After our legendary Gary winning streak, the only thing left we were looking for was a school. We tried a few on the east side on the first day, but not with very much luck. It seemed like the boarding crew were there not too long ago, and the only people in since were climbers who made entrances that would probably last a while, but also excluded less athletic explorers. We did some research into why the schools might be so tough, and found that the district and state still somewhat maintain them, even though almost half the schools in Gary were abandoned… the difference is clear between these and the city’s degree of wanton neglect, and strategy of waiting for buildings to fall in on themselves instead of securing or demolishing them. So we decided to try the one that UER had plastered all over the internet last month, and found just what we didn’t want to see: brand new boards, and a mildly suspicious cop making the rounds waiting for us to try to break something.
The last school on our list, in a desolate south side neighborhood, finally gave us what we were looking for: a wide open front door swinging in the snow. Of course we went in…
Judging by the computers, it looks like this place closed around 2000 or so… or maybe later considering how much schools invest into technology just as it’s going obsolete.
And around that corner, after exploring just part of one wing, we were surrounded by the sweet sound of success:
WEE-OOOH-WEE-OOOH-WEE-OOOH-BE-BE-BE-BE-BEEEEEP-WEE-OOH-WEE-OOOH!!!
Oops.
We went back out to the car to see if anything happened. It really didn’t, maybe 15 minutes later, one of Gary’s laziest drove by slowly and apathetically, ignoring the open door and still blaring alarm, and that was it.
We probably should have gone in, but we decided to just go home, maybe it wasn’t our day. Not that we cared when we got into 17 places, and only failed at two, both schools… that’s better than we could do probably anywhere else, even Detroit. I’m not sure if or when I’d make it back here, but I really want to!