Ran into a scrapper who tried to tell me he owned the house I was exploring, that was kinda funny.

Angry property owner one time in Quebec, who thought I was totally insane to want to go into and photograph abandoned buildings...

Once I was in a two story farmhouse with my best friend, we were just about to head upstairs when we heard steps and a thump, so we decided to leave.

Another time approaching a house in the middle of nowhere in fresh snow, it was in bad shape and obviously abandoned, but had newspaper taped to the inside of the windows. As we walked up the driveway I noticed some HUGE size 14 footprints going towards, but not coming out, of the place. Decided I did not want to meet the owner of those feet!

Posted by Radical_Ed Dude, I don't believe this angle of approach would've helped you one fucking bit in the hair-raising tale you told of the crackheads/free-basers/thugs you encountered. This is really good for the homeless, lonely, mentally unstable, elderly, landowner scenarios though. The again, I'm the prettiest of the ugly assholes I hang with and I'm as hideous as a human can become. I generally have absolutely no problems immersed in the ghetto-ness of my region (Philly/North Jersey, NYC). Looking like you ain't-got-a-pot-to-piss-in helps greatly in this hobby. Try not to shave, wear Goodwill clothes and don't comb your hair. Oh, also be 47 years old and weigh at least 200 pounds. What the Hell, it works for me!

I meant my next run in with the local squatters here and there that usually mean no harm. My biggest problem is I usually stick out in the ghetto of south GA rather well (or If i do not, my friends do). However, I've started learning how to "blend in" by wearing old "dirty" clothes and shoes. When I first started exploring I really suffered from the backpack syndrome (and did until very recently) of wanting to carry EVERYTHING in my camera bag, anything I could possible need, etc. I've recently figured out that less is really more in this hobby, and fitting/ blending is key. I've ditched the backpack for 3/4 of my explores for now and man is it nice. All these years I thought I was doing it right,but it's so much easier now.

That being said, I mentioned this thread (well question of strange stories) to my father who use to be really into it "back in his day". I got a pretty good story I'm gonna write up and post later from him.

well, this thread is old, but imma comment anyway...

After a brief several month break of exploring, i got the itch to get back to it again. I decided to hit a nearby school that I had done before to record some raw video footage. I arrived there, early in the morning (like 6 or 7 AM). The only POE I had discovered was a narrow ventilation slit in the side of the building that I had managed to squeeze through. To my dismay though, the slits were sealed up, but there was one around the back behind a bush that authorities had missed! I sucked in my gut, squeezed through and HAZAH! I was in! I pulled out my camera and proceeded to turn it on, only it wouldn't. I got out a flash light to see better what i was doing, and sure enough, the battery was dead. I also noticed a drop of red liquid and then turned over the back of my hand and sure enough it is covered in blood. I had cut my hand open on some glass on the floor, it was nothing serious though and I was able to clean it up pretty good. But that did it for that adventure today. I basically called it before it even started. But i returned the next day.

I brought gloves with me this time and made sure my camera was fully charged. I was in and back to it no problem. There's a period of probably about 20 minutes where you are on full alert and anything as small as dust shifting will cause you to jump. I had probably just passed this stage of the explore and was in the main hallway nearing the second portion of the school when to my left and slightly behind me I hear a sound that sounds like someone is shifting/sliding something like a desk on the floor. I stopped and stayed dead still unsure if it was coming from inside or out. For some reason too I though turning my camera would make me quieter, but within 20 seconds later, I heard another sound again and it sounded like someone was blowing their nose.


At that, I bolted out of there. Now this could have easily been a homeless person stirring from his peaceful slumber in this abandoned abode... but it also could have been a junkie that just got done snorting a line. Or worse, and armed thug hiding out cooling down from authorities because he just killed some people a few hours ago. I wasn't going to stay and find out which one it was. Especially if you consider my POE i described earlier.

I did manage to get the first sound of him i heard though, so at least there was that. I will have that video up shortly as well. But man, what a rush!

Posted by xlookex well, this thread is old, but imma comment anyway... After a brief several month break of exploring, i got the itch to get back to it again. I decided to hit a nearby school that I had done before to record some raw video footage. I arrived there, early in the morning (like 6 or 7 AM). The only POE I had discovered was a narrow ventilation slit in the side of the building that I had managed to squeeze through. To my dismay though, the slits were sealed up, but there was one around the back behind a bush that authorities had missed! I sucked in my gut, squeezed through and HAZAH! I was in! I pulled out my camera and proceeded to turn it on, only it wouldn't. I got out a flash light to see better what i was doing, and sure enough, the battery was dead. I also noticed a drop of red liquid and then turned over the back of my hand and sure enough it is covered in blood. I had cut my hand open on some glass on the floor, it was nothing serious though and I was able to clean it up pretty good. But that did it for that adventure today. I basically called it before it even started. But i returned the next day. I brought gloves with me this time and made sure my camera was fully charged. I was in and back to it no problem. There's a period of probably about 20 minutes where you are on full alert and anything as small as dust shifting will cause you to jump. I had probably just passed this stage of the explore and was in the main hallway nearing the second portion of the school when to my left and slightly behind me I hear a sound that sounds like someone is shifting/sliding something like a desk on the floor. I stopped and stayed dead still unsure if it was coming from inside or out. For some reason too I though turning my camera would make me quieter, but within 20 seconds later, I heard another sound again and it sounded like someone was blowing their nose. At that, I bolted out of there. Now this could have easily been a homeless person stirring from his peaceful slumber in this abandoned abode... but it also could have been a junkie that just got done snorting a line. Or worse, and armed thug hiding out cooling down from authorities because he just killed some people a few hours ago. I wasn't going to stay and find out which one it was. Especially if you consider my POE i described earlier. I did manage to get the first sound of him i heard though, so at least there was that. I will have that video up shortly as well. But man, what a rush!

I, for one, am glad you brought this thread back. I'd never seen it before and it's been a great read.

Posted by EnvoyToTheMolePeople I, for one, am glad you brought this thread back. I'd never seen it before and it's been a great read.

Agreed! I didn't realize how old it was until the very last thread, lol.

I'm glad to see this come back, too, since I also have a story (I guess titled 'My First Squatter')
I was exploring this huge old mill building a few months back (the same day I was almost arrested, another story I just added), and upon parking at a nearby park, I see a guy walking towards the treeline where I'm sure I need to go. I wait a bit, and he returns, and heads on into the park...I doubt like hell he's 'exploring' but it reinforces the idea that I should expect I won't be alone in there.
So I infiltrate, and walk around, take my pics, and go up a few floors. In one stairwell there's an old jacket on the ground. Lots of tagging, some trash here and there, and pretty questionable flooring in the upper levels. I make my way down, and on the second floor, I stop for a shot and behind me I hear a scraping sound...
I slowly turn, and there's a middle-aged man walking towards me. A few rather shabby layers of clothing on (not that I'm in a suit and tie by any means, mind you), and holding a familiar jacket in his hand. I'd guess he heard me at some point and decided to ride my back trail...
"Hello sir." I say. "How's it goin'?" He asks. I'm about to offer him a smoke, but he's already got one...and he asks if that jacket was mine. I said no, but that I'd seen it on the way up, and added I hoped I hadn't disturbed him while I was traipsing around. He said I wasn't bothering him at all, but wondered why I was there.
I told him I was into abandoned places, and I was just taking pics. He says, "Ain't much here to see." Then he asked me if I was a cop, telling me he just comes here from time to time (he didn't elaborate much, not that it's my business either way), and I said no. Then he says "not a private investigator...security...agent?"
I assure him I'm just a 'normal' guy who enjoys exploring abandoned places, telling him the standard, "I didn't see you, you didn't see me." We talked maybe 5 or 10 minutes; I don't know that he was a squatter per se, but he did tell me a story about sleeping there one night, and hearing screaming from below...turned out it was some jacknut smacking his girlfriend around; again he didn't detail the whole thing, but said he'd told the guy to "move on outta here before you end up with some of what you're giving her."
I eventually went my way (back to my car after a bit more walking around), and he went back to whatever he was doing.

This happened back in the 90s at Santa Cruz Boardwalk. It was winter time, so very low traffic. It’s after midnight and start climbing to the high point on the roller coaster. We’re real quiet, as security was walking around the the boardwalk, and it was impossible to tell where they were at any given moment. 10 feet from the top we stop. We both see it at same time...there is already someone at the top! We figure he *had* to know we were there, but he hadn’t acknowledged us. It couldn’t be security...he’d have said something. So, why hadn’t he said, “something...anything”? The fact he was alone made it even creepier. My buddy and I are looking right at him, when he turns his head and looks directly at us. Still not talking. So, we just turned tail and split. It just freaked us the fuck out.

Another time, with same guy, around same time, we were sneaking into someone’s back yard to steal some pot plants. I know. Very uncool, but it wasn’t really our normal behavior, at the time, or since. It was my buddy’s deal, I was just going along for support or whatever.

It’s in suburban San Jose at 2 or 3 in the morning. We parked like a block away, and quietly walked to the houses side gate. And we were quite! As in, starting 2 houses away, we made *no* sound...walking slowly and listening for *anything* that shouldn’t be there. Once at gate, we very quietly unlatched it and used upwards pressure to open it, so it wouldn’t creak. We were about 5 slow steps into the back yard, listening intensely and not making a sound, when suddenly we hear from somewhere in the backyard, “go away. please, just leave. goooo awayyy.” in a very soft, quite and *young* sounding voice. The person was close....within feet, but we saw no one. You couldn’t have gotten a pin up my ass with a hammer! We stood frozen for about a minute until the voice again softly asked us to leave.

That has to have been the fastest I’ve ever run! Never saw or heard anything other then that child’s voice asking us to leave.

There are a couple more good stories about me and Jim’s adventures from back in the day....I’ll recount more another day.