More abandoned places, because they're creepy and beautiful
August 29, 2007 9:07 AM   Subscribe

Illicit Ohio has a wide range of photos and essays of abandoned places in Ohio, from the Cincinnati subway system (yes, there really is was one, and it's been discussed here before), to various and sundry prisons, government installations, hotels, hosiptals, houses and more. And don't miss the old vs. new galleries, either.
posted by dersins (20 comments total) 35 users marked this as a favorite
 
I love stuff like this, but why oh why oh why oh why can't people put even a shred of the effort into the text that they put into the design, the Cincinatti (sic) subway series, for example:

"There really isn't a lot you can say about an old tunnel. They were damn, cold, the echod like crazy..."
posted by Mike D at 9:37 AM on August 29, 2007 [1 favorite]


Agreed (unfortunately) that the text is pretty substandard. Subliterate in places, even ("My favorite thing about the Gates is the sheer amound [sic] to [sic] pure stright [sic] forward art and emotion expressed.")

But it's still a pretty damn cool site.
posted by dersins at 9:45 AM on August 29, 2007


Given the title I might have expected it to include a men's restroom.
posted by deCadmus at 9:46 AM on August 29, 2007 [1 favorite]


Yeah, the writing is painful. But having grown up in Ohio, and been among the countless youth to get stoned in the "Gates of Hell" I'll give him a free pass.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 9:57 AM on August 29, 2007


Cincinnati (almost) had a subway? Wow.

That hotel in Cleveland is something else. I lived ithere for almost 4 years, and was always amazed by the way land was (un)used there.

There was a story recently, possibly here, about how Youngstown is one of the first US cities to actually accept and plan for shrinkage - closing off neighborhoods, for example.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 10:04 AM on August 29, 2007


Mike D, you stole my words!
posted by SassHat at 10:05 AM on August 29, 2007


Is it just me, or are these the tiniest bunkbeds in the world? And the bunker is meant to be for "very important people?"
posted by SassHat at 10:08 AM on August 29, 2007


I love urban exploration. Here's a similar site for residents of Virginia.

VT Underground
posted by cloeburner at 10:20 AM on August 29, 2007




This is something incredibly sad and depressing to me about abandoned amusement parks. It's just so sad. I can see the last kid to visit there, sitting on the creaky swing. But it's not so much fun anymore, because the kid senses his place of joy and play is somehow dying. Maybe the kid feels like the world is leaving him behind.
--
I just realized I've said this before.
posted by Pastabagel at 11:47 AM on August 29, 2007 [1 favorite]


Terrific! Thank you for this -- as an Ohioan, some of these places are familiar to me and some are not -- but I don't think I've seen this many photos of such Ohio locales together in one place.
posted by dryad at 12:08 PM on August 29, 2007


The Logan Round House is a favourite place of mine, I've passed it many a time on my visits to the town and have always wanted to go in and have a look around.
posted by essexjan at 12:38 PM on August 29, 2007


I've always liked ForgottenOH.com, but never been to Illicit Ohio (which according to the about is something of a sister site). There are some great abandon places around Ohio, like the recently demolished Jaite Paper Mill. I never get a chance to do much urban exploring when I go back to Ohio to visit family. Good think there are plenty of abandon structures around here to go snooping in.
posted by slogger at 1:37 PM on August 29, 2007


That's me in the corner...drinking my Orange Crush!
posted by doctorschlock at 1:49 PM on August 29, 2007


Get out of my yard you damn kids!

- An Ohioan

Pastabagel, I feel the same way about abandoned amusement parks.

And supposedly Kenyon College has the real Gates of Hell (in Ohio, at least).
posted by Liosliath at 4:20 PM on August 29, 2007


In 2005, just prior to moving away from Connecticut (forever!) the lovely Mrs. Dino and myself did an exploration of a place that was called Pleasure Beach. We took pictures:

2005 urban exploration of Pleasure Beach, Bridgeport, CT, USA
posted by dno at 6:46 PM on August 29, 2007


We went to Chippewa Lake Park many times when i was a child. My favorite coaster there was the Wild Mouse - very tight turns and steep hills. There's more about the ruins of Chippewa here.
posted by tizzie at 7:29 PM on August 29, 2007


i really enjoyed browsing these pictures, thanks so much for posting this :-)
posted by sleep_walker at 9:09 PM on August 29, 2007


Freakin' Cincinnati. You know how cool it would be to have a subway system? They even tried again, too - five years ago there was even a big push for a light-rail system to connect downtown to all the suburbs, but noooo, that got voted down by all the Hamilton county voters too. Heaven forbid we do anything productive or progressive in this town.
posted by Quidam at 12:40 AM on August 30, 2007


(more on point) Nevertheless, thanks for posting this. Very interesting stuff.
posted by Quidam at 12:41 AM on August 30, 2007


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