Sublunar Photography

The old Memphis Marine Hospital traces its history back to 1798 when President John Adams established the first Marine Hospital Service as a precursor to the U.S. Public Health Service. Its mission was to provide medical services for injured riverboat workers. The first hospital was destroyed when the river changed course and the new hospital opened in this location as its replacement in 1884. The 1884 hospital was soon obsolete and the rise in demand for medical care necessitated its replacement which was completed in 1936 at the cost of 1 million dollars. The hospital would expand its services to include a variety of Armed Forces personnel and their families along with other government employees. The hospital was once situated in a busy neighborhood, but a new interstate was constructed directly through the core of downtown, cutting it off from the rest of the neighborhood and the struggling hospital eventually closed in the mid 1960's. The Federal Government owned the majority of the property and used it for a variety of purposes continuing its service to Military personnel until 2004.

So this was a fun one. The entire perimeter of the site had signs every few feet that said roughly "NO TRESPASSING" and "REWARD for information leading to the conviction of trespassers". I'm not sure what that long word starting with "T" means but it looks French maybe? IDK. The building and fence were well secured. We performed reconaissance and located the only way in. The following morning we rose before the sun and made a mad dash in view of its hotel neighbor and a busy road. Everything else was pretty well secure but there was an entire door missing on a building in the courtyard (which is now a swimming pool). We went inside and explored the hell out of it. Had a good time. As we're heading to the exit, it's been a nice chill day and we had a good time and we're talking as we come around the last corner right near the exit door. As we turn the corner, I see some dude, presumably the owner, preparing to INSTALL A DOOR. This dude is standing there inspecting the doorway or something just 20 feet or so away from us idiots who had just been cackling loudly like a bunch of dumbasses. Luckily for us, the dude is next to his loud running Bobcat and was oblivious to us. He had the door loaded in the front bucket of the skid-steer. Immediately, we had to run past his peripheral to get out of sight and to the end of the hallway we were on where we'd take our chances and see if we could find a way out of the basement on that side. We knew we could only really get out of the property through the one spot in the fence. And if we made it there, we were just about "safe" because then we could book it in the direction of the hotel and disappear into the crowds. The dude's body language made it seem like he was pissed off and while that was maybe his default mode, we agreed that leaving immediately was worth attempting. We found a basement door and waited for the right opportunity. We'd once again have to run past this guy's peripheral from an uncomfortably close distance (we were ~69ft away from each other according to google earth at this point. Nice). So this dude gets the door standing straight up in the loader and he's operating the Bobcat to line it up with the doorway. While he's dicking around with that, we pop the door open and all at once we book it right past him through the courtyard, around the large outbuilding and then to the exit. I only looked back at him once one our way out but he was, again, seemingly obvlious to our presence. I credit the loud machine he was using as the cause of his distraction and our victory in this case.

And a sweet victory it was as we, the visitors, capped off an amazing 2014 season (one of our best seasons really) with the successful conclusion of this epic 7 game winning streak on the road. We'll see what the 2015 seasons holds when the blog returns next year. Stay classy, my friends.

UPDATE: In an interesting turn of events, the old Memphis Marine Hospital is now an apartment complex.

This is part 7 of 7 from a recent adventurous road trip.

The Nuclear Power Plant is owned by a large and powerful organization that would prefer everyone just forget it exists-and that they spent 2 billion dollars to build an abandoned concrete jungle that they never used.

This location happens to be well guarded and well secured by tall barbed wire fences. Last time I was here it was practically a ghost town but this time we encountered some of the most intense exploring I've done in a while. We parked the car as far away, but still on the property, as possible and took our time burying it under branches and shrubbery to conceal it. We then hiked through the woods in a circuitous route so as to utilize the cover as much as possible. But as we got closer we were more and more exposed without cover to hide us. Trucks were circling. I don't recall how many times we had to duck as a truck drove by. We would sit at every clearing to determine the nearest cluster of trees that would provide us the most cover. Then one by one we ran, crouched, to each spot where we laid in the grass to stay out of sight until we regrouped and planned the next route. Everyone I know who has been here has been ticketed. But as long as there's a way inside, there will be weirdos like us who methodically find it. The unlucky or careless ones will get snatched up and made an example of. This keeps the guards busy and content that they are successfully performing their jobs. Those of us who get lucky and make it inside and back out will know the rewards that come with a successful adventure. I look at it like a sporting event; It's our team versus the security guards and they have home field advantage. After the contest, mental high fives and "good game"s for the dudes trying to keep us out. No hard feelings since they're just doing their jobs and we're just doing ours. This time we enjoyed luck and the benefits of taking every possible precaution. If we still managed to get busted after all that work well then at least we tried; only then can we say we did our best and our best just wasn't good enough. Today, however, it was the home team's turn to take a loss. After this major win, the visitors have now advanced to game 6 of on their flawless winning streak as they rampage across the US. We'll see if they can keep up this momemntum going into game 7 when they take on Memphis.

This is part 6 of 7 from a recent road trip.

See our previous trip here.

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