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I looked back to July and didn't see anything matching this topic so figured I'd present the question to you all....
We've all been there, whether it's a shady POE, run-in with a junkie etc.
Not necessarily police/security cause that would just mean getting CAUGHT.
The "Oh Shit" moments I'm talking about are more of the "sinking feeling in your stomach" variety.
So I ask you, what are a few of your "OH SHIT" moments?
I will kick off this thread with one of my own:
One night we met up with our UE pal Cowboy. He was taking us to a location (this one: http://www.uer.ca/...d=1&threadid=93627 this place's days are limited, it's in the process of becoming a retail store so I don't think POE details matter anymore)
and was going to accompany us for the explore.
So after a sketch ass climb to the roof (on electrical boxes, random junk, anything protruding from the wall) he shows us the POE. Through a window onto a ledge that was MAYBE a foot wide, then scoot, belly to the wall, to a platform and climb down a story. In complete blackness. Uh...NO.
There are maybe 2 more ways in but nothing quick and all require a lot of upper body strength and a big jump down.
Turns out something came up and Cowboy has to leave before we even get inside.
He leaves, and we find a different POE. Equally sketch but we REALLY wanted to get inside. Lower yourself through a small hole in a skylight onto a pipe where you balance and then lower yourself onto a shelf/rack, then climb down some shaky electrical pipes on the wall.
It's not quick an easy and once inside everything is locked tight. No exits.
So....all that aside we start to walk around and take pics. Pitch black inside.
We hear noises but laugh it off.
About 30min in we notice a tent set up in the center of the rink. Now my details are a bit fuzzy, I don't remember if the guy was in the tent or if he approached us but bottom line there was this guy and he had been WATCHING us in the dark.
He seemed like a normal squatter. Pretty well spoken and didn't seem dangerous.
We start talking to him and everything seems ok.
We introduce ourselves and when he reaches his hand out to shake hands, my headlamp picks up that his fingernails are long and filthy. Like underneath his nails you know?
Red flag #1. From the way he is talking the fingernails don't seem to mesh with me. I get a little uncomfortable but play it off. Clyde and the guy are chatting away and all of a sudden the guy asks "hey do you have smartphones?"
Me: NO
Clyde: yes...(then I shoot him a look and he says "well not on us".
This guy goes on a tirade! He says he "got that feeling" from us because he is allergic to smartphones. He starts talking so fast and crazy that spit is forming in the corners of his mouth. He says smartphones infect your brain and he can pick up the frequencies or some shit and all I hear is Charlie Brown's teacher's voice because what I'm really thinking of is how fast can we get to our POE, climb all that shit to the skylight and get off a roof????
We are in the center of the rink and FAR from our escape route.
So then I'm thinking "FUCK! When is the correct moment to pepperspray someone like this? Will it even be effective?" I've seen inmates take a CLOUD of pepperspray without flinching. Crazy people tend to be crazy strong!
So I sit there and smile and nod with a blank look in my eyes, kinda like Michael Corleone in the Godfather restaurant scene.
This goes on for 10minutes building up to a fucking crescendo which I'M thinking will be him screaming and tearing our throats out with his teeth.
Finally I interrupt and say "Hey our friend Doug is outside with his gf and are waiting for us to help them inside" and Clyde and I back away slowly.
Clyde isn't as shaken as me cuz he's a GUY but I tend to go on gut feelings and felt ready to puke. We manage to gtfo of there basically BOUNCING up to the POE from the ground.
We did visit this place many more times but never alone.
Also, we always left snacks for our "new friend" along with a note.
Turns out he wasn't so bad and even asked another group of explorers if they knew us and referred to us as "friends". He had been watching them too lol.
The question is not when are we gonna stop, It's who's gonna stop us?
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I was in a situation with a guy similar to that. He was crazy high on some drug as he approached with a towel wrapped around something in his hand. He then started saying how some out-of-towners were just shot at a bar up the street.
Honestly people are the scary thing about exploring.
https://www.instagram.com/chris.kiely/
ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/adv_/ | |
Inside an old reformatory when we hear a dog. We shouldn't have heard a dog. Turns out it was a police dog.
"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel | |
Standing in the basement morgue of the Overbrook asylum taking photos, looking up to the window that's level with the ground and seeing a K-9 dog with his pet cop sniffing at the window frame a foot from the top of my head.
"Are you happy now with all the choices you've made?" "Are there times in life when you know you should've stayed?"
"Will you compromise and then realize the price is too much to pay?" "Winners and losers... which one will you be today?"
***Social Distortion*** | |
Looked inside the confessional closet at an abandoned church before going in, to discover that the wooden floor was in the process of collapsing, and already warped about a foot downwards.
Oh good, my slow clap processor made it into this thing.
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Also when 300lbs of brick fell 6 inches from my head. Scraped down my arm.
https://www.instagram.com/chris.kiely/
ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/adv_/ | |
Climbing a 50 ft vertical shaft, 25 feet of which has a 4 foot diameter and the rest is in free space. I went up first and listened as he fell while making the transition from free-space to the 4ft diameter area.
All I could hear was the ruckus of old rusty barrels knocking against each-other....after what seemed like an eternity, from the darkness I hear "I'm good"
Dude managed to jump off a stack of barrels and land it.
All the treasure are belong to me. We got a slat, for that! | |
Found myself dangling by one wrist, on a rope, 150' down in a vertical mineshaft, with 100' of darkness beneath my flailing feet.
Found out later that the rest of THAT rope was only held to the next guy up by a 1" plastic quick release buckle.
Immediately upon exiting the mine, Dav did a little interview on camera about what had happened, so there's at-the-time video of me telling the story, mixed with footage of the explore.
** http://vimeo.com/18947809#t=149 **
^ Probably by far my scariest moment ever, while exploring.
(and an excellent learning opportunity)
[last edit 10/22/2013 12:59 AM by Therrin - edited 3 times]
Give a person a match and they'll be warm for a minute, but light them on fire and they'll be warm for the rest of their life. =) | |
Going to approach the kids who have been running from us to let them know we are cool and nothing to worry about only to have them step out from the room they were hiding in and seeing two grown ass men in reflective vests with a clipboard that were working there.
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When I literally shit my pants in an abandonment.
"oh... SHIT. Oh, shit. Well, fuck."
Abandoned | |
On top of a mall that was having renovations done (easy access, scaffolding was set up and waiting to be climbed), there is a part of the roof that comes up like a tower, which is where the big sign is. I decided, while on top of the metal, slanted roof half-covered in ice (did I mention there was ice?) to climb on top of the little tower and get a good look.
I hoist myself on top of the tower, and as I'm topping out, about to slide my butt onto the ledge, I notice that the tower is actually a hollow elevator shaft, going down some 6 stories.
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Holy Crap! (in seicer's case, literally!)
Dogs, junkies, falling bricks, collapsing floors, employees, vertical shafts and that roof incident!!!! (I am deathly afraid of heights) An explore is like playing "Pitfall" lol!
I think our hobby needs to be added to Xgames. I KNEW this thread would be a good idea.
The question is not when are we gonna stop, It's who's gonna stop us?
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Posted by Radical_Ed
Standing in the basement morgue of the Overbrook asylum taking photos, looking up to the window that's level with the ground and seeing a K-9 dog with his pet cop sniffing at the window frame a foot from the top of my head.
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Haha wow, how times have changed.
I was at RPS with my girlfriend and vacant NJ. We were sitting on a ledge, and Vacant was (as those who have met him could guess) trying to climb up to the tallest point in the place. So we're just shooting the shit, and all of a sudden I heard the terrible sound of something falling down and crashing. Frantic, I whip my head around to where I had last seen him. I see him standing over the edge of a ledge and his tripod crashing to the floor. I seriously thought it was him falling.
https://www.flickr...62837453@N07/sets/
http://www.tfpnj.blogspot.com | |
i was walking around on a old rail bridge and one of the boards that made up a walkway adjacent to the tracks had been removed, long story short i almost fell through, thank god that i was wasnt taking a shot on the move, or else i would have landed in a torrent of water that was maybe 1 degree above freezing.
so yeah i said OH Shit for sure
Create don`t destroy.
http://www.flickr....tos/104842213@N04/ | |
I would agree on People being the scariest part of exploring. Theres always risk when climbing, structurally unsound buildings and that short of thing, but I feel you have a better chance of predicting those outcomes ... people are the wild cards.
Back home in Colorado, I've actually never run into anyone other than workers in an abandonment, fingers crossed. This past summer on a road trip through Detroit that was not the case! In our days of exploring there we ran into, or saw people at every location. We tried to avoid direct contact, but saw people doing drugs, just hanging out, stealing stuff, and taking pictures.
One particular building will always stick out in my mind, large warehouse, little light and a particularly uncomfortable part of town. As we rounded the door on the top floor we started hearing people spray painting, at least 4 of five of them probably 10-15 yards from us. There were 4 of us, and most likely they heard us as well and sure they could be the people who were actually doing art ... or the ones painting their gang symbols over said art. Quickest and quietist I've descended 6 floors with no railings of stairs in the dark.
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Finding what I thought was a dead body. That was surprising.
The sign said "Anybody caught trespassin will be shot on sight"
So I jumped on the fence and I yelled at the house,
"Hey! What gives you the right?" http://www.flickr.com/photos/evman/ | |
I was semi-recently atop a rather tall abandoned hospital with about 20 other people, in the middle of the night. Suddenly a spotlight swooped across the top of the building from the street below. Uh oh. The cops were onto us. 20some people quietly shuffling down quite a few stories, in complete darkness was quite an interesting experience. Someone touched my butt a few times, butt i still have no idea who it was.. That was pretty intense. Luckily everyone made it out safely. The end.
"When it rains, just find bigger drains." | |
Posted by relik
te a few stories, in complete darkness was quite an interesting experience. Someone touched my butt a few times, butt i still have no idea who it was.. That was pretty intense.
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Interesting. Did you ever solve this intense mystery?
The sign said "Anybody caught trespassin will be shot on sight"
So I jumped on the fence and I yelled at the house,
"Hey! What gives you the right?" http://www.flickr.com/photos/evman/ | |
Posted by relik
Someone touched my butt a few times, butt i still have no idea who it was.. That was pretty intense.
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Abandoned | |
I was fairly deep in a cave, the explorer I was with was a ways ahead of me. As I was walking I would occasionally hear what sounded like an extra foot fall, but assumed that it was just echoes. When I finally looked back, I saw two headlamps coming up behind me. I jumped a bit since it was the first time I'd ever run into someone else on an explore, and called out to my friend who quickly came back and got between me and the approaching men. We called out to them several times with greetings, asking if they were explorers, asking for names; they made no response, but instead turned off their headlamps and kept coming. It was one of those weird situations where they could be turning off their lights so as to not shine them in our eyes, or they were obscuring their faces. No way to know, and the alarms were going off in my head. We talked to them a little, they were super dodgy and weird, but left and went off to do their own thing. Once we got home we did a bit of research and found that one of the guys was tied to some tasing people and robing them in a cave incidents. My guess is that they got a look at my friend and decided it wasn't worth the trouble.
I'm not your mom, but I probably could be. |
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