Being an urban explorer is neat! But when said explorer never had a home to return to while growing up, the experience is almost ironic. As a child, I hated going home. I desperately yearned to become a drifter, new town every week, doing dishes at restaurants for a meal, where no one would even aquire the chance to know my name.
I wished my home would be destroyed, in an effort for the memories to stop hurting me.
So, as an urban explorer, it's almost like finally receiving that wish ✨️ Most abandoned buildings are empty, cold, and dilapidated. I get to write my own story about each house. The most depressing ones are the homes of families, with everything still left inside. Toys, books, photos, kids' artwork...
There is so much beauty to be found in the destruction... I always hear that quote buzzing in the back of my mind: "Destruction is a form of creation." And it is. It might be difficult for some people to look at, but new life has always managed to form from out of the old and forgotten.
It's always great to stumble upon vintage things as well, things that warp you back to the past! 😎 I wish I had taken a photo of the date of this newspaper, but joining by the ad, I would say this was from the 1960s or 1970s!
Just try to fathom that concept -- this newspaper survived in the basement of an abandoned building for 50 years!!
This area of the home happened to be destroyed from a fire. Whether it was while owners lived in the house, or squatters, that guess is completely up in the air. Squatters are notorious for getting high and nodding off while the flames are still burning... Then again, most houses are abandoned in the first place because of some major disaster: fire, flooding, sometimes even violence...
The cracked stand-in shower is such a vibe... I stood there for a moment, just trying to imagine having a shower through cracked windows, in the middle of all of this dilapidation. Extremely eerie...
Enter, if you dare!! 😱😈 (The graffiti on the door says, "Always watching")
Cute little bathroom with pinstriped wallpaper that I HAD to take a selfie in! 😂 This selfie actually started a heated argument between my husband and I; he thought it was strange that I would take the opportunity to strike a pose and post it online, "letting your sweater hang down to show your shoulders." I guess he's never been a woman! 🤣
Vintage oven 👍 Never have I seen one with so many knobs -- 4 for the stove elements, and 2 for the oven??
Love love love the edit to these photos... There has always been something about black and white photography, with just a dash of red! It gives me the impression of bathrooms with red lipstick drawn on the mirror 💋 Obviously some local teens were here first; I don't know too many adults who use the word Fa__o!!
Oh, and of course, who draw 🍆es on the walls, the universal symbol of teenagers! 😩 They always have to be squirting too LOL. To be fair, I'm sure there's lots of grown men who still do this shit 🤣🤣
This was the garage, not much to see here... Just a bunch of garbage, and more nonsensical graffiti. The walls were covered in it from top top bottom; looked really cool.
This photo is one of my absolute favorites... I started making it a trademark of mine; every time I enter an abandoned building, I try to take one photo of a window, looking out. There is something about the juxtaposition between the extremely cluttered house, and the pristine emptiness of nature that is right outside the door. The thought that anything is possible, starting over whenever one wants to...
I love this photo for the stream of sunlight coming in through the window; it was sunset at the time 🌇 I love it so much that I couldn't afford to only display it in monochrome, so I added both versions ❤️