Abandoned Missile Base by Tony K

Hi Woodsy,

As a follow-up to your abandoned places piece, I thought you'd enjoy a couple of 35mm snaps I took in 1997, of an abandoned Soviet missile base in Lithuania.

The base, which was hidden deep within dense forest land, was very small, secluded and completely off the beaten track. When it was active, it possibly housed a single missile on a mobile launch platform. 

I believe it was one of a number of remote bases concealed in the area. By 1997, the station was little more than an echoing statement of cold war paranoia, having been gutted and abandoned by the withdrawing Soviet missile troops, following Lithuanian independence in '91.

Pic 1 - Shows a simple Soviet propaganda mural at the outer perimeter checkpoint. What was left of it shows a Soviet soldier advancing with an AK47, as a missile launches over his shoulder.

Pic 2 - Shows a friend stood in front of the heavy bunker doors for scale. The missile (or missiles?) would've been housed behind these doors. There was no electricity, so zero visibility inside the empty bunker.

Pic 3 & 4 - Show the small size of remote station and the dense forest which surrounded it.

Tony K

UK

Wharren Percy: Riddle Ages

 We visited Wharren Percy in January.

It's the site of a 'deserted' medieval village and it's mysteries were studied for decades by the world's archeologists.

It's owned by English Heritage now. It's a remote spot next to a tiny modern hamlet set in the gentle curves of the misty Yorkshire Wolds, a landscape out of time.

In the churchyard they found evidence of trepanning! 

It reminded me of somewhere Jon Pertwee might have landed in the TARDIS, a spooky, almost mystical place.

Essentially it's only the lay-out of the village visible now, foundations from the Middle Ages, and the church ruin.

The team of diggers slept in a farmhouse.

It would have made a good episode for Dr.Who, with the dig team in the Sixties.

On the woodland path leading to the site are ruins of a much later and towering Victorian water mill.

The murky leafy scene immediately made me think of Black Sabbath's eponymous debut LP cover!

There's even a track called Sleeping Village!

Have you visited a deserted place?

*

PS. Excuse the hot links, its blogger's daft idea! 

Collection X: The Ultimate Barn Find

 There was an interesting snippet on the BBC news this morning about a Collection X.

With such an intriguing name and the phrase 'barn find' being used I watched it. 

I thought it might have been a massive collection of space toys but it turned out to be a huge group of old steam locomotives hidden away in barns for fifty years.

Once the property of the late railway super collector Peter Rampton, part of the Freemans catalogue family, the trains are now being sold off and going to various rail museums including the Vale of Rheidol.

I'm not a big train enthusiast but I can appreciate the excitement the release of this lifetime's collection is generating. 

There's a book on Collection X too, Narrow Gauge Enigma.

Have you a rail museums or historic railway near you?

A DERELICT HOME FULL OF TOYS

I'm unsure what I think about urban explorers. I can certainly see the attraction of exploring abandoned buildings but at the same time I'm sheepish about the invasive nature of it all. 

Not too far from Moonbase is a well-visited and notorious derelict home known as the Doctor's House in Doncaster, which has attracted no end of curious invaders. I found at least 8 videos online on the place just looking now, its mixture of rusting cars and tragic backstory proving irresistible to explorers.

The collector in me needs to rummage. I understand that. I'm just not sure about going into abandoned homes. I'm not sure I would want to do it.

Having said that I have done it once. I'm pretty sure because of the position of the abandoned building thousands of tourists had as well. It was abandoned artist's house on a remote shore. It was exposed to the elements and salted gusts. That was in the early 1990's on the island of Mull.

Anyways, there are thousands of reports from modern urban explorers online and here's just one from Freaktography about a old residence full of old toys. No idea where it is. Quite sad to see really.

Tell us what you think readers.

https://www.atchuup.com/freaktography-abandoned-house/

CARNIVALS OF SOULS

The other day Brian F posted his great atmospheric snaps of Wildwood pier and rides in the New Jersey night.

It reminded reader Mish of the opening to TV's Journey to the Unknown from 1968 and I agree, its one creepy eerie fairground with a hauntingly whistled theme!

What do you think?

Episodes of this old nerve-tingling series on You Tube.

Another ghostly fairground appeared in Herk Harvey's 1962 weirdster Carnival of Souls. I've seen a colourised version of this film but I have to admit for pure atmosphere I prefer the black and white original, available gratis on You Tube.

One of my fave fairground takes appears in the opening titles of The Lost Boys, that vampire-fest starring the Two Coreys [Haim sadly died in 2010, Feldman still around]  and one Keifer Sutherland from way back in 1987.

There is something eerily sorrowful about the whole idea that young immortals hang around their town's fairground. Yes, I suppose that's the Lost in the title, a reference to Rufio and the gang in Peter Pan, trapped in Neverland forever.

The theme Cry Little Sister has stuck in my mind ever since first seeing this flick in the late Eighties.

Thou shalt not fall! Remember?

Do you like the Lost Boys?

To round off this ride on the fell rim of night here's a tale from my own neck of the woods, the sad demise of Lancashire's own Disneyland, the medieval theme park Camelot.

As if built from straight from the pages of Michael Crichton's Medieval World, Camelot, with castles and candy floss, rose from the earth in 1983. I'd already left Lancashire for pastures new so I never got to sample the delight's of this northern treat in Chorley.

Alas, like the aging knights of the round table themselves, Camelot went to seed and closed its drawbridge in 2012. 

Abandoned, Camelot has become a magnet for the curious. You Tube is bristling with urban explorations into its decaying splendour. Here's a more professional look behind the scenes from TV's the One Show.

Have you an abandoned park or fairground near you? Have you ever come across one readers?

ISOLATION WANDERERS

I've always been fascinated by nature's ability to return to abandoned places. Where human structures revert back to nature. There's a whole book about it called The World Without Us.

The pandemic is allowing this to happen now allover the world.

Pollution is decreasing, air quality is rising, skies are vapourless and animals are venturing into empty streets.

The wild Welsh goats wandering through Llandudno are famous but my fave new image of wild liberation is this coyote sunnying itself near the Golden Gate in San Francisco!

I hope animals enjoy their new-found if short-lived freedom to roam.

Have you seen new wildlife readers?

ABANDONED HOUSE RAIDING: WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF IT?

I'm not entirely sure what to make of abandoned house visits. 

It's probably an ancient human calling and has been going on for centuries I bet.

It seems like trespassing though.

I am nevertheless fascinated by it which is odd.

I've even reported on an abandoned home near Moonbase - the Doctor's House, but the backstory was really quite tragic, as no doubt many of these places are.

Here's a clip of some young people on You Tube walking through an abandoned house full of old books and board games. What do you make of this pastime readers?