Alternative Spot: Construction Company N.

The second spot that Freddy and I had in mind for our two-day tour of Eastern Germany was an old cooling tower.
Situated right in the middle of an industrial area of a large East German town, it looked acessible on all photos that I had managed to find. So we thought, we'd give it a try.
We drove some time to get there, and once we got to the city limits, our mood started to dcline. The city itels looked so dreary and depressing, it started to have an effect on us. The rainy December weather added to the already sad atmosphere, when we got out of the car to find a way into the object.
There was no chance. We must have sneaked around the cooling tower on all sides for more than an hour when we decided to call it a day with this location. There were fences everywhere, as well as active industrial areas aound the cooling tower.
So we went for the next best thing - an abandoned building across the street.
This location was also very sad, actually. Not for the history, but for the fact that due to its relative boredom and its state of vandalism only added to our overall "sadness".
This whole experience was so influential that Freddy and I still have a little trauma from visiting this city.
It's called the "Neubrandenburg-Trauma".


To find out more about the history of this dreadful place and to check out all the photos from this ugly spot, click the button below.

Castle M.

I had to wait a little for my next tour. More than a month after visiting the abandoned textile mill together with my wife, I went for a two-day tour with my friend Freddy [Nordgriller Urbex].
We had a bunch of locations planned and had arranged to sleep in a friend's place.
We left pretty early that first day, because we had a lot of kilometers to go. The first spot we had planned was an old abandoned mansion - or rather castle - in a small town in the Northeast of Germany.
It was pretty easy to find, and so we quickly parked the car a little off the main road. The weather wasn't too good, and it was pretty early so there were no people around, and we just walked up to the mansion and started looking for a way in. There were signs posted that the property is protected by a security service, and I had heard of other signs that were supposed to warn people of trip wires that had been set up around or inside the building.
But e only saw the Security service's signs - and there was no sign of trip wires either. The mansion looks like there is in fact a security service around, because obviously, openings had been fixed and broken window boards had been repaired.
Finding a way in was easy enough, we found it during our first walk around the building and hopped right in.
Unfortunately, the mansions magnificent outside appearance makes a promis that the inside is far from keeping. thaere has been substantial vandalism, and some attempts in renovating the building have been started, but the inside looks rather desolate.


To find out more about the history of this beautiful castle and to check out all the photos from this nice spot, click the button below.

Textile Mill W.

It was early November of last year, and I hadn't been exploring for about four weeks, when I convinced my wife to go with me for a tour of an abandoned textile mill about 250 kilometers from home.
We borrowed my mother's car and planned to meet with Claudi from Lost Places Knipser who I'd first met on our tour of the abandoned Soviet airfield in the same town.
We left pretty early, knowing that the traffic would get more during the day, especially in the direction of Berlin. But we got through alright, it was a pretty relaxed ride.
Once we arrived at our designated spot, we found a place to park on the parking lot of a supermarket only a little walk from the location. There we met with our friends, and we made a short plan where and how to get inside.
The textile mill is pretty large, and the main building is right at the street, so we decided to jump the fence from a little back road by the side of the factory buildings.
From there, we made our way over a little field until we got to the main building. We found a window low enough and big enough to climb in right away, so my wife and I took the opportunity and hopped in. Our companions, however, didn't really like the idea of climbing and took the open door a couple of meters to the side of the building...
As I said, the place was big, and so we used our small PMR radios to communicate. After a while, we heard other people talk on the same frequency as ours - someone was using PMR radios as a kind of baby monitor to talk to their children. We couldn't help and talk some nonsense to confuse these people - and it worked nicely!
We spent well over four hours in the factory before we had seen everything. Only the factory owner's villa remained inaccessible...


To find out more about the history of this industrial ruin and to check out all the photos from this nice spot, click the button below.

Amusement Park "Triple F"

After being asked nicely by the police to leave the steel company, my friend Nordgriller Urbex and I drove North to check out an abandoned hospital right at the beach of this Danish island.
We parked the car, found the location, and there was the beach on one side and a residential area on the other side, so there were lots and lots of people. There were signs speaking of security patrolling the place, even signs mentioning cameras, but we couldn't see anything of the kind.
Still, we hesitated for some time before entering.
We got in through an open door and were really disappointed. The place was so run-down that we didn't even take any photos.
We walked through one and decided to leave for our next spot.
It was only a couple of kilometers before we reached the amusement park. Judging by the stories from other explorers who had been here and looking at the GE satellite images, we didn't expect much.
And there wasn't much left indeed.
But the way in was easy, the weather was perfect and an eagle circling above us made for a nice proverbial walk in the park.
There were some kids fooling around, but they left when we got there, so it was niuce and quiet; only the sounds of nature and the wind in the trees were to hear.


To find out more about the history of this nice little place and to check out all the photos from this spot, click the button below.

Steel Company R. [Revisit]

Two months after my wife and I first set foot into this nearly untouched place and six weeks after I returned with my friend Lichtbeschatter, I returned for a third visit. This time, I was accompanied by my friend Freddy (Nordgriller Urbex) who had expressed the overwhelming urge to explore this spot as well.
So on a sunny Saturday, we set sail for Denmark (metaphorically of course, we took the car) and drove up to one of the picturesque Danish islands in the Baltic Sea.
The first spot we had set our sights on was an old textile mill which unfortunately proved inaccessible at the time. After checking every possible entrance, we decided to go on and give the steel company a try. After all, I had been there twice already, and there was never a problem.
Not this time.
It started with "our" parking spot (which was the driveway of another company) being used by its owner. So we parked on a public parking spot near the locations and walked the way back to our designated access point. Unfortunately, the house next to our access was swarming with activity. Cars coming and going, people walking in and out of the house, someone came with a trailer delivering things - in short: this wasn't going to be our way in.
We waited a little to see if the activity would seize, but that didn't happen, so we went to check for another way in. We climbed over fences, crawled through bushes, but no dice, the place remained closed. That is, until my friend checked the door right next to our car.
It was open and led right to the hall with the Porsche.
We were delighted that we had found a way in after all and started taking photos right away. The first two times that I had been there, I'd missed the offices, so that was the first part that I explored this time around. It was amazing - never before have I seen such moldy beauty! I must have spent more than an hour in there, and when I was getting ready to go back into the factory halls, Freddy came in and asked if I had heard the noises as well.
I said that's probably an open window in one of the halls that was rattling - just as I'd known from my first two visits.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
The second that I'd stepped into the factory hall and started smoking a cigarette, I heard the sound that Freddy was talking about - and it sure wasn't the window.
From the other hall, I heard steps coming towards me, and before I could reacat, two Danish cops came around the corner. I stood there with my cigarette and my tripod, smiled at them and said "Hi there! German or English, please."
The male cop answered, "English. What are you doing here?" I really do like the accent of Danish people speaking English - it always makes me smile. I told them what I was doing, and he asked me if I was alone, to which I truthfully answered that there was one more guy with me. In that moment, Freddy came out from one of the doors as if to confirm my statement.
But right after that, the window in the other hall started to rattle. Of course, the cops got suspicious and asked us again if we were alone. I told them about the window and they were content with the answer.
The male cop asked us (the female cop didn't say one word the hole time and just grimly looked at us) why we were taking photos, and we told them about the fascination we have with abandoned places and the decay of things after people leave. He was really friendly and said that he understood and that we could keep the photos we took, but we'd have to leave. So we left the way we came and smoked a cigarette at the car. the cops had parked right behind us, and when they came out, we talked a little more (the female cop was still silent and grumpy) before we drove on to the next location.

This was the first time since I started exploring that I ever got caught by police. I didn't think that it would be in another country, but the friendly cop with the Danish accent made it a worthwhile experience ;)


To find out more about the history of this amazing place and to check out all the photos from this spot, click the button below.

Railyard G.

The railyard that we had chosen as our second location before driving home was only a couple of minutes away from the repair factory. A short ride across town and we were there.
After a few minutes, we had spotted a way in. We parked down the street and walked back to the access. We just had to walk past a couple of buildings, down some stairs, and we were on the premises.
What we found was not particularly spectacular, but due to the great weather, we managed to get some nice shots out of an otherwise rather normal railyard.
What made this excursion special for me was that it once again showed me one of the great sides of this hobby. Coming from the city, I rarely get the chance to see animals in their natural surroundings, especially endangered ones.
The appearance of endangered species in front of me while exploring an abandoned building is something that I really like. It shows how powerful nature is in conquering places that people have left alone.
In this particular place I saw a fire salamander and a grass snake. They each quickly disappeared into the undergrowth, so there was no time to get a photo, but it was a unique moment for me nonetheless.


To find out more about the history of this old railyard and to check out all the photos from this nice spot, click the button below.