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 velcrozeppelin
     
Location: Rochester, NY
Gender: Male
Mandalorian Mayhem
 |  |  |  | History or Curiosity?
< on 8/28/2008 6:28 PM >
|  | | | One of the parts I enjoy most about UrbEx is the history behind many of the places I see. It's not just the being where I'm not supposed to be or taking pictures and looking at cool stuff.
I really like the history and stories of places, and when a place has a good story or an interesting history, I'm more likely to want to visit it. If it were just some place that people up and left for no apparent reason, I'd probably still see it, but it would be lower on my list than a place with a rich story.
What about everyone else?
Is it the thrill?
The curiosity?
The (hi)story?
All of it?
Me goin' legit would be like JarJar on speech therapy.
I'm on Flickr now! My Flickr Stream | I'm about as thick as a Bryk. |
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trent
  
I'm Trent! Get Bent!
Location: Drainwhale hunting
Gender: Male
Not on UER anymore.
| | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 1 on 8/28/2008 6:37 PM >
| | | | I do it for all of the free metal to steal, to release some pressure by smashing things, and burning down abandonments so I can toast some marshmallows on the flames. Also, I use the abandonments to dump all of my dead hooker bodies.
Wow, I'm scaring myself here...
Really though, it's kind of a hybrid of all of the things on your list. I enjoy the history, however sometimes the history is not for the fun of it, it's more research about a location so that better access it or get to places I didn't know about.
Also, some of it is obsessive compulsiveness. Sometimes I'll see a building and it will just nag me to death until I go in it.
As for the thrill, just being in there isn't the thrill to me, it's the whole process of getting in there. The research, the planning, the preparation, the social engineering, the "acting like I own the place", and then being inside.
Also, as an IT person and an internet addict, it's real nice to have a hobby where I am physically doing something with physical souvenirs (film photos). It's kind of depressing that the output of my job and other hobbies is just a collection of bits of data.
[last edit 8/28/2008 6:43 PM by trent - edited 1 times]
He who rules the underground, rules the city above.
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yokes
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
I aim to misbehave
| | | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 2 on 8/28/2008 6:39 PM >
| | | | Posted by TrentReznor
I do it for all of the free metal to steal, to release some pressure my smashing things, and burning down abandonments so I can toast some marshmallows on the flames. Also, I use the abandonments to dump all of my dead hooker bodies.
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I'm glad it isn't just me. phew.
"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel |
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velcrozeppelin
Location: Rochester, NY
Gender: Male
Mandalorian Mayhem
| | | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 3 on 8/28/2008 6:44 PM >
| | | | Haha nice...
I don't know why I get so obsessed with the history of places, especially since I HATED history in school, but when I'd heard about the mythical(?) Illuminati Catacombs in the Mt. Hope Cemetery, I went to EVERY tombstone marked with a Mason symbol that I could find in hopes of seeing something out of the ordinary. It's a great story.
Similarly, I used to explore places in my old hometown (wedged between the Taconics and the Berkshires, two oldest mountain ranges on Earth) and I liked asking all of the old-timers of the community the backstory on the places I explored. If it was newer, I usually didn't care as much and was less likely to fully explore.
Me goin' legit would be like JarJar on speech therapy.
I'm on Flickr now! My Flickr Stream | I'm about as thick as a Bryk. |
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trent
I'm Trent! Get Bent!
Location: Drainwhale hunting
Gender: Male
Not on UER anymore.
| | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 4 on 8/28/2008 6:48 PM >
| | | | Posted by velcrozeppelin
I don't know why I get so obsessed with the history of places, especially since I HATED history in school, but when I'd heard about the mythical(?) Illuminati Catacombs in the Mt. Hope Cemetery, I went to EVERY tombstone marked with a Mason symbol that I could find in hopes of seeing something out of the ordinary. It's a great story.
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Hehe....been on rocwiki huh? Last I've read it's a myth, but the only other place I saw it was on rocwiki. Do you think there is more to this than I'm thinking?
He who rules the underground, rules the city above.
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velcrozeppelin
Location: Rochester, NY
Gender: Male
Mandalorian Mayhem
| | | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 5 on 8/28/2008 6:57 PM >
| | | | I saw the Illuminati myth on RocWiki first, but then read about it in some books on the area after (google Rochester NY in google books... amazing things come up).
There is an incredibly strong Free Mason presence in Upstate NY, and especially in WNY. I wouldn't be surprised.
Me goin' legit would be like JarJar on speech therapy.
I'm on Flickr now! My Flickr Stream | I'm about as thick as a Bryk. |
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consecrated
Location: Connecticut
Gender: Male
Æthereal
| | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 6 on 8/28/2008 7:26 PM >
| | | | I think a lot of both, but not just one or the other. If I'm just curious, it can be fun, but if there is a mystique about the place, I get REALLY curious then it becomes great. Especially when you go into a place and really start thinking about what was there and how it became what it is today. That's the history that I find fascinating, the history from the point of closure until the point of infiltration...the decay, the silence, the inanimate state of a once booming industry or the mysterious remains of a creepy house. The back story - the history leading up to the closure - is of course great and may or may not add to the mystique of the location, but the physics and presumptive history of the decay is what fuels my desire to explore.
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Ghost Horses
| | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 7 on 8/28/2008 7:52 PM >
| | | | It's the history for me. It fascinates me that these places were once populated and kept up and now they are abandoned, overgrown and decaying. People with a story worked and lived in these places and those places were a big part of these peoples lives. Some of the places we explore were booming back in the day! Now they are quiet and derelict, unable to speak and tell us their story. I wish I could turn back the clock and watch what went on in these places. The stories, the people, the era, where we've been and where we're going as a society, all are the things that move me about UE. What will become of the buildings that we spend time in now? Will people go through our houses, places of work, stores, theaters and ask themselves the same questions about us?
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Crazyman
Location: somewhere in Missouri...
Gender: Male
If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?
| | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 8 on 8/29/2008 2:37 AM >
| | | | While the history of a place certainly fascinates me, as well as the artifacts left behind, I think curiosity is what drives me...I wonder, when I look at a building, how it looks on the inside, how many rooms it has, how the rooms are laid out, and what condition they're in...same thing for active infiltration-I wanna know what's behind the door, especially ones marked 'employees only', or 'do not enter'...
[last edit 8/29/2008 2:40 AM by Crazyman - edited 1 times]
I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me - they're cramming for their final exam... |
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Wilk
Location: NYC
Gender: Male
| | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 9 on 8/29/2008 2:41 AM >
| | | | For me it's history. I enjoy doing research on a location just as much as I enjoy the physical exploration. Ok, the thrill is a close second.
[last edit 8/29/2008 2:42 AM by Wilk - edited 1 times]
Ready for liftoff
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\/adder
Location: DunkarooLand
Gender: Male
I'm the worst of the best but I'm in this race.
| | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 10 on 8/29/2008 3:42 AM >
| | | | Because it's there...
"No risk, no reward, no fun."
"Go all the way or walk away"
escensi omnis... |
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ZachariahDaMan
Location: Detroit
Gender: Male
| | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 11 on 8/29/2008 4:00 AM >
| | | | A mixture of both for me but mostly history. I love researching the history of a building I've explored and seeing old photos of it when it was used.
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velcrozeppelin
Location: Rochester, NY
Gender: Male
Mandalorian Mayhem
| | | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 12 on 8/29/2008 2:14 PM >
| | | |
Post by Ghost Horses
It's the history for me. It fascinates me that these places were once populated and kept up and now they are abandoned, overgrown and decaying. People with a story worked and lived in these places and those places were a big part of these peoples lives. Some of the places we explore were booming back in the day! Now they are quiet and derelict, unable to speak and tell us their story. I wish I could turn back the clock and watch what went on in these places. The stories, the people, the era, where we've been and where we're going as a society, all are the things that move me about UE. What will become of the buildings that we spend time in now? Will people go through our houses, places of work, stores, theaters and ask themselves the same questions about us?
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That's an extremely accurate recap of how I feel!
As posted before, I grew up exploring in rural eastern New York, but the town was a pretty big city in the 20's, having a better economy and TONS of stuff that just doesn't even exist in the current town. The history of the town always interested me, and the best part was talking to all the 80+ year olds about how cool the town used to be.
[last edit 8/29/2008 2:14 PM by velcrozeppelin - edited 1 times]
Me goin' legit would be like JarJar on speech therapy.
I'm on Flickr now! My Flickr Stream | I'm about as thick as a Bryk. |
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Vacant NJ
Location: New Jersey
| | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 13 on 8/29/2008 2:26 PM >
| | | | For me it's a hybrid of all three, but in the order of Curiosity, Thrill, and then History.
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PhotoSeeker
Location: Sudbury
Gender: Male
MikeOnline
| | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 14 on 8/29/2008 7:08 PM >
| | | | I think most people would say it's a combination...
For me, the primary motivation is the curiosity. What's in there? What's it look like?
The history is also a crucial part for me... I mean, without the history, you're just looking at a pile of ruins that, for the most part, could be very similar to any number of other sites we've visited. It's the history of a place that gives it its true character, its color and charm.
Imagination plays a large role too, I think... How many of us have stood in any given room of any given building and tried to imagine what it might have been like in its day? Imagining the people who worked / lived / played / died there? Truly, if the walls could talk, they'd have stories that would hold us spellbound for days.
The thrill, of course, appeals to the inner adrenaline junkie in many of us. For me, that's not a huge part. I've generated more adrenaline already in my lifetime to wake half of Toronto's largest / oldest cemetary. While it can still be fun, I prefer to just be able to completely immerse myself in the location without concern.
Lots of Urban Exploration goodness at https://urbexobsession.com |
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buckybear
Gender: Male
| | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 15 on 8/29/2008 9:29 PM >
| | | | I think it's the discovery. I have been into buildings that have been sealed up for decades. Walking into a room untouched for 30 years or more fascinates me. I have seen paperwork laying on a desk that has been there since before I was born.
My interest in UE started when I was very young. I remember begging my dad to let me walk through an abandoned house I could not have been more then five or six. There was also an old hotel in Claremore Oklahoma that I fell in love with at an early age. I got a chance to spend the day in it once when the historic society bought the building.
I guess it is just the sense of history and what we have lost with architecture as well. Modern buildings have no soul compared to what we built in the past.
[last edit 8/29/2008 9:30 PM by buckybear - edited 1 times]
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Stewie
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Gender: Male
kill your idols
| | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 16 on 8/29/2008 9:35 PM >
| | | | Honestly these days I do it simply for the social aspects. I haven't actually explored anything that I was really curious about and was itching to see for quite some time. I just kind of show people around or go to places as part of meets. The only things that interest me these days are too hard to gain access to, or are too far away.
> The hierarchy of power dictates that the person with the most power does the least amount of work and retains the highest benefit. |
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KublaKhan
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
With Satan, it's always gimmie, gimmie.
| | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 17 on 8/29/2008 10:03 PM >
| | | | Posted by TheVicariousVadder
Because it's there...
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What he said.
Sometimes the history is interesting, but other times, it's a fucking abandoned farm/industrial site/urban development/house, and that's all it is. Seriously, how many of us are interested in Farmer Joe's tale of the night Betsy the Cow got loose and ate all Farmer Ben's corn, thus starting the lethal Farmers Joe and Ben Corn Wars?
"The truth is knowable. But probably not, ever, incontrovertible."
--Don DeLillo
PICS |
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mixism
Location: Swift Current, SK
| | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 18 on 8/30/2008 7:33 PM >
| | | | Posted by TheVicariousVadder
Because it's there...
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Ditto.
I'd have to say my inner adrenaline junkie ties with my curiosity. The story of a place is always something that I want to know, but it's just as likely that I'll happen upon something and won't find out until later what the story behind it is.
I suppose curiosity wins out. I have a (quite possibly irrational) desire to know everything.
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CaptOrbit
Location: Sarasota, FL or Cincinnati, OH
Gender: Male
There you are, right back in the jungle again.
| | | Re: History or Curiosity?
<Reply # 19 on 8/30/2008 7:35 PM >
| | | | Posted by velcrozeppelin
What about everyone else?
Is it the thrill?
The curiosity?
The (hi)story?
All of it?
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I really dislike havening to look over my shoulder. It makes me feel rushed and kind of diminishes the experience.
The personal responsibility train left the station years ago, and you gave it the finger as you watched it leave. |
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