Weekend of Adventure

August 17, 2006-August 20, 2006: lots of driving. lots of cool places. 500+ photos. Full blog posts will eventually show up on most of the places in this post, since each of them has a long history, more than one visit, more than one wild goose chase...you get the idea. A lot of these locations are featured in the book Weird New England by Joseph Citro.

A year ago this weekend was probably one of those most crazy UE weekends I ever had. It started on Thursday, August 17, 2006 when Josh, and I found Rhode Island's official haunted place, Ramtail.

Ramtail:
Constructed: 1790's
Abandoned: mid-1800's:
Burned: 1850's
Featured in Weird New England, page 191

Located off Ramtail Rd. in Foster, it was my third attempt at finding it--an attempt in 2004 with Zack was thwarted by rain, and an attempt two weeks before with Josh proved to be long and futile. Futile as in "I swam across a broken down bridge and walked 5 miles with a piece of glass in my foot." Somehow we managed to find Ramtail in total darkness on the 17th, and also found a note that someone had also been there the same day. Other than that, nothing happened.

The remains of the mill in Ramtail.

Hi Bergy. I have your cell phone number. lol.

The next day I got out of work early (summer hours), so Josh and I went to Hell's Gates, also in Rhode Island (West Greenwich). I hadn't been to Hell's Gates since January 2000 and never thought to take a camera there until 2003, when Zack and I attempted to go but quickly turned around and left when we saw someone ahead of us on the road back to the house. Another attempt to reach Hell's Gates in 2004 failed miserably when Zack, Mike, and I got lost in the woods. They were ready to kill me for that one. And Josh wasn't too happy with me when I insisted we cut through the woods where there was no path. (When Zack, Mike, and I got lost, it was because we stayed on the path and ended up at a cranberry bog about 3 miles from the car...and not willing to go back through the woods, we asked for a ride to the car from a house we found at the cranberry bog. They had a dog named Cranberry.) Anyway, Josh and I found rock piles in the woods not unlike the Blair Witch Project.

Hell's Gates
First construction: 1800's
According to aerial maps the 1800's construction was standing till the mid 1900's
Next construction: 1960's
Burned: mid-1990's

The burned out skeleton of the house at Hell's Gates.

TOWER TO SATAN. No I'm kidding.

If you can't tell, Hell's Gates (just by the name) is one of those places where people practiced human sacrifice after football practice and there's supposedly more sin here than Sodom & Gomorrah...blah blah blah. I'm working on finding out the real story...but it's next to impossible as my first visit to Hell's Gates was in April 1999 and I haven't found out much since then.

This about sums it up.

From Hell's Gates, Josh and I drove around scouting out new places to explore before heading to the Bradley Playhouse in Putnam, CT for the musical, Tommy. We found this large piece of furniture in Foster.

On August 19, Zack, Shawn, Josh, and I headed 75 miles out to Waterbury, CT to visit Holy Land USA. I mean, after all the Satan worship the day before...nevermind. After stopping at the Westfarms Mall, we didn't actually get to Waterbury till it was dark and then it started pouring. Fun night nevertheless.

Holy Land USA:
Constructed: 1956
Abandoned: 1984
Featured in Weird New England, pages 235-237

Almost there...The yellow flashlight in Zack's hand is the BEST for exploring.

There are more pictures of this night like one where Zack was riding a headless camel...coming up in the next post on Holy Land USA, unless Zack protests.

So on August 20, Josh and I drove back. The day was gorgeous and we spent a couple hours there.

Like the Great Pyramids, this mini-Great Pyramid can stand the test of time and vandals.

If you've ever driven on I-84 through Waterbury, you've seen this cross.

Hey, someone was there the same night as us again. It was odd having two of these coincidences the same week.

Off the beaten path.

Since we were in Waterbury and so close to Middlebury, we also found Little People Village.

Little People Village
Constructed: 1920's
Abandoned: ?
Featured in Weird New England, page 268

After leaving Little People Village, we went to "haunted" Downs Rd. in Hamden, CT, and walked the entire length of that.

Downs Rd.
Constructed: 1700's
Abandoned: mid 1900's
Featured in Weird New England, pages 174-175

We really didn't find much out there except about five old foundations, but the walk was nice.

After we left Downs Rd. we found this while driving to the nearest Starbucks.

Miles logged: 600 (Zack drove at least 150 of those miles though)
Total photos: 519

Remembering the Baltic Mill Fire

Eight years since the Baltic Mill Fire - August 11, 1999

The Baltic Mill Fire in Sprague, CT was an event I accidentally showed up for. I was 15 and had just gotten a tetanus shot for my school checkup and was running errands with my dad, who had to do some kitchen equipment repair work at the Hillside Cafe, about a mile from the mill.

This was the second time the mill for Baltic village burned, the first time being in the 1880's when the original mill burned to the ground. The new Baltic Mill was constructed in 1887 with granite quarried from the Marriott Granite Quarry in nearby Sterling, CT, and once again became a prosperous textile mile. However, like most New England textile mills, the Baltic Mill was closed by the mid 1980's.

The last large mill fire eastern Connecticut had seen was in Jewett City in 1994, but the Baltic Mill seemed to be the start of many more to come. These mills, some abandoned for more than 20 years, had decayed so poorly that the towns couldn't afford the cost of demolition and cleanup for asbestos abatement, and no one wanted to take on the task of rehabilitating them.

The fire was unintentionally started by some middle-school kids who were hanging out in the mill during the early morning.

It was 1999. I didn't even have a camera of my own--much less digital-- but by sheer luck my dad had a disposable camera in his truck. While my dad did work, I took off running and ran a mile in heels to try to get decent photos of the fire before it was out.

No luck, unfortunately, but here's what I wrote about the event anyway (from a journal entry dated August 14, 1999):
...Dad had to go to the Hillside Cafe in Baltic. On our way, Dad said, "Look, blue clouds!" I thought he was nuts :) but he then said, "oh, that's smoke". I immediately thought "Oh my god, the mill's on fire!" And I was right. The Baltic Mill had already been gutted when by the time I saw it. Nevertheless, I still wanted pictures.

First shot I took of the mill tower, from next to the Sprague Historical Society.

I ended up running from the Hillside Cafe' all the way to the bridge over the Shetucket River to get my pictures. While I was there, Channel 30, 3, and 8 showed up. The Norwich Bulletin and The Day were there as well as AM 1310 (Norwich radio station) It seemed like the entire town turned out just to watch. Damn, wish I was a journalist. Oh well. This was one hell of an event. I got my best shot from next to the old grist mill, now the Sprague Library/Historical Society.

You can see the satellite truck for one of the TV stations to the left. This is the bridge over the Shetucket River on Rt. 97. This bridge was evacuated shortly after this picture because of the fire's proximity to some large propane tanks.

After the evacuation, I took this shot while walking back to the library/historical society. I milled about inside the building for a bit and learned that earlier in the day, even buildings on the opposite side of the river had been evacuated too.

(I didn't actually get my pictures developed for a year because I lost the camera.)

The skeletal walls of the Baltic Mill were torn down during the summer of 2000, but part of the mill that was saved still stands today.

Six years later, when the InterRoyal Mill went up in flames in Plainfield, CT, I was more than ready for it and showed up while fireballs were bursting out the roof...but that's another entry.

Egypt and the Indie Historian

Hello! In the absense of my favorite website, InsaneBunkers.com, I had to start my own blog on urban exploration because I'm itching to get back to posting stories about my wild goose chases and favorite abandoned houses. If you were a regular on IB, I'm Megster (big surprise there, right? haha)

Ok...maybe visiting the Pyramids isn't considered urban exploration unless you pay a bunch of guards 500LE to climb the Great Pyramid, but you gotta admit, this is a fantastic photo. This is my fiance and I (not the camel) on the day he proposed, March 27, 2007.

IB went down less than a month before my fantastic trip to Egypt and admittedly, due to the scrutiny my fiance and I have been under for the immigration process, I haven't actually been exploring this year except Fort Wetherill with Zack in January and Fort Mansfield with my mom in July. I'm lucky I haven't been arrested yet and it's not a chance I'm willing to take until this process is done.

In the meantime, I have more than enough topics to write about from old adventures, new abandoned house updates, and even some new photos.

So why did I call myself the Indie Historian? Let's face it, UE is about more than trespassing and photography. Some of these places have been abandoned for decades and all of them have stories or urban legends associated with them, so I'd like to shed light on the history, if I can. You could say I'm a local historian that does a lot of field research.

Some of the best opportunities I had to do this research was when I worked as a journalist for The Resident newspaper in Stonington, CT. Some of my old articles will reappear here, such as articles I wrote about the Masonic Temple demolition in Norwich, CT, as well as the restoration of the Wauregan Hotel (also in Norwich). (They were simultaneously published on IB so some of you might remember them.)

It is still a dream of mine to become an archaeologist and a novelist, and I would like to finish my college studies at the American University in Cairo. (I was originally an English major but would like to switch to history when I return to school.)

Speaking of Cairo, One of the IB members recommended the book Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock to me, and I read it in its entirety before leaving for my trip, which was from March 22-April 1. It's a very interesting read, as it suggests that they Pyramids and the Sphinx are about 8000 years older than Egyptologists believe. If you want to know more, go read the book. Whether it's 12,000 years old or 4000, nothing can describe standing at the base of the Pyramid of Khufu (better known as the Great Pyramid).

I did not venture inside. It would have cost us about 100LE each (about $17USD, not a lot I know) but if you have asthma, it's just a bad idea. The air quality is poor as there isn't much oxygen and there isn't anything inside except Roman and French graffiti, so we stayed outside.


Yes, there is parking at the base of the Pyramid of Khafre. (Pyramid of Menkaure is to the left.)

Field trip past the Great Sphinx (I took this as we drove by...I don't know why I would risk a drive-by shot on the Sphinx & the Pyramid of Menkaure but I'm very pleased with it. I just submitted the photo to JPGmag for their Passport theme, we'll see how it goes.)