Urban Exploring: A Different Hobby

 Urban Exploring: A Different Hobby

Article Written: October 11, 2022 at 3:25 PM

Inside of the Abandoned NovaCare Rehabilitation Center in Harborcreek. Photo was taken by Justin Vickers of Millcreek Township.


Urban Exploring, what is it you might ask? Urban Exploring is considered a hobby, it's when a group of people or one person explore a building that has been sitting abandoned for a very long time and is documented by using photographs or video, one local urban explorer has been doing this such thing in the Erie area since 2017. 18 year old, Justin Vickers of Millcreek Township recently recorded a YouTube video on his channel "The Explorers" of him exploring an abandoned NovaCare Rehabilitation Center in Harborcreek that had been closed since 2012. "I just love exploring abandoned places, ever since i've been watching "This Is Dan Bell" on YouTube in 2015, I have started to gain an interest for dead malls as well as abandoned buildings and since Erie is a great place to do urban exploring with all the abandoned buildings all around, I decided to start here in my hometown." says Justin. Justin originally lived in the Burton neighborhood of East Erie and used to live right next to an abandoned house. "There was an abandoned house in my backyard but I never thought anything of it since I was a little kid and it got torn down when I was 12, to this day I still regret not exploring it." Urban Exploring can be very dangerous as some buildings are rotting and collapsing, this is what Justin had to say when we asked him about if he thought it was dangerous. "It can be very dangerous but it also just depends what kind of neighborhood you are in, I have been in situations where i've ran into squatters (homeless people) but they don't bother you if you don't bother them and pretty much I was able to get finished with my video without causing any problems." Justin had explored many abandoned buildings in towns like Conneaut, Ohio, Ashtabula, Ohio, Jamestown, New York and even many throughout the Erie area. "A difference between me and other explorers is that I don't break or destroy anything, I respect the building and leave nothing but foot prints, if I can't get inside an abandoned building rather it be thorough a broken window or an unlocked door, I usually just take photos of it and don't bother with getting inside, I am also very cautious when it comes to No Trespassing signs." says Justin. Other Erie area urban explorers have sometimes joined Justin in his videos but for the most part he does them alone, he also plans on hoping to help out when it comes to refurbishing abandoned properties in the Erie area.


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