#the-urbexperience

[the-urbexperience]

Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal was quite the visit.. Getting inside the factory was a whole mission, but getting out was probably even harder. Add someone falling through a hatch to the mix and you've got yourself a visit to remember.

Finding an entrance was quite easy and our spirits where high, until we spotted a security car. We hurried inside a hangar and hid for a while. When the coast was clear we continued our way. After a couple of minutes our friend, the security guard, was back. We jumped behind the closest bushes and waited for him to turn around the corner.

When we finaly set foot inside of the factory we began our explore. Somehow one of us got seperated from the group.. We took our pictures and moved our way up, when suddenly we heard a loud bang continued by complete silence. We instantly knew something was wrong. We packed our bags and walked back to where we got in. There we were reunited with our friend who got seperated from the group. He told us he fell down a floor through a hatch. Luckily he got away with only a few scratches and bruises, but it could’ve been a lot worse. We decided that with this much trouble from the beginning of our explore, it was best to go back to the car and come back another time. But apparently we hadn’t had enough trouble yet.. As we climbed down out of the factory we saw the security car again and this time they must have seen us. We began to run towards a sand pile surounded with bushes and hid for a while. I think we were lucky, because the car didn’t stop or turn around. When we were sure they were gone, we continued our way back. Moments later we heard the car again and we once again jumped behind some bushes. This time the security guards stayed patroling the area we were in. We heard their voices coming closer and we held our breath. We lay on the ground as still as we could. The security guards were now right in front of the bushes we were in. They stood there for a while discussing something. After 10 minutes they walked away. We probably layed there for another 15 to 20 minutes untill we were certain the coast was clear. We ran back to the hole in the fence we came in through and walked back to the car. Even though this was probably one of the harderst locations i have done, i still would love to go back again and see the rest of the factory. This place is huge and i’ve only got the see a small part of the factory. I now know what to expect and what to look out for. Hopefully i get to go back soon when the current situation gets better. - The Urbexperience Instagram: the.urbexperience

[the-urbexperience]

Prison H15

At around 2am we set off to our first location in France, Prison H15. It was a 3.30 hour ride and we arrived early in the morning. It was the beginning of March so it was still dark outside. We parked the car quite a bit further away from the prison. Excited, but still a bit nervous we began to walk towards the prison. We’ve read some stories about not so friendly gypsies living next to the prison so we were wary. After 5-10 minutes of walking we began to see the prison emerge in the distance. The complex was huge and it looked intimidating. When we arrived at the entrance, which was a hole in the brick wall around the complex, we lowered our voices and made our way in. There she was, the location that seemed impossible for us. After hours and hours of searching on the internet for the address, we stood there on the courtyard. Only a few locations so far had me absolutely speechless and prison H15 was one of them. We walked around the building to find a way in and soon we found a hole in a door. We squeezed ourselves through the hole and were met with total darkness and silence. You could only hear the wind and waterdrops splashing in a puddle. It felt eerie yet exciting. At 6am we succesfully made our way into prison H15. Rows and rows off abandoned cells lay ahead of us. So strange to think about all the people that have walked through these halls and sat in these cells. To think about the crimes they had committed and the violence that must’ve taken place. Yet now there was total calmness and silence. No screaming or banging on the doors and walls. The only noise you could hear was the wind and slamming doors because of the draft. I think we explored for a few hours and i don’t think we’ve seen everything. We climbed a watchtower and saw the gypsy camp. After one last walk around the prison we headed back home. Prison H15 was definitely worth the long ride and hours of searching. If i could visit a location again, than Prison H15 is on top of my list. Thank you for reading and i hope you enjoy my little storytimes.

- The Urbexperience

Instagram: the.urbexperience

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Abandoned Tile Factory

It’s been almost a year that i’ve been able to explore and it was truly a needed little urbex trip. I know that there are far worse things in the world than not being able to go out, but urban exploring is the one thing i’m truly passionate about.

The country i’m from is currently in a strict lockdown. Only the essential stores are open and we are not allowed to travel abroad, unless it’s for work. There is even a curfew, which means we have to be at home by 9pm and we are allowed to leave home again at 4.30am, unless you have an emergency or a permission letter from work.

After hearing the urbex stories of my friends in Belgium and Germany i really felt a bit down and my desire to go out and explore grew stronger. I decided to not let it get to me and put on my detective hat. There must be some abandoned buildings in the Netherlands that are accessible, i thought to myself. I browsed the internet and watched a lot of urbex videos of explores in the Netherlands. I was able to find a few locations and one of them was this abandoned tile factory. I actually had this factory on my ‘’to visit’’ list for a long time, but read and heard that the owner still lives on the property, so i never bothered to give it a try. Nonetheless, i send this location to a friend of mine and he told me that he had visited the factory recently, however he didn’t manage to get inside and the neighbours even told him that the owner isn’t a nice guy. Despite his experience he wanted to try again and asked me if i wanted to go with him. Uhhmm yeah ofcourse!

It was 7am, my friend texted me that he was outside. I packed my stuff and got in the car. We planned to go inside early in the morning while it was still dark outside. We got there at 8am and the sun was already rising so we had to be quick. We saw the car of the owner in the driveway, but the house was still dark, so we hurried inside the first building. The first building wasn’t really interesting so we made our way further inside the factory. There we saw the main part of the factory with a few machines still present. We walked around for some time and shot a few pictures with our phones until it was light enough to shoot with our cameras. When we had all our pictures, we explored the rest of the factory and left.

Even though this isn’t a big factory and i didn’t expect much of it, it was still an awesome explore. We found some pretty cool things inside and having to sneak inside by dawn really gave me that urbex feeling back. Now i want to explore even more, so i’m back at my computer searching for more locations in my home country.

- The Urbexperience

Full gallery on: added soon. More urbex pictures on https://urbexperience.com/

Instagram: the.urbexperience

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Abandoned Church

It was a beautiful spring day when we headed to our first location of the day. An abandoned church somewhere in the Netherlands. I parked the car and we went on our way to find an entrance. We climbed through a broken window and we landed right between the benches. Even though the church was quite trashed, i was amazed to have found this kind of location in the Netherlands. Most of the time when tenants move out of the property or when a building gets abandoned, there are already plans to renovate or demolish the building, so to find buildings in this decaying state is quite rare. The church wasn’t that big compared to the churches i’ve visited in the past, but the place was still very photogenic. When i had all the pictures i wanted, we looked if there was a way to the second floor, but unfortunately we couldn’t find an entrance. When we were leaving through another broken window we found a suprise at the back of the church that had us amazed yet again. It was as if you’ve had set foot in Hogwarts. It even felt a bit magical and i would love to go back again in the summer when all the plants are wrapped around the pillars.

- The Urbexperience

Full gallery on: added soon. More urbex locations on https://urbexperience.com/ Instagram: the.urbexperience

[the-urbexperience]

smile!

the urbexperience October 2020

instagram: the.urbexperience

[the-urbexperience]

I've added a couple of albums on my website, including Mansion of the Bride.

The story of Mansion of the Bride

I think till this day Mansion of the Bride is the most beautiful house i've explored. The house was still fully furnished and not thrashed at all. It felt like you stepped into a time capsule. I found a photo album with pictures of smiling people, maybe even taken in this house. The piano, unplayed for years, stood in the hallway right under the stairs. In one of the bedrooms stood a vanity table with makeup and medicine and a doll pram with a teddy bear.

We wandered through the house, thinking of a reason why and how someone would leave everything behind. We took our photos and left, but as we walked to the car, we were still left wondering about what the reason could be this house became abandoned. My friend got the idea to ask someone from the church, that stood at the end of the street, about the house. Having seen crosses hanging in every room of the house, we were sure that the people that lived there were religious and must have had attended that church. So we walked inside and were greeted by a sweet old lady. We looked around the church for a bit, before one of us finally plucked up the courage to ask about the house. Luckily the lady was happy to tell us the sad story of Mansion of the Bride.

The story goes that there once lived a wealthy married couple and when the couple died, their son inherited the house and money. However, the son did not want the house, so the couple's daughter inherited the house instead. The daughter passed away after three years and so it came into the possession of her daughter. She lived in the house for some time, but could not maintain it as her uncle, the son of the couple that did not want the house, did not allow her the money from the original heritage.

In the coming years that the daughter and her son lived there, they were robbed two times and a lot of antiques were stolen.​ Eventuelly the woman moved into a retirement home and her son didn’t want the house any longer. Now the house is abandoned and the wedding dress where the name of the location came from is now gone.

- The Urbexperience

Full gallery on: https://urbexperience.com/mansion-of-the-bride Instagram: the.urbexperience

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Chateau Miranda

On our way back from our visit to Prison H15 two of my friends wanted to visit Chateau Miranda. I've been here before in 2014 and not much has changed. We even got the same rainy weather, which didn't made the climb to the Chateau easier. I slipped a few times and grabbed on some loose rock and branches, but as i arrived at the top of the hill and seeing Chateau Miranda appear behind the trees, i got the same thrilling and exciting feeling as i had back then. I don't know what it is about this place, but even though its bad shape I still find it a beautiful castle to explore and it's definitely one of my favorite locations. Unfortunately, not much later after our visit, the demolition of Chateau Miranda started. 

- The Urbexperience Full gallery on: https://urbexperience.com/chateau-miranda-revisit Instagram: the.urbexperience

[the-urbexperience]

Club Soda

It all started in 1957 when a man found a water source near his house. He started to sell the water in bottles and they were selling like hot cakes. This was the start of his company. The demand grew and after finding another water source, he opened a factory.

The production continued and the business was booming, until 2011 when a big snow storm hit the town. The roof of the factory collapsed under the weight of the heavy snow fall and the production came to a halt. The insurance company refused to pay for the repair of the damage and the factory eventually went bankrupt.

Till this day you can still see the damage the storm has caused. The machines and conveyer belts with bottles lined up are still present. Walls are caving in and towers and towers of crates seem to partially support the roof.

This was a fun, but certainly a dangerous explore and it’s quite a sad sight. I kind of regret not walking further into the factory hall, but seeing the state of which the roof was in, i decided to not take a risk. - The Urbexperience Full gallery on: https://urbexperience.com/club-soda Instagram: the.urbexperience