Your Urbex Stories

[UrbanX]

Love that storey Mook! You got me nervous just reading it!



OK then, a couple of funny stories about getting busted then!

I’ll start with a certain site that has a missile training dome...

Anyone that’s been there will know about the epic echo one experiences inside the dome. It can last for what seems like a lifetime, a camera shutter echoes to the extent it sounds like a chopper is hovering overhead.

Anyway there’s a rumour that a duck’s quack doesn’t echo, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to test the theory. In the absence of a real duck, I had a good old quack to myself. Embellished of course with a few flaps of the wings for good measure.

A couple of mins later a security van screeches up outside, and they know exactly where I am. “
How on earth did you find me so quickly?” I asked.
“We’ve got CCTV in there” he says with a smirk on his face.
“Even got a mic too” he replies, barely able to contain his laughter.

How embarrassing.

 

[UrbanX]

Another time, we had just got back over the main fence at Sev’s, just as security was arriving on the other side. We legged it through the woods, and literally straight into the path of a police car which was just cruising down the track!

“Stop there lads! Why are you running?” asked the lady officer.
“It’s good for you, keeps you fit”
She was less bemused than we thought she’d be with the situation. Although she was bright and twigged the 8 tripods, and tens of thousands of pounds worth of kit.
“So you’re trying to tell me you’ve driven 5 hours, a 10 hour round trip...to take pictures of a derelict building?”
“yep...”
She gave us all a look that just said “You really need to get laid more”
“Anyway we’re doing some dog training in the area, and if you get bitten by one of my dogs, it’s a mountain of paperwork for me, and a right pain in the arse”
Someone quickly replied “Not as bad as the pain in my arse would be if I got bitten”
She liked that one, and sent us on our way.

Oh, in Pripyat – Our guide was telling us the precautions, staying off grass, not touching things, and then your mouth / eyes etc. When Eugene dropped a bit of muffin he was eating onto some moss.
He then went to pick it up...
“NO, NO!! RADIATION KEEP AWAY!!” Barked our guide.
Eugene just looked up and replied “You’ve never heard of the 3 second rule in Pripyat?”

 

[nij4829]

Oh, in Pripyat – Our guide was telling us the precautions, staying off grass, not touching things, and then your mouth / eyes etc. When Eugene dropped a bit of muffin he was eating onto some moss.
He then went to pick it up...
“NO, NO!! RADIATION KEEP AWAY!!” Barked our guide.
Eugene just looked up and replied “You’ve never heard of the 3 second rule in Pripyat?”

That really really made me chuckle. Go Eugene.

 

[LiamWg]

Other than the Pyestock story that you posted up mate i only have one other which was during our explore to Colthrop paper mill.

Me, Zotez, his Girlfreind and a mate of mine were walking round the paper mill taking a few pictures, we had explored this place many times and never seen any kind of security. (apart from one time i see a tractor parked up with a man enjoying a sleep inside ) So we were shocked when we noticed someone walking there dog around the field. We decided it would be a good idea to travel around the back of the factory just in case it was a farmer because we had only been there for a little while and still had much more to see. So as we travelled round the back i was taking a picture of a tower when we see the dog run around the corner. We were getting ready to explain ourselves but the "farmer" turned out to be a women just walking her dog. So we had a friendly chat to her about the site after she asked why we were taking pictures. Then Zotez asks "out of interest how did you get in here?" When she replied "oh through the same hole in the fence as you" It turned out she lived in the houses just down the road from the paper mill.

Not really a very interesting story but t was very funny at the time

LiamWG

 

[DigitalNoise]

It think my worst moment so far was on a solo night mission down to Winchester. there's a gorgeous disused viaduct next to the M3 and I'd been meaning to shoot it for years. I walked along it after getting a few shots and headed towards some old 'plague pits' a mile or so further up the embankment. Having not found these, I gave up and walked back along the embankment. I reached a fence which blocked the route, and as I had noticed it earlier, I thought I knew where I was, so scrapped walking the long route down the embankment, and decided to take the short route so I climbed round the fence. I started walking for a few metres and suddenly froze. If I put my foot down, there would have been nothing under it other than a 10m drop onto a tarmac road. There used to be an iron bridge there which had been removed. My head torch was dying and I don't really know what made me stop as I couldn't see anything. Thank God I did, it would have been messy, no battery on the phone, in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.
That was that. I felt sick and shakey, I'm not scared of much, but that was so close it got my heart beating!!! I had to just sit down and relax for a while before I could go anywhere!
It's taught me to check my footing everywhere I go, let alone in derelict buildings.

 

[mmd34]

In my more immature and rebellious years (a couple of years ago ) there was a disused old peoples home. i think this is were urban exploration really started for me. well basically me and two other friends decided we were going to get in. and after realizing that it was sealed extremely tight we thought we should just muck around on the roof tops. that is when our genius mission impossible plan came into place. after finding some blue builders rope we lowered ourselves in. after being scared we decided we would come back the next day. So as i said at the beginning these were my rebellious years and we ripped a board of the window and put it through. so we climbed through and started having a look around. after hearing a loud bang and someone shout get out its the police we crapped our pants and legged it to the window. So as i was about to climb through my friend pushed me out of the way and climbed through first, at first i though cheers "mate" but it soon became clear that was a wise move for me . my friend being the cool kid he was had an orange tshirt on saying down with homework, well it soon turned red. what had happened is a shard of glass had been left pointing down and sliced his back open. well after 12 dissolvable stitches on the inside and 16 stitches on the outside we calmed down and rebellion and now enjoy urban exploration as a sort of hobby

 

[groundunder]

i'll always remember the time when me and a few others had a mooch round Fairmile.-we'd had a pretty good explore round the main building,and were walking round the outside.-we walked right by the security hut but thankfully,no-one was in.then,we spot a small building very close by so decide on investigating that,but alas it wasn't meant to be.-we tried a door but it was locked.
-t'was a good thing tho,as we didn't realise until we got to the front of said building that it was the bloody social club!!!which was still in use!!!(and on this day we all wore our full camo gear so can you imagine the look on the club member's faces had we walked in?!)

 

[mookster]

I remember fondly the Fairmile trip I took in the snow just before Christmas last year with vmlopes and Ali. We posted Ali through a tiny window that me and Victor soon realised we wouldn't fit through, so Ali went off on the inside and we walked around to try and find another way in. Remember this was in the snow, so not only did we have the cameras to consider but we had left a trail of footprints leading up to the fence and restarting on the inside of the fence. Me and Victor walked brazenly across the front of the admin block behind the fence as the cameras didn't seem to be working that day, and we found an open door leading into the kitchen area. Access to Fairmile on a plate!

After finding Ali we returned to the kitchens and started taking pics, Ali wanders off down the end of the kitchen and suddenly runs back saying he'd seen a guy in a hi-vis walking along the corridor but he himself hadn't been seen. So we go upstairs and camp out in a room for a few minutes before continuing. We got to the room at the end of the ward with the two baths - one of the cliched Fairmile photos - and heard a load of banging and sawing from down below us. Peeking out the window we couldn't see much but the banging and sawing was coming from the nicest, wooden panelled wards of the hospital. So we continue the explore not thinking much of it and we decide to see how close we can get to the people who are boarding stuff up. We get to a small internal hallway near the panelled wards and can see fresh boarding, hear a radio playing and the workmen talking. It's then we realise that where we were, if any workman was to walk out of a doorway on either side we'd be cornered, so we beat a hasty retreat back along the ground floor and finish the explore.

We expected to find the unlocked door with all our footprints leading to it locked, or at least a pair of security's footprints in the snow. But there was nothing. So we go out the way we came, and apart from a hairy moment retracing our footsteps around the outside where we saw the security guy walking away from us, we got out scott-free.

So it was a day of varying success - asylum in the snow = win, access handed to us on a plate = win, not seeing the best part of Fairmile = lose.

 

[possessed]

Thanks for the anecdotes people, they are very interesting
On my first proper explore, I was in a derelict glass factory, exploring it with my older brother. We were walking along a first floor room, with large glass windows, which looked out onto the street. Suddenly, a Police Officer walked past the window, less than 10ft from where we were standing! That caused me to havw a mini- heart attack, but luckily he didn't see us. Funnily enough, we were discussing the legal issues of urbex when he walked past the window!

Anyway, later in the day, we went to check out Forest Mills factory, which is about 15 minutes walk away from the glass factory, and we were just getting in, and a voice said "Oi! What are you doing in there?" Trying not to faint, I looked round to see the figure of a local looking suspiciously at us. We then told him that we were just looking round the place and taking pics. He then warned us that "Teddy would beat the s*** out of us if he caught us in there". According the local, Teddy was the owner. I then got scared out of my wits, and refused to go any further. Funnily enough, my older brother and his mate met Teddy during the explore, and he turned out to be reasonably friendly, although he told them not to return.

Thanks

 

[Zotez]

Thought i'd share one from my most recent explore with LiamWG.

I had promised him a trip to the Courage Brewery and we went one weekday (I think), the day started normally, we got the train to Reading West & walked up to Reading like usual. We observed the bus times & waited for a bus to near the brewery. Finally our bus arrived! We were watching it as another came shooting past and stopped right infront of us, the doors opened and the driver asked where we were going, on telling him he beckoned for us to get in quick & took our payment & pulled off. He seemed agitated throughout the trip & we both could swear that he broke the speed limit on the way there! The journey is supposed to take ten minutes & he took just over half that. We got on our way to the Brewery & used the usual entrance points & we were inside the site!

This is where the fun started - it had snowed & there were fresh tyre tracks & footprints which indicated some activity. We headed straight for the entrance point & up to the best parts of the brewery. An hour or so was spent taking arty shots and talking, trying out different things & generally messing about. We then headed downstairs to the large glass fronted room where we encountered a problem - we could hear grinding going on in a fairly close room & Liam spotted a man walking around outside looking through the windows! Straight away we hid but our efforts were put to waste when we spotted a large van behind us which we were in full view of!

We ran. Maybe a silly idea but we wnated to stay in the brewery for a while. The grinding was getting closer (it was soemone actually cutting something out) so we decided to leave through the same door. We walked out thinking we were home free until a builder walked out directly infront of us! Looks of shock were all round & he asked why we were there. After much discussion including the fate of the building we were escorted away by security who took our names & addresses & had a quick look at our pictures before letting us go!

 

[theoss]

It's a good few years back, the site long gone, and most of the people present that night have moved on, so;

Scottish and Newxastle Breweries. About four years ago.

Nine of us.

We had been hanging around a statue decinding how to approach the site. One of the lads was mucking around the statue- 'I see Police in your future'- and we almost did.

Up the scaffolding holding the wall up, taking it it turns to break cover from the street. We met back up in a half demolished building, and needed to cross open ground to the first intact part of the building. Five of us took the rough route, over broken concrete with rebar protruding, but three took the easy root, and were spotted on CCTV. Security guard comes running over, our group is hiding and can hear chat on the radio, 'three spotted, track them on camera, heading for the perimeter'. We go down into the basement, and find a cupboard to hide in, by now the Police are on site and we can see green jackets walking past the basement window, radios crackling, from our hide. When they pass, someone turns a torch on, and it turns out we're in the main switch room. Not a great place to be caught really- copper bars hanging from the wall.

We discuss just giving up (hanging on to the forum 'advice at the time' which suggested the Police never arrest exploreres (!). Next thing one of the lads gets up and says 'Give up if you want, I know where I'm going' and heads to roof. Now a decision has been made and we all follow and hide behind the roof parapet, under a balmy nightsky Some of the floor has been removed and the only way over is to balance on the joists. Again, a discussion, one of the lads isn't keen on the risk, but is persuaded. Although as humans we're generally quite good at assessing what level of risk is appropriate to our abilities, We couldn't really afford to attract attention with uncertanties at this point.

To get to the next building, the one where the good stuff starts, we have to cross a three foot gap and onto a pipe gantry traversing the yard. We maintained momentum to avoid any doubts setting in, and swiftly crossed onto the gantry, but to cross onto the next building required squeezing through pipes and another, smaller gap to crawl across. I'm second across, but there is a pause waiting for the next man and so I go back to see why. 'Can't fit through between the pipes'' 'But I hve just done it, it's tight, but the pipes will flex, your not as fat as me, nowhere near'... but there is a problem becasue he begins talking about returning to the other side of the gantry. By now, our 'leader' has come to find out what's happening. In the end, the guy has to be guided round the end of the pipes, climbing external to the gantry, and at far greater risk than necessary. Fortunately our 'leader' had a lot climbing experience and knew how to handle the situation.

The explore then carried on without incident. We ended up on the highest roof siganalling by torchlight to the other lads who had been evicted earlier.

I didn't take any photos that night. It was too much of an adventure to fath about, I'm often happier just enjoying the site for what it is when there is already ample glass pointing at the place. There were a nice variety of challenges, each one of them overcome, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable and memorable night. One from my first year exploring which was definately the best year.. I have since been arrested whilst exploring, first time I have ever seen the wrong side of the bar in a police station, and if a similar explore happens in future I think the memory of arrest will override the feeling of adventure and spoil the experience.

 

[UrbexHunter]

This was it: the big one.
My first explore.
Me, tictac and urbexcox were planning on heading to houghton grange along with shoelace and gravy. On the morning of the explore shoelace and gravy announce they cant come and that they forgot to bring us some masks. So when the time came me, tictac and urbexcox set off cross country through forests and what turned out to be somebodys garden. Finally tictac showed us the access and we ended up in an open field next to the grange. Halfway across it all went to pot. A blue bmw rolled up to a gate at the other side. Stupidly we decided to duck, despite the fact we were totally exposed. A bloke in a hi vis coat got out and watched us. Once realising how stupid we looked we stood up and trudged back to the access. Tictac and cox wanted to go home but because of my curiosity (or ignorance) we walked the perimeter until we reached a dead end. After some ninja rolls under the barbed wire we were in. At least, we were in a compound in the adjacent field. We stuck to the thick grass, reasoning that the guard wouldnt plough his 30k+ BMW through it. We walked further but the others said no. Theyd had enough so finally i gave in. I was dissapointed that we diddnt see it all but i wouldnt risk getting my mates caught bcos of my ignorance. Not a very interesting story but my first explore and wanted to contribute to thread

 

[alex76]

Well my story is as follows; myself and my very good friend Chris34 was exploring an old pub called the riverside inn, from are leads found the place to have been closed for 30 years and were expecting a mint old pub but to are disappointment all we found was a rotten old shell inside as we was mooching around trying to find some old features on the upper floors and chatting away, too Chris’s shock:shocked: I had disappeared when he turned round there was me buried to my chest in the floor hanging on for my life which I think its funny now but not at the time. But was a nice place to drop in for a drink and hang around for a while

 

[nelly]

It was a visit to Severalls with Skeleton Key.

We got to the first line of fencing, this was the temporary Heras type and SK gave me a leg up, I was nearly over and on the ground when two things happened at once, firstly the leg of my jeans got caught on the small bits of metal on the top where they hadn't cut it off short enough and secondly my hand got impaled on the same stuff.

I didn't have time to hang there while SK unhooked my jeans as the blood was now starting to flow from the hand, so I had no choice but to lift the hand and fall to the ground.

There was a massive ripping noise from the jeans which were ripped from the ankle to the crotch and I had four puncture wounds in my hand.

SK got over quite neatly and we recomposed ourselves, crawled through the bushes and noticed that the gate was open 100 yards up the road and we could have just walked in!!!

 

[LiamWg]

On my last explroe ( a few months ago, which i'm ashamed to admit ) Me and Zotez decided to take a trip to the Courage Brewery in Readiing, Zotez had explored this site two times before so he knew the access points and we were looking forward to what we thought would be a care free explore.. however it turned into quite the opposite -.-

As we approached the site we noticed some tire tracks in the semi melted snow... we decided to carry on with the explore anyway as we thought the tracks could be a few days old. after a few hours exploring me and Zotez decided to go to the roof of the site to get some views from above, however as we were approaching the roof i took a look out of on of the windows and discovered that we weren't alone. we saw what we though at the time was a security guard (i took a cheeky picture ;P)

After realising he was complatley oblivious to our presence we decided to carry on with the explore but just take a bit more caution...
From that point onwards we started to hear strange drilling noises coming from around the site.. however we once again decided to ignore this.

After realising he was completley oblivious to our presence we decided to carry on with the explore but just take a bit more caution... a few hours later we were exploring the bottom of the brewery when i spotted the same guy walking a few meters infront with just a window between us!! my ninja mode then switched on and i managed to duck and follow the 'security guard' around untill we were around the corner and out of site. i then stood up looked at Zotez and said 'Phew, That was a close one' only to see Zotez dive to the ground and shout 'VAN' as a white transit van parks up meters away from us.. we then realised that maybe being there wasn't really the best place to be. so we decided to walk around the grounds and get some external pictures before leaving (knowing full well we would most likely be caught)

in a matter of seconds of walking out of a set of doors we were approached by a bloke who turned out to be a contractor, he asked what we were doing on the site and called security to come get us and all the usual business.. he proceeded to tell us that the site was being stripped after a recent auction and the were around 20 contractors on site :O we were astonished at how we managed to not be caught the whole time, but it got better. after going to the security hut and going through the normal process we then saw a computer monitor with loads of images of cctv around the whole site that we managed to dodge and not get seen on one... we came to the conclusion that we are 'Accidental Ninjas!' The security let us go and were actually pleasant people

 

[mookster]

I'm sure many of you read about my recent group explore to Denbigh but if for some reason you missed it here is an account of the events.

At 10.30am the initial 8 of us (there would be a pair joining us later) met up in Denbigh town centre and headed off to the gorgeous asylum. After a nervy trip across the fields to the site all 8 of us made it safely inside and we began to relax and begin the adventure that is navigating around Denbigh. Our first scare came when the two stragglers who'd made their own way to the asylum met up with us and reported walking in on the two riflemen inside the chapel. Now knowing we weren't alone we were more on edge than before but continued our explore. Fast forward a couple of hours, 2 of our group are spotted by the same riflemen who are wandering outside and have a brief conversation with them before the two explorers run to us, and instinctively we find an awesome hidey hole and stow ourselves away whilst the riflemen wandered off.

About half an hour later, Beardy turns up with his dog. We were at the back left of the main front block on the 2nd floor looking at the site from the road and we hear Beardy and the barking dog walking around outside near our location...and the next thing we know he is in the same corridor as us! Quick as a flash the 8 of us there at that point leg it down the stairs, out and around the front of the building past the bemused looking rifleman and out the front gates as fast as our legs would carry us and Beardy, following, jumps in his van with the dog. Back on the public road we are catching our breath and as he catches up to us in his van, some of us whip our cameras out and start filming the events...

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD-miDB9oGI[/nomedia]

 

[The Archivist]

Excellent thread and very entertaining too, I'd not noticed this before in my trawling of old threads.

My own contribution features a visit to Portsmouth Greyhound Stadium last year. As one of the first explorers to see the Old Stadium, two months after it closed, I count myself lucky that I got to see the place before it was completely trashed. Demolition had barely started, the buildings were still full of betting slips, tickets, trophies and all manner of other things and the bar still had the last, unfinished round sitting on it. It was just a tad unnerving in fact.

Unfortunately, my visit coincided with that of Tipner's finest volunteer demolition team. This became apparent when I was in the former restaurant and loud smashing noises started coming from from the stands at the other end. Emerging cautiously onto the sand track, I saw about 6 tracksuit-clad youths attacking everything in sight with hammers, planks of wood and bricks.

The smashing stopped. the youths grunted some brief conversation and nodded agreement - I was sure they'd give chase at any moment but instead they went back to their destruction ignoring me completely. An uneasy situation followed, with the youths working their way around the stadium and me following behind with my camera and trying not to be too obvious. The smashing finally stopped when I was in the scoreboard tower and I assumed they'd left. I made my way round to the grandstand and was just about to go upstairs when a volley of crashes revealed that the youths had not left but were in fact in the commentator's box directly overhead. Funnily enough I didn't stay long after that.

 

[mookster]

Bloody idiots Maybe we should find them, go round their houses and smash the windows in and burn their chavved up hatchbacks out....one can dream

 

[ImmortalShadow]

I have a few stories...

1. Last year after a culvert trip that saw 8 of us do Markeaton Culvert, we decided to go and explore Derby Hippodrome, so we split into 2 groups, and the first group of 4 go in and the group I was in waited for about 20 minutes before we went in. The first group were heading down a corridor, we could here their voices which were coming closer. They saw torches but didn't realise who it was until they saw us! They were so scared I completely failed to text someone in the first group to let them know we were coming in.

2. I was taking photos on the roof of the old police station in Derby after exploring it, and I went into where the machines for the lift were, and a pigeon flew out of that building and scared the lift out of me!

3. Me and a friend were walking around Derby GNR Warehouse (this was ages ago now) looking for a way in when I heard voices from inside the building with me going "this is so surreal, this is so surreal" and we both shut up for a moment just to check I wasn't dreaming, and so we walked around to where the voices were coming from. A minute later, we saw a car tyre come flying out of one of the windows then we see 3 guys climbing out of said window. One of which is now a close urbexing friend of mine! It's amazing how friendships can be born from the most unlikely of places.

I have no stories about running into security or seeing them as I've never actually been caught. Famous last words....!!

 

[themousepolice]

stop and search

ive lost count the amount of times ive ran blindly, hidden skillfully, lay down on **** ridden floors, scaled fences or even comfronted, talked my way out of situations, blagged escape when in a derelict building over the years.

too many stories maybe i shouldnt tell. But this one was Lannans flour mill in Cato street, Vauxhall, Birmingham (see Brums finest excellent report on his visit somewhere on here). this was few years ago before i was a member and to be honest i didnt think other people did what i did .......

unbekown to me there had been a robbery in the premises next door to the disused mill and my wondering in had been noted by some jittery owners. had no tools, no mask, infact i was wearing a floresant jacket as id come to view the place straight from work and after 10 - 15 mins of exploration i wondered out into the yard of the mill straight into a female west midlands police officer.

this took her somewhat by suprise as she didnt hear me comming, where upon i was pounced by 3 other officers and a dog handler with his canine appeared from inside the mill.

after a quick search and some explanation of what i was doing in there they just wanted me off site and we even chatted about the place, tresspass laws, junkies, spray can teenagers etc. the whole thing was amicable. i was just about to get into my car when Mr bolshy stuck up Sargeant arrives in his panda with all light flashing.

the friendly atmosphere soon went and he man handled me against a wall, shouted in my face and at the other officers. he demanded this and that, called me a liar, quoted laws, shouted a bit more and so forth. there is no point in argueing back to poor police men so i tried to rerson with him about the amount of paperwork he would do if i was hauled in, what damage had i actually done etc.

this seemed to make him more angry so i kept my gob shut from there on. 10 mins of deliberation later he came nose to nose to me and whispered something like 'if i ever catch you in abandonded buildings again i will make you crawl'. at that he left and the other officers seemed relieved he had gone and we shook hands and i went.
they did give me this though... A WEST MIDLANDS POLICE STAUTORY POWER STOP AND SEARCH RECEIPT. My only momento of the day, dont what it to become a badge of honour or suchlike but everyone should have at least 1.

IMG_0007_NEW by annoyingly good, on Flickr


IMG_0006_NEW by annoyingly good, on Flickr


so get a good policeman you'll be ok get a bad one and things could get messy. no problem really as theres never much they can do, just look back and laugh now