Urban exploring

I've always been a bit fascinated by ruins - more so, to be honest, than I usually am by the unblemished natural environment. This fascination was only enhanced by spending nine years on the south side of Chicago when I was in graduate school. At the start of my time at Chicago you could actually see vacant apartment buildings from the back door of the 1155 Building, which at the time housed both NORC and the Harris School. Driving to Midway airport meant driving past blocks and blocks of ruins, including a movie theater and, later on, a Catholic church, which went from occupied, to empty and boarded up, to empty and beaten up, to torn down over a period of about four years.

This site, somewhat misleading called Illicit Ohio, presents pictures from someone who takes their fascination with ruins a bit farther and actually goes and wanders around in them. Most of the places explored are in Ohio. This hobby is called "urban exploring" and there are some further links along these lines in the "fun links" section of my website (as well as links via the illicit Ohio site).