It was one of those days, where you were searching out the dregs. Exploring in relatively nearby Manchester has gotten that way.
Everything has been done, or is sealed after one day, or has been demolished preferably after being visited by us sometime in the past.
Would someone pay a subscription for such a ridiculous concept? Like anything I think of, it’s probably been tried before.
St Luke's Church was an Anglican parish church in the Cheetham district of Manchester, England. The structure is now mostly derelict and is currently owned by the Heritage Trust for the North West.
The building was completed in 1839, commencing in 1836. Although now mostly derelict, the tower and west end of the aisles and vestry survive and are classified as a Grade II listed building.
Source
'St Luke's Crypt' was no public venue; we figured that one quickly given the amount of dense greenery present and the pile of colourful mangy bags dumped by the fly-tippers.
We scouted the edges noting a breach quickly in the pallaside spiky fencing, though that was not the end of it. Natural foliage within was thick and unpleasant to traipse though, and being on the inside of the fencing trying to get deeper was gaining us unwanted attention from the local walkers.
The upper part of 'St Luke's Crypt' is a ruin, and as we would shortly find out, quite inaccessible. The crypt or mausoleum was our target, the area that generally houses the walking dead such as zombies, ghouls, animated skeletons, mummies and revenants.
Could this be the entrance to our doom, to join the ranks of the living dead?
It was looking promising, and the tip-off was good. The gates had been ripped off their hinges and an encompassing blackness lay beyond, inviting and enticing.
‘Beyond’ was underwhelming, the mini-stalactites being the feature. They don’t ‘grow’ overnight and were numerous.
The ceiling, and something growing out of it in a downward fashion. It looked like tar or some other sticky substance as a base. I figure this to be standard crypt décor.
While the crypt was sizable and extremely dark, it was also stark, bare and lacked the expected ubiquitous coffins.
This meant no scraping, scratching noises of the undead emerging from dusty sarcophagi intent on us joining them in their conquest to rid mankind.
One large stone remained in the furthest corner, Richard Ormerod hailing from 1847. It wasn’t even a coffin, how disappointing.
What happened to the rest of the dead bodies we were expecting to find?
If they were through there, then I was not going to climb headfirst through the gap to check. Poking my head through, I half expected the Grim Reaper to try and scythe off my head, but inside was silence and more emptiness.
If we heard the sudden rattling of the Iron Gate being chained up while inside, there was at least one escape route, though it could be a struggle fitting through this similarly sized hole.
The ‘escape route’ from the outside; manageable, but I would prefer to abstain.
The green essence on the wall, magical as it seems was simply a trick of the light. It’s not a secret jade mine, ripe for digging out.
We departed the crypt, intent on looking further around the ground for more action. That door would soon be chained up and sealed again, that is certain.
After circling 'St Luke's Crypt', we figured every entrance was sealed, and properly with bricks and mortar.
Getting through the door, or should I say ‘over’ the door requires some serious climbing skills. The other side looked full of those weedy trees and more bushes of nettles and bramble bushes.
Yet another escape route from the crypt. Had the zombies already left this way, and started their campaign to turn Manchester into an undead city?
...'the realistic growling sound effects and the zombie on a skateboard get me every time'...
We vacated 'St Luke's Crypt', in search of more thrilling sights.
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