I can't believe this thread is still going. It's like the Barn of Doom. Everything that could POSSIBLY be said about this topic has been said. Even so, for Lolli's benefit here goes:

Most full members will not give you a location. Your best bet is to find other members here who are in your area and hook up with them for an explore.

In most cases, your reception is going to be weary at first but they probably know of a low risk place that they will explore with you as a "getting to know you" before attempting something more risky.

This hobby is dangerous for a number of reasons. Bringing someone along that you don't know multiply those risks. It's best to go to local meet ups and earn trust before you expect locations to come your way.

Also, nobody likes to be sponged off. You should have some unique places of your own to offer or I can guarantee any info source you get will be short lived.

Posted by Peptic Ulcer I can't believe this thread is still going. It's like the Barn of Doom. Everything that could POSSIBLY be said about this topic has been said. Even so, for Lolli's benefit here goes: Most full members will not give you a location. Your best bet is to find other members here who are in your area and hook up with them for an explore. In most cases, your reception is going to be weary at first but they probably know of a low risk place that they will explore with you as a "getting to know you" before attempting something more risky. This hobby is dangerous for a number of reasons. Bringing someone along that you don't know multiply those risks. It's best to go to local meet ups and earn trust before you expect locations to come your way. Also, nobody likes to be sponged off. You should have some unique places of your own to offer or I can guarantee any info source you get will be short lived.

thank you i appreciate it!

Well what about a guide to finding places then? People say "just go look".
Okay, I can drive around in my town on ALL the different streets for about 5 hours or probably more, but I won't find anywhere to explore.

I can drive around the entire state for weeks. It's too big to "just go look", especially because I'd have to come back home every night.

I assume many of you who say to "just go look" live on the East coast where there is a metric-f*ck-ton of locations just because it's very old. But out in the West it's rather hard to find anything besides mines and other tourist destinations. In Denver, places get demo'd rather fast.

So yeah, a guide would be nice. A detailed guide.

Posted by fradd Well what about a guide to finding places then? People say "just go look". Okay, I can drive around in my town on ALL the different streets for about 5 hours or probably more, but I won't find anywhere to explore. I can drive around the entire state for weeks. It's too big to "just go look", especially because I'd have to come back home every night. I assume many of you who say to "just go look" live on the East coast where there is a metric-f*ck-ton of locations just because it's very old. But out in the West it's rather hard to find anything besides mines and other tourist destinations. In Denver, places get demo'd rather fast. So yeah, a guide would be nice. A detailed guide.

How much are you willing to pay?

Posted by fradd Well what about a guide to finding places then? People say "just go look". Okay, I can drive around in my town on ALL the different streets for about 5 hours or probably more, but I won't find anywhere to explore. I can drive around the entire state for weeks. It's too big to "just go look", especially because I'd have to come back home every night. I assume many of you who say to "just go look" live on the East coast where there is a metric-f*ck-ton of locations just because it's very old. But out in the West it's rather hard to find anything besides mines and other tourist destinations. In Denver, places get demo'd rather fast. So yeah, a guide would be nice. A detailed guide.

So where do you live? Can't be much worse than W TX.
There are places everywhere, jeeezse.
I drove 100 miles to get into Atlas F sites.
Didn't ask anyone where or how. Took me a day or so to plot out possible ones and two days to scout and explore them.
You want a winner every time by riding on someone else back.
No free rides from me unless you're damn fine... never mind.
You're suppose to contribute here not panhandle.

Posted by Steed How much are you willing to pay?

He better contact Master Explorer Seph Lawless

I can't GIVE you a guide but I can give you a link to one

https://www.google.com/earth/

Good luck

Posted by fradd Well what about a guide to finding places then? People say "just go look". Okay, I can drive around in my town on ALL the different streets for about 5 hours or probably more, but I won't find anywhere to explore. I can drive around the entire state for weeks. It's too big to "just go look", especially because I'd have to come back home every night. I assume many of you who say to "just go look" live on the East coast where there is a metric-f*ck-ton of locations just because it's very old. But out in the West it's rather hard to find anything besides mines and other tourist destinations. In Denver, places get demo'd rather fast. So yeah, a guide would be nice. A detailed guide.

My guide:

When going to or from work/store/family/etc. keep your eyes open and try different routes.

It always worked for me.

<===midwesterner

Been ha ing an increasing number of people contact me (off UER) asking for locations, so I went back and reread this whole thread. Great entertainment and interesting to see who stuck around.

Ditto what Peptic said. Google is my God now.

Super excited to be a part of the forum and move on up with the community!

Does anyone have any recommendations for locations in Arkansas or Tennessee they would recommend for a new explorer? I would love to see some pictures too!

Posted by laurel Does anyone have any recommendations for locations in Arkansas or Tennessee they would recommend for a new explorer? I would love to see some pictures too!

The Delta region (both the TN/MS and the AR sides) is truly a historic and exploring gold mine if you just look around. I drove all the way out there from Dallas, Texas - simply based on what I found by looking at Google Earth/maps and a little bit of research. Once I actually got there, I found a ton more than I had even initially discovered by way of those methods.

I believe that a lot of this is due to multiple factors that are mostly tied together: 1. this is one of the poorest economical regions in the country 2. there are residual effects still felt from the Civil War era - both in the economy and in the demographics of that area. 3. *Shrinking populations.

*That last one is a great indicator of towns with a high rate of abandonments. I've recently had a lot of success by simply researching areas with shrinking populations.

Edited to add the photos:

The first photo is from the foyer of a country club - part of a larger parent facility that was closed in recent years:

Distance Learning by Dee Ashley, on Flickr

The last three are from two or three different schools in the Delta region:

Because I Can by Dee Ashley, on Flickr


Distance Learning by Dee Ashley, on Flickr


Forgotten corner of a forgotten town by Dee Ashley, on Flickr

There are tons of things to see out there, these are just the first ones I came across that were actually tagged accurately (I suck at organizing this kind of stuff).

Posted by Dee Ashley The Delta region (both the TN/MS and the AR sides) is truly a historic and exploring gold mine if you just look around. I drove all the way out there from Dallas, Texas - simply based on what I found by looking at Google Earth/maps and a little bit of research. Once I actually got there, I found a ton more than I had even initially discovered by way of those methods. I believe that a lot of this is due to multiple factors that are mostly tied together: 1. this is one of the poorest economical regions in the country 2. there are residual effects still felt from the Civil War era - both in the economy and in the demographics of that area. 3. *Shrinking populations. *That last one is a great indicator of towns with a high rate of abandonments. I've recently had a lot of success by simply researching areas with shrinking populations.

Good idea, Ashley! I never thought about it that way. What is usually your plan when it comes to looking for new areas?

Posted by laurel Good idea, Ashley! I never thought about it that way. What is usually your plan when it comes to looking for new areas?

I was never very good with plans, lol.
That said, there is a ton of information right here on UER. Here are a couple links I've found very useful.

http://www.uer.ca/...=125246&currpage=1

http://www.uer.ca/...d=83183&currpage=3

http://www.uer.ca/...=1&threadid=119211

http://www.uer.ca/...=1&threadid=117818

Like I said, there are tons of them (check in the Tutorials, Rookie, and Main forums for many of these types of threads). I included some specifics in the first couple of links that I don't want to re-type, but it's pretty much all there.

Lastly, For those of us in the US, our own .gov websites can be extremely useful (I'm really thinking about the Census bureau and best one is the EPA site). I'm willing to bet most other countries have useful government sites as well...

I've also found that keeping my ear to the ground can help me find locations. Set up a Google Alert system for terms like your city's name, your county, and words such as "abandoned," "derelict," "blight," and "redevelopment." Buy a daily subscription to a local newspaper, and keep an eye out for abandonment slated for redevelopment- bureaucracy talks a lot before it acts, so you may have months to explore before construction or demolition begins. Discreetly ask around your town hall and local historical society.


Don't be afraid to look outside the box when it comes to finding information. The best locations are the ones you have to dig the deepest for.

so far i have only found two untouched places , both by accident...all the others have been repeatedly gang raped loll, still fun to find a new place even if it has been wrecked.

i can understand how frustrating it is for beginners like myself to find new places,with our newbie enthusiasm we want to do one a week lol. At the same time i understand why locations must be kept secret..

the temptation to ask is huge, but all i can do is keep my ears and eyes open and search.

last weekend i went to visite a friend, and on the way into her town i noticed a big abandoned paper mill...i asked her about it and we visited. Turns out i have heard of the place but never knew where it was. So i guess just pay attention and things eventually show up.

Posted by bobbyl16 so far i have only found two untouched places , both by accident...all the others have been repeatedly gang raped loll, still fun to find a new place even if it has been wrecked. i can understand how frustrating it is for beginners like myself to find new places,with our newbie enthusiasm we want to do one a week lol. At the same time i understand why locations must be kept secret.. the temptation to ask is huge, but all i can do is keep my ears and eyes open and search. last weekend i went to visite a friend, and on the way into her town i noticed a big abandoned paper mill...i asked her about it and we visited. Turns out i have heard of the place but never knew where it was. So i guess just pay attention and things eventually show up.

That's a good attitude and good payoff. It might turn out the local explorers all know about the paper mill, but you still discovered it on your own which is in itself impressive.

Discovery of new locations is in itself I think one of the greatest accomplishments in UE, and I'm much more interested in someone who's finding sites rather than going to ones I know and taking nice pictures of them.

Posted by Steed Discovery of new locations is in itself I think one of the greatest accomplishments in UE,

Well, it used to be but not anymore. I think the Instagramers have changed all that.

Posted by Avius Property Owners, Security Personnel, and Law Enforcement Officers are known to frequent this site in order to passively and actively prevent further exploration. Vandals, Scrappers, and Arsonists are known to frequent this site in order to find places to Vandalize, Scrap, and Arse.

I don't think that's entirely true. The frequenting part anyways. (If it is, hi FBI! Hi NSA! Hi Trump!)I think a lot of people saw a few videos and stumbled here to learn more, browsed the DB to see if that shopping center down the road is on there and only sparingly returned once they found out it wasn't.

I'm sure that a handful departments and security agencies have a few guys that keep track of an abandonment or two but that's about it, usually it's those old big power plants and factories (Like Bailey Power Plant in Winston-Salem was, it's undergoing renovations and looks really nice) that people could get seriously hurt or killed in.


As for the scrappers any building with shuttered windows is fair game, including those on here.

Taggers/vandals just paint on anything abandoned or not. Abandoned buildings are a magnet though.

Arsonists... just do arson-y stuff.

Probably totally wrong, but it is possible that there is an inaccuracy there.

Posted by algorithm I don't think that's entirely true. The frequenting part anyways. (If it is, hi FBI! Hi NSA! Hi Trump!)

We can debate the frequency at which law enforcement monitors UER, but it is known they have been here. Not every single force, and it doesn't affect every region equally, but it has been known to happen.

And we have had property owners join this site specifically to tell people not to visit their site.