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January
30, 2007
The Old Water Warehouse
I had to hike in a little ways to this abandoned
warehouse. I'm not sure what it's original use was for but had guessed something
to do with water or grains. I found many pieces of rusted metal, and rusted tin
which I collected as well as some interesting rocks.
There were 3 stories to this building. One thing I
have learned in the past is to take every step with great caution when climbing
to another level. Many times these buildings are so run down that you could find
yourself falling through a stair. This building had a lot of graffiti which also
made me keenly aware of my surroundings, and to listen to every noise in case
someone else ended up there.
The building sat just off the train tracks,
perhaps at one time it was a loading area for trains. As I explored, this train
passed by. I stood by as it rumbled past, standing just a few feet from the
tracks. I could feel the earth moving beneath me and the spikes that hold down
the tracks were bobbing up and down - I never realized how much movement occurs
on a track when a train is passing by.
Here I was on the second floor - I wasn't sure
what to make of the "noose" that was laying on the floor. The floor had random
square holes in it, this particular hole lined right up with the graffiti "I
Love Cock" on the floor below.
Next stop...
The
Inmate's Yellow House
I have been in many abadoned homes throughout the
years, I've seen a few such as this one where the family just seemed to one day
disappear. Everything was a shambles, clothes and furniture, papers, dishes,
everything was everywhere but whoever left - didn't take a thing with them.
Personal items were left behind. In the main bedroom of this house tacked to the
wall was the hospital card that had the feet and hand prints of Charlie the day
he was born in 1997. Clothes still hung in the closet and as you can see,
"clean" dishes still in the rack to dry. I'm curious what happened, why did they
abruptly leave? Did they die? Were they thrown out into the streets?
On the floor in the bedroom I found a booklet from
the South Carolina Correctional Institution. It was called "Guidelines for
Inmates" and of course I had to take it because who would have ever thought
inmates were handed guides upon their arrival and given "guidelines"?
Then, in the midst of all the filth and lifeless
energy is one of natures miracles ... a purse hanging on the wall housed the
perfectly built birds nest with an egg in the bottom. It had also been long
abandoned, but how interesting to know that the home became home to more than
just it's original owners.
Some of the ironies of these places are the
contrasting images - children's toys, papers from school, a certificate for
"Best Student of the Month" and then the obvious signs of adults such as the
sign above which hung prominently in the once lively living room. Of all the
houses I visited this day, this house was the "fullest' - had the most stuff in
it and ironically, the only two things I took from it was a rusted piece of a
screen door and the Guidelines for Inmates - never know when I may need to brush
up on those!
Next stop ...
The Mechanics House
 
The house itself was not worth noting as much as
the garage and the woods behind. I spent over an hour in this place and still
want to return for some things. Whoever lived here obviously worked a great deal
on cars - many of them, perhaps hundreds! I suspect many of the cars are still
buried in the woods behind the house! If you look in the above photo, the
window that is sitting cockeyed in it's frame ... that will someday be a piece
of Dakota Art.
Crawling through this garage, I had one of those
moments of panic because once in I realized I had no idea where I was and the
building was completely caved in - some areas I was on my belly crawling under
things just to get to the other side of the room. Those are moments of self
realization when I wonder if I am an artist of really just an idiot!
The yard/woods behind the house seemed to be more
"lived" in than the house did. Chairs, appliances, toys, etc. littered the land
profusely. I found many cars and trucks buried in the woods - when I say buried,
I literally mean buried - sometimes all I saw was a piece of a hood or bumper
protruding from the ground such as this dodge truck. The rest of the truck was
there too, but was ... you guessed it, buried. I wanted this hood, once cleaned
up it would have made a fabulous wall decoration with some lighting behind it. I
may go back someday for it.
This might have been the oddest site of the day.
This tub and freezer sat in the middle of nowhere - and although you might think
it was randomly dumped there ... it wasn't ... there was a pipe coming from the
ground that fed into the tub. Yep, these people bathed in the woods!
My highlight of the day ....
The Bus
I fell in love with this bus ... beautiful colors,
believe it or not! The trees were actually growing out of the bus it had been
there so long.
The tones were so rich, and I had to wonder who
this bus carried before it became the mechanics storage for his parts.
Mark my words, I will someday return for this hood
- and when I get it, it will be hung on my wall .... it will be the envy of
everyone who walks through my house!
My next stop ....
The Ghostly House
I say ghostly because sometimes when I visit a
place I can feel different energies. In some places I will get an overwhelming
fear and typically I won't stay around. Sometimes a place just feels empty, and
lonely - like the yellow inmates house. This house felt neither of those ways
but I could definitely feel a presence ... just something still hanging out. I
was somewhat fearful of the house because it was so unstable - walls were
falling into each other, every step I took the floor would break through. It
clearly was not a safe place to be ... but .... if you know me, you will know
that I am not particularly a huge fan of playing it safe! I love adventure, I
love surprises, I love being on the edge ... anything "safe" just feels boring
to me (unless it's love, I like being safe in love ...)
The house had no roof in most places so sunlight filtered through, which I
thought in some weird way actually made it look very beautiful. Overall there
was not anything really personal in it. A few pieces of furniture but most
everything was destroyed ... almost everything that is ....
I don't know if you are familiar with "orbs" or
not - there are two theories of thoughts on them - the primary theory is that
small round white circles that show up in photos are thought to be energies or
ghosts, the other thought is that they are merely dust particles that the flash
bounces off of. In this house there was nothing personal except for the
articles of clothing that are hanging in the above photos - they seemed
untouched by the destruction that has happened around them. In both photos that
show the clothing there are "orbs" and if you go by the theory of dust you might
want to take note there are no other orbs in any of the photos I took on this
same day - if it was dust, they would have shown up in more photos. Just
something to think about ... What I did take from this house was an old door
that I was able to kick into pieces. Old weathered wood panels from an old door
.... I already know what I am going to create with them!
Next stop ....
The Nothing House
I call it the nothing house because there was
nothing of interest, I found nothing, I couldn't get inside, and it was
surrounded by mucky water.
Next and last stop .....
A-Frame House
This monster of a house looked like it had been
vacated for a very long time yet held so much junk. I couldn't actually get
inside - I could have, but didn't bring a flashlight and was surprisingly afraid
of the dark .. I walked into the door that is to the bottom left and I'm sure it
would have taken me to many places but I wasn't brave enough to investigate ....
some of the notes I made to myself this day:
-
Bring a flashlight (this house would have been
fun to explore)
-
Bring a knife (I could have used a knife
several times)
-
Bring pliers, wire cutters, and screw driver
(I might have been able to get that bus hood if I had!)
-
Bring Kleenex (it was cold and my nose kept
running!)
-
Bring a friend (it would have been so much
more fun to have discovered these places with someone else!)
Outside this house were several shacks filled with
"stuff" as well as stuff scattered throughout the yard. I did find some great
windows here and what I think might happen in my next art project will be
"Windows to the Soul"
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