Posted by Roadwolf on December 29, 2020
Urban Exploration
Acsys Technologies was a auto plant in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It closed down around the turn of the century. Some parts of the plant were 100 years old, and it was part of the original GM Auto plant. The plant was 2,000,000 square feet, in 46 acres. When I went there the plant still had active security, and it was a wild few hours exploring the place. Sadly I lost most of my photos from it.
The only photo I still have was this one:
You can find the UER location listed here: https://www.uer.ca/locations/show.asp?locid=22565
Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on September 11, 2020
Urban Exploration
Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on September 11, 2020
Urban Exploration
Many many years ago I got the chance to explore an old Toronto Hydro building. It was essentially a workshop with a large indoor parking and storage area for equipment and trucks. It was being demolished to make way for condos.
Here are some photos! Enjoy.
Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on December 28, 2018
Urban Exploration
The Brighton Gravel Pit was a fun little weekend explore. We ventured out there one weekend on the way to Picton, and stopped to check out the remains of a gravel crusher. I got many artistic photos, and these photos were typical of my more artistic period of Urban Exploration. Sadly many other location's photos were lost with a hard drive failure.
Enjoy the photos!
Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on February 4, 2018
Urban Exploration
When I first came to Buffalo many years ago, it was a run down city. Today, Buffalo is thriving and rebuilding. But this is a window to the past, through which we can see some of the rougher times Buffalo has seen.
Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on February 3, 2018
Blog and Journal Urban Exploration
Believe it or not, I learned to type on a type-writer. Not a computer. Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on August 18, 2016
Urban Exploration
Spaulding Fibre was a plant in Tonawanda, NY which produced a type of unique type of 'bakelite' material. The plant was heavily contaminated with asbestos as you will see in the photos.
Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on August 18, 2016
Urban Exploration
This photo journal brought back some memories, and triggered a bit of a search for information. This Nike Missile base was a fairly easy exploration. The base is privately owned, and has been preserved in its abandoned / unused state for the most part.
This Nike Base was established to house and launch MIM-3 Surface to Air missiles. These were about 33ft long, and weighed 14.6t. The MIM-14's which succeeded the MIM-3's were capable of both Surface to Air and Surface to Surface engagements. Nike missiles could be fitted with both nuclear and conventional warheads. It is my understanding that the missiles located around Buffalo / Niagara, were fitted with mostly nuclear warheads, due to the areas importance.
The find of a 1970's era muscle car in the bunker, was an odd find indeed. There has been some speculation that this vehicle might have a connection to the unsolved 1974 murder of Karen Caughlin, from Sarnia, Ontario. The suspect vehicle was believed to be a Plum Crazy Purple dodge, which was fairly new at the time of the incident. I did try to email the OPP Investigator in charge of this case, about this find, but have not heard back.
Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on July 26, 2016
Urban Exploration
The Buffalo German Orphanage was an orphanage on the East Side of Buffalo, NY. I have been here exploring a few times. This trip was with a bunch of my friends from Toronto. I remember the priest from the church on site was telling us a bit about the history of the place before we went in. We took our time and respected the place. Not everyone did that however... One time I went with a guy who runs a blog called "FixBuffalo". He is one of those hippy types, who bought up a bunch of property in a down turned neighborhood, and then tried to use his political swing to raise the land values in order to basically sell the property off for a return. Anyhow, he claimed to be an urban explorer, but he really wasn't. He would promote stealing and vandalizing the property regularly. He had agendas beyond what a typical urban explorer has.
The following are some photos from a trip there with some of my old exploration buddies. I will comment on the photos as needed.
Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on July 26, 2016
Urban Exploration
The Degera Wells Memorial was a 4 or 5 story apartment block in Hamilton, Ontario. The apartment complex was the scene of a multi apartment fire which spread quickly through several units. One girl, Degera Wells (b. Nov 5 1981 - d. Jun 22 2004) from Apartment 24 perished in the fire. The choice to explore this building was not a difficult one to make. We decided to explore it in her memory, and agreed to call any photo albums of stories of this location "Degera Wells Memorial". While none of us ever really knew her, or could even imagine who she was... We would like to think that if anything at least her name lives on. I am sure photos of a fire damaged building are far from any sort of memory that we should have of her. And of course, I would be happy to include any testimony from anyone who knew her, and also photos of her from which to remember her by.
The rear apartments were generally accessible through a rear alleyway. Inside we found the contents of the apartments mostly still remaining, however obviously some stuff has been stolen. We found some brand new steak knives in one kitchen!
The front of the building, which was the entrance to the main staircase and courtyard, was heavily boarded up. Special entry techniques were utilized to get around this barrier and enter the main part of the complex.
Once inside the courtyard we began to slowly and carefully explore the building. The courtyard itself was filled with furniture and other debris which had been cleared out of the building. Likely by the fire crew during overhaul.
Many of the following images may be dark in more than one aspect. We tried to use as little light as possible to avoid producing light which would cause people to see that we were inside the location. We also tried to capture images which might be a little stunning or have an impact in a way. We were careful not to disturb anything, and left everything where we found it.
Apparently some trash from the cleanup process. Some of it was charred.
We found it odd that these mirrors were broken. This building was very secure. I don't believe vandals would have gotten in... So were these mirrors broken before hand?
Most of the kitchens had fridges with rotting food inside them still. Some had the doors slightly ajar, and you could tell rats had been feasting.
Sadly this exit sign did not light the way for everyone to get to safety.
The stairs to get up to the top floor were very charred. They were not safe enough to traverse.
The roof had partially collapsed in some spots as well.
The other staircase was slightly more passable. But we were still careful with it.
From our calculations, this would have been Apartment 24. It seemed to be above some of the heavier fire damages areas, and this room was indeed very fire damaged. We would not even walk in, as the floor appeared very unsafe.
Rest in Peace Degera... Your life ended far too soon. :( Read more
