# Busted at Chapel Anciens



## UrbanX (Jul 15, 2013)

Apologies for the lack of externals, I normally take them on the way out, but as we got busted I kinda forgot!

No real info on the place, it was an old religious hospital, so there were still beds / various bits of medical paraphinallia, as well as beautiful chapels. Visited on a lovely summers day with Osfa, UrbexDad, JC101, and Priority 7.




Typical room: 



The paperwork had been unceremoniously piled into one room, there was literally tonnes of it: 



Old paperwork:

 

Up to the roofspace:



Oooh, a cool tower:



Haddy…hup! Eeew, pigeon poop central! 



Another cool bit of light in the roof: 



The Chapel:



Alter:






Confession:



Ceiling:






All was going well, we’d finished our shots and was just about to pack up our gear and leave. Osfa came down the stairs and whispered that he’d seen the Police outside, and that maybe we should go upstairs and just wait them out.

Suddenly, our dark silent world then became full of bright torches scanning the room, and shouting in French. Blinded by the light, I noticed that the torch closest to my face was attached to a handgun. The shouting continued, but to no result, they just kept shouting “Francais!” and we just kept replying “English?”

Despite the language barrier there was enough of them to organise us all into a stress position against the cold basement wall. Its at these moments, hundreds of miles from home, in the dark basement of an abandoned hospital, with a loaded gun pointing at your head, you begin to wonder “Should I have just taken up badminton instead?”

After a heated exchange of crackling radio messages (all in French) we could hear someone bumbling through our access point. The chief had arrived. He spoke fantastic English, was polite, and you could tell he was very well educated. His torch shone along the row of five SLRs all on tripods, and he told us to stand at ease, he was clearly embarrassed by the situation that his boys had put us in. (At this point without wanting to push my luck, I managed to flick my camera onto video mode, and hit ‘record’.)

He knew exactly what we were doing, but didn’t quite understand _why?_ Luckily we were next to the entrance to the main chapel, and he stuck his head through the access. We were then all treated to a “Whooaaa” before he decided to force himself through the access for a better look “Zis is bootiful!”.

Anyway, he escorted us to the car, complimented us on the car and me on my camera (I told you he was educated), we all shook hands and we were on our way! 

Thanks for reading. Video coming soon.


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## chris (Jul 15, 2013)

What a cool guy - one in a million


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## UrbanX (Jul 15, 2013)

He soo went and got his camera and went back


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## LittleOz (Jul 15, 2013)

Lovely shots for a badminton player! Secca with guns is just sooo scary.


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## mookster (Jul 15, 2013)

We had 9 officers at a site in France this weekend, luckily they kept their guns in their holsters but they were similarly well spoken and polite once it was established we only had cameras and weren't about to torch the place! I think everyone has been making up how bad the police in France are 

Need to see this place myself but I might give it a bit!


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## UrbanX (Jul 15, 2013)

mookster said:


> We had 9 officers at a site in France this weekend, luckily they kept their guns in their holsters but they were similarly well spoken and polite once it was established we only had cameras and weren't about to torch the place! I think everyone has been making up how bad the police in France are
> 
> Need to see this place myself but I might give it a bit!



I think a lot of it is the locals being more vigilant. Had a few experiences with them. These were Belgian, but yeah a bit of a contrast between the ranks. The armed guys were probably only about 19-20 too!


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## perjury saint (Jul 15, 2013)

*And THATS what its all about... *


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## Quattre (Jul 15, 2013)

You are not allowed to make fun of our english accent. It's just plain cute. 
Zis being said, your reeport iz absolooootly booootifull!!!


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## Priority 7 (Jul 15, 2013)

UrbanX you would be shite at Badminton...you are far too good and photography and telling a story


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## night crawler (Jul 15, 2013)

What a shame the police here are not as polite. Great report


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## The Wombat (Jul 15, 2013)

Great stuff, and loved reading the storey too


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## Mars Lander (Jul 16, 2013)

Wow that sounds intense . Fab shotz n look forward to the vid!!


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## flyboys90 (Jul 16, 2013)

Lucky escape,great photos.


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## Derelict-UK (Jul 16, 2013)

I love the Belgians and their accents, if you are close to the Netherlands they will speak their native tongue and then halfway through finish the rest of it in fluent English lol.

And that is when they are speaking to locals, not us!

Glad you got out okay, it's never nice being put in the stress position in another country, it gives you a right kick in confidence especially when you say "pa le vous anglais" or "spreken ze English", (the most 2 important phrases to English speaking explorers traveling to France or Germany) and they say in a firm manner "NON" or "NEIN"

And then a play of sherrards ensues (whilst in the stress position) to try and explain why you are there lol.


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## UrbanX (Jul 16, 2013)

Derelict-UK said:


> it gives you a right kick in confidence especially when you say "pa le vous anglais" or "spreken ze English", (the most 2 important phrases to English speaking explorers traveling to France or Germany) and they say in a firm manner "NON" or "NEIN"
> 
> And then a play of sherrards ensues (whilst in the stress position) to try and explain why you are there lol.



Very true. 

My top tip for making things go smoothly with the Law abroad is* ALWAYS carry your ID on you*. We got apprehended in Ukraine (non urbex related), the first thing they done was sort us into groups that had ID, and those that didn't: 

Those that did were released. 
Those that didn't were subject to an evenings waste of time and demands for $100 each.

Two years later in Ukraine, exact same thing again (on the same spot) 

In Belgium, although it was no hassle, one of our number didn't have his ID, and had a lot more explaining / scrutiny than the rest of us.


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## shot_in_the_dark (Jul 16, 2013)

awesome story and pics, thanks for sharing!


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## mookster (Jul 16, 2013)

UrbanX said:


> In Belgium, although it was no hassle, one of our number didn't have his ID, and had a lot more explaining / scrutiny than the rest of us.



Reading what you put, it's even more surprising then that of the 8 police who surrounded us at Grand Moulins, none asked for any of our IDs! I'm guessing though that the guy back on the roadside ran the plates on the car etc though.


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## Gothicangel (Jul 16, 2013)

great explore,what an amazing building.


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## Sshhhh... (Jul 16, 2013)

I bet you nearly pooed yourselves at the time but later laughed about it! I'd say you have got some great memories to reminisce about. Great report and pics, I enjoyed


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## Romford Reject (Jul 16, 2013)

Excellent report, fantastic pics as always. Love hearing about peoples little mishaps as well.


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## g197- (Jul 16, 2013)

Great pics, loved reading the story too.


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## Derelict-UK (Jul 16, 2013)

UrbanX said:


> Very true.
> 
> My top tip for making things go smoothly with the Law abroad is* ALWAYS carry your ID on you*. We got apprehended in Ukraine (non urbex related), the first thing they done was sort us into groups that had ID, and those that didn't:
> 
> ...



Yeah, passports are a must, we got 'apprehended' by guards at the Falkenhagen bunker in Germany, they wouldn't let us go until they photographed our passports, nothing came of it but if we didn't have our passports to hand (as in not in the car) I reckon the outcome would have A) included police and B) included a beating (they weren't exactly friendly security!!)


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## Pen15 (Jul 17, 2013)

One to tell the grandkids in many years to come haha

Risk over reward hmmmmm. Looking at the images I would say yes!!!

Top notch as always Mr X


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## Infraredd (Jul 17, 2013)

I always fall back on "tout les papiers et an anglais - desole" spelling is bad but you get the gist.
If they can possibly get rid of you without the interminable paper work they will.
Great report & pictures - magic


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## ZerO81 (Jul 17, 2013)

Great set of shots here as ever mate and good to hear that you had a good end to the situation too.


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## UrbanX (Jul 18, 2013)

Cheers for the love guys, means a lot. 

Weirdly I was attacked recently on a splore by sea eagles...was way scarier than armed police!


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## Lucky Pants (Jul 19, 2013)

Great shots and excellent write up, i would have shit myself


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## OsFa.nl (Jul 19, 2013)

looking down the barrel of a police gun... IS NOT FUNNY....

They were shouting all sorts of commands with a lot of "c'est cinq" (it are 5 - that was how far my french goes) over the radio... but what did he want (he was at point of full panic)... lay down? hands against the wall? do a dance...

If you don't understand... staring at a gun is really frightning.... We kept our cool and luckly they did too (eventually)... and the "PoPo Boss" was 1 in a million !!!!!!


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## UrbanX (Jul 19, 2013)

OsFa.nl said:


> looking down the barrel of a police gun... IS NOT FUNNY....
> 
> They were shouting all sorts of commands with a lot of "c'est cinq" (it are 5 - that was how far my french goes) over the radio... but what did he want (he was at point of full panic)... lay down? hands against the wall? do a dance...
> 
> If you don't understand... staring at a gun is really frightning.... We kept our cool and luckly they did too (eventually)... and the "PoPo Boss" was 1 in a million !!!!!!



You understood more than me! 

Well done for keeping calm dude! I love my last bit of video (still need to send to you) You're rolling up with the police chief and mocking their tax system, while the armed guys are looking nervous at the telling off theiy're going to get for over reacting! 

Anyway, when do the lovely people of DP get to see your amazing photos that have been outshining mine on Facebook?


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