Featured Post

Alberta Book: Photographs by George Webber

on
As an urban explorer who holds a love for urbex photography, I am continually on the lookout for works published by professional photographers. My wife and I often find ourselves at the nearby Indigo/Chapters store as she is an avid bookworm who easily manages to read at least 3-4 novels a month. While she browses I always end up gravitating towards the photography/fine arts section to see what’s new. I then quickly glance through the local interest section which generally has few titles that peak my interest. However, on one of our recent “book dates”, I came across a photography book by George Webber simply called Alberta Book. I must admit that I’ve never heard of Mr Webber but the cover photo certainly caught my attention. The book contains over 200 color photographs of Webber’s work compiled over 40 years of photographing and exploring the many forgotten Alberta towns that dot the Canadian prairies. An abundance of pictures depicting deteriorating signs, abandoned buildings,
0

The Wind At The Door

on

Sometimes you get the impression that your not welcome in a particular home. So was the case in this one.

We went out for a quick explore and headed to an area Mrs DH had in mind. She had spotted a few homes earlier in the month while traveling to Edmonton airport and thought they would make a good explore. This home was an easy find as it was along a busy roadway, probably watching the hundreds of commuters pass by its door daily.

For such a busy location, the sound of passing cars was muffled by the chirping of frogs in the flooded field behind the property. We haven't heard that in quite a while and paused a minute or two to enjoy the sound. We entered the home by a side door arriving onto a stair landing, where one direction led to the basement and the other up to the kitchen. We went up the stairs and began our explore. Overall the home appeared to be in decent condition considering. Noticeable was the torn down ceilings along the back side of the house which contained the kitchen, bathroom and a bedroom. Looking up at the ceiling where the kitchen fixtures once were, it appeared as if there had been a small fire. It was most likely the ceilings had been purposely torn down to ensure that all traces of the fire had been extinguished.

The wind blew through this house, opening and closing doors, making the explore very unnerving. The first door to slam was the side door where we had entered. We both tensed up as we thought someone was about to come up the stairs and into the kitchen. Then the bedroom doors began, raising the overall tension that we were already feeling. I was lining up a shot of the bathroom when out of the side of my eye I saw a hallway closet door close. My heart skipped a few beats until Mrs DH said that it had been her!

The home was telling us it was time to go! The first thumping we heard was in a back bedroom. I asked Mrs DH if she had explored the room yet, which she hadn’t. We both went down the hall, opened the door, and took a peak inside. Empty! We explored the other bedroom, and began to hear thumps in the attic above us, sounding as if something was moving across the ceiling. It could have very well been an animal.
 
It was then that we heard the same thumping noise, but now it seemed to be coming from the basement below us. We moved to the kitchen and then heard “the thump” from the basement stairway at the landing where we had entered. This was definitely an “O’Crap” moment. The front door wasn’t an option as the front deck was dilapidated and unsafe. There was a momentary pause as I waited to see what was about to come around the corner of the landing. I grabbed a piece of debris and tossed it down the steps, hoping it was simply an animal and not the “bogey-boo’s” that live in dark basements. The debris landed and we both ran down the stairs and out of the house. We never looked back and both agreed the home was letting us know it had been time to go!

Visit Derelict Harvest to see other pictures from this gallery.

Comments

Post a Comment