webring" and even had a few email exchanges with him, hard to believe its already been 10 years. He always seemed like such a great guy

I came over to UER from Infiltration. His tips have helped me out numerous times when doing active infils. He seems like a great person.

May his memory live on, and his soul rest in peace.

Nice article about the legend of UE.

I would have like to meet him... life a bitch.

His book and his attitude were truly inspirational to me.

GBNF

Posted by Avatar-X Another time, we had snuck into the OCAD "Tabletop" as it was still under construction -- indeed, the construction workers were hammering away! Sneaking around, we heard one approaching, and quickly hid in the corner of a room. The worker came in behind us and rifled through a toolbox, as we stood as still as possible and tried not to breathe, no more than 4 feet away from him.

I remember this specific part from Access All Areas, it's so cool that it was you that was with him.

"No disclaimer" was my spurring piece of inspiration. Long live Ninjalicious.

I was not only a fan of his book but the newsletter he produced for many years. RIP

RIP Ninjalicious !! Already 10 years...wow

Av, I really enjoyed reading your post and found myself smiling and laughing while picturing what you were saying. That professor was gob smacked by sounds of it! LOL
Jeff sounds like an amazing person that would of been amazing to know.

Gone but never forgotten....may his memory always flourish

Can we collectively agree to instate Ninj as the Patron Saint of Urban Exploration? I feel that that would be a fitting title.

Posted by The Viscount Andrew Dalton Can we collectively agree to instate Ninj as the Patron Saint of Urban Exploration? I feel that that would be a fitting title.

His profile already has a unique star.

Ninjalicious was before my time, as I was only 9 in 2005. However I have been reading about everyone's stories with him since I joined this forum around 4 months ago, and it is amazing how many people he touched within the UE community. Everything I have read about him has inspired me to go out and purchase a copy of access all areas. After reading some of it so far it is clear to me the type of person he was, and it saddens me that I never got to meet him. I know I don't feel the pain of some of you who knew him well, but I think it's important to share that he has inspired me from the grave, and hopefully many other like me. His outlook on everything was just so beautiful, and stunning that he was so consistent about it.

My next beer is for ninja.

Jeff Chapman was the definition of class. If you consider yourself a serious explorer and your saying who is this guy they are talking about, you should learn a bit about him and pickup some of his old zine's. You wont be sorry.


I often wonder what he would think about urbex today, Cell phone technology ( maps, gps, and camera funtions ) , social media, hollywood's take on it, and the road UER has taken.

Posted by Mike Dijital Jeff Chapman was the definition of class. If you consider yourself a serious explorer and your saying who is this guy they are talking about, you should learn a bit about him and pickup some of his old zine's. You wont be sorry. I often wonder what he would think about urbex today, Cell phone technology ( maps, gps, and camera funtions ) , social media, hollywood's take on it, and the road UER has taken.

you take the good with the bad?

I wish I had found this site earlier. I feel like I missed the biggest part of the community by showing up late.

Good time to give this a listen, even if it's for the third or fourth time:

"INVISIBLE WORLDS" (episode 141, part 3)
http://www.thisame...sible-worlds?act=3


Ira Glass talks to Jeff (anonymously)

The stories inside Infiltration were an inspiration to me. There were very few photographs back then, so reading well-crafted details of an exploration conjured great wonder and interest. Ninjalicous affected me and I only wish I had gotten to meet him.

I still think of him regularly.


There are a few photos of Ninj randomly in this clip (FF to 2:50)