Posted by jonrev Brach's: Photogs and graff writers Royal Crown: Same; graff to a much larger extent. Gary: Cops at two locations, photogs at several. Hoarder house: Raccoon. Dixie Square: Cops, photogs, dogs, and scrappers... http://farm6.stati...2_33e831facf_b.jpg http://farm7.stati...9_a0a0371355_b.jpg

That poor S-10!!

I met a dude who turned out to be my neighbor on an active rooftop at 2am a couple nights ago. I was up for maybe 20 min when I turned around and saw some guy walking in my direction. We figured out pretty quickly we were doing the same thing up there. It thought it was a pretty crazy coincidence considering the ue community where I live is basically nonexistent.

This happened this weekend actually. I introduced a friend to a location a few months ago and haven't seen the person or location since then, and I decided to return to said place and sure enough there he was. The funny part is neither of us had been there since the first time.

I partook in an explore with someone recently. We were in side the place and apparently there was someone else inside... She alerted me to the other 'intruder' and we came to the decision to just bail out and leave. Never saw who it was, my luck though it was probably wind or something. Better safe than sorry, there's some weird people out there!

First run-in with a homeless guy, yesterday... in a former mortgage bank, I came across a set of mostly-glass doors to an office with a bunch of shit up against them on the other side. Not really thinking it was an active bum site, I started shoving them open and stopped when I saw bedcovers in the corner rise and get thrown-off. Didn't want any kind of confrontation as I was alone, so I quickly apologized and GTFO - grabbing the camera/tripod in the next room and dismantling it outside, around the corner. We never saw each other.

I was exploring an abandoned movie theater a few months ago when I had a run-in.

I had just got finished making a nice panorama from the stage when I started hearing voices tat were awfully close by.

I started listening and realized whoever it was, was talking about ME.

"Did he come out yet? Did you see him go in there?"

This is when I heard the police radios...

At this point I start to shit myself, just a tad, trying to figure out my course of action, do I hide? Do I come right out?

Then I hear them say.."Maybe we should send the dogs in?"


At this point, it was clear that hiding in the building was probably not a good idea, so I announced my presence loudly and started to exit the theater, equipped with my respirator, and tripod in hand.

The cops were pretty alarmed when I came out (probably because of the respirator and the face I was carrying the tripod) and yelled to show my hands.

They sat me down and we chatted for a bit, turns out the neighbor can't mind his own damn business and called the fuzz on me, they asked what I was doing in there and didn't really understand the whole "I like to take photos of stuff like this" concept. After a bit, they were nice enough to let me off with a warning..

Really glad they didn't send any dogs in after me..


Here is the panorama I got to make before running into them:
https://www.flickr...tostream/lightbox/

I've mostly had encounters with scrappers, but it’s been very infrequent. The first time was a very long time ago (around 2001) in an abandoned junkyard and around the same time period at an abandoned factory (there was also a dog present). Neither of the men saw us on either occasion, luckily.

A couple years later a cop saw us scoping a bld and told us to beat it.

The next encounter was just this year at an abandoned church/school house. The scrappers actually rented a U-Haul (wtf) and had a variety of sledge hammers and crow bars spread about. We just said “what’s up, here to take photos” and walked into the school house. One of the scrappers eventually came into the school house and asked if “ we were cool” as he took some scrap he had collected and placed in a corner. They left shortly after that but left their tools?

As a precaution, I carry Kimber’s (a handgun manufacturer) Pepper Blaster II with a side holster. The holster is very slim, just a bit wider than a multi-tool case, and is very inconspicuous and legal in PA. I also carry a knife on my other side for easy access as well. I highly recommend carrying some type of legal defense mechanism (esp. if you are a female) in the event shit turns ugly and there is no way of talking yourself out of it or leaving. It’s better to be safe than having to fight yourself out of a rape/assault situation with no weapons.

Funny story, this happened to me twice yesterday on an explore.

I went to a factory I had been scoping out for a while, feeling confident that I had a covert path into the place. After trudging through sticker bushes and tall grass for a while I got to the lot and started to set up. After cursing in frustration for leaving my tripod mount at home, I started to do some hand held shots in the first building.

In the next building I started to hear music and my first thought was that it was coming from somebody's car on the property...a guard?....a worker?...
I froze and listened for the source and realized it was coming from inside the building, on the other side of the wall I was standing next to..So I go and turn the corner to find this guy..



Later, in the third building I saw something I wanted to snap a photo of and started walking up to get the right angle when I heard "YO!.."

I then realize I'm also walking towards a couple squatters sleeping, one of them completely naked.

I immediately apologized and said that I was just exploring the area, however I'm not sure how much of that they heard being that my respirator was on. I turned right around and went straight back through the tall grass and sticker bushes back to my car since the sun was setting anyways...

looks like some people go looking for people to run into. Photo album on flickr by tomsim500
"Having fun with urban exploring. it's interesting finding signs of squatter's.
My EU colleague got extremely excited. She left her extra pair of panties and a letter & apologizing for intruding/sorry we missed you. She wanted to revisit the abandoned house to see if we could meet the resident(s) for a photo op. she was anticipating the squatter or squatters arrival with every creak or bump through both shoots. she made no attempt to covering up when she heard something."
https://c1.staticf...6_613ec71426_k.jpg NSFW
https://c1.staticf...9_df4c68614c_k.jpg NSFW
that's Crazy!

I have yet to bump into anyone while exploring except for nearly bumping into security. My brother was walking down the road and saw a guy hop out of a factory and struck up a conversation with him. If I found a fellow explorer I would definitely try to approach them though.

One warehouse I thought was a possibility turned out to be a fully active meth lab, with cooks inside, with shaved heads and baseball bats.

That didn't go down well.

Tell us the story!

our party ran into a shooter and model at a well known location. they seemed pissed that we were dry and they were soaked and smelly... it seems we took a different path in that did not involve a flooded tunnel. we chatted for a few minutes, but went our separate ways.

Posted by ktotakov. One warehouse I thought was a possibility turned out to be a fully active meth lab, with cooks inside, with shaved heads and baseball bats. That didn't go down well.

Story?????

We were in building 25 at a local hospital last weekend and it was such a pain in the ass getting in that we wanted an easier way out. I was trying to shoulder a rotted board open in the hallway that connects it to the active buildings. It looked like they were in the process of vacating them, and the plywood that used to block off 25 from those buildings was all smashed up inside. Plus, we didn't think anyone would be in there that late on a Sunday anyway. So I tried once or twice to ram the door to the outside open, to no avail. I gave up pretty quickly, as I'm usually really quiet and get uncomfortable making too much noise. Almost immediately the door to the SNAP buildings swung open, and a middle aged black woman took one look at us and slammed the door shut again in fright. We ran right to the basement and got out as quickly as possible. We got right to the car and headed for the exit. Sure enough the SNAP woman was also trying to flee the campus. I thought she was going to snap her neck from the whiplash of turning her head when she saw us. She had a look of pure terror on her face. I'm not sure what the deal was but I got the impression she thought we were ghosts or something because she didn't even try to stop us.

Photos of the building can be found here: https://www.flickr...72157647853334040/

Posted by HackTheRipper Tell us the story!

Posted by JennyUE Story?????

Uhhhh I would like to share but these forums are pretty public. Sorry.

Just to protect yourselves from mistakes I've made; if an abandoned looking warehouse has a hissing fucking hose sticking out a window - its time to turn around and get the fuck out.

Posted by spjoker looks like some people go looking for people to run into. Photo album on flickr by tomsim500 "Having fun with urban exploring. it's interesting finding signs of squatter's. My EU colleague got extremely excited. She left her extra pair of panties and a letter & apologizing for intruding/sorry we missed you. She wanted to revisit the abandoned house to see if we could meet the resident(s) for a photo op. she was anticipating the squatter or squatters arrival with every creak or bump through both shoots. she made no attempt to covering up when she heard something." https://c1.staticf...6_613ec71426_k.jpg NSFW https://c1.staticf...9_df4c68614c_k.jpg NSFW that's Crazy!

I'd love to run into this! Unreal

Posted by ktotakov. Uhhhh I would like to share but these forums are pretty public. Sorry. Just to protect yourselves from mistakes I've made; if an abandoned looking warehouse has a hissing fucking hose sticking out a window - its time to turn around and get the fuck out.

It's cool, I understand

Two years ago I was checking out an abandoned hotel in Tennessee while on a roadtrip. I spotted it while driving and decided to pull over and scout. I parked my car behind one of the buildings and began searching for a POE. I noticed a second story balcony door ajar and saw a ladder nearby. I was debating the merits of using the ladder to gain entry (because it was super visible from the highway), when a beautiful Cadillac pulled into the driveway, blocking the only way I could drive out. A man gets out of the vehicle and asks me if I know what time the auction is occurring. I tell him I'm not sure, when I actually have no idea what he is talking about. We notice paper plastered to the main office glass windows and decide to check it out. The notices inform us that there was going to be an on-site auction for the building in about an hour. Had that gentleman not shown up, I would have been exploring the building while it was being sold to the highest bidder. The man and I end up talking for about 15 minutes and he suggests I call any friends I know with money so they can make a bid on the hotel. He told me it was expected to go for a million dollars. I haven't researched how much it ended up going for in the end.