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The first thing that struck me about the Harding-Jones Paper Mill was the age of the building. Most of the buildings I had explored up to that point were mainly from the 20th century; this was presented as one from the Civil War era. Of course, now know that this is not true; while the company was founded in 1865, the mill that stood was from 1871. But still, getting the chance to explore something from the mid-19th century was a real treat. Plus, it is one that is easy to explore and, despite structural concerns, an easy mark with a lot of history tiedRead More →

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The local explorer scene called it George’s Funhouse; I’m not sure why or who George is or was, but one thing is for sure, the American Enka company in Lowland, TN, was a lot of fun. While INAAP was a much larger space to explore, it had nothing on the Lowland plant in terms of the amount left and the variety of items left. Lowland offered up everything in a smaller but much more densely packed location, as someone who loved the ample empty space, along with some exciting things to see and read. The American Enka Company traces itself back to the Netherlands andRead More →

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When you hear the term subway, you tend to think about long stretches of tunnels that run trains mostly underground. But that is only sometimes the case; if you look at the TTC’s subway system, a great deal runs above ground but below grade. And that’s the key; you can also call roads that run under train tracks ‘subways’, but what does this all have to do with Rochester? Context being everything, the Rochester Subway, or simply “The Subway”, was a rapid transit system that mainly ran below grade. It was one of many rapid transit systems that grew in the United States through theRead More →

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If you had to pick the epicentre of abandoned buildings in the American Rust Belt, many cities can claim that title. The 1970s were not kind to North American industry, and cities like Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and many more still feel the sting of that troubled decade. Then there is Gary, Indiana; you can throw a rock in many parts of Gary and break the window of an abandoned building. And despite the stories I had heard about the city being a murder capital with rampant crime and watching not only your car but your wallet. I never once felt uncomfortable in Gary, unlike Detroit,Read More →

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The massive silos at the foot of Bathurst Street caught my attention long before I started going into abandoned buildings; I actually feel that these silos and a set of abandoned houses on Derry Road near Pearson Airport (long demolished now) are what first drew me into the world of Urban Exploration and the natural curiosity to see what was behind those closed doors and boarded up windows. I also vaguely remember seeing figures up at the tallest point one night coming back from a Blue Jays game. Either way, the Canadian Malting Company silos in Toronto were one of the grail locations for manyRead More →

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I was more familiar with Robert Preston in his final role as Centauri in The Last Starfighter but my mom and my wife will always sing the line “Gary, Indiana” from the movie “The Music Man” and while it might have tripped along softly on the tongue this way. The city of Gary today is a far cry from what it once was in the early 20th Century. This boom steel town has seen its highs and is now in its lows. I would have loved to include every building I explored in Gary in my “Between Darkness & Light” Series, the simple fact isRead More →

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Regarding locations, the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant is by far the largest location I ever explored and only a tiny percentage of the total area. This massive factory is terribly repeatable, as it was designed to be an enormous plant for the production of smokeless powder during the Second World War. Based on what I’ve read and seen, I spent almost all the time at the Indiana Ordnance Works No. 1 and a bit of the Hoiser Ordnance Works. Either way, this was a single location I spent five hours at, but I still feel that I only saw a little but at theRead More →

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Urban explorers always have a grail location or a favourite type of location. For many in the northeast of the United States, these locations are related to the treatment of mental illness. Now, I use the term ‘treatment’ loosely because of the long and rather cruel methods used in the past. While many were seen as humane compared to earlier treatments, in our modern context, they are rather terrible. Here in Ontario, we don’t have many abandoned mental hospitals. Most have been torn down and replaced with modern facilities or reverted back to their historical form. I had never explored many mental hospitals, and allRead More →

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Something is fascinating about exploring Northern Ontario; it is a whole different world, with different people and a totally different way of life. Even the towns feel different, almost as if Northern Ontario is a different province from Southern Ontario once you’re past North Bay and Sudbury. Historically, northern Ontario is entirely different, having only been added to the province in 1874, and it wasn’t until 1912 that the modern boundaries of Ontario were established. But this is not a post about Ontario history; it’s about a mine, the Ross Mine. Located in the small, mainly French-Canadian town of Holtyre, the entire area was foundedRead More →

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It was called the Hamilton Secret Locations Meet; in late 2006, a group of explorers headed out to Hamilton. These days, the city was a hotbed for exploration; there was plenty to see both downtown and in the industrial sectors. While the old Stelco plant had been demolished, the local group discovered a new location in the industrial sector. The name was initially kept secret to help keep it out of the public eye. The first place we went to was not the main Firestone plant but rather the boiler house that supported the plant. I can now see why because the boiler house wasRead More →