# Abandoned structures and their stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 18, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017 "2022-01-18T19:46:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/21 "2022-01-19T00:52:06Z")
If you like urban exploration: [http://www.forbidden-places.net/explo1.php](http://www.forbidden-places.net/explo1.php) ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/22 "2022-01-19T01:20:46Z")
This guy does videos about abandoned towns in Oklahoma. > **[Oklahoma Ghost Towns](https://www.youtube.com/user/dwtaylor999)** > > I've always had a fascination with things abandoned and a love of history. I found it sad that so many of these places were forgotten.. > The definition of a ghost town has always been controversial, and people often take offense having their town... One involves the abandoned Tallchief mansion, where I guess the prima ballerina once lived: > **[Maria Tallchief](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Tallchief)** > > Elizabeth Marie Tallchief (Osage family name: Ki He Kah Stah Tsa, Osage script: 𐒼𐓣𐓸𐓟𐓤𐓘𐓸𐓮𐓰𐓘𐓸𐓲𐓘; January 24, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American ballerina. She was considered America's first major prima ballerina. She was the first Native American (Osage Nation) to hold the rank, and is said to have revolutionized ballet. > Almost from birth, Tallchief was involved in dance, starting formal lessons at age three. When she was eight, her family relocated from her birth home of Fairfax, Oklahoma, ... But my favorite video is this one…I really like the music. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mSKX1GOGgck/maxresdefault.jpg "Remembering Ralston, Pawnee county, Oklahoma") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSKX1GOGgck) And apparently Texas has about 1000 ghost towns. > **[Texas ghost towns, over 1000 Texas ghost towns history, photos, vintage maps...](http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Texas_ghost_towns.htm)** > > Over 1000 Texas ghost towns: history, travel, landmarks, old maps, vintage/contemporary photos, contributed by descendents of town founders, residents, fellow travelers and adventurous photographers. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/23 "2022-01-19T01:27:19Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > There is one, tho, that a local told us the background story. It was a bar once upon a time, but it’s been empty and deteriorating for at least 25 years. Apparently, the owner had a bitter divorce and was required to give his ex half of the proceeds of the business. So rather than pay her, he boarded up the building and let it sit. In the last 3 or 4 years, it’s really gotten ratty - sections of the roof have fallen in and the boards over the doors and windows are rotting. The guy who told us the backstory is in construction and he said that building and the one next to it are now scheduled to be demolished for new commercial construction. I’m wondering if one or the other of the divorced couple is/are now dead. That’s the story of the house next door to where my in-laws lived for years. It had been vacant several years in 2000 when my MIL decided to move to an apartment. The son who inherited the house was just letting it go to ruin because he didn’t want to sell and share the profits with his ex. My BIL who handled the sale of my MIL’s house tried to make the outside of the empty house look as decent as possible, figuring that buyers might pass on buying a place next to an abandoned house, especially since it’s in a suburban neighborhood with 50X100 lots. He mowed the front lawn, trimmed shrubs and almost got stung by hundreds of wasps when he trimmed a branch with a wasp’s nest. Fast forward to Nov 2021 when a friend who still lives in the neighborhood told us that the house had finally been demolished. We found out that the owner finally died and the property was sold to someone who lives 2 blocks away, for $367K. He has a new house (still to be built on the site) listed on Zillow for $1,188,888. He may possibly get over a million for it since new construction is rare in the area–most of the houses in the area were built in the 1950s. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/24 "2022-01-19T01:58:10Z")
Jake Williams’ channel, Bright Sun Films, has lots of good content on failed and abandoned buildings, malls, amusement parks, and roadside attractions. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/25 "2022-01-19T02:05:08Z")
An all-time creepy abandoned property story: [Goiânia accident - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident#:~:text=The%20Goi%C3%A2nia%20accident%20%5B%C9%A1oj%CB%88j%C9%90ni%C9%90%5D%20was,people%2C%20resulting%20in%20four%20deaths). ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/26 "2022-01-19T12:53:03Z")
Some friends and I explored an old ballistic missile silo. The underground complex was bigger than I thought it would be. And creepy as hell. Really it was a stupid and dangerous thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/27 "2022-01-19T13:00:37Z")
Directly across the railroad tracks from my place is the former Alton Club Café. It was a fiesty neighborhood tavern until 1990. One night that year it got too fiesty and one of the owners’ sons was shot and killed right outside the front door. The husband and wife owners closed the place up within a few weeks. The husband is now deceased but the wife still owns the property. It has been sitting empty and unmaintained since closing. She refuses to sell it for sentimental reasons. Since closing it has been a target for curious, but not vandalistic, individuals. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/28 "2022-01-19T13:25:04Z")
The Northville Psychiatric Facility is, or was, long abandoned (it was supposed to be in the process of gradual demolition and may have been completely torn down by now), with a checkered past involving stories of patient abuse. It’s a real-life ‘abandoned asylum’ from a thousand horror movies. I used to occasionally drive past if on the way home from a former job. It was enormous, and creepy just to drive past it. Once I did some googling to find out more about it, and I found a YouTube video of some urban explorers who had snuck into the Northville facility. They found an old piano abandoned in a hallway, and one of the guys played a tune on the piano. It was terribly out of tune, and hearing the off-key melody echoing down the trashed hall was downright spine-chilling. > **[The haunting insides of the abandoned Northville Psychiatric Hospital](https://www.mlive.com/news/2018/07/the_haunting_insides_of_the_ab.html)** > > The images are chilling. We're showing you the haunting insides of the Northville Psychiatric Hospital and telling you its fascinating history before it's demolished. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/29 "2022-01-19T13:59:17Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > This is the old bar I mentioned: I remember that place from when it was open! Unfortunately I don’t remember the name, and never set foot in it 🙂 In the late '70s to early '80s I was a sales rep and passed through Leonardtown once a week. That bar (I thought of it as a restaurant) looked like a nice place and always had a crowded parking lot around lunch time, but I was always too rushed to stop in. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/30 "2022-01-19T14:15:39Z")
My contribution to the abandoned structures story is the former Danvers State Hospital for the Insane in Massachusetts, originally known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers. It was opened in 1878, and even the outside looked freaky and haunted after it was abandoned 114 years later. It was finally demolished in 2016. There is a great gallery of pictures at the link below, which are all the more impactful if perused after watching the supernatural horror film **[Session 9](https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/hollywood-news/session-9-filming-location-danvers-state-hospital.html)**, which was filmed on location at Danvers. Fictional movie aside, there must have been some chilling horrors playing out inside this place, especially in the primitive times of its early history. > **[Danvers State Hospital | Danvers State Insane Asylum | DSH](https://www.danversstatehospital.org/)** > > The complete history and architecture of the Danvers State Hospital, Danvers State Insane Asylum, The State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, Danvers Insane Hospital including Nathaniel J. Bradlee, Superintendents, Image Galleries, Time lines, Videos... ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/31 "2022-01-19T14:29:56Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > My contribution to the abandoned structures story is the former Danvers State Hospital for the Insane in Massachusetts, originally known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers. It was opened in 1878, and even the outside looked freaky and haunted after it was abandoned 114 years later. It was finally demolished in 2016. There is a great gallery of pictures at the link below, which are all the more impactful if perused after watching the supernatural horror film **[Session 9](https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/hollywood-news/session-9-filming-location-danvers-state-hospital.html)** , which was filmed on location at Danvers. Fictional movie aside, there must have been some chilling horrors playing out inside this place, especially in the primitive times of its early history. > > [https://www.danversstatehospital.org/](https://www.danversstatehospital.org/) Hell yeah. I would have given anything to have been able to explore that place. I remember when I read they were tearing most of it down and building condos or whatever. Seems like you’d need a a mega ton of sage to cleanse that place. Also, I HIGHLY recommend **Session 9.** ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/32 "2022-01-19T14:33:15Z")
Try searching for “Detroit abandoned buildings”, or even “Detroit abandoned skyscrapers.” The archetype would be the Packard Motor plant. Every so often a new plan comes up to repurpose it. On the flip side, Ford Motor Company is restoring the Michigan Central train station in Detroit, and there are several stories about people returning artifacts that were removed over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/33 "2022-01-19T15:16:05Z")
I spent a week on a small and very remote island in January 2020. Flew in on a Gulfstream G450. There was an air force base located on the island for many decades, with a couple thousand people stationed there at its peak. It was downgraded to an “air station” in the early 1990s. There are still a handful of people there. The main building contained a cafeteria and living quarters, both of which were up and operating. I did some exploring one day and discovered a library in the building. It was fairly disorganized, with books piled everywhere. There was a desk where a librarian once sat, along with very old computers and CRT monitors. There were a couple offices along the walls, also with old computers and monitors. Behind the main building was a big building that I was told contained a gym. I ventured over there one afternoon. The door was unlocked so I went in. The lights were on, but it was complete silence; you could hear a pin drop. Very creepy. Did some exploring and discovered a front desk, large gym with lots of machines and free weights, locker rooms with large showers, basketball courts, big movie theater, upstairs running track, aerobics room, and party room. There were also DIY shops upstairs for woodworking, sewing/costume making, photography w/ darkrooms, and pottery making w/ kilns. I was the only one in the entire place. There was a cassette player with music tapes in the aerobics room. The party room had a couple pool tables, bar, and a small area where there was evidence a band once played. The gym was still functional, so I worked out in it. Water was leaking through the ceiling in various places. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/34 "2022-01-19T15:54:23Z")
I recently saw a mention of abandonded houses on Harbor Island, SC. Their story: Someone thought it was a good idea to build houses on a beach. Really…right on a sandy beach. Didn’t work out so well after a hurricane. Now they are left to rot. > **[Harbor Island Abandoned Houses](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/harbor-island-abandoned-houses)** > > Once luxurious, these oceanfront beach homes have been left to succumb to the elements as the beach is slowly washed away. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/35 "2022-01-19T15:58:47Z")
That article says, “Most of the homeowners, realizing the extent of the damage, took the insurance money and left the homes to fall apart on the beach.” So which insurance company was stupid enough to insure such fragile structures? ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/36 "2022-01-19T17:58:52Z")
I would guess that underwriter lost their job. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/37 "2022-01-19T18:11:06Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > So which insurance company was stupid enough to insure such fragile structures? I don’t have any special knowledge about this particular instance, but otherwise: [https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/08/08/hidden-subsidy-rich-flood-insurance-000495/](https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/08/08/hidden-subsidy-rich-flood-insurance-000495/) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/38 "2022-01-19T18:28:44Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Hell yeah. I would have given anything to have been able to explore that place. I remember when I read they were tearing most of it down and building condos or whatever. Seems like you’d need a a mega ton of sage to cleanse that place. Also, I HIGHLY recommend **Session 9.** I found that site after watching _Session 9_ and learning it was filmed at the abandoned Danvers hospital. There’s a grim fascination about it, especially being a mental hospital going back to the 19th century. The things those patients must have experienced in their fevered delusions, especially if they had something like schizophrenia. The inability of medicine to effectively deal with it. The things that were probably done to them. If only those ancient walls could talk! I have a collection of pictures that I thought I got from that site, but I can’t find it there any more. It’s of the remains of one of the patient rooms, with the remains of an old hospital bed, paint peeling off the walls, and on one of the walls some despairing patient had scrawled those famous words from _The Garden of Proserpine_: “… even the weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea.” I trust this poor soul has finally found peace. But if only those old walls could talk! ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/39 "2022-01-19T18:44:21Z")
My first ever job was at a place called the [Holland Sporting Club](http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/yasinsac/yorktown/holland1.html). 1985, and was a teen, getting to work with a mean old dude with one eye, clearing the grounds, then working in the kitchen to make and serve breakfast and lunch to the club members. Whole bunch of old folks were the members, they had tennis courts, lakefront property, and a bunch of little bungalows for the guests to stay in. The guy who ran the kitchen was a butcher by trade, but his eyesight was so bad he couldn’t even see the pull chain for the lights. He’d be there running his knife over the honing steel, shick shick shick, super fast, like he could actually see something through his massive glasses. There was the old lady who loved buttermilk, the old guys telling stories, interesting place to work for a kid. I didn’t really know the history of the place until I read the link above. While I’m sad that all the members I met died at least 15 years ago, there is something kind about the way the membership held fast, and gave the grounds to the town after they all passed on. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017/40 "2022-01-19T18:50:23Z")
There’s an abandoned farmhouse across the road from my grandparents farm. I pretty much know the story as to why – there had been a fire in the kitchen at some point, so the house wasn’t really habitable anymore, but what remained of it was still left standing. We once went over there and peeked through some of the windows. The kitchen was pretty much gutted, but it looked like the fire hadn’t really touched the rest of the house. The living room still contained some random items the family hadn’t bothered to take with them, like an old coat and a pair of overalls hanging on some hooks on the wall, and for some reason an old tube of Pepsodent toothpaste in the middle of the living room floor. My grandfather bought some of the land around the house (or maybe just leased it; I don’t know what the exact arrangement was), and used the barn for pigs for a while. I suppose my grandparents’ house could be considered at least semi-abandoned now. After they died my Mom and her siblings inherited shares of the farm. One of my uncles still works the farm, but no one actually lives in the house anymore. Maybe it gets used for storage or something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-structures-and-their-stories/958017.md?page=3)