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About AllAbandoned.com

AllAbandoned.com features original urban exploration photography collected since the year 2000, focused on exploring New York and the Northeastern United States. Despite the name, AllAbandoned.com features both active and abandoned points of interest. Please enjoy the extensive gallery of photographs.

We are fascinated and awed the legacy left by buildings and public works, and seek to capture and preserve the inescapable natural decay over time. Relax and enjoy watching entropy in action.

Sharing information and knowledge is what the Internet is all about. The photos and captions are freely viewable to all. However, all photos, captions, and descriptions posted here are copyrighted unless explicitly stated otherwise. We do encourage fair use. If you are interested in sharing a photo on AllAbandoned.com in a personal blog post or other non-commercial web page, we require that you provide a link back to the page with the original photo. We provide pre-built image embedding code to do this. If you are interested in using a photo on AllAbandoned.com in a physical publication of any kind, you must first obtain a license. If you are a commercial entity using our photos for any purpose whatsoever, without limitation, you must first obtain a license. See our licensing page for more information.

"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us."
-Paternoster

UE

Urban exploration (often shortened as urbex or UE) is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or inhabited sites. It may also be referred to as "draining" (when exploring drains) "urban spelunking", "urban caving", or "building hacking".

The nature of this activity presents various risks, including both physical danger and the possibility of arrest and punishment. Many, but not all, of the activities associated with Urban Exploration could be considered trespassing or other violations of local or regional laws.

Ventures into abandoned structures are perhaps the most common example of urban exploration. Abandoned sites are generally entered first by locals, and often sport large amounts of graffiti and other acts of vandalism. Explorers face various risks in abandoned structures including collapsing roofs and floors, broken glass, guard dogs, the presence of chemicals, other harmful substances, most notably asbestos, hostile squatters and sometimes motion detectors. Some explorers wear respirators to protect their airways.

Exploration targets vary from one country to another, but some of the more popular or high-profile abandonments include amusement parks, grain elevators, factories, missile silos, hospitals, asylums, schools, and sanatoriums. Also, due to a marked lack of governmental support of historical monuments under many regimes, some structures may be centuries old, from various architectural epochs and still freely accessible in their unrenovated states.

Many explorers of abandonments find the decay of uninhabited spaces to be beautiful; many of these explorers are also photographers. Some abandonments are heavily guarded with motion sensors and active security. Others are more easily accessible and carry less risk of discovery. Abandonments are also popular among history buffs, 'industrial archeologists,' 'ghost hunters' and fans of graffiti.

Another aspect of urban exploration is the practice of exploring active or in use buildings. This includes seeing secured or "member-only" areas, mechanical rooms, roofs, elevator rooms, abandoned floors and other normally unseen parts of such buildings. The term 'infiltration' is often associated with the exploration of active structures. People entering restricted areas may be committing trespass and civil prosecution may result.

The rise in the popularity of urban exploration can be attributed to its increased media attention. Recent television shows, such as "Urban Explorers" on the Discovery Channel, MTV's Fear, and the ghost hunting exploits of The Atlantic Paranormal Society have packaged the hobby for a popular audience. Talks and exhibits on urban exploration have appeared at the 5th and 6th Hackers on Planet Earth Conference, complementing numerous newspaper articles and interviews. With the rise in the relative popularity of the hobby due to this increased focus, there has been increasing discussion on whether the extra attention has been beneficial to urban exploration as a whole.

Urban exploration is a hobby that comes with a number of inherent dangers. Storm water drains are not designed with human access as their primary use. They can be subject to flash flooding and bad air. There have been a number of deaths in storm water drains, but these are usually during floods, and are normally not urban explorers.

Many old abandoned structures feature hazards such as unstable structures, unsafe floors, asbestos, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, exposed electrical wires and entrapment hazards.

Asbestos is a long term health risk for urban explorers, along with breathing in contaminants from pigeon feces. Urban explorers use dust masks and respirators to alleviate this danger. Some sites are occasionally used by homeless people and drug users and there may be discarded needles.

The growing popularity of the activity has resulted not just in increased attention from explorers, but also from vandals and law enforcement. The illicit aspects of urban exploring, which may include trespassing and breaking and entering, have brought along with them critical articles in mainstream newspapers.

Source: Wikipedia - Urban Exploration