The other day, I took a lengthy drive by myself and hit a couple of abandoned houses that were on the way. The first one was a small, wooden house out in the country, nothing around it except cornfields. It has clearly been uninhabited for a decade or more and has begun to fall apart. There was a motorcycle out behind the house and its paint was still shiny but there was a tree branch on it, so I'm not sure how long it's been there. I had just finishing photographing the second floor when I saw lights at my car parked down the road. I hurried back to the car, where there was a cop who didn't like where I was parked. He didn't ticket me or anything, he just told me to move the car. I had completely explored the house at that point, so I just left. I was already down the road when I realized that I hadn't stepped out back to get a picture of the motorcycle. Oh well.
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
7. You can see a slice of the motorcycle in this shot.
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
After I drove away, I found another similar house but it was close by and there was nowhere to park, so I added it to my map for another time because I didn't want that same cop to come by and find me parked alongside the road AGAIN. So I headed south where I stopped at another house that would have a great view of the Ohio River if it weren't for the trees in the way.
The front rooms of this house were full of trash while the back two rooms (including the kitchen) were collapsing. Of the two passages between the front and rear, one was blocked by fabric stapled to the wood and the other had once been nailed shut by a painted board, that has since been moved to the side. It's almost like somebody was still living there as the house deteriorated and cordoned off the dangerous rear section. It made what would normally be a mundane excursion kind of intriguing.
12. The house was on a steep hill up from the road. This is the view once you reach the top of the stone steps.
IMG_2792 by
KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
14. This was the painted board that had been nailed over the doorway to the collapsed section.
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
16. When I walked into this room piled with trash and saw the edge of the dirty mattress, I really thought I was going to find someone sleeping on it.
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
19. This was the kitchen
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
21. On the attic ceiling
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KMD1720, on Flickr
22. Part of the floor in the attic
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KMD1720, on Flickr
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KMD1720, on Flickr
24. And, of course, the creepy basement
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KMD1720, on Flickr