# have you ever run into trouble?



## ljarrald

have any of you ever run into trouble when urbexing?
for example have you walked into a room quite far away from the way out and been confronted by several smack-eds or has a wall fallen down causing damage or almost causing damage to yourself and/or partner or something?
it is obviously a very real risk when you go into a disused building. and a much greater risk when you go in as many buildings as some of you guys do!

if yes, how did you escape?

thanks


----------



## TeeJF

We got boarded in by workmen whilst on an explore.


----------



## krela

Had some metal miners try and smoke us to death by putting a trolley full of burning tyres in the entrance of the basement we were in once. That was fun. :S


----------



## TeeJF

krela said:


> Had some metal miners try and smoke us to death by putting a trolley full of burning tyres in the entrance of the basement we were in once. That was fun. :S



What??? On purpose?? Sheee-it!


----------



## Priority 7

We lost our access point when secca decided today was the day they were going to patch the place up. Also ran into a scaffolding crew whilst about to exit a building


----------



## krela

TeeJF said:


> What??? On purpose?? Sheee-it!



Oh yeah completely on purpose. We got out just before the fire brigade turned up and walked away sharpish. I was concerned about getting caught and done for attempted arson more than anything, I did have a nasty cough for about a fortnight afterwards though.


----------



## 4201Chieftain

Iv fallen through a floor in a derelict house, a large splinter narrowly missing the family jewels! Ended up needing 5 stitches in my leg and glue on my arm. Not the best day out!


----------



## Ninja Kitten

TeeJF said:


> We got boarded in by workmen whilst on an explore.



he he he!!shouldnt of been trying to book into an orphanage at your ages! travel lodge round the corner!


----------



## Derelict-UK

I quite literally ran into security at Longbridge, that ended with a very nice police officer asking if I had a Girlfriend lol.


----------



## Seahorse

After many weeks of watching a derilict farm, finally decided all was good to go. Only to wake up a very surprised "corpse" in one of the bedrooms. Some people live very strange lives.


----------



## mookster

Got our access into Rank Hovis/Millenium Mills sealed while we were inside, then the second time I went we literally ran into security on the gravel roads. That place is a curse on me.

On a crazy climb into one of RAF Upper Heyford's more impregnable buildings my foot slipped and I almost got impaled on a metal pole 10 feet up in the air, that wasn't fun. Left with a pretty hefty bruise on my thigh, luckily no blood.


----------



## Mars Lander

This is something I have thought about myself have done quite a few splores but probably not enough for the law of averages to deal me a "dilemma" but have had close shaves with security, hell only only bumped into "others" on an explore the otherday for the fist time, a gang of chavs and chavettes, at first was a bit worrying but they were quite well behaved-ish altho later i had to shout f++k off to em as they were making little fires and making enough noise to wake the dead. Report due up later in week


----------



## UrbanX

Ha ha ran into a junkie a couple of months back so done the honourable thing: sprinted away, past my fellow explorers! You don't have to be the fastest in your group, just don't be the slowest


----------



## TeeJF

Ninja Kitten said:


> he he he!!shouldnt of been trying to book into an orphanage at your ages! travel lodge round the corner!



Meeee....friggin'... owwwww! You've got a good memory!


----------



## highcannons

Flippin eck! Am I just lucky to have nothing to say or are you lot just unlucky, or maybe lucky cos you got away with it? And as for burning tyres, thats inhaled isocyanate which is bad for you, very bad....


----------



## krela

highcannons said:


> Flippin eck! Am I just lucky to have nothing to say or are you lot just unlucky, or maybe lucky cos you got away with it? And as for burning tyres, thats inhaled isocyanate which is bad for you, very bad....



I know, it was nasty. I was coughing up black bits for a while. With any luck they'll have pulled some asbestos fibres out with them!


----------



## Ninja Kitten

well i am for ever getting in trouble!!...having to hide,duck and dive.....falling up down over and through..padlocked chained and locked in...bumped into chavs..junkies..pikeys..security..even the owner once sat by his fire !! funiest has got to be..running round a corner straight into a guard with a cup of tea and him throwing it all over me as i bashed into him..and taking a photo of a cheeky officer taking a pee whilst getting very fed up with trying to find us..worst is probably the owner letting the dog off and having to hide in a room the size of a coffin with the only other door being to a drop below of about 50ft and it getting dark.,,so all in all not much really! oh and not forgetting just recently with SK having the building surounded by over head police copters searching for us as we played merriley inside...but that doesnt count because we didnt notice them..may change my name to lucky! How come i splore solo alot...?


----------



## ljarrald

police copters? :O it must of been a quiet day in the world of 'real crime' then.

i have gone on a solo explore once but i only went in one room so it doesn't really count. it was a massive place i'd been in before but i know that 'dodgy' people have been known to be in there, and attack 'visitors' so i decided not to try my luck and didn't go into anywhere where i could of been trapped from the exit.


----------



## Ninja Kitten

ljarrald said:


> police copters? :O it must of been a quiet day in the world of 'real crime' then.
> 
> i have gone on a solo explore once but i only went in one room so it doesn't really count. it was a massive place i'd been in before but i know that 'dodgy' people have been known to be in there, and attack 'visitors' so i decided not to try my luck and didn't go into anywhere where i could of been trapped from the exit.



yes i agree...very sensible...

must be my wellies!


----------



## Priority 7

Ninja Kitten said:


> well i am for ever getting in trouble!!...having to hide,duck and dive.....falling up down over and through..padlocked chained and locked in...bumped into chavs..junkies..pikeys..security..even the owner once sat by his fire !! funiest has got to be..running round a corner straight into a guard with a cup of tea and him throwing it all over me as i bashed into him..and taking a photo of a cheeky officer taking a pee whilst getting very fed up with trying to find us..worst is probably the owner letting the dog off and having to hide in a room the size of a coffin with the only other door being to a drop below of about 50ft and it getting dark.,,so all in all not much really! oh and not forgetting just recently with SK having the building surounded by over head police copters searching for us as we played merriley inside...but that doesnt count because we didnt notice them..may change my name to lucky! How come i splore solo alot...?



There was that nasty faceplant incident that Medic Nelly patched you up with too. I forgot my Sprained ankle at Cardington too that was and still is painful to this day


----------



## Ninja Kitten

Priority 7 said:


> There was that nasty faceplant incident that Medic Nelly patched you up with too. I forgot my Sprained ankle at Cardington too that was and still is painful to this day



bless good ole Nelly for his doctor skills! and ouch...ankles ...thats a bugger..really stops you.


----------



## the|td4

Well some of the vets may remember this story (it was a previous writeup on a previous forum) so apologies if you do.

Does the armed response unit count? Me and my urbex buddy got mobbed by a platoon of glock wielding firearms officers and a helicopter once when we were mistaken for armed suspects.

To be fair, they were looking for two blokes (poachers) dressed in camo with a 4x4 and we were, well, you can figure it out.

It was a case of mistaken identity and the real suspects were found as we were being questioned but for a moment there it really did look like we were going down to the cells for the duration. It didn't help matters that my mate had a pocket of "crow bangers" (country folks will know what those are) and the back of the 4x4 was full of spent shotgun casings and a machete (a country boy can survive!) but we got let off (even if they did nick my machete). 

Of course I've fallen through floors, got stuck under fences, bogged the 4x4 down on private land but it's all in a days work ;-)


----------



## PaulPowers

I've walked around a corner in a drain straight into UU workers.

They looked pretty shocked as I walked past


----------



## Trees

I've fallen off a few walls and drawn blood on broken glass or screws a couple of times... For some reason people tend to expect me to go first! Bumped into a few smackheads and pikeys, but to be honest most have been pretty friendly


----------



## Landsker

The main "trouble" I have run into mainly seems to be angry farmers, recently we did get stopped by the police who to be fair were freindly. I did run into some air gun wielding chavs once though!


----------



## ljarrald

trees, did they know you had an expensive camera on you though? smackheads and pikeys are usually all right... until they realise you have something valuable.


----------



## krela

ljarrald said:


> trees, did they know you had an expensive camera on you though? smackheads and pikeys are usually all right... until they realise you have something valuable.



Really? Do you actually have any evidence for this?

Addicts usually go in for 'victimless' crimes like house burglary rather than face to face mugging.


----------



## FFerret

Others on this forum who were with our group are too ashamed to come forward and admit to this, so i will tell you our tale.

A group of us were exploring an abandond but still MOD owned site in East Anglia, we were spotted by a chap walking his dog along the beach, he called the* Coastguard*.

Those of us who saw Captain Pugwash (Coastguard) pull up next to our cars thought [email protected]&&@$"?, and returned to our cars only to apprehended and asked to wait for the Police to arrive, we could have done a runner, but that would have left the cars belonging to the rest of the group being left there.and they were still roaming around on the site. We blagged and bluffed until they had rounded us all up and the police arrived, they took our names and addresses, and made a phone call......whoever they called couldnt be bothered to deal with about 8 people from 4 counties, we were let off with a warning.

We even invited the policemen to drop by our campsite for a beer tyhat evening but they were too busy.


----------



## ljarrald

krela said:


> Really? Do you actually have any evidence for this?
> 
> Addicts usually go in for 'victimless' crimes like house burglary rather than face to face mugging.



yeah, i do.
also, since when has house burglary been 'victimless' 

as far as i was aware, victimless crime was when there is no victim, like driving uninsured.


----------



## krela

ljarrald said:


> yeah, i do.
> also, since when has house burglary been 'victimless'
> 
> as far as i was aware, victimless crime was when there is no victim, like driving uninsured.



You do? Please share then, because otherwise you appear to be spouting unsubstantiated opinion about a group of people you actually know nothing about.

I work in the addiction field, specifically in harm reduction so have a bit of a clue what I'm talking about. Muggings, particularly those of urban explorers are few and far between and do not tend to be carried out by addicts. In fact I'm yet to hear of anyone having anything stolen from them in the course of an explore in the just under 10 years I've been around. In my significant experience both addicts and pikeys (who are very different groups of people so cannot be lumped together) would generally prefer to be left alone, which is far from being 'menacing'.

There is no such thing as a victimless crime, hence the fact I put it in quotes and I was actually referring to the face to face aspect and the fact that generally people have contents insurance. Driving uninsured is far from victimless itself, in fact it makes every single insured driver a victim through increased premiums, and I'm sure those who uninsured drivers crash into feel like victims too.


----------



## ljarrald

krela said:


> You do? Please share then, because otherwise you appear to be spouting unsubstantiated opinion about a group of people you actually know nothing about.
> 
> I work in the addiction field, specifically in harm reduction so have a bit of a clue what I'm talking about. Muggings, particularly those of urban explorers are few and far between and do not tend to be carried out by addicts. In fact I'm yet to hear of anyone having anything stolen from them in the course of an explore in the just under 10 years I've been around. In my significant experience both addicts and pikeys (who are very different groups of people so cannot be lumped together) would generally prefer to be left alone, which is far from being 'menacing'.
> 
> There is no such thing as a victimless crime, hence the fact I put it in quotes and I was actually referring to the face to face aspect and the fact that generally people have contents insurance. Driving uninsured is far from victimless itself, in fact it makes every single insured driver a victim through increased premiums, and I'm sure those who uninsured drivers crash into feel like victims too.



i have seen people i used to go to school with become addicted to various drugs and they have mugged people to pay for them. all of them bar one also lived in squats. i was simply putting two and two together.


----------



## krela

Mugging is a pre-meditated and planned attack on a targeted usually vulnerable individual, in places with good escape routes. Urban explorers do not fit this category, nor does the location. If you stumble on someone in an abandoned building their first response is likely to be 'oh shit, what do they want?' rather than 'what have they got on them that we can steal?' To spontaneously mug you would be far too risky, they may try and scare you away sure, I've experienced that myself, but like I said earlier, they've got as much right to be there as you have, and if anything it's their turf, you have a nice shiny home to go to, they most probably don't, it might actually BE there home.

Squatting is an organised act of inhabiting an empty residential property, you really don't want to go crashing into one of those with a camera, if you do then you get what you deserve frankly. The type of addict who shoots up in a truly derelict building is usually homeless, sleeping rough, and using the derelict building as a place of safety to shoot up without hassle from the outside world, they do not want to be disturbed and will more often than not be a lot more scared of you than you are of them, that is why they are there in the first place, to get away from you.

The vast majority of risk can be easily avoided by not doing anything alone. By doing it alone you put yourself in the vulnerable looking category, and make the risk greater, just like you would walking down dark alleys late at night on your own. It's not difficult, it's simple common sense.


----------



## ljarrald

mugging is not always pre planned. i had my bike mugged from me when i was nine years old by a group of teenagers coming home from school in broad daylight on a street that had other people on. i cycled past them and heard one say to the other
"shall we?" and then before i knew it i was on the ground and they were all running off laughing with my bike.

perhaps the vast majority of muggings are pre planned, but not *all* of them. there are a lot of people in this world, there is always a chance that anyone could do anything.

but i was just asking out of interest, not to start an argument.

i know it is simple common sense to not explore alone. that is why i always explore with other people.


----------



## UEP-Wales

ljarrald said:


> i know it is simple common sense to not explore alone. that is why i always explore with other people.



I explore alone...sort of anyway. Sure I have "lookouts" and use radio communications but I enter the buildings alone, not had anything MAJOR happen, one minor drug user situation a week or two ago but that was dealt with quickly and I have actually now been back to the site and spent some time talking to him.

Going in groups or even pairs is not always a good idea, 2 sets of walking noise, 2 sets of camera shutters / flashes / tripod sounds and when you are in groups, you will more than likely talk. 

Ok from a safety point, going with somebody / people will always be a better idea but do enough planning and it shouldn't matter.

Krela is right though, mugging is a pre-meditated attacking method. It may seem like your attack wasn't planned but the same group probably done it before, were out planning to do it or even woke up and planned it. The second they said "Shall we" that was pre-meditated. 

I was once walking around Bute Park in Cardiff, next to the castle in fact. CCTV everywhere. Group of 5 youths came up to me and asked me for the time, instant reaction, got the phone out and told them to it. Next you know, I am put to the floor and my phone is gone. Now all of the youths looked at each other when I got my phone out, all of them took the decision to take my phone. 

Squatters can be ok at times. Sure, go storming the place and yes you deserve a good kick in - if you know they were in there anyway. 
I have been to a few places where squatters have been, I knew they were there so knocked and asked their permission. Most of them are actually decent people that have just taken a bad turn in life at some point. 
I have contracts not to show the photographs online / press but I have photographed buildings where the Occupy Protesters have claimed as squats, these people believe it or not are actually on the Anti Terror watch list with the Met Police and from what I saw, many of the homeless were taking part in these protests. All of them were harmless and actually polite. (that I met anyway). 

In most cases people will react to what you act like. For example, the other day I was at my playground (The Billy Banks Estate) fire engines everywhere and in the middle of it all, metal thieves. Im taking photographs in a building, they come in. This could have gone very bad but what did I do? "Alright mate? Just taking some photographs, just ignore im here and stay safe." Their reply, "Ah nice one and you to - these are well dangerous."
Now that could have gone very different if I started to reach for a maglite, radio, phone etc. Although I do agree that in some situations there are sometimes no other options other than to run or get offensive.


----------



## krela

ljarrald said:


> mugging is not always pre planned. i had my bike mugged from me when i was nine years old by a group of teenagers coming home from school in broad daylight on a street that had other people on. i cycled past them and heard one say to the other
> "shall we?" and then before i knew it i was on the ground and they were all running off laughing with my bike.
> 
> perhaps the vast majority of muggings are pre planned, but not *all* of them. there are a lot of people in this world, there is always a chance that anyone could do anything.
> 
> but i was just asking out of interest, not to start an argument.
> 
> i know it is simple common sense to not explore alone. that is why i always explore with other people.



The example you just gave is pre-meditated, they were out looking for trouble and you happened to be the vulnerable person they were looking for. Even opportunist crime is pre-meditated, they are looking for opportunities and if you give it to them they will take it. People in derelict buildings generally aren't looking for opportunities they are there for other reasons. But still the fact remains that if you don't give people unnecessary opportunities then there's nothing to be scared of. 

You're right though there are no absolutes in anything, ever. Maybe there is a chance of someone nicking your kit in a derelict building, but it's significantly more likely to be stolen in the street or from your car IMO. My point is that metal miners and addicts are no MORE likely to mug you in a derelict building than anywhere else, and if anything it's probably LESS likely because of the type of person who inhabits derelict buildings and why they're there.

Life is for living, there's no reason to be scared, but there's also no reason to take unnecessary risks either. Urbex-SW is spot on too, generally you get what you give. It's all about respect. Like I've said before, they have as much right to BE THERE as we do, even if you don't agree with what they're there for.


----------



## ljarrald

yeah, you're both right. i know a few squatters. they are all decent people. 

unfortunately, the example Urbex-SW gave us about the phone happens all to commonly.

although i've never run into anyone else in a building, i always remind myself that if we do bump into anyone to just be friendly, explain why we're here, explain we're not a threat and stuff.

i have spent a couple of nights in an abandoned building with someone before in an old hotel in a room with a locked door. although i wouldn't hurt anyone (unless i had no choice at all) i think if i heard someone come in and get near to us i'd probably shout and make myself sound aggressive to try and scare them off. after all, I don't know who is on the other side of the door. it could be a harmless homeless person or it could be a couple of 'chavs' wanting to destroy the place. i'd rather not take any chances.
--------------------------------------

when you enter a building, is it silently, or do you make it known? usually for me i enter quietly and try to stay quiet whilst we roughly check the place out, then i get my camera out. but a couple of times in buildings where there may of been people in, i have shouted something along the lines of
"hello, anybody here? we come in peace"
kind of thing, if we got a reply i doubt we'd go in. but i've never gotten a reply or bumped into anyone yet.


----------



## mookster

Enter quietly, once we establish there is nobody in our vicinity we relax.


----------



## possessed

Well, if we're talking trouble...
my absolute worst incidents in my approximately 18 months of urbexing have been getting a nail in my foot, which isn't as painful as it sounds, but still wasn't a lot of fun, and occasionally entering a building first in my group and hearing pikies upstairs. Not to mention being mugged by violent and dangerous pigeons  and having to find excuses for the pigeon crap and dust on my clothes when I returned to home/ sixth form college back in the day before I told my family etc.


----------



## ljarrald

possessed said:


> Well, if we're talking trouble...
> my absolute worst incidents in my approximately 18 months of urbexing have been getting a nail in my foot, which isn't as painful as it sounds, but still wasn't a lot of fun, and occasionally entering a building first in my group and hearing pikies upstairs. Not to mention being mugged by violent and dangerous pigeons  and having to find excuses for the pigeon crap and dust on my clothes when I returned to home/ sixth form college back in the day before I told my family etc.



i know how that feels  i stepped on a nail whilst dis assembling a shed last week. it going in and coming out didn't really hurt, it was the fact that i couldn't walk for three days afterwards 

i once jumped from a wall down and landed on a nail. *that* hurt!


----------



## krela

Proper puncture resistant workboots ftw.


----------



## oldscrote

In case of punctures


----------



## ljarrald

urbexing + lsd doesn't sound a very good idea


----------



## TeeJF

Ninja Kitten said:


> may change my name to lucky! How come i splore solo alot...?



Nutter! Lucky wellies I reckon...


----------



## AndyC

ljarrald said:


> yeah, i do.
> also, since when has house burglary been 'victimless'
> 
> as far as i was aware, victimless crime was when there is no victim, like driving uninsured.



I see anyone who takes out insurance as being victims of the uninsured drivers - every year a few tenners of my insurance goes to the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB).

And even then the MIB generally advises people whenever possible to take the hit on their own insurance - meaning thay both pay their excess and risk higher future premiums.


----------



## KingRat

No, no I haven't. I've walked into a pipe and cut my head open though. (Twice, on the same pipe on two separate visits).


----------



## UrbanX

KingRat said:


> No, no I haven't. I've walked into a pipe and cut my head open though. (Twice, on the same pipe on two separate visits).



Rubbish. You're completely glossing over the "Chilli Vodka" story...


----------



## KingRat

UrbanX said:


> Rubbish. You're completely glossing over the "Chilli Vodka" story...




I was trying to keep that quiet!!


----------



## UrbanX

Wish I had my camera out. Had complete sympathy with you tho, I went back to The Quarrymans today, and completely wussed out of it. Oh I asked for "The Key" just for a photo, they made me give the deposit, and fill out my full details! I took a photo of it on the bar, then gave it back before he'd even opened the till. Fail. 

Back to the OP... I'm so glad someone has appreciated the real risks in our hobby. Most new people seem overly concerned with "getting caught by security". But to me avoiding being violently mugged / falling from a roof / being drowned in a drain seem more significant priorities... Hats off.


----------



## Trees

Blimey, didn't expect to start such a debate!



ljarrald said:


> trees, did they know you had an expensive camera on you though? smackheads and pikeys are usually all right... until they realise you have something valuable.



Yup, as I think every time I've been wandering around with it attached to the end of a tripod. Without fail, everyone I have met on an explore has responded well to a cheery "hello" and a friendly chat. As with most of life, I find if you go steaming in expecting people to be dicks then you'll immediately put them on the defensive, and when someone's sat by your exit about to cook up his smack that is exactly the last thing to do. I clocked this chap well before I did, gave him a friendly hello from a distance so as not to startle him then had a good chat with him before crawling back out. As well as recommending we check out the view from the roof (which we already had) he gave us some handy tips on which way to climb out of the hole on the way out. 

A friendly hello is THE best weapon in your arsenal


----------



## UrbanX

Very true, a 'thumbs u' from a distance also shoes you aren't there to bother them.


----------



## night crawler

I think I must live a charmed life. Apart from the few nocks on the head I have had or being poked in the eye by a branch I seem to have gotten off unscathed. Though haveing heart palputations in a field in the middle of nowhere looing for a pillbox made me think should I be doing this on my own. Now I make sure I have a phone on me and let my wife know where I am off. Mide you won't be much good if I drop dead while poking round a pillbox. Not been in many abandoned buildings other than a local Asylum which I was wearing toetectors around in then afer walking across a load of staples and nails which I felt through the soles I got some boots with sole protectors in, mind you they don't help if you go through a floor so it pays to be carefull and plan what you want to do before hand.


----------



## djmcambs

out of the 40 or so locations ive been to so far, only encountered sec once, on a third visit to raf upwood to photo the bunkers,when he threatened to let his dogs out of his van,so it was time to go, other than that, no real problems.


----------



## UrbanX

Luckily I think genuinely bad experiences are very rare. I had a lovely meal and chinwag with TeeJF on Saturday, and from our combined explore tallies round the table (quie a few hundred) we could count our bad experiences on one hand. Never ever heard of anything like that at Upwood, times are changing.


----------



## Trees

I've been in a lot more danger / had more damage done to myself doing more socially acceptable things like mountain biking or even walking... But then I do those things more often.


----------



## TeeJF

Trees said:


> I've been in a lot more danger / had more damage done to myself doing more socially acceptable things like mountain biking or even walking.



Amen to that! Don't mention rebreathers to TJ or parachutes to M...


----------



## highcannons

John Bull Puntcure Repair Kit ---isnt that to repair a bullshitters ego?


----------



## strokesboy21

nah cant say i have to be honest worst i had was a page on facebook uploading my Dance academy pics and accusing me of breaking in. but nope no security or falls yet touch wood


----------



## RichardB

The worst "moment" I've had was coming across this just inside one of the adits at Cults. It took me quite a while to convince myself that it wasn't a live person, and a while longer to decide it wasn't a body. 




P1020227 by RichardB5, on Flickr


----------



## strokesboy21

blimey i think that would of scared the most hardened explorer lol id of done a runner to the exit lol


----------



## TeeJF

RichardB said:


> The worst "moment" I've had was coming across this just inside one of the adits at Cults.



That is freaky!!! Wonder why it was there???

We had a scare in Berlin when we went into one building. I opened a door and a really unmistakable bad smell hit me like a wall. I glanced to my left and there was a human shape under a really dirty duvet on a grotty mattress so I didn't hang around to see if he was brown bread or not, the smell pretty much told me anyway!


----------



## st33ly

My mate and I were exploring a factory in Brum a few years back in the snow. Mate stepped on a nail, went straight through his shoe and into his foot. I had to pull it out :s


----------



## higherandhigher

TeeJF said:


> We got boarded in by workmen whilst on an explore.



ive also been blocked in by workmen lol on a visit to the ford foundry leamington lmao


----------



## RichardB

TeeJF said:


> That is freaky!!! Wonder why it was there???



I think it was somebody's idea of a joke. At least it was near the exit, so anybody taking flight would get out easily. Deeper in the mine a fright like that could be game over.


----------



## The Archivist

In 7 years of exploring I've only been caught by security twice, once by 'MC Hammer' at West Park and once by two security guards on patrol at Graylingwell who I walked straight into after dodging a gauntlet of PIRs. The former gave me a short lecture before escorting me off the premises and making sure I didn't duck back through the fence. The latter accused me of breaking in, spouted some tripe about how they could collect DNA evidence from inside and have me sent down (yeah, right) and then called the police. I then offered to show them the hole in the fence that 'definitely wasn't there this morning' (it'd been there for at least a week), calmly stepped through it and walked away with a cheery goodbye. I'm guessing the police officers I later drove past, sirens screaming and heading towards the hospital weren't too happy when they arrived to find no suspect and no actual evidence of a break in. 



TeeJF said:


> I opened a door and a really unmistakable bad smell hit me like a wall. I glanced to my left and there was a human shape under a really dirty duvet on a grotty mattress so I didn't hang around to see if he was brown bread or not, the smell pretty much told me anyway!


Hmm, disturbing.
I had a similar experience when exploring an abandoned farm in Wales last year: I opened a door and was hit by the unmistakable stench of death. I was pretty sure I was going to find a body or at very least a dead cow or sheep, such was the smell. The source of the stink turned out to be a chest freezer which I rather foolishly opened to find a large amount of slowly liquifying meat and fish. The smell stayed with me all day.


----------



## krela

This isn't a thread about security, can we not turn it into one?


----------



## The Archivist

Fair enough, but that wasn't really my intention. I posted because it was an experience of running into trouble, not because I wanted to attack security guards. People who act as though it's their right to be in derelict buildings and resent any security presence really get my goat, for the record. 

Back on topic, I once fell through a floor when I was younger, less experienced and less careful than I am now. Ended up with a variety of nasty cuts and a twisted ankle. Avoided an A&E trip but felt extremely stupid and very glad that it was only a 4' drop.


----------



## mookster

I stumbled into a really foul smell in West Park once but then I realised it was just ukmayhem having a crap in one of the loos.


----------



## Username

Spent 40 mins laying prone and very still in stinging nettles while plod and his mate set up an o.p. on a neighbouring block, they were less than thirty feet from me and one level higher. I was sitting " relaxing" with my own special blend when I heard them shuffling behind and above. I took an unusual shape and went face down and just stayed there until they left.
In Tate n lyle site millwall, ninjaing around the inter floor pipework - had a team of demo and security on a walk around on the floor below, well I didn't know....I slid down a pipe right in front of them, the first few blokes shit themselves as this grey ghost slid effortlessly from the floor above straight by to the floor below, heh. Funny times.
Once in a defunct bank in barking the plod arrived with dogs. Up onto the roof, again lay still - puddle this time. Torchlights blazed across the torso, the dogs were telling them I was there but they missed me....

Phyzer factory I.o.d. Security must've called plod, me and one other were seven storeys up and surrounded, heh. On the ground were approx six or seven vehicles.... No worries.stairwell sprint to level 1 and big leap of faith into a close tree, I made it no probs, me mate er, didn't.lolz. He couldn't hold on, dangled a bit n fell, his moaning n laughing brought em over double quick, I was in the tree adopting a tree like pose ? 12 foot above, I couldn't stop laughing as three or four coppers flopped on me mate, I gave in here and joined in the scrum below, dropping in right ontop of it all, so funny. So funny. Yeah we got nicked but it was so funny...I blamed him, he blamed me, funny.

I got loads of funny events such as this, I sincerely wish to thank to o.p. for jogging me memory, ta.


----------



## crickleymal

I've been fairly lucky too. The only time I've had a bit of a scare was when I found this 





in Newport Towers hotel. It is candle wax but it did look quite bloodlike at the time.

The other time was exploring Penmaenmawr. I decided not to go up the inclined plane from the village and opted for the scree slope instead. I realised half way up that it was a lot steeper, there were catch fences to prevent rockfalls onto the cottages below and if I got it wrong there was some nasty steel posts waiting to impale me.


----------



## TeeJF

Nice one Mookster! That made me giggle... 

...and Archivist, yeah, I guess a chest freezer full of meat would have the same effect really! 

Who's the Gong fan then??? ;-)


----------



## TimeIsTheEnemy

Fell through the roof of a local car showroom once and landed on some wooden shelving below, was probably better it was there to break my fall but still hurt pretty badly. My mate wasn't looking at the time and apparantly what gave me away was me swearing at the top of my voice as I fell, fair enough

Came across some squatters in a warehousing complex who were getting pretty threatning until I recognised one if them, ended up having a cuppa and a chat before leaving unharmed - nice chaps really

Last one: met two secca coming out of the Klinger factory last year, they were coming in through our sneaky entrance and one of them had an axe, as we knew they werent on site and therefore not doing their job properly, it was pretty tense
Had a fag with them before they told us to leave, nice guys but not a good encounter at first


----------



## crickleymal

TeeJF said:


> Who's the Gong fan then??? ;-)



Been listening to them since about 1978. they're still going believe it or not.


----------



## smiler

I have enjoyed this thread, for myself I haven’t had much bother while exploring, Muppet and I got rumbled by security at St Lawrence’s before we even got in but the Sec fella couldn’t have been nicer, he was aware of what we were doing and why we were there and, as he said he had a job to do and he was going to do it, and since the copper miner accidentally fried himself last year it has tightened up expediently and I still haven’t got in.(Yet)

One experience that I have had though sprung to mind, 
On reading in our local newspaper that a convent near to me had closed my immediately thought was I must get a photographic record of this place before the redevelopers get in(ie Nose Around) I gained entry to the grounds via a circuitous route and had photographed a pretty little chapel and was setting up my camera to shoot a memorial garden dedicated to the sisters that had passed away while serving the community. 

(Now it was still and quiet, the sounds of towns traffic just gently filtering into the garden and I was alone)

My concentration was fully on what I was doing, when there was a gentle tap on my shoulder that made me yearn for clean underwear, and there stood a little grey old Nun who asked me “what do you want” I garbled an explanation about getting photographs of the place before it was lost while backing away and looking for an easy exit but as I backed away she followed, I was,not to put too fine a point on it, stuffed, so I stopped trying to escape and explained what I was doing there, Sister A was most interested (90 if she was day) and allowed me to leave gracefully.


----------



## ljarrald

some brilliant storeys on here guys, this thread is better than i hoped it would be!

thanks for sharing


----------

