Estate House R.

This abandoned mansion was the third spot on my tour with two girls who I'd originally made contact with in an urban exploration forum. On that particular tour we had visited a hospital and an underground bunker, so it felt logical to choose something residential for our third location.
It was a pretty short drive from the bunker, but once we got there, my worst fears came true - although the building itself looked accessible, there were far too many people around for us to just slip in.
The area right next to the mansion belongs to a farm with riding stables and the riding arena facing the main door.
The building is also pretty much at the center of this part of the village and there are lots of neighbors around. The only possible parking place that wasn't outside the city limits happened to be right in front of the building. Very inconspicuous to be parking there...

So we decided to be straightforward about it. I got out of the car and walked towards a lady who was walking her dog and was obviously one of the neighbors. I explained to her what we were up to and asked if she knew who we might ask if it was possible to enter the building.
Her answer was priceless. "Oh, you can go right in, the door is open."
She said there is nothing in there but decay and that the door had been kicked in some time ago and that it's never been repaired. I asked her again if it's really okay, and she said there is no one that we could ask, so we should go right ahead.
It almost seemed as if almost everyone in the village had gotten curious at some point and checked the place out.
In any case, this was a delightfully open community that didn't seem to have a problem with us exploring the old place and it was a nice tour through a surprisingly unvandalized place.

To find out more about the history of this mansion and to check out all photos from this interesting spot, click the button below!

Secret Bunker of the "Stasi" [Revisit]

After exploring the Clinic for Radiology, I asked the girls if they'd ever seen an underground bunker and suggested that we go check out one that I'd first visited about eight months before.
It was a bunker of the East German Secret Police ("Stasi"), from which the police force would have been controlled in case of a civil uprising.
Due to the secrecy, the bunker had been built right in the middle of the woods, but the access was pretty easy.
In contrast to my first visit, the entrance above the ground was open, so we didn't have to climb down the emergency exit. After we had entered the above-ground building that conceals the bunker entrance, I barred the door to prevent people (especially security guards or other people of the sort) from following us and to give the appearance that the entrance was sealed.
So we went down the stairs to the bunker, and after a while we heard the sheet metal door rattle. I wasn't really sure, the rattling was too loud and too long to just be the wind, but after about ten minutes, it stopped.
I suspect that it was either kids trying to enter or it was in fact someone whose old motor scooter we had seen parked in front of one of the other buildings on the premises...but I can't be sure.
Anyway, the niose stopped, we finished taking our photos, left everything the way we had found it and left the bunker on the same way her had entered it. There was no one to see, so we went back to the car. Shortly after we got there, an old guy passed us on the blue motor scooter that we had seen, but he didn't look particularly angry or anything.
It was a nice part of the tour; I managed to get some shots that I'd missed the first time, and the girls had a sppoky experience.

To find out more about the history of this bunker and to check out all photos from this interesting spot, click the button below!

Clinic for Radiology S.

Two weeks after exploring the abandoned retirement home, the girls and I had scheduled the next tour. This time, we had opted for an area a little further to the East.
I had picked a couple of spots along with some alternatives along the way in case one or more obejcts were inaccessible.
Like the last time, I took the train and was picked up at the station. After about an hour, we arrived at the first location - an abandoned clinic for radiology.
I had found this spot listed as "probably for sale" on some website, but hadn't found any other information regarding the owner. The building probably still belongs to the hospital chain that operated the clinic but moved into a bigger building in the mid-2000's.
Anyway, the clinic lies next to a little lake in a residential area, and we had to wait a little before making our way over the fence an onto the premises.
At first, it didn't look too good in terms of a way in. All doors were looked tightly and obviously hadn't been opened for quite some time. The windows were sealed and had stickers with the name of a security firm on them. If a window was opened, the seal broke, so potential security patrols can easily spot if the window had been opened. After what felt like an eternity of wandering around the building, trying to avoid being seen by people walking by, I found a broken seal on one of the basement windows, and the window was in fact still open. We were in!
The security measures seemed to be relativley effective. There was not too much vandalism and only a few graffiti.
On the other hand, there was not too much decay either since it has only been abandoned for a couple of years.
It was a nice spot though, because it was nearly entirely unknown as a location, and of course it's always nice to find a new spot :)

To find out more about the history of the clinic and to check out the full gallery, click the button below.

Retirement Home I.

This was a pretty spontaneous tour in early May together with two friends that I'd been to various other locations in the past.
I had gotten a tip about this location and after a short consultation, we had planned a tour. The next day, I took the train, and the girls picked me up with their car at the station.
The location was an abandoned retirement home. Nothing spectacular, just an abandoned building complex hidden right in a suburban residential area.
Within about five minutes, we had arrived at the desired spot, had parked the car and were looking for a way in. This was harder that expected. There was no apparent opening. No shattered windows, open doors or holes of any kind. We had heard about a way in over the roof, but it looked pretty much sealed. Just before we decided to try the roof, I found that one of the terrace doors wasn't closed properly and "locked" from the inside by a clable that had been tied around the doorknob.
I managed to loosen the cable and open the door and we were in.
As expected, there was nothing spectacular to find, but what made this location unique was the remarkable lack of vandalism of any kind. There were no broken windows, no graffiti, no metal thieves at work...this was an untouched location.
Except of course for the police abviously using it as a training area. we found cardboard characters and paint munitions.
But since it was sunday, we were undisturbed and found some nice photos to take...and the old wheelnchair gave me a good opportunity for a gas mask shot!!

To find out more about this place and to check out the full gallery, click the button below!

Oxygen Factory P.

We had spent a lot of time in the abandoned children's sanatorium, and since we were about 350 kilometers from home and it was already well past noon, there was probably only time left for one more location.
First, we tried the cultural center that was right at the center of the same city as the sanatorium, so it would've been nice to have a second location without too much distance to cover. But circling the building with the car, we could alsready see that it was ealed so tightly that there was no way in and we decided to head for the next option.
That next option proved to be a great decision.
We had decided on the Nazi's oxygen fuel factory at the V-2 site in Peenemünde.
The historical relevance of this place is obvious, and in fact, most of the main V-2 site has been turned into a museum, but some relics have been abandoned and are off limits to the public - including the oxygen factory.
We had to drive a while to get there, past many other potential sites (all promising, but none as prominent as the oxygen factory), until we finally got to the location. Conventiently enough, there was a public parking lot right next to it.
So we just had to get out of the car, crawl under the fence and we were in.
The building is in fact magnificent, I think.
In spite of the terrors it represents, its construction in the traditional form of a basilica together with the afternoon light made for a fantastic atmosphere, especially with the beginning spring letting the first leaves come out.
We were not the only people there; there were some twenty-somethings taking photos (I really hate it when people don't react friendly when you greet them with a friendly Hi on location!) and as we left, there was a couple of senior citizens (I'd think around 65 or 70), and while the woman was waiting in the car, the man crawled under the fence just as we did and started looking around.

Here are some impressions from a nice afternoon ion a great location.
To find out more about the history of this place and to check out the full gallery, click the button below!