Valley of the Shadow of Death
A nice relaxing stroll through your friendly neighborhood giant abandoned fresh pork slaughterhouse….. Perfect !
Company History:
This facility was closed in 1998.
This was the first of many entry points to the buildings, and while I was in this area taking photos – I had the daylights scared out of me by a feral cat who leaped up from the railroad grade into the opening here. Probably a good 6 foot leap. But he yelled when he jumped, just like one of my cats does. Scared the crap out of me – cats can make some crazy noises. He booked into the building, and I went back to setting up tripods and such.
Classic Pikey view.
By the looks of things, at first, you might think the homeless who dwell here in the slaughterhouse meatlockers take some sort of pride in their alternative existence.
You know, then you turn around and see something like this. It looks like there was some kind of demented competition. Like horse shoes, but with feces instead.
Sorry- I had to show this photo, you just cant explain some of the things you see otherwise. Others who suffer from the strange habit of exploration know what I am talking about. The rest of you can just imagine.
Perhaps the choice of recreational substances has something to do with the lack of “tidiness” up in this beotch.
Let’s go upstairs where its a little bit cleaner…. Nice view of the Brewster Projects from here.
Man, if the walls of this old slaughterhouse could talk……. They’yd probably say “Stop painting that lame graffiti on my face and please stop shitting all over me” Hahahahaha !
Weirdness prevails in this place, and I dont even want to guess at what the functions were for the various rooms and equipment.
Back down to the basements to look for tunnels.
Here is a sign that really should be heeded. Should have been.
Over in the corner of this furnacy type room, I follow some ghetto dog tracks to this other door.
Explorer: what does thy death look like ?
One hasty step, one wrong turn, or one foolish venture into a dark underground tunnel without looking down first….
Combined with an icy open manhole and a delicate layer of snow over top….
In a place where nobody would even think of looking..
So, you know….be careful out there.
Tags: 23rd Psalm, death, hog rendering, pig slaughter, slaughterhouse, Thorn Apple Valley, tunnelRelated posts
Tags: 23rd Psalm, death, hog rendering, pig slaughter, slaughterhouse, Thorn Apple Valley, tunnel
February 28th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
haha, yeah had myself a very similar incident in the Packard tunnels where i actually DID go for a swim…during the worst part of winter too.
always look behind you before backing up to get a wider shot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfOJHjhp7BI
lmao…i went in all the way to my balls before i realized what happened, then grabbed on with my arms and sprung back out so fast i almost touched the ceiling…at least i didnt spill my beer
February 28th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
better shot of the hole:
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee156/PackardPlant/2008/IMG_0543.jpg
yeah that iron grating below the water’s surface had about as much structural stability as shredded wheat that’s been sitting in milk for 50yrs…it pretty much dissolved into paste when i went thru it
safety first, kids
February 28th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Wow, just wow – the poop-a-lympics shot was a jaw-dropper! Nice work documenting another tottering wreck of MoTown…do you ever run into any of the -ahem- occupants of said structures on your forays? From what I can tell these looked like early morning visits….?
February 28th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Forgot to ask if you feared not because you are the meanest thing in the Valley???
February 28th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
hahaha !
I think it is more a matter of a healthy respect rather than one of fear.
I believe this was noonish time.
Every now and then I bump into homeless folks, which is never a big deal. The drug dudes and such can be rather deranged tho – so I try not to disturb them if possible. I would think they were the ones with the pooh bucket mess.
February 28th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Jeezuz Nail – that is insane !
I stepped into the tunnel, and my right leg went through the ice and down to just below the knee. I fell forward to grab and pull out. Flashlight went out, which was pretty messed up. Just a tiny keychain one, which are easier for me to see with is the really dark areas. So I just took my thumb off the button when I fell – when I lit back up I was pissed at how stupid my mistake was.
“Ooooo…… pretty tunnel” SPLUNK!
The Dequindre Cut itself had a series of open sewers with no covers running the whole length. You would have to keep an eye for those in the dark down there.
How about that tunnel between Roosevelt and MCS ? That’s a death hole if I ever saw one.
February 28th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
whew, this looks like a scary place. No way I would do it without a small group present…
March 1st, 2010 at 8:13 am
You’re a brave man.
March 1st, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Yeeesh…that tunnel shot looks like a prime location for Wolfenstein hunting!
March 1st, 2010 at 7:49 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmI3cM4rrhk
AHAHAHHAHA ! Dude, you have no idea how much that actually looks like many of the places in this slaughter house. I cant really tell, but I think the area with that tunnel might be the smokehouse, based on the chimney array and odd furnace room. Just guessing.
March 1st, 2010 at 8:16 pm
actually the Roosevelt-MCS tunnel is not bad if you stay on the conveyor…just gets a little stressful on the back. ive used it many times to, uh….”make myself discreet” if you will.
of course there’s also the one that leads out to Newark Street, but you do have to get wet to use that one. no holes that i know of though.
but yeah im familiar with those open drain covers in the Cut. most are so logjammed with debris that you’d hardly have to worry about drowning; more like twisting your ankle. inside the slaughterhouses, yea there’s some nasty NASTY holes in there filled with some indescribable muck too foul to even imagine coming into contact with.
March 1st, 2010 at 8:23 pm
….then there are those whose recreation it is to cavort amongst the feces of the city dwellers above….
http://www.sleepycity.net/gallery/tags/sewers/page1
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:48 pm
those tiles are on with mastic. gotta work to take home free art………………………deco 23
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:14 am
Oh I know – I am usually content with photos, but the little tiles got my greedy side up. I have a saw that would slice those off at the base, but of course I would rather leave them be where they are planted.
I do have a really nice Eggs painting in my dining room, but he said it was cool that I have it.
March 7th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
That hallway shot is very “Silence of the Lambs” -style creepy.
March 7th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
It is a little bit freaky, not really as scary as it might seem in the photos. This post comes off pretty dramatic – but my foot did get a little cold. I had double socks on, so I just put the extra dry one on my wet paw, and was good to go.