Do American teens explore abandoned buildings, like asylums?

31 comments

1. Yes, teens, adults and kids do. I would like to say that we’re the only people in the world that have curiosity to see what’s there, but we’re not.

   I have done it. I didn’t think it was dangerous. Only surprise was a raccoon in one.

2. I wouldn’t say it’s super common, but some people do enjoy it.

   I did one time, old abandoned navy base near my college. I don’t think it was particularly dangerous, there were a few areas missing guardrails but otherwise the structure was solid.

   Some guy was in one of the buildings yelling and shouting so we didn’t go in there, figured he’d be best left alone.

3. In my experience, yes. For smoke spots.

4. I do this. I don’t take big risks in places that are clearly deathtraps, although some of my exploring buddies sometimes go into rooms/buildings that I wouldn’t. Old sanitariums, asylums, a laboratory that tested on horses, a resort, an abandoned zoo… I do it for the photos and the thrill. I live in the northeast US… we have a lot of decay. I love it.

5. All sorts of people visit abandoned buildings for various reasons. When I was an undergrad at the University of Alabama, visiting the abandoned Bryce insane asylum was something several friends did and invited me to, I turned them down because I’d rather get drunk/dance/smoke weed/browse the internet. In retrospect, I could have gone with and done that there too and it would have been fun. It’s a top 15 college regret not doing it, but not top 10.

6. Yeah, its common. I did it a lot as a kid and a teenager.

7. Sure they do. I tried to sneak into an old tuberculosis hospital but there were people inside. Probably other teens that just got there first but we never saw their car.

8. Absolutely. At my university it was very common to explore the “abandoned frat”, at least during my freshman year. The chapter ended up recolonizing (I was one of the refounders) and the house was renovated and reopened by my junior year. But before that folks would sneak in, leave graffiti, and just generally wander around. It had been partially gutted so it was mostly bare concrete and brick.

9. My brothers crawled down into the underground tunnels of an abandoned tuberculosis hospital when we were in high school. That was kind of a thing to do. A lot of people in the city I live in now also explored in another abandoned sanatorium. That one, according to a friend, actually was fairly dangerous because the floors were weakened in spots.

10. I can guarantee people all over the world explore abandoned places.

11. Yeah American people do. Anything dangerous you can think of Americans will do 😂Can’t really think of anything maybe once or twice when I was a teen I don’t think we ever went far and it was probably pretty dumb. No asylums though!

12. Sometimes, its called Urbex, or urban exploring. Certainly not universal but also not massively uncommon

13. We do this regardless of age.

14. Its something I see online alot but only know a couple of more adventurous people who do it irl.

    I explored some abandoned WW2 fortifications on the east coast but they weren’t really spooky.

15. I grew up in a growing city. We didn’t have abandoned buildings near us and definitely didn’t have anything noteworthy like an abandoned asylum. We were much more likely to explore new construction. In high school we used to have parties in new suburban neighborhoods that were being built. The roads would be built but nobody lived there. We would have bon fires in the paved culdesacs before they put houses up

16. I have as a teen and as a young adult.

    There are people that make a whole hobby out of it.

    https://www.uer.ca/

    And it isn’t just in the US. It is worldwide.

    I don’t recommend it though because it is trespassing.

17. Yeah, my friends and I were into all kinds of “bad behavior” – not the kind you typically associate with teenagers like drinking, drugs, premarital sex, irresponsible driving etc., but stuff like breaking into abandoned buildings, making pipe bombs and blowing up tree stumps in the woods, various dangerous science experiments.

    Our greatest exploit was probably busting into a decommissioned ICBM silo that we tracked down by checking out plats at city hall.

18. I did when I was a kid. There was a series of old abandoned buildings in the woods from what used to be a polio ward. It wasn’t dangerous because the supernatural beings seen in horror movies don’t exist.

    On the other hand there might have been some exposed asbestos in them.

19. I once explored an abandoned house way out in the country. The ceiling was full of bats. I got the Hell out of there.

20. Yeah it’s pretty common for teens to do. But it’s also much safer than the rest of the world, especially europe, cause we have practically no unexploded ordnance here.

21. My friend and I used to sneak into a big abandoned house and speculate about what murders occurred there.

22. There was an abandoned asylum we’d go to explore with our girlfriends as teenagers.

23. I’ve never heard of this happening in real life, so I’d say its probably very uncommon.

24. Yes, though the creepy asylum In Buffalo was turned into a boutique hotel.

    /r/urbex

25. Yes, in high school. I was the one that spraypainted satanic stuff everywhere (though only in places that were obviously abandoned and neglected, not just any vacant building). No regrets.

    The main danger was holes in floors. The buildings could be pretty dilapidated.

26. Sure I’ve done it a few times. Got a trespassing citation once

27. You mean urban exploration? Yeah, pretty much happens anywhere I think. I’ve never done it but, I occasionally watch channels on YouTube where they just explore abandoned motels, schools, and homes. Who knows how much of it is staged and who much of it is genuine though.

28. Growing up outside of the industrial wastelands of Detroit in the 80s and 90s it was something most of us did at least a few times. Abandoned [factories](https://freaktography.com/abandoned-detroit-packard-plant-2022/), [train stations](https://imgur.com/a/hm7ub), [theaters](https://historicdetroit.org/galleries/united-artists-theatre-photos), ruins of old state-owned [psychiatric hospitals](https://www.mlive.com/news/2018/07/the_haunting_insides_of_the_ab.html), old mills etc were abundant.

    Over the years many of them have been [torn down](https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2022/09/29/detroit-packard-plant-demolition/69527451007/), others have been secured for liability concerns, others are [being redeveloped](https://michigancentral.com/development/).

    There’s also been a major attitude change in the Detroit area about urb-ex, especially tourists wanting to do it. Ruin-porn tourism is looked down upon and you’ll get very little help from locals in finding locations. It’s really not a safe activity for many reasons from flooding and rotting structures to industrial pollutants to the potential of running into the wrong type of people. Leaving a building open to the elements leads to it falling apart.

    So yeah, the curiosity is there for sure. Old structures are neat.

29. There was a derelict remains of an old southern mansion not far from where we lived. We used to sneak in there. Good times. There was an empty graveyard that I thought was fascinating. The bodies had long since been moved to a local cemetery, but we assumed there might have been enslaved people still buried there.

30. I never have, but a friend of mine explored an abandoned asylum, and various other abandoned properties. I’m a chronic rule follower, he’s much more adventurous. Nothing bad happened to him, although I think they got a bit spooked one time by weird noises

31. Yes, teenagers love doing this.

    It’s usually not dangerous, just a bit spooky.