Meh, a bolt is not near as bad as some of the objects others have dropped... some of those weighed hundreds of pounds. Now if she had been ripping off flashing or slate I would agree, but that doesn't seem the case.

I've experienced several needed escapes..

Here's one:
During a Chicago meet a few years ago, we had a couple dozen people on the roof of a downtown abandoned hospital, which was in the middle of being cleared for demo. It was the middle of the night, so it wasn't all that busy on the streets. Everything was going just fine, but someone must've spotted us, and all of a sudden a bright flashlight was being pointed up at us from the street (most likely security of some sort.) Everyone ducked down, and we waited for a bit, deciding what to do. We finally decided it was best to get out of there before the authorities started rolling in, so we made our decent as quietly as we could in complete darkness. ~20 stories later and plenty of accidental butt-touching, we made our escape, people fleeing every which way. I ended up getting separated from my ride, with a dead cell phone, so that was an interesting experience.
Later on, after everyone finally found their way back together, everyone still looking for adventure decided to rooftop another building, using the fire escape (20some stories, if i recall correctly.) I decided to sit it out, as i was getting pretty sleepy and hung out on the sidewalk with a couple others who were also not feeling up to it. After a bit, we look over, and sure enough, a couple squad cars pull up, and the officers get out, looking and pointing towards the building. We give the party on the roof a call, and luckily there was another fire escape on the opposite side of the building, so everyone made it down safely, without trouble. I wonder how long the officers waited by the first fire escape. Haha.
What a night.

I managed to pull my arm out from under her pillow without waking her & safely get into the back of a taxi.

Posted by Shawn W. That's pretty stupid, and vandalism is a dick move.

Oh no! The amount of vandalism I've committed is pretty staggering.

Posted by Adv.Pack Oh no! The amount of vandalism I've committed is pretty staggering.

I don't believe you. Pics or it never happened..

When I was young, I think 13 or 14, me and some friends had climbed a pretty high crane. We were chilling at the top for a few minutes when we saw a police car rushing in through the street, and then another. The construction site was fenced off with an opaque wooden fence, we always just climbed over it but the police first had to drive to the entrance of the construction site, which was about 300 meters away, and then run to us. I figured we maybe still had a chance if we started descending immediately. I, being the only one with a little bit of exploring experience (as far as that's possible at age 13) said 'let's run NOW!'.

We climbed down the stairs like maniacs and actually made it in time. When we were on the ground we saw the flashlights closing in, all we had to do is run to that wooden fence again and climb over. This also went according to plan, when the last guy had just jumped the fence the first policeman had reached it, shouting and cursing at us. We took some time to laugh loudly as kids like to do when they piss off authorities, and then ran home.

This was the last photo I took just before running, quickly packing up the tripod and camera while the shutter was still open.

Oh yeah, make no mistake. That rusty piece of skylight that was sticking up begging for someone to fall on it would have been much better in its place. And if there did happen to be someone lounging in the 9 foot deep partially flooded area well full of shattered glass and other assorted shit, they would have much bigger problems to worry about than a small piece of skylight. It's a moot point anyway, it was Overbrook. The Byberry of NJ. The place was a zoo. Anyone who knows me knows I wouldn't do anything even remotely destructive to a place that wasn't already a warzone.


Anyway, this is a thread about escapes not an ethics battle. I'm not going to say another word on the subject. Let's move on before this thread falls apart.

Ten years ago Bethlehem Steel was hot. Great to shoot, underground tunnels, blast furnaces, a block long turbine compressor hall and more. The facility that supplied nuke sub propellers was still active and about 2 blocks away.
They had security. You play cat and mouse with them every time you went.

Most times they stayed in their little hiding spot parked in the open door of a warehouse to the east of the furnaces. They had a skyline vantage point from there. A couple times a day they drive around. Having a good pair of tac binoculars was a great help. I try to locate them once in. Most times you were well out of sight deep within the complex. However to get to different buildings or certain spots in the super structure you had some exposure. Sometimes security broke routine; they would park and go inside one of the blast furnace buildings and wait.

I had been inside compressor hall most of the morning, they had driven by twice maybe. Never saw them in the hall though. When I came out I was surprised to see their white SUV parked in back near one of the furnace houses. I was about 50 feet away, but couldn't see into the SUV. After about 20 minutes I wanted to get back to shooting. Using cover I got nearer to the SUV and realized it was empty; the guard was on foot. I took the walkways that went under the coke ovens and went to the west side, about a block away.
I went back to shooting and left after it got dark.

Beth -was- one of the best, if not the best place to explore and shoot. Still largely intact in 2006. Too bad it's gone. I had a blast everytime I went.

Posted by blackhawk Beth -was- one of the best, if not the best place to explore and shoot. Still largely intact in 2006. Too bad it's gone. I had a blast everytime I went.

From all that I read and hear about Bethlehem Steel it sounds as if it was the American version of our Pyestock in exploring folklore. One of, or maybe even the very best locations the country ever had for exploring and general 'jaw on floor' effect. I so wish I could have seen it...thankfully I didn't miss out on Pyestock which also supplied me with one of my greatest escapes I just remembered about now.

For the uninitiated, Pyestock was massive. When I say massive, I mean truly enormous. One of the biggest abandoned locations in the UK made up of dozens of different kinds of buildings - huge test cells, plant rooms, workshops, lab buildings, air chilling plant all dominated by the behemoth of a structure which housed eight parallel Parsons compressors/turbines supplying most of the site with the air currents it needed. Between most of the important buildings snaked a network of massive blue pipes originating from the Air House compressor building. It was truly the most awe-inspiring place to explore, but security became a real hassle to avoid during it's later years. Many many people would get caught there, however I never did but came very close twice.

The first time was pretty much our own fault, standing out in the open having a chat is never a good idea and the mountain bike mounted security guards gave chase to us but we got away - just. However the second escape was much more exciting. A couple of months after that escape I went back with my girlfriend of the time and a guy for who it was his first ever proper explore. All went well for a few hours, I showed them the Air House, the enormous Cell 4 and various other places and all looked pretty good. There had been unconfirmed rumours a few days previous that security had got rid of their bikes and were now driving around the roads that criss-cross the site in a shiny new Land Rover Defender. Good for us in a way as you would be able to hear them coming. Sure enough, as we walked towards the road bridge that went over a large expanse of blue pipework in the middle of the site we heard the distinct noise of a diesel engine approaching. All three of us dived under the bridge and I remember looking up as I threw myself under and saw the Land Rover coming across the bridge. It stopped above us and the guy in it honked his horn, then reversed off which we thought was strange. We picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves down but then we heard the engine approaching us again! Back under the bridge we went, and once again the Land Rover stopped right above our heads and the driver honked his horn for much longer, before reversing off again! At that, we got up and me, knowing the layout of the site quite well by now could tell he had gone some way away so I looked to my two companions and said 'now, we RUN', and we did, at full speed all the way back to the fence and our exit point.

I so wish I had gone back before it was flattened

About a year and a half ago, I was walking across my college campus at about midnight, and found an unlocked entrance to the steam tunnels. I had been trying to find a way in for over a year at this point so I called the only friend I could find who was awake, and we got in before anybody could see us. It was pretty cold that night, so we were dressed for some pretty cold weather, but once we were in the tunnels, it was over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. We explored for about ten minutes, but we wouldn't take the heat anymore, but when we got back to the entrance, there was a campus security officer trying to lock the opening. We looked around for another few minutes, but didn't have any luck finding another way out. At this point, we figured that we would have to call 911, and get rescued, but I probably would have been kicked out of school, so instead we called another friend to check if the entrance could be opened from outside. We ended up getting out pretty soon before we would have passed out from heat exhaustion.

Luckily I got the whole thing on video and put it on YouTube.

Posted by mookster From all that I read and hear about Bethlehem Steel it sounds as if it was the American version of our Pyestock in exploring folklore. One of, or maybe even the very best locations the country ever had for exploring and general 'jaw on floor' effect. I so wish I could have seen it...thankfully I didn't miss out on Pyestock which also supplied me with one of my greatest escapes I just remembered about now. For the uninitiated, Pyestock was massive. When I say massive, I mean truly enormous. One of the biggest abandoned locations in the UK made up of dozens of different kinds of buildings - huge test cells, plant rooms, workshops, lab buildings, air chilling plant all dominated by the behemoth of a structure which housed eight parallel Parsons compressors/turbines supplying most of the site with the air currents it needed. Between most of the important buildings snaked a network of massive blue pipes originating from the Air House compressor building. It was truly the most awe-inspiring place to explore, but security became a real hassle to avoid during it's later years. Many many people would get caught there, however I never did but came very close twice. The first time was pretty much our own fault, standing out in the open having a chat is never a good idea and the mountain bike mounted security guards gave chase to us but we got away - just. However the second escape was much more exciting. A couple of months after that escape I went back with my girlfriend of the time and a guy for who it was his first ever proper explore. All went well for a few hours, I showed them the Air House, the enormous Cell 4 and various other places and all looked pretty good. There had been unconfirmed rumours a few days previous that security had got rid of their bikes and were now driving around the roads that criss-cross the site in a shiny new Land Rover Defender. Good for us in a way as you would be able to hear them coming. Sure enough, as we walked towards the road bridge that went over a large expanse of blue pipework in the middle of the site we heard the distinct noise of a diesel engine approaching. All three of us dived under the bridge and I remember looking up as I threw myself under and saw the Land Rover coming across the bridge. It stopped above us and the guy in it honked his horn, then reversed off which we thought was strange. We picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves down but then we heard the engine approaching us again! Back under the bridge we went, and once again the Land Rover stopped right above our heads and the driver honked his horn for much longer, before reversing off again! At that, we got up and me, knowing the layout of the site quite well by now could tell he had gone some way away so I looked to my two companions and said 'now, we RUN', and we did, at full speed all the way back to the fence and our exit point. I so wish I had gone back before it was flattened

Mookster, I never heard of Pyestock until your post. That was an R&D national treasure. The images I dug up of it were simply stunting. You know how to make me sad... very cool you got to see it at all and that's what counts!
The one that got away is anyways a good ending.

Posted by blackhawk Mookster, I never heard of Pyestock until your post. That was an R&D national treasure. The images I dug up of it were simply stunting. You know how to make me sad... very cool you got to see it at all and that's what counts! The one that got away is anyways a good ending.

I only ever saw maybe half the buildings over my four trips in 2010, and to this day it still makes me feel giddy looking at photos of it. To have stood in the monstrous test cell where Concorde's engines were run at full power during their development is mind-blowing to me. Bethlehem Steel was lucky in that it has become, I'm led to believe, some kind of national park/attraction type place and the same really should have been deserved by Pyestock, it was of such national and international significance with no other facility on the same scale in the world. If there was any justice in the world it would have been turned into a turbine/jet technology museum.

I count myself lucky I got to see it, so many people coming into the game in the UK now have no idea what they missed out on.

Posted by mookster I only ever saw maybe half the buildings over my four trips in 2010, and to this day it still makes me feel giddy looking at photos of it. To have stood in the monstrous test cell where Concorde's engines were run at full power during their development is mind-blowing to me. Bethlehem Steel was lucky in that it has become, I'm led to believe, some kind of national park/attraction type place and the same really should have been deserved by Pyestock, it was of such national and international significance with no other facility on the same scale in the world. If there was any justice in the world it would have been turned into a turbine/jet technology museum. I count myself lucky I got to see it, so many people coming into the game in the UK now have no idea what they missed out on.

Beth is a feeble ghost of what it was 20 years ago. I saw it when it was active and lite the night sky with a red glowing smoke. The whole complex was about 5 miles long. There were things too hot to shoot there, like the gantry crane (on it) or a daylight shot from on top of the furnace superstructure. Even those shooting with permission couldn't get that. grrrrrr.

Pyestock is a totally different animal. One of a kind and a tribute to British technical know how. It was a crime not to save -none- of it.
It was simply stunning. You were lucky to have been there. Very cool.

*stunning, not stunting... oops

I actually have a new story to add from yesterday. This time, it wasn't the cops I was afraid of...

It all started years and years ago, when I first started to find the online exploring community. I had heard of a massive abandoned hospital in a city just a few miles away from my quiet north Jersey suburb. Interested, I asked a group of people about this hospital, because at the time I only knew of one person who ever went inside. They all told me to stay away. I received a message from a friend who described to me what he went through upon his last visit to the hospital. He was inside shooting the place when the sons of the property owner heard him messing about. They went inside, and found him. Being fleet of foot and an experienced explorer, he split. He ran out of the building and onto the street, attempting to flee the area. That's when they grabbed him. They were big dudes, and if that wasn't enough one of them had a gun on him. I'm a little foggy on the details but for what I understand he was beaten down and robbed. They told him never to come back to the hospital. Then, they disappeared back into the ruin.


Of course, this nearly scared 17 year old me into a panic attack. However, I was always still curious about the building. As time went on and I learned to drive, I passed the large hospital all the time while working in the next town over. Eventually, I would go on to live in the town next to the hospital. The hospital property didn't change a whole lot. Every time I went by I saw a car parked inside an open door to the loading area, no doubt the same two men who had assaulted my friend a few years before. The gates were always blocked, and the building well secured. My curiosity grew and grew until I began talking to customers at work about the hospital. That's when I found out why this decade-shuttered hospital still had no graffiti or other vandalism to speak of. Also, why the owners sons were so aggressive about trespassing; the hospital was apparently being used to manufacture drugs.


Now of course, any explorers who have come across a drug lab know to stay away. And I wasn't a moron. I continued to keep an eye on the hospital and explore the other abandoned ones littering the state. Then one day, my now-girlfriend asked me about the big abandoned hospital in the ghetto. I told her to stay away, and that it was a drug lab. She says "I didn't see any drugs" and sends me a photo of the inside of the hospital.

I panicked. She went inside alone with no knowledge of what went on inside. She lived by Philly at the time so she didn't know anything about the neighborhood either. I drove by the next day, and sure enough the black escalade was once again parked in the loading area. It was still being watched. I scolded her and said she should never go in there again.


As another year passed I saw something that made me breathe a sigh of relief. The "for sale" signs were taken down. The building had been taken back by the bank, and the owners Escalade was nowhere to be found. I drove by the place another dozen times at least, and then I decided I was finally going to take a look for myself. I got up extra early on Sunday to make sure everyone would still be in bed when I arrived. I circled the property several times, and there were no vehicles anywhere. Quickly, I parked and headed through the fence. It wasn't long before I found a way in. I stepped inside, and almost vomited. The smell of stale urine was pervasive. The drop ceiling had long since failed, and the floor had degenerated into a moldy, slippery mush. I pulled out my flashlight, and headed into the foul, pitch black recesses of the hallway.


As I made it to a staircase I immediately became overwhelmed by disappointment. The place was a total shit hole. Floor after floor of the same trashed corridor over and over As I walked around, the asbestos tiles crunched beneath my feet, sending loud echoing pops throughout the barren complex. As I peered through the viewfinder on my camera, I heard a loud bang. This wasn't a gunshot, or a car backfiring. This was a door. Three or four floors below the hallway I was in. Immediately my brain flooded with the stories about previous explorers who had to flee the complex from the gun toting drug addict caretakers, and my friend who got caught. Fairly immediately, I felt the gust of wind come through the hallway, and as the air hit my face I quickly calmed myself down. After what felt like a minute, but was probably mere seconds, I raised the camera back up to my face. "It was just the wind, thank god it was just..."

SLAM!!!

I went pale. This slam was much louder. And much, much closer. It was on the floor just below me. I waited for the soothing, reassuring wind to come through again and calm me down. It wasn't coming. Quickly, I made it towards the stair set on the far end of the hallway I was in. The bangs were coming from the stairs I just climbed, so I had to hope I could make it out from these stairs. That's when the true gravity of the situation dawned on me. I was alone, possibly being followed in a 100,000 sq.ft. medical center I had never been in before, taking corroded stairs down to an exit I wasn't sure existed. As corny as it sounds, all I could think of was "get your ass home to your girlfriend and pets who love and need you". As I hit the bottom floor, I stepped down the only path I could, a long, cramped corridor leading to one door which appeared to be closed. My only other option was to go back up those stairs towards the banging I heard. I quickly walked towards the door, faster and faster with every step. As I got closer, I could see this door wasn't open. It wasn't even ajar. And it was barricaded on the other side by a thick metal bar. I didn't have a choice though. This had to work. I got closer, and closer, and closer still until finally I was at the door. I pushed as hard as I could. It swung right open. I took this as a sign. Quickly, I jogged across the wide open courtyard, to where I made it through the fence. Before I knew it I was on the street. I made it to my car in less than a minute and got the fuck away from the place. My girlfriend was still asleep, so I went for a brief hike behind a nearby abandoned psych hospital to ease my nerves. That was, by far, the scariest thing I've ever experienced at an abandoned building. Had I not known about the trouble past of the place, I probably would have just kept right on shooting. And let's be real. I probably would have been fine. It's really opened my eyes to the danger that one can find themselves in when they don't properly play the "risk vs. reward" game. If anybody wants to see what the shit hole looked like, here are a few photos I managed to get; https://www.flickr.../72157659189878674 .They aren't much, but they are most likely all I will ever have.


TLDR; explored a former drug lab and may have come really close to meeting the pissed off chemists.

Posted by EsseXploreR He was inside shooting the place when the sons of the property owner heard him messing about. They went inside, and found him. Being fleet of foot and an experienced explorer, he split. He ran out of the building and onto the street, attempting to flee the area. That's when they grabbed him. They were big dudes, and if that wasn't enough one of them had a gun on him. I'm a little foggy on the details but for what I understand he was beaten down and robbed. They told him never to come back to the hospital. Then, they disappeared back into the ruin.

I hope your friend was OK (and didn't get too discouraged from exploring).
Accidentally going into a drug lab has always worried me, although hopefully where I am is too built up to have one.
Apart from the brothers and the car, were there any other signs of the lab being there? I remember reading that most buildings with labs in them will have shards of glass on the floor as an alarm, as well as having all the windows and doors open to vent out the fumes.
Awesome escape by the way. You had me sweating just reading it =p

Posted by Darthbindy I hope your friend was OK (and didn't get too discouraged from exploring). Accidentally going into a drug lab has always worried me, although hopefully where I am is too built up to have one. Apart from the brothers and the car, were there any other signs of the lab being there? I remember reading that most buildings with labs in them will have shards of glass on the floor as an alarm, as well as having all the windows and doors open to vent out the fumes. Awesome escape by the way. You had me sweating just reading it =p

Thankfully he still gets around. Over the years he's helped me out a few times. As far as where you live being too built up, this hospital was in a city. So you never know. As far as the typical signs go, it's hard to tell. There was definitely a lot of broken glass in the stairwells. I did my best to avoid that. In the hallways on the upper floors they had asbestos tiles. Those suckers crunch like nobodies business. That's definitely what gave me away, if it was indeed somebody. The windows on the street side were intact and not broken whatsoever. At the ends of the hallways, however, they were gone. Frames and all. That's what created the cross breeze that originally calmed me down after the first bang. And also why I'm still not totally convinced there was anyone else in the building at all. There were vials everywhere, which initially freaked me out, but then I came across the same ones in the radiology department so I think they were there for a legit purpose. The last give away is that there was not one single homeless encampment in there that I saw. No sharps, no empty booze cans, nothing like that. This city is very poor, and in fact, they aren't even a city anymore because their population has shrunk so significantly. So there should have been the usual signs of squatting and such. I can't say anything with absolute certainty. But I was actually doing my best to avoid the section of the hospital that I have suspected for years was the processing area.

EsseXploreR, your friend should have reported that assault to police. That supercedes mere trespassing.
Many times it's better to hunker down and go silent rather than run. Many a person has walked by me, some close enough to touch.
Good you made it out, intact.

Posted by blackhawk EsseXploreR, your friend should have reported that assault to police. That supercedes mere trespassing. Many times it's better to hunker down and go silent rather than run. Many a person has walked by me, some close enough to touch. Good you made it out, intact.

He may have, I'm not totally sure. They probably would have told him "Tough shit, you had it coming". It's a really rough city and the police here are known to be fuckers. Hell, some officers from the city were actually arrested for breaking into my business to steal the safe. That was years ago though. I generally always default to "stay perfectly still" when it's cops or the average caretaker but I just couldn't risk getting pistol whipped for my camera. Or worse.

Posted by EsseXploreR I generally always default to "stay perfectly still" when it's cops or the average caretaker but I just couldn't risk getting pistol whipped for my camera. Or worse.

Being cam whipped hurts more. I wouldn't hesitate to use one as a weapon. Canons hold up really well to hard skulls...

This one time I was at Camp 30 with my mom in Bowmanville and this cop followed us there when we got near. Fearing the worst, we pulled over and she's got this big smile on her face. Turns out she was awesome. We had a conversation about how UE is an incredible underground art, and that apparently she catches allot of people there. She didn't even tell me to leave or anything, just not to get seen by anyone else. I wish more cops were like that.