Driving through decay

Due to the absence of posts in the past few months, some of you (the HIAT readers) asked me if I engaged into the ironic deed of abandoning the blog. Well, not that I ran out of places and thing to write about, but I got tired of posting the photos that are already out there, on the internet. Because of that, I struggled a bit and finally got myself a nice DSLR to go out and capture them myself, maybe even some of those that have not been captured before. This is one of the first sets I made with the new camera. I'm still learning the art of using a good camera, as I mainly worked with phone or cheap cameras until now, so don't expect to be amazed by the level of professionalism just yet.
This was a test run which I did from my car. It was 30 minutes to sunset and the area is full of dogs, scrap metal thieves and other dangers so I didn't go inside any of these structures. If any of my old readers are still among my present readers, you will probably recognize this area, which was posted twice before when I visited it with Alex. If not, here they are:

Communist industrial ruins

The industrial leftovers of communism in Romania

Abandoned stadiums

Being that I'm not into football and other such sports that involve balls and stadiums, these places were never significant to me. For me, a stadium, mainly a soccer or football stadium, is that place where people dressed in shorts and T-shirts, run around in circles with the purpose of touching a ball. That is not my kind of fun. But recently, I found some pictures on SkyscraperCity that really caught my attention. I'm of course talking about a collection of abandonments, abandoned stadium to be more exact, just like the title suggests.

The following stadiums have nobody to run around in circles for the purpose of touching a ball anymore. They are ghostly and dusty. Weird how some things need to be abandoned in order for me to like them.

Old abandoned cars in Switzerland

I haven't posted on this matter for quite a while, and abandoned cars are one of my favorite subject when it comes to urbex. This is a very old car junkyard, untouched for over 30 years, which can be found in the region of Kaufdorf, Switzerland. The junkyard holds around 500 cars, most of them ranging from 1930s and 1960s models. Indeed these are the classics. This is worse than a graveyard, to classic car lovers such as myself.

The owner was a car dealer who didn't want these cars to be torn by pieces, so he parked them side by side on his lot. When he passed the business to his son, the cars were left there, abandoned, forever.

Abandoned universities and colleges

I just finished my university studies and got my bachelor degree last month, so I figured I'd show you guys some educational abandonments. Universities are an option, for young students that just got out of high school, and want to learn more about a particular field. 

For different reasons, some of these universities and colleges got abandoned, and students cannot learn useful information there anymore. Some of these abandoned educational facilities, were the best option for students in the area, who now have to either go to another university or college that is probably far away, even in another city, or just opt for those new born online universities (which I wouldn't recommend, but how am I to decide what's good for you). Going to another city to continue your studies can be a tiring process, it surely was for me. Taking that into consideration, I'm not even sure why I am planning to continue with my maters's degree in another country, but I am.

Now, let's just enjoy the decay and hope that the students in these areas will have the chance to study in these buildings, if they ever get reopened.

By Jeroen van Vliet [bsidez]

Assan's Mill in 2012

In the previous post, I presented Assan's Mill to you. The photos from that post, taken by Reptilianul were taken in 2009. The photos in this post are made in june 2012, right after the latest fire. As I mentioned in the previous post, Assan's Mill is a frequent destination for urban explorers, graffiti artists, hobos ... and arsonists. 
The mill was set on fire (by nature or people?) several times before, and the latest fire lasted for 28 hours before firemen could put it out, on june 7th, 2012. The last fire before that was on the night of may 13th 2008 and required the work of 80 firemen. The good thing is that there were never any victims due to these fires.

Abandoned plant in Russia

This abandoned factory in Russia, makes a perfect scenery for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. based movies or games. The location is very eerie, and if you played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or if you watched the movie Stalker 1979 you will see why this place fits like a shoe.

Also, the explorer that took these photos had quite an adventure. He had to run away from guard dogs and climb the buildings to get away, but he successfully managed to capture the best out of this place. I recommend visiting his blog, at the end of this post.

Huge machine abandoned in Russia

According to the author of the photographs, this is the Morozov coal mine, but I wasn't able to find more about it, maybe the translation is not good. Mining here dates from 1962 but recently stopped due to power outages and power companies failing to pay debts. All the excavated earth was carried through pipelines, and gradually created this huge quarry.
The excavator in the first picture is one of the hugest things you ever seen. Sadly, now, it's just another pile of rusted metal, but a glorious pile of rusted metal because of it's impressive size. It looks like a monster crane, compared to the other machines abandoned in the same area. It could make someone rich just by selling it as scrap metal (don't get any ideas government people).

Creepy graffiti in Prypiat

Prypiat, the fascinating abandoned city we all know by now, is not only being visited by tourists and urban explorers. Graffiti artists roamed it's streets numerous times, trying to convey the impact that the disaster had on this city, once inhabited by families with happy children with no worries, which had their lives turned upside-down when the disaster occurred. The artists show us the fear and sadness they, and the kids that had to leave home forever, felt.

Abandoned monuments in Yugoslavia

These monuments were built by several sculptors and architects in the 60s and 70s to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place or where concentration camps stood. In the 80s they were a major tourist attraction, but after the Republic dissolved they became just a pile of forgotten monuments. The structures once represented strength, but now they are slowly decaying and fading. Despite the fact that they were neglected lately, you can still feel what the artists tried to expose.

Podgarić

The rusty Maunsell Forts

I heard of these forts about 2 years ago, but until recently, I couldn't remember how they were called.

I consider them fascinating mostly because they are abandoned, but almost unreachable. The kind of explore I will probably never have the opportunity to do. The internet has plenty of pics and info on the forts, and almost every urbex addict knows of their existence by now, but that didn't stop me from showing them to you once more.

The Maunsell Forts were small fortified towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom. They were named after their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were decommissioned in the late 1950s and later used for other activities. One became the Principality of Sealand; boats visit the remaining forts occasionally, and a consortium called Project Redsands is planning to conserve the fort situated at Redsand.

Sanzhi UFO houses

The Sanzhi UFO houses, or the Sanzhi pod houses, or the Sanzhi Pod city were a set of abandoned buildings that were shaped like pods, situated in the Sanzhi District, Taiwan.

Shime coal mine

Along with Prypiat, this location, meaning this tower in particular, is one of the most famous abandoned places on the internet. 

While Prypiat is fascinating the internet through the fact that it's a medium sized city, it's soviet and it's abandoned, Shime coal mine got it's fame through it's unique structure. It's one of those famous internet memes everyone know about. The internet made it a meme because they say it's the perfect zombie fortress, and I don't challenge that idea. It looks pretty zombie safe.

An arctic ghost town, Pyramiden

Pyramiden is an abandoned Russian settlement and coal mining community on the archipelago of Svalbard, Norway. Sweden founded if in 1919 and sold it to the Soviet Union in 1927. It's name comes from the pyramid-shaped mountains near the town. The town once had 1.000 residents, but in 1998 it was abandoned by Arktikugol Trust, the Russian state company who owned it, meaning that another ghost town was born. The town was abandoned in a hurry and things remain largely as they were in 1998. The residents were given just hours to pack their bags and leave.

Prypiat, the famous ghost town

On April 26th, 1986 an explosion in the reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant would permanently change the face of Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Chernobyl remains in the collective memory of mankind as the worst nuclear disaster in the history of nuclear energy production. Maybe the man made disaster with the most impact on mankind. Radiation resulting from the explosion caused thousands of deaths in Ukraine, Russia and neighboring countries, but long-term effects of this catastrophe are more serious: the spread of cancer diseases, children born with birth defects, irradiation of agricultural land and more. All these form a sum of effects caused by a single event, which in turn generates more negative effects.

Post-industrial relics

This post has been sitting in the drafts section since June 2011. I wonder why I forgot about it. Well, that's not important now, the photos are nice and you will surely enjoy them.

The story of Hashima Island

Hashima is a small rocky island, situated near the coast of Nagasaki in Japan. Although tiny in size, the island is not unimportant, being Japan's main coal supplier for almost a century. Located above a huge coal deposit, which extends to the ocean, Hashima itself was an excellent opportunity to make a fortune, this opportunity couldn't be missed.

Centralia, Pennsylvania

In the past, Centralia could be described as a friendly town with 3,000 residents, who could enjoy common facilities: shops, churches, hotels and bars. As with other U.S. cities, Centralia was what could be called a "boomtown". The first inhabitants settled here in 1866, and the settlement rapidly flourished, after profits were incoming from mining going on in the hill area. In the particular case of this city, what helped it rise, also made it collapse.

Motorless city of Detroit

Some abandoned areas are part of some highly populated cities. How can a metropolis have an empty "heart"? Probably one of the most striking examples is the city of Detroit, which houses a totally abandoned neighborhood and fallen industry.

Humberstone and Santa Laura, Chile

All over the world you can find a lot of modern places, with a sad story, which resulted in their abandonment. We know them as ghost towns. Invariably, each one of them hides an interesting story. Some, like the chinese city of Beichuan, have been the victims of natural disasters. Others, such as San Zhi in Taiwan have been abandoned by some rather esoteric reasons. The stillness that surrounds these former human settlements seems almost tangible. In contrast with the deafening silence that dominates these lands, the omnipresent and chaotic noise that characterizes the big metropolises becomes even harder to imagine.

Now, let's talk about Humberstone and Santa Laura, in Northern part of Chile.

Changes are upon us!

We finally have a domain! Happy happy joy joy!

Seeing the number of visits that keep growing and growing, I decided to finally take the next step and get a domain. 

Unfortunately "hiat" seems to be a widely used term and all relevant domains are already used so I didn't have many name options to choose from, and still keep the reference to Hiat.

So, we are now a .org site, that will continuously inform people about the places that have been forgotten. A sort of derelict Wikipedia, hehe.

Please rate the posts again with +1's and Reactions, as they were deleted when the blog switched to the domain.

Also, many other changes are being planned.

Changes would include:

- Host changing

- Site redesign

- More informative articles

- Maybe a forum

- Photo submission

- Photo contests with prizes!

(Please suggest more or comment on these below.)

Don't forget to add the new link to your bookmarks!