217 Comments Posted by Jason

@Everyhumandies - it all boils down to money. Companies are not in the business to make museums of their old industrial facilities for history. Their goal is profit to stay afloat in whatever business they have invested in.

If the business fails or becomes obsolete, they sell and move on or abandon altogether. And when the company folds or gets bought out and city/county is forced to take the abandoned property over for lack of tax payments, said local government may not be able to do anything with it either so it just sits and rots.

The only buildings that survive are sold successfully to be re-used for something else. But that is becoming more rare as real estate becomes more valuable and properties get demolitioned to make room for new outdoor multi-use real estate property or otherwise remove an eye sore and danger.

And question answered!

This is what fascinates me the most about abandoned exploration and visiting old grave sites specifically. It's the human touch.

Who were these people who are gone? What was their story? Where are their descendants today?

There have to be records of this individual somewhere if his/her name was on the marker with a birth and death date.

For anyone who wonders, the brick arch is classic Roman arch architecture. They first built wooden frames for support of the arch then laid the bricks on top of the frame. When the mortar was dried, they remove the wooden frame support/mold. From the top, gravity puts pressure towards the outside of each side of the arch effectively supporting the top bricks which look like they should fall in. The bricks may also tapered towards the top, meaning wider at the top of the brick and narrower at the bottom which further helps strengthen the arch. This engineering concept actually dates from the pre-Roman Greeks and was a major milestone in modern architecture that the Romans first used large scale.

Reminiscent of the head of the remains of the creature they burned in the movie The Thing. These more talented taggers could better put their talents to use in artwork for game developers...and actually get paid for it...and leave abandoned buildings alone.

Never even thought of exploring underneath the cities of Europe the two times when there years ago. While apparently not in this case, historians know that many major European cities are built upon old Roman towns and all you need to do is go underground to see remnants of old homes, stores, streets, etc. It's fascinating.

With that said, catacombs are one area I'd never want to go into! There's just something too macabre to walk among the bones of the dead. There have been several documentary shows about underground Europe over the years and catacombs, but I've never seen them show things like this.

It's been at least three years since I've been here after Motts' taking time off, and like everyone else, I'm so glad he's back! Interest in abandoned site photography seems to have only increased over the years since Motts started this site, and it's a good thing he keeps a tight lid on the whereabouts of places that have not yet been razed. Here's to many more years of staying up late!

We used to get patients who would come the Northville Downs horse track down the street when I worked for Northville PD. They were 10%er's because they would hang out near the pay out windows and if you hit it big on a race you could have them redeem your ticket for 10% of the winnings, which was less than you would pay in taxes. At least back then (early "90's) mentally/physically disabled did not pay taxes on gambling winnings, so you got more money and they got money for the comensary etc.

The courtroom would have been used for committal hearings to hold someone for longer than the 72 hour evaluation period. It was easier/safer (some of the people committed there were dangerous) to have it all there at the facility than trying to transport someone to the local court house for the hearing

Is this place still standing? Or is it just the fence now?

i had to stay in one of these for years

Movie: Into The Blue

I too love seeing these old abandoned documents. It brings out something tangible from a human perspective. For anyone who cares, $450 in 1978 is about $2,100 in today's dollars...not much money for a power bill for a huge building like that. Clearly by then it wasn't utilized much.

Makes me want to be strapped into some sort of insane rocket sled ride circa the movie "Running Man" and get launched for some reason.

This appears to be a bathing station for an invalid. These were built so that patients could be stretched out in a lying position and be washed using a sprayer. The neck would rest in the depression to the sink basin allowing the nurse to wash the hair.