Thread: Have you ever been creeping?

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I was answering a thread by Johnny Thunder that got me feeling a little nostalgic for the days when I used to sneak into abandoned buildings and houses and spend the night. I did it ALL the time when I was younger and I was wondering if any of you ever did this. I had said that it is one of the best things about living in a rural area. There are so many old houses in the middle of nowhere here, I miss doing this so much. I have had the most authentic scares doing this. I thought you all might have a story or two to share with me.

**I am not condoning breaking and entering, especially if someone lives there. If they DIED there......... PM me **

I grew up in small town Kentucky, so I kind of sort of had that experience. Never spent the night, but definitely have seen a nice assortment of abandoned houses and structures when I was a kid.

When I was in my early tweens/teens, my mother owned a daycare that happened to be in a 1880s Victorian - complete with stained glass, dramatic staircases, pocket doors and creepy old basement. I found some old silverware and unbroken depression glass in the muck down there (beautiful stuff once cleaned). That got me to thinking about what the other houses looked like. There were several homes nearby that had been abandoned and left to fall in on themselves, and I frequently found a way inside and would wander through and look at the clawfoot tubs, bannister carvings and faded patterned wallpaper that wasn't replaced with "modern" stuff, while searching for hidden passages (I was SURE there had to be one in houses like this! ) I never took anything or did damage, but I was very sad to see the state of disrepair and neglect for these once beautiful homes... and it was really sad to revisit them and find their beautiful things ripped out and sold off - or demolished.

I can't go by that area any more when I visit, since the home I lived in was sold and I think they let it fall into disrepair. I couldn't stand seeing if it was gutted and torn down as well.

I also used to ride my bike out to the middle of nowhere and find houses tucked away and forgotten. I remember one that was not a memorable house in any way - but the family that once lived there must have liked flowers at one time, because it seemed like for miles in all directions around it, were a sea of yellow daffodils. They had taken over probably from a few little plantings a really long time ago. I seriously had never seen so many...

Sounds awesome, but I never did anything like that. I never would have thought I could, too scared of getting in trouble! I would also be worried about waking "something" up and "it" following me home.

Wow, I sound like a big scaredy baby.

Wow, we have ourselves a bunch of bad early haunters here... J/K! lol! I too was always to chicken when I was young to break into anywhere... I was not scared of the creepy atmosphere but the getting caught by the cops or worse, my mother!

But it always sounded like it was a blast! Well I hope you all didn't wake any spirits or have them pesky shadows following you around... Remember those times when you seen something strange from the corner of your eye and said to yourself "Aww, that was just my imagination.." Bwah haa ha ha ha ha haaa...

I seldom spent the night, but I used to do this often. There used to be a particular 5 story building downtown that only the bottom floor was used. I kind of made that my special spot to go write. It used to be a hotel and it was awesome. I made the mistake of showing the wrong person and they took a bunch of idiots up to the roof and they got caught.. everything got extra-extra boarded up. No ghost encounters in the classical sense, but there was definitely a strong presence of the past there...

No, I live in Memphis.

Probably get murdered by a hobo.

The Stotesbury mansion ( http://www.serianni.com/wh0.htm ) was about a mile from my house.

Amazing place. My co-conspirators and I went underground 2 stories before being stopped by the even lower levels being flooded. The 2 underground stories were full of workshops and vast empty rooms. One could almost imagine them being full of works of art as they were during WWII when the mansion held treasures of the MET, and scrambling servants (40 of which were employed there). The first floor featured a ballroom with a curved marble staircase and was large enough to fit my entire 2 story house inside, with room to spare. Long corridors once held priceless paintings. The yard was dotted with statuary and elaborate fountains and gardens. Upstairs, there were gigantic bedrooms, all with attached bathrooms. All the floors, and virtually all of the walls, were marble, most scarred by attempts by people to burn the place down. Two elevators sat with their doors open, next to twisting staircases obviously meant for the staff. Even having been abandoned and heavily vandalized for 30 years, the building stood magnificantly in the dusk when we came to look. The next day the wrecking ball arrived to begin what became 2 weeks of endless demolition of the 145 room house. Today, the only thing that remains is the garden wall, some statuary, one of the belvederes, and the six huge columns that once stood as part of the front entrance way.

I'm jealous. I never had the opportunity. I've always lived in very urban environments and newer places at that. Given the chance, I would jump at it to do something like this even now. I love to be scared, but find it so difficult to come by a good one.

Originally Posted by piraticalstyle

I'm jealous. I never had the opportunity. I've always lived in very urban environments and newer places at that. Given the chance, I would jump at it to do something like this even now. I love to be scared, but find it so difficult to come by a good one.

Google is your friend... Type in "urban exploration" when you have a few hours to kill some evening.

Originally Posted by TrickRTreater

No, I live in Memphis.

Probably get murdered by a hobo.

Same way I'd feel trying that in Detroit, except it would be more to do with a drug bust, most likely