A’s interview.
S: What was the first time you went urbexing like?
A: The first time I went urbexing, it wasn’t really urbexing we just
like went into this big old, it was the abandoned hotel in Sheffield actually,
I mean it wasn’t......That’s to say, we didn’t go urbexing, we just walked
around this big old building for a while and found some really cool stuff and
just kept doing that.
0:39
S: Er, where did you first hear about the urban exploring?
A: Erm, the first time I knew it was a thing was when I stumbled
across this, it was the 28 days later forum on the internet and I didn’t really
look at it much or consider much about it apart from.. cos it’s just like so
many random shit in internet forums. But this one seemed quite nice.
1:04
S: Er, so... After that first time, how did you get into it, like
what made you want to keep doing it.....
A: Well, I.....That’s a good question...........
1:32
I think it was because it was something that was so new to me
really....How do you start anything, man?
(...............)
S: How did you get into it, what made you start it as a returning
thing, a recurring thing?
2:05
A: I think it was because I hadn’t tried anything like that before
and it struck me as something I couldn’t do back home in a boring old town.
S: When you first started, was it something you did you know, on
your own or in a group, how did it start in that respect?
A: Well, when it first started it was
(..............)
S: Who did you go with? Did you go alone? How did it start?
2:52
(............)
3:08
A: When we first started doing it, me and my friend er, well I would
come back from work quite late and he would wake up late anyway so we would
both still be full of energy and we’d just like go out and find buildings that
didn’t look occupied and just rummaged through them.
S: How often do you do it would you say?
A: I would say we would go urban exploring about, I dunno, like, two
or three times every month. We’re running out of locations.
S: Er, what... why do you keep going? What makes you want to keep
going? Wether it’s the same place or a new place, what is it that keeps you
interested?
(..............)
4:15
A: I think it’s the fact that these places keep disappearing and
keep reappearing and like we walked past one today and there was this old
police station and me and R walked past that a few times and saw this old
police station and thought we should probably go in there but by the time we
actually got round to going in there, they’d started building there so we have
to find new places and then keep finding new places, it’s a challenge.
S: Have you ever been caught or got into trouble?
A: Nearly? No. I’ve never got caught no. We went into this one
building and as we were there as I was saying earlier, while we were there,
someone pulled in and so we had to kinda sit down for half an hour and wait for
them to leave again which was quite boring but, we... it’s preferably to being
caught, I guess.
5:01
S: Er, have you ever been scared on a site? (..............)
A: Obviously a lot of the buildings have very unstable, and I mean
that when I say unstable, like we were walking through one today, the
floorboards very nearly gave way and there was this little drop that probably
would of broke my little leg or something like that but it’s a common occurrence
cos it’s an extreme sport in the most mild mannered extreme sport way. But,
yeah this was this one in the abandoned hotel where there was this big, it was
just a door on the floor and I can’t remember who stepped over it and the door
creaked, I think I told you this one before... the door started creaking and
then we moved the door and there was this shaft that went from the ninth floor
to the basement and it was just about big for a human to smack their head on
the way down, that kind of, that kind of shook us up abit.
5:55
S: (............) Where’s the best place you’ve been?
A: The best was probably still the first time I went it was entirely
new and I’d never seen anything like it, just walking through this big old
building and seeing all this absolutely incredible graffiti that would, you
would of paid thousands of pounds to commission and you would of had to pay to
see and it was just in this old derelict building. It was incredible.
S: Where’s the worst place you’ve been?
A: What’s the worst place I’ve been? We walked down this alley way
once and we thought there was gonna be something at the end and there just
wasn’t. (AARON’s phone interrupts)
(...............)
7:12
A: Worst as in how? As in boring or just.
S: Whatever you thinks’ more intersting.
A: I can’t remember where it was, because it was that boring but we
walkedd up to this, it was this building at the top of a hill and we walked all
the way up this hill and found all of this other really cool stuff on the way
there, found all this other (laughs) We walked all the way up this hill and
found all this really cool stuff on the way there and it was like an epic
journey getting to this building and then when we got there, there was like one
room with a toilet in it. That was very disappointing but apart from that I
haven’t really had much bad experiences yet.
7:56
S: What do you get out of it? What is it that makes you enjoy it?
A: (........................) Why do I enjoy it.......
(............................................................)
10:38
A: I think I like the aspect that, noones been there for ages like
some of these buildings like they haven’t been occupied or used in a proper way
since like... I can remember in one building there was a phone book from 1984
or something like that and some of the buildings like the offices and stuff
like people would of worked there like every day for a good few years and then
twenty years later theres just me walking around like just stumbling and
breaking a load of stuff. But that’s not the main point I guess......
S: What would your ideal site be?
A: The best place, my ideal site would be somewhere I could get
lost. And see lots of interesting stuff at the same time. I guess...my ideal
place would be an empty art gallery. Erm, I guess it’s something you look for a
lot. I doubt we’re ever gonna find somewhere like that.
S: Er.....have you ever taken anything home?
12:12
A: Yeah course. Mementos, everything. I take so much stuff home it’s
ridiculous. We’ve got the big board and we’ve got indentures from all these
places like erm, we got notebooks from like 1980 and ’96 that have all this
random stuff. The thing I really loved were when we were in Stanley Tools we
found this medical book that just said er, and it was like a knife factory so
obviously there was a lot of medical reports like Linda slashed her finger open
today or like Linda slashed open finger today as well like erm my favourite
thing I’ve ever taken back, I found a really funny old bowler hat once, but it
disintegrated on the way home.
13:00
S: Obviously this stuffs’ been left, its is rubbish... while I know
people take little bits and pieces..
A: Some people are really against taking stuff from there. I can see
why because like if we came one time and saw like a really great old TV and we
were like Oh, we’re gonna come back with our camera’s one time and then we do
come back with our cameras and someones taken the thing so noone else can enjoy
it, it does kinda suck.
S: Have you ever left anything behind?
A: Like what?
S: Well, anything. Have you ever left any items or like your mark
A: On purpose?
S: Er yeah
A: Yeah, I leave something everywhere I go, just to say that I’ve
been there. I think everyone would want to do something like that. Maybe it’s
not in the form of making a big graffiti stencil and slapping it around
everywhere, but maybe I’ve left something behind that’s part of me, that’d be
quite nice.
14:11
S: ....
A: I remember this one time we left this enormous bag of fake
marijuana and we taped it to the roof of the stairwell and then on the bottom
floor we wrote free weed with an arrow pointing upwards and then when we came
back like a week later it was gone. So someone had a good time. That was the
funniest thing I’ve ever seen knowing that someone had tried to smoke that
shit. It was literally herbs.
14:57
S: Have you ever met anyone new on a site?
A: Yeah, we’ve met a few actually like I remember in more popular
places as well like the abandoned hotel there was.. I think everytime we’ve
been up there we’ve met someone else and they don’t pay much attention to you
they treat you like anyone else like you’ll say like ‘Hello’ but there won’t be
any other passing comment than that, you’ll just go about your own business. I
think they, other people are generally as wary of you as you are of them.
15:35
S: How do you go about finding new sites?
A: Talking to people, I find, is the best way to find a new site.
Cos you can go online and google abandoned buildings and find a multitude of
old stuff. But if you wanna find the real stuff you gotta talk to the people
that’ve been there. It’s like if you were gonna conduct an interview about the
sixties you wouldn’t just find loads of images of the sixties, you would talk
to people that have been from there.
........................
S: Why do the empty buildings appeal to you? .....
A: The thing that appeals most to me about these empty buildings is
what’s not in there I guess all the stuff that’ve been in there like I said
about all those people that would've all these people that would’ve worked
there so long and then written down and worked really hard and ....... say
again.....
17:21
A: Yeah, I definitely like to think about what’s missing from the
building rather than what’s in there. I guess.
S: Are there any specific places you’ve heard of that you’d like to
visit in the future.
A: Yeah, theres a fair few on my list now actually. I really wanna
go down to Megatron. But noone else wants to go with me. There are so many
places that I could go but I don’t wanna go on my own or just with someone else
because I might get lost or fall down a giant hatch and die or
S: Does that not put you off at all?
18:30
A: No that, the danger thing is definitely makes it more exciting.
If something looks like noones ever gonna go up there, I’ll definitely go up
there. And see if i can go up there anyway.
S: What do other people think about what you do?
A: I think my friends find it cooler than my friends do anyway, I
remember I mentioned once to my mum that I went in some old abandoned building
and she was like ohh be careful Aaron because make sure you don’t fall over on
any needles, and maybe thats might be some actual good advice but I don’t
really pay attention to her.
.....................
20:10
S: Why do you take your camera?
A: I think documenting it is the most important part maybe. Because
like I say, these building aren’t gonna be there forever, you know and like
I’ve seen a lot of good graffiti just
get sprayed over with yellow paint just because it’s on illegal property
and the fact that it’s bloody good art means nothing to them, you know. Er,
what’s the word. There’s a special french word for it.. some one told me
once.... eprit d'escalier, the wit of the staircase? And it’s the same thing
when you, some one says something like oh yeah, you’re fat and then you go home
and then you just think like oh no wait, and you think of a really good
comeback and then it’s too late.
.............................
21:33
S: What is your stance on people redeveloping the urban exploring
sites...
A: At the same time that they redevelop it another three businesses
go out of business. Another three companies go out of business somewhere else
in the world. So it’s like you plant one tree and you cut three down.
S: Do you try to keep it a secret? .........
22:09
A: Obviously I don't post pictures on Facebook of entrances and
secret locations cos that’s just retarded but I’m not exactly secretive about
it, I can speak freely with my friends about all these places and they won’t
tell all their friends about these great places but I think that it does
....... It’s the same problem I’ve got with globalisation and commercialisation
that nothing ever lasts, you know.
.....................
23:02
S: Do you wish more people knew about it?
A: Erm, sometimes I wish more people knew about this but sometimes I
wish they didn’t because then it would become a big thing. Maybe i’d like
people to become more interested to some extent just to the point the consider
it something that people do not just an illegal hobby.
S: Have you ever inspired anyone else to take up the hobby?
23:32
A: I really hope I’ve inspired other people, I guess that’s why I do
it in the first place. Like I said, last time, I guess that’s why i make
stencils and do graffiti and everything so someone like me someday’ll look at
it and go oh, I can do better than that.
24:04
S: Do you have a favourite site?
A: ...... I don’t think i do have a favourite site to be honest but
nah, they’re all my favourites. None of them are better than each other they’re
all good for different reasons, maybe one has more space than the other maybe
one has more rooms than the other or maybe one has more floors or better
graffiti or maybe it’s just in better shape.
S: How do you feel about the destruction of the sites?..........
........
25:18
A: I think theres a healthy medium between those two really. I think
you can to some extent destroy some stuff and it’ll be fun and you shouldn’t be
just like oh no we've gotta preserve everything in its exact right place
because that’s just ridiculous and that’s impossible because as I say, nothing
ever lasts. It’ll just, eventually get broken down or be demolished or anything
like that so theres no point trying to save this sorta stuff but at the same
time, that doesn't mean you should just wreck everything.
.............................
27:17
A: I think because I haven’t had that much, a variety of experience
of urban exploring I haven’t travelled to lots of international countries and
been in sewer systems all around the world and catacombs and insane asylums and
stuff like that. I think if I actually did that stuff I would probably have a
few more stories to tell and how I’ve broken some bones in various places but
no I don't think i’ve ever hurt myself in places which I’m quite happy about,
I’m not looking forward to. But it’s inevitable I guess.
27:48
S: .........Do you ever imagine what the sites used to look like
before they were abandoned?
.........
28:27
A: I like to think of the sites when they were first made. I like to
think of all the opportunities people thought it held and all the jobs and
prospects and families it would create and now it’s just this old rusted down
piece of crap.
S: Does it matter to you what the site is?
...
29:07
A: I think it changes where you go, like I think up north there are
more warehouses and er more industrial places because its a few post industrial
kinda place, there’s gonna be obviously more buildings about building steel
girders and knives and stuff like that than there is maybe insane asylums which
are obviously more rare. Or rarer. But .......
......
29:36
A: I don’t think I do have a preference for any particular kind of
building, I’d say i’ve gotta... No, I reckon I probably do have a preference,
probably a preference for warehouses but thats just cos I’ve experienced them
more than the others I guess? No, I don’t think i’ve got a preference for
warehouses, I think I’ve got a preference for rare places but I think everyone
has that kinda preference because they’re more exciting than common places.
Because everyone sees them all the time because they’re common. Things like
insane asylums like that. Like there’s one back home I’ve been meaning to go to
for so long, I just never have done. Because it’s too scary.
30:16
Really, it’s fucking creepy. Like dead bodies and stuff still there.
G: What?
A: Yeahh...
................
30:45
S: Would you prefer to go in day or night?
A: I think, I think, neither one is better than the other like if
you go to one abandoned building during the day you’ve got more chance of being
caught but if you go during the night these places obviously look as well or as
nice in the night because you don't like some nice orange sunset light flooding
in through these broken glass windows. But getting in during the night is a lot
easier and you can have a lot more fun but you have to bring torches and its
maybe a bit creepier.
31:42
S: Have you ever encountered any major problems or setbacks?
A: Yeah, I remembered one time, I think Rob lost his shoe somewhere.
And we had to.. I can’t remember how it happened. I don’t know if it was Rob or
if it was someone else we were with but someone forgot something which was on
the top floor and we were just about to leave and we... Maybe not setbacks,
maybe more complications like someones torch running out and we’re just like on
the fifth floor or its midnight and that never goes down well I guess.
32:24
S: Is there any special equipment you need?
.........
A: Well, there are essentials you bring to any kind of urban
exploring, exploration. There are certain things that you bring to any kind of
exploration, bare essential things like your camera or some good sturdy shoes
or torches or spray cans or crow bar or hammer or things like that but I dunno
its different for everyone.
33:16
.......
S: Do you think there are any certain skills you need or do you
think its something anybody can do?
A: I think that’s why it’s so attractive to me, I’m not very good at
many other sports but something that I can do is explorations er, definitely, I
was kinda like that as a kid, we would go over to the woods and my parents
would sit down and have a picnic and I’d go climb some trees somewhere else and
find this old rickety shack and sit in there for a while, you know. But I think
just a keen sense of curiosity is maybe the most important er thing you can
bring to anything is curiosity.
33:55
........................
S: Would you say this hobby has taught you anything?
34:23
A: I think the thing you’ve got to remember about it is its called
urban exploration and you do have to explore and you do have to rummage through
a room full of barrels just to find like a trap door that leads to this
underground complex or anything like that. Definitely curiosity like I say, its
definitely the most important thing because without that youd be completely
rubbish you wouldn’t do anything, you’d just go and stand in a building like..
I dunno... say it again..
.........
35:02
A: Keeping an open mind, that’s another good one, cos you might see
this abandoned shed and think that’s an old abandoned shed when really that’s
this place where somebody actually kept their trophies. And now they’ve died
and didn’t tell anyone about it. That happens.
35:30
S: Do you have any advice about the sport?
35:55
A: I think it’s because I’m quite new to this as well, I think
before i started I was quite, I didn’t really know what to expect... like I
said, it’s definitely good to keep an open mind about this kind of stuff so
don’t stop believing.
..................................
37:10
S: Do you find any of the places you go depressing or distressing
for any reason?
.........
A: I think some of them are quite depressing as good as it is to see
these old abandoned buildings it is quite depressing to see these buildings
lying there undeveloped, unused for so many years but people are still guarding
them like they’re worthwhile or anything. That may not be depressing as such
but I think it’s annoying in some kind of way that people feel so possessive
over something that to some people it doesn’t matter at all but some people it
is. .... I found something depressing, distressing one time, I found this old
burnt out dog body, that was quite distressing. Like what happened, to get in
that situation to burn a dog? You know?
S: Not sure what to say to that.
......................
38:52
S: What kind of things do you do while you’re on site?
A: Well, I think the first thing we do is go right to the top of the
building, make our way right to top and then kind of say right, we’re at the
top now. I think then we try and plan out a kind of mental map of the building
so we know where things are. We don’t do anything in particular I think we
will, ...........
.......................
40:00
A: I think on site, I don’t think we do anything in particular, I
think the first thing we like to do usually is to go right to the top of the
building and then kind of work our way down and kind of plan out what the
building is made up of like in every building there will be like, they’ll be
toilets or something so it’s always like funny to find these old toilets with
like loads of shit in them and that’s hilarious. And then they’ll sometimes be
like a infirmary section or they’ll be like some beds or something like that or
they’ll be some offices. Because there’s something different in every building,
you do something different in every building.
40:55
S: What are your thoughts on the legality of the sport?
41:17
A: My thoughts on the legal aspects... I suppose the legality is
pretty silly because you know, no victim no crime. But, its, I’ve never really
considered it illegal, it seems ridiculous when people remind me it is actually
illegal you know, that’s just crazy. What am I doing wrong? I’m walking around
a building, you know. It’s just stupid.
41:55
S: Do you do research before you go to a site?
..............
A: Well sometimes we’ll go to a building with a completely blank
canvass and we won’t know what to expect from there like on the way back from
Stanley Tools we just saw this blue building and said let's go and have a look
in there. And it turned out to be a really nice location so that was nice but
as far as research goes, the most research you can do is talking to your
friends about entrances and if theres like security guards that patrol the area
or just finding the building on google, you know. There isn’t really much you
can do I guess in terms of research but as much as we can do we will do.
43:12
S: What do you do with the photos?
A: I keep them, they’re my photos.
.....
The photos are the thing that I went in for, I’m not just gonna hand
them out to people you know. What do I do with them though.. Um,
...........
43:49
A: I think that... I think that everyone is different for what they
do with, if they do get photos, most people do take photos I guess, like you
say. What I will do with them though is, I keep them, I catalogue them put them
in particular folder of, this building this day. Keep them in my urbex folder
and then, I don’t do much with them I guess, I just like to have them.
.............
44:49
A: I think what I get out of it the most is going to see something
that I know only a handful of people have actually seen you know, Like there’s
this great big Phlegm piece and thats, it’s in fact gone now, of this enormous,
these big skeleton heads and these balloons all tied together with this crazy
rope, you know and maybe like a like a 100, 200 people have seen that and the
artist would have spent like days trying to plan this out and paint together
without anyone seeing him so it’s kinda like an really underground thing and
thats what I get out of it the um .............
A secret world, yeah.
46:27
A: What appeals most to me is my imagination like in horror films,
the films, the er most scariest part is not actually seeing the monster so I
think if we actually got to see what was in these buildings like 10 years ago,
it might not be as interesting as we think it is but the imagination is
definitely most important.
47:00
S: Got any stories?
A: I like that one about the weed bag, thats the best, its so funny,
I really hope someone tried to smoke that, it was like a big bag as well, that
I bought to a friend that wanted to learn how to roll with but er, let me think
for a moment about.....
I like the elevator one, that was pretty funny, I think we actually
mentioned this last time, when we did the other interview, how, I can’t
remember what building it was in... Deacon House! That was it, thats opposite
Decathlon, thats boarded up now as well but there was this elevator shaft that
had obviously flooded but we didnt know that and we went up not really up, we
went, we opened the doors to the elevator shaft and there was just this film of
orange metallic grease on top of it and it literally looked like a floor and
its lucky we didn’t step out on it cos we did throw a stick in it and it just
kind of, a crusty layer on top kinda like cracked and then this gloopy kind of
oily metal liquid just kind of bubbled up a bit from below and its was ughh,
like we would not have been in a good state if we’d just decided to try and
walk over the top of this viscous fluid.
...............................
50:09
A: When we went up to Deacon House actually it was the same thing I
mentioned a bit earlier how we got all the way back down to the bottom with
this guy Christian and then we realised when we found something, yeah we got
right up to the top building and there was this sign on the door saying
Remember to use air protectors, loud noises or something and I wanted that for
my door cos I play a lot of loud music and then we couldn’t figure out a way
cos it was like nailed into this door so we had to go all the way back down
again, we found something and then they were quite annoyed that we had to go
all the way back up to the top roof to pry this thing open with a broken
screwdriver that’s what it was, just a metal bit of a screwdriver and then we
were like wheyy we got it off and then we came all the way back down and then
Rob had forgotten his torch, I don’t think it was his shoe, I think it was his
torch, I think it was his shoe at a different time so we had to go all the way
back up again and then all the way back down and the by the time we came back
down there was like a car outside that looked really suspicious
...........................
51:56
A: I think the thing about don’t stop believing that was a bit
cheesy but I think the message is right there that you’ve gotta keep trying to
find these right places because if you give up now ............ you shouldn’t
have given me tea, my minds all a-flutter.
If you stop looking for this kind of stuff you will never find it so
you’ve gotta keep looking.
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