Have you ever fallen into that dark YouTube hole and stumbled upon the strangest recommended videos? Well, that is how I found my love for Urban Exploration (well, before it was watching and researching, but now actually doing). Now you might be asking, what is that? Is it even legal? And we’ll get to those questions, as well as a few of my favourite urban explorers that I watch.
Urban Exploration, often referred to as Urbex, is the exploration of manmade structures. These structures are usually abandoned, found in ruins, or hidden and forgotten deep in the woods. There are many photos that can be found of the inside of abandoned buildings and while it may seem a bit odd to look inside an abandoned tuberculosis hospital from the early 20th century, seeing the decay and how nature overruns it is truly beautiful. But there is way more than just hospitals, and these structures can range from homes to mansions, schools, castles, even factories that are just left to rot.
Is this illegal? Well, that’s a bit of a trickier question to ask, as it depends on the building, location, and if you have permission. Urbexers do often trespass into areas that they are not supposed to be in to photograph or record the decay. However, there is vandalism that occurs in many of these places, as it is documented in many photos and there are scrappers that demolish walls in search of wires and copper to sell for cash. Being that many Urbexer’s record where they are, many do not share the location of their find in order to preserve the beauty.
Can anyone do it? This is a thrill-seeking activity that anyone can do, as long as you are not caught. Basically, all you need to do is find an abandoned building and explore. But you also need to be prepared and bring items such as flashlights, masks, extra batteries, and anything else you might need. However, if you are more like me and prefer to just watch or read about it, there are a few YouTubers that I recommend checking out as well as some stunning books that I’ve collected over the past couple of years.
Recommendations – YouTube
This is the whole reason I first became obsessed with abandoned buildings and learning about them. One of Josh’s videos appeared on my timeline and I fell into a hole. “Exploring with Josh” features Josh, an American Urbexer, who travels all around the world to explore abandoned locations. He often brings other Urbexers with him and they often do group explorations or appear in some of his haunted location videos, which is a new sub-genre that he started.
The Proper People are two best friends who spend their days exploring abandoned buildings; some of my favourites being their abandoned mall series or the abandoned hotel series. These videos are more cinematic, so if you enjoy watching a walk-through of these places, I highly recommend this channel.
Books
This is a new addition to my collection, but being that we are in Windsor and directly across the river from Detroit, I love learning about its abandoned history. This book features high-quality photos coupled with the history of each location, as well as its eventual collapse due to a variety of reasons, mostly bankruptcy or lack of preservation. There are 5 books in this series, 4 spanning across Michigan and one about Cleveland.
Abandoned: The Most Beautiful Forgotten Places from Around the World
This is an immersive photographic book that features stunning pictures of a variety of abandoned locations and items. While you do have to look into the history yourself, the photos are breathtaking and quite interesting to see how mankind has just left so many of these places to rot.