Another good day of exploring....

[Chris]

Today Inubis, Tunajive, a friend of mine and I all got together to do some exploring. We started by heading over to an old church Inubis and Tunajive had found. It was just north of downtown in an area that is probably 70% abandoned buildings. Houses, churches, stores, industries, you name it.

We entered near the back and made our way around the simple layout of the church which was largely devoid of 'back rooms'...it was pretty much just the sanctuary, a couple of bathrooms, a lobby, the two towers at the front of the church, and two rooms behind the alter area. The building is deteriorating and the plaster is crumbling. The floor is very soft is some spots and some of the stained glass windows are missing.

We went into the basement where Tunajive saw Jesus. Seriously. He was staring right at him as he rounded the corner. Creepy. Past Jesus, there was a concrete tunnel of some type with a big steel door at the end. It was light on the other side of the door and we don't know if it went outside or into another building.

We also climbed the stairs under the two towers at the front of the building. One went up into the bell tower but rotting floors and a very rickety old ladder kept us from going up that high. The other tower lead us to a door that went into the attic above the sanctuary. It was one of the coolest spaces I've been in, with massive wooden beams and excellent veiws of downtown through the missing windows.

After we left the church, we went to another place that we just called 'Nord'. I really don't know for sure what it was. It had a gym, lots of bars, and very rotted-out floors. There I encountered more of my urban exploration nemisis...squishy, soggy ceiling tiles on the floor. No, not bums, CHUDs, or cops, but nasty, vomit-like, wads of sopping wet ceiling tiles. Gross, man!

From there we entered the tunnel underneath Tucker. It seemed fine until we ran into a freindly bum who warned us not to go much further into the tunnel, he claimed someone had been killed down there recently. I will return!

Lastly, we went over to Falstaff. We did find another tunnel leading under the street, but this one lead to a building next door to ones that the original tunnel lead to. We couldn't get into the building above thanks to three missing steps and a massive steel door. I ate a 44 year old cracker there, too. Tasted like plywood. Still crispy though. Ummmm, bomb shelter food....

Will post pics as soon as I get them resized and hosted...

[Chris]

Ok, here we go with the church...

I just thought this was a cool picture.


Alter with organ behind it.


Other end of the sanctuary.


Old carvings on the stairs up to the bell tower.


The attic.


The tunnel in the basement.

[Chris]

Now the 'Nord' place...

Outside from the street where we parked.


The gym.


Cool.


Well, maybe, but I think you're just a loser.

[Chris]

And lastly, the tunnel.

Entrance.


Most of it's not really a tunnel.


Check out the old sewer they must have cut off when they built this thing.

[FiReDiVeR]

How do you get to this place, and what is something you could tell an out of towner that this area is near?

[Chris]

Simple. Go to downtown and drive north. Can't miss it! Tucker Ave. (where the tunnel is) would be a good place to start.

[tunajive]

Jesus scared the frickin crap outta me! I just realized too that we didn't take a picture of him. Aw well I don't want a creepy picture of jesus anyway. You probably should have put boric acid on that cracker chris, it would have made it taste better.

You got any plans to where you want to go this next weekend? We could go to Union Station and putz around there.


-Matt

[memory_machine]

I'm so sorry I missed out! Responsibilities be damned! Is there a working itinerary for next weekend's festivities?

[tunajive]

I think that we have come to the conclusion that we all should get some ideas on where to go, then we just meet up and decide from there. It's worked out pretty well so far. What day this weekend works out best for you guys. I have nothing set in stone yet.


-Matt

[White Rabbit]

Wait... The church had a steam tunnel leading from it's basement? Was the door at the end of it locked? That's really bizarre.

[Chris]

Yeah, it had some kind of concrete tunnel that was much newer than the stone foundation. It probably just went to the building next door, which was also owned by the church and was definately not abandoned. It was locked. But then again, as we walked up to the church (on the back side) we found a retaining wall with a steel door in it. Behind the door was a brick wall. Then next to the door was a vent. I shined my flashlight into it and saw that there was a concrete wall about a foot behind it.

[Hiccup]

Jesus scared the frickin crap outta me! I just realized too that we didn't take a picture of him. Aw well I don't want a creepy picture of jesus anyway.

what do you guys mean you saw Jesus? was it like some bum guy or painting or what?

[Chris]

Jesus was fiberglass...or something similar.

[whipping_post]

I saw Jesus once. I was stoned out of my mind so that probably doesn't count.

[ropingk]

t just seems such a shame to let these buildings go to waste