Among The Ruins

(Author's Note: I do not condone any activity that might lead to bodily injury or worse. However, I can only say that if you are interested in such behavior, it ultimately falls to the conscience of the individual. I only recommend the usage of your reasoning faculties and to draw your own conclusions. -Lucas)


An inevitable by-product of urban development and progress is the decline and emptying of a structure. These building begin to decay or lose purpose, the needs of industry evolve, catastrophe strikes, and ways of life come to an end. These facts of industrialized living leave, in turn. A physical footprint in the form of once-magnificent buildings, utility tunnels, and other locations in their wake.

There is another inevitability: Humans love to go where they are told they cannot. No amount of legal deterrence, caution tape, or chain link fence will keep a curious person out. While it is fairly common to find someone who has “gone somewhere they shouldn’t have,” there is another category of individuals taking this activity to a peculiar extreme.

Urban Exploration (also called UE, UrbEx, or Hacking) is a practice that has seemingly grown in popularity in recent years, drawing people of various educational, socio-economic, and cultural backgrounds together for the thrill of discovering and experiencing what is often hidden in plain sight.

For Urban Explorers, few locations are off-limits. Abandoned homes, offices, churches, and factories are often the destinations of choice. For those “Hackers” with a sense of the macabre there are empty mental hospitals, jails, and crypts that serve as treasured discoveries. There are even UrbEx enthusiasts who will plumb the depths of storm drains and sewers, or individuals who will climb the heights of bridges and skyscrapers for a unique thrill.

Enthusiasts have referenced a Frenchmen named Philibert Aspairt as the first recorded Urban Explorer. The city of Paris sits atop a vast underground network of tunnels and mines. Once used to supply stone for early Parisian construction, “The Catacombs” proved to have a strong but fatal pull; Aspairt disappeared into them in 1793. His body was uncovered in 1804, allegedly within sight of the exit leading back to the city streets. While technology has come a long way since Aspairt entered the these forboding tunnels with only candles and a set of keys, his story still serves as a cautionary warning.

It almost goes without saying that exploring areas that are remote, abandoned, or neglected is, at best, a calculated risk. Many “modern ruins” are loaded with free floating asbestos. Squatters, some homeless or mentally ill, are reputed to call these neglected structures their own and vigorously defend them. Floors and ceilings are often in severe disrepair or decaying. One need not be an architect or engineer to imagine the myriad dangers that this sort of hobby can have.


Due to the generally illicit nature of Urban Exploration (though there are practitioners who will contact property owners for permission to enter locations,) it is not at all surprising that the relative anonymity of The Internet has allowed a small but active community of explorers to experiment and seek adventure into the world of forgotten urban landscapes. Two sorts of websites seem to dominate the U.E. web-presence: Community Groups and Artistic Works.

Arguably the one the largest and most influential organizations in the world of Urban Exploration is Infiltration. Founded by the late “Ninjalicious,” Infiltration began it’s life as a print magazine but soon found itself growing as a website, publishing articles and providing a message board for U.E. enthusiasts to connect and share information. “Ninjalicious” was the first outspoken proponent of the Sierra Club’s policy of “Take nothing but photos and leave nothing but footprints” to be applied to U.E., feeling that the vandalism or destruction of these locations merely took a potentially great experience away from future visitors. A quick search using the Google search engine indicates the site’s popularity; Infiltration appears as the #3 listing when searching for “Urban Exploration.” The site still draws daily visits and posts, and will likely to persist to be the premier Web Community resource for enthusiasts. On the other hand, Artistic Websites tend less towards education and more towards spectacle. While still maintaining the “Take only photos…” ethos, websites such as Opacity and it’s founder “Motts,” offer the world an intimate glimpse at how beautiful a place in an advanced state of decay can be, all the while protecting the location and it’s photographer from potential problems. Other websites, notably Dark Passages, seem to function as a sort of Jungian photo-essay. The website’s anonymous narrative and gripping, uncomfortable images of a Mental Hospital shortly before it’s demolition serve to show the surreal and sometimes nightmarish world of a place filled with shadows and nearly-lost secrets.

While it’s practitioners may be few and faceless, Urban Exploration will likely be around as long as people continue to abandon and forget about locations in the cities they inhabit. The only thing that remains to be seen, however, is what images are captured and what stories can be extracted from these blighted corners.

I strongly advise you look at these websites!
www.opacity.us
www.darkpassage.com
www.infiltration.org