Sublunar Photography

The Castle Apartment Building was built in Saint Louis in 1925. It is currently in an abandoned and deteriorating state as it awaits an investor.

Construction on the Nuclear Power Plant began in the mid 1970's but was cancelled by the mid 1980s. Thus, the plant was never operational. Total cost to build this, only to abandon it before it was completed, was approximately 2 Billion dollars.

When we arrived, we were supposed to meet up with a group of acquaintances from the internet and finally place names with faces and drink beers over shared stories. But all we found, so far, was fresh tire tracks in the gravel. We parked the car out of sight and grabbed our things. We carefully navigated the terrain, looking over our shoulder as we crossed the roads. We passed a few fenced off areas along the way, but we were keeping our eyes on the cooling tower which could be seen for miles. No sign of our friends.

When we got to the tower, we were struck by its presence. Not the kind of thing you see up close every day and the photos really don't do it justice. This thing is huge. The way the wind blew through it and the crazy endless echoes inside the tower gave it other-worldly properties. Who knew where we were anyway, or what time of day it was? Hundreds of miles from home, we found ourselves inside of a cooling tower.. Some people have climbed this thing all the way to the top and I figured I'd get a feel for it. I only made it up to the first platform and I could feel the wind shaking it. I couldn't imagine how bad it would be towards the top. I did not climb any further.

It quickly began to get dark and it was raining off and on. We hadn't been to the underground, nor the roof yet so we headed for the underground first. We found that there's something like 3 levels below ground. When we got off the stairs at the bottom, the darkness was overwhelming and the space so massive that my flashlight couldn't even reach the end of the long hallway. We looked around and we listened. Inside the industrial cavern, strange sounds echoed from all around. The rain came down in torrents through cracks, near and distant, and anything that would blow in the wind was moving above us. Sometimes things fell or banged together loudly. The place was alive even in the furthest dark corners of the underground.

Since there was no way we were ever going to be able to explore the full extent of this place, let alone the basements with the remaining time we had left, we set off for the roof after only seeing a fraction of the lower levels. It was difficult to find and by the time we made it up there, the sun was setting and the clouds filled the sky. This cast a blueish haze over everything. The roof was narrow and treacherous, especially in the rain and with darkness quickly approaching. One misstep in either direction was death. It was surreal, to say the least, looking out on the landscape from the top of an abandoned Nuclear Power Plant in the rain, at dusk, in a town far from home. I wouldn't believe the imagery my eyes were absorbing was real except I was there and we were a small part of it for a few brief moments. "What am I doing here?", I think to myself. This question crosses my mind a lot while exploring and the feeling is intensified when you're in a strange town in a stranger place and you're completely exhausted. We've made it this far, the sun is setting and there's nothing left to do but head home. So for the moment, we relax. Sometimes you need to just enjoy your time and soak it all in. Because the adventure is over just about as quickly as it began.

As for the missing friends.. everyone had gotten arrested right before we arrived. We just barely missed out on the same fun and instead all we got to do was explore this place.

UPDATE: Check out my short video of this place here.

See our latest trip here.

This prison is guarded, some buildings are active/alarmed and a high ranking government official lives on site.. For over 10 years, I simply called this one "Prison #3", but I have since updated this post with the site's real name.

As with any good road trip, we crossed hundreds of miles of snaking highway to reach distant towns far from home in search of new places and new experiences. We had only stopped a few times for food along the way; these breaks become necessary to fight off highway hypnosis a little while longer. Greasy diner food, gas station junk and coffee are the fuel of adventure! Eventually the unending expanse of desolate highway began to give way to city lights. Not just any city lights, for these shone brighter with the promise of adventure and signalled that we were finally nearing the end of our long drive. At least this leg of it anyway. In reality, we had only just begun.

We arrived in town after dark, in the cool and quiet hours. The city illuminated the horizon as we got closer but we wouldn't join them, instead we streaked past them through the night. I felt that tinge of excitement and wonder seeing this new city unfold in front, then all around us. We were almost there. My body ached from sitting in the car for hours and my wanderlust compelled me to see the city. But we had a lot of work to do in the morning so our only objective was to get to the hotel and get some sleep. We kept on our predetermined course which bypassed the heart of the city, through the outskirts of town.

We made our way through the industrial and sparsely populated areas outlying a huge flashy city we hadn't even become properly acquainted with. The destination was to be found in an area where most tourists avoid, this sort of sight-seeing not being the kind this town is accustomed to. The hotel was booked in advance as close as possible to our objective. We passed it on the way to take a preliminary reconnaissance of our target. Now, we were getting down to business.

We drove down the road to see this thing that has compelled us to venture so far from home. And for all this trouble, it better be good. As we got closer, we began to see a massive castle looming in the darkness. A foreboding and beautiful edifice stood tall ahead of us and its spires formed a gothic silhouette across the night sky, unlike any I had ever seen before. But there was a catch.. Between us and this architectural marvel, there was a security guard visibly stationed at his post and it was his job to keep us out.

We headed back to our hotel and checked in. We got unpacked and I talked to my girl, who I missed. She was home in a warm, comfortable bed. I was exhausted and anxious in an uncomfortable bed hundreds of miles away. I tried to sleep. I tried to not think about sleeping. It was getting later and later. Still no sleep. It was probably 2am by the time I might have begun to drift off. But then, just before actual glorious sleep had fallen over me, the room next door filled with commotion. Some assholes decided it was the perfect time to get a room next to us and be the loudest people in town. I was so frustrated I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to. My comrade was the first to get around to doing something about it, so he went to the door and asked them to be quiet. It worked, surprisingly, but now i was irritated on top of being anxious. I had a lot on my mind. I almost made it to sleep before my alarm went off. We had to start early. I had managed exactly no sleep all miserable night long.

It was much more sketchy than I had anticipated. For example, we had to sneak through the high-ranking government official's back yard.. Various buildings were locked up and some were alarmed. There was even a security camera inside the perimeter. I hoped they weren't watching. And then the security guard arrived for his early morning shift just after we had gotten inside.. But we are (allegedly) smooth criminals and as such, we squeaked by without incident and the poor guard missed out on a great opportunity for excitement in what was surely an otherwise boring job. We avoided the parts that we needed to avoid and we managed to get inside the prize and it was totally worth it. Hell yeah, dude.

Death Row

Execution Chamber