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This was a particularly unique location. For one thing, it's only abandoned 11 months out of the year. I found this spot on Google maps in a small town in central Texas while researching locations about two years ago and decided to check it out. I was assuming it was abandoned (duh), so imagine my surprise when I peeked through the window and saw what is in the first photo.
In addition to the evil moon, I could see the faint outline of ghosts painted on the back wall reflecting off of my flashlight. Immediately, I knew I had stumbled across something awesome. What I didn't realize at first, was that the location is still used every Halloween as a haunted house. I figured out the latter part pretty quickly, however. The quality of the props inside was really impressive (in case you haven't figured it out yet, it's a haunted house!). I assume a lot of money went into creating these imposing displays of unimaginable evil and darkness.
Two years ago, I had come here alone at night, so while I did take pictures, I was a little too spooked and unsure about the status of the place to bother with a tripod for photos. I have always wanted to come back to this one and do a proper photo shoot. A couple weeks ago, I was finally able to make that dream come true (this time accompanied with fellow UER member, Serendipitee*). Much to my delight - and surprise, the POE was still in the exact same spot as it had been the first time and not only were all of the props still inside, but they had been rearranged and even added to for last Halloween's haunted house.
I have spent a ridiculous amount of time editing and going through the hundreds of photos I took of this place. As a result, I had many, many more photos I wanted to include here, but the number was getting a bit excessive, so I decided to trim it down a little. If anyone is interested, I can include a few from the other exhibits in a later post to this thread. The haunted house in its entirety was pretty huge and confusing (and very challenging to photograph!). I'm pretty sure I missed parts of it even after spending several hours there this last visit. It was an impressive display, especially for the fairly small community of local first responders that hosted the event. I'm also assuming that they have to pay for the warehouse 11 months out of the year to store all of their stuff!
 
 Haunted
Finally, I was waiting for my friend by the POE and noticed a couple of small boxes balancing precariously on top of a bin. Not expecting anything particularly interesting, I decided to take a quick peek inside and was surprised at what I found:
I don't know anything about baseball cards (there were also basketball and football cards in the mix), but these were dated from the 1960's through the early 1990's as far as I could tell and they appeared to be in good condition. I would assume some of them might have been worth something. In hindsight, I kind of wish I had hidden them in case someone else decided to pay a visit to this location. Either way, the cards provided an intriguing, if not random, conclusion to a great explore.
This location was more challenging than I had expected to photograph - mostly because of the inability to reflect a light source off of anything (almost everything in there was painted black) and not wanting to call attention to ourselves with excessive use lights or flash. With a little bit of patience and time, however, I managed to come home with some shots that I really liked.
Hope y'all enjoyed the nightmare (there's probably more to come)! 
*Edited to correct spelling
[last edit 5/15/2020 3:31 AM by Dee Ashley - edited 1 times]
I wandered till the stars went dim. | |
Jeez, Dee, this is a freaky badass explore! I think these pics came out great; love those B&W shots...
Gotta say though, clown holding bloody baby is beyond terrifying! 😵
Those baseball cards are an intriguing find, i collected them for awhile as a kid...hard to forget the Topps stick of rock hard chewing gum that came in each pack.
Anyway, thanks for sharing these; definitely looking forward to more! 🙂
"When you've truly done something right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." | |
Posted by Cfourexplore
Jeez, Dee, this is a freaky badass explore! I think these pics came out great; love those B&W shots...
Gotta say though, clown holding bloody baby is beyond terrifying! 😵
Those baseball cards are an intriguing find, i collected them for awhile as a kid...hard to forget the Topps stick of rock hard chewing gum that came in each pack.
Anyway, thanks for sharing these; definitely looking forward to more! 🙂
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Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed them!
Personally, I found the body-in-a-bag the most disturbing. Probably because when I was staring at it from a couple of inches away, it still looked real.
Edit:
By the way, the clown with the baby (most of the clowns, actually), had those terrifying eyes that follow you from every angle. That was probably the one time I spooked myself a little bit. That, and it was windy, so I kept having to tell myself, "it's just the wind," lol.
[last edit 5/15/2020 4:27 AM by Dee Ashley - edited 1 times]
I wandered till the stars went dim. | |
Wow, very unique location and set. These came out great, especially with how difficult it must have been to shoot in those conditions.
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Love these photographs. What I wouldn't do to explore a place like this! I know the challenge of taking pictures in dark places, well sone.
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Great stuff
RIP Blackhawk | |
Sweet Jesus that’s creepy.
Good find.
aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Is "urbex historian" a legitimate profession? | |
The dinner table scene photos are the highlight of the set for me. I think you took some decorations that could come across as totally goofy and made them very moody! Makes me wish it was halloween.
Howdy <|;} | |
Posted by OpenHouse
The dinner table scene photos are the highlight of the set for me. I think you took some decorations that could come across as totally goofy and made them very moody! Makes me wish it was halloween.
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Haha, thank you, and yes, I kind of wish it was closer to Halloween too. I’m thinking I should support this local event since they have unwittingly provided me with many hours of entertainment already. I’ll probably drive out there next October and visit the haunted house when it’s open (even though I’ve kind of ruined the surprise scary parts for myself already)!
The dinner scene was my favorite photo too, so I’m glad you like it.
Posted by Comrade Kip
Sweet Jesus that’s creepy.
Good find.
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Thank you!
I’m often surprised at how many ‘good finds’ there are out there. The challenge is finding them (hence, the “good” part). I do this quite a bit and probably come across 3-4 truly “great finds” in a year or so and probably double that in “good” finds - half of them are through other people, half I stumble upon through research or dumb luck. They’re definitely out there, and in every region too if you look hard enough!
And yes, it was impressively creepy. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t glad to have someone with me the second time around!
Posted by randomesquephoto
Great stuff
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Thank you!
Posted by Buford.B
Love these photographs. What I wouldn't do to explore a place like this! I know the challenge of taking pictures in dark places, well sone.
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Thank you, and trust me, after you’ve been doing this a while, you’ll start to lose count of all the great places you’ve explored. I know I have, even if I still remember the best (and worst) parts of each experience.
Posted by DescentOnARope
Wow, very unique location and set. These came out great, especially with how difficult it must have been to shoot in those conditions.
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Thanks!
This place was one of the hardest places I’ve photographed, but the possibilities are so endless, it didn’t feel as hard as it otherwise should have, if that makes sense. I’d love to go back predawn, so I could use some proper lighting in there during the daytime when it wouldn’t be so obvious from the street.
I wandered till the stars went dim. | |
I can't believe I forgot to include this one.
One more that I had wanted to include and forgot:
Edit: Aesthetic (I'm too picky).
[last edit 5/17/2020 4:30 AM by Dee Ashley - edited 1 times]
I wandered till the stars went dim. | |
Awesome set! Looks like an awesome place. Now excuse me while I go look up The Trespasser https://www.amazon...ench/dp/0143110381
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Thank you, I’m glad you liked the thread!
Hahaha, yeah, that book was a pretty ironic addition. Last time I was there, I didn’t even notice it. 
I enjoyed meeting you and Black yesterday - we should definitely do it again soon - maybe when the heat index gets below 100°! I read on the NOAA website that the heat index in Palestine yesterday was a 111 degrees and the overnight low wouldn’t even get below 90’s all night long.
I can’t wait till I can leave my house without risking a heat stroke, lol.
I wandered till the stars went dim. |
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