This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed – Page 38 – Explorations and Adventures?

Diabolus in Musica

Post author:Concrete
Post published:March 26, 2009
Post category:Religious Rochester Underground
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In that soggy mess that wished desperately to be the first day of spring, a grey stone church loomed enormous in the mist over endless rows of graves. It was just like Zoë dreamed of, shrouded in bespoke fog. She had spring break, I had four classes I was more than ready to skip. Only one thing could spoil the setting for a perfect explore: a locked door. More about that later... first we had a wide open church to see! A congregation of pigeons formed the only flock remaining in the moldering pews, their flapping wings the only approximation…

Drainwhale Hunting

Post author:Concrete
Post published:March 12, 2009
Post category:Rochester Underground
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Everyone has that time they think they know it all. These last few days have been mine, looking for the whale of all drains, the deep, giant tunnels of mythic proportions. UER can be a very intimidating place for those it takes in as its own... and I wasn't doing so well at it yet. I thought I might be able to get a few friends together, find ALL the drains, without even a car, and be that underdog story they hoped for. We found drains... tiny, useless drains, long unclimbable drains, drains that brought out the inner DiCaprio --…

Burnination!

Post author:Concrete
Post published:February 15, 2009
Post category:Industrial Rochester
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Another outing with the UER group... wasn't much of a story to it, just going out and exploring the old Fall Street incinerator site. Karl, Brendan, Andrew and (somebody) at the inevitable Failboat Burn all images: destroy epitaphs! The scariest stairs, at least back then Mind the gap! The rest of the shit photos I took are here...

Groundhog Day

Post author:Concrete
Post published:February 1, 2009
Post category:Rochester Underground
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Groundhog Day holds a special significance to Rochester explorers. It's always been a day to go down to the subway, check out the latest graffiti, and gorge yourself on Dinosaur BBQ afterwards, taking the place over with 50 rowdy people covered in tunnel dust. This year's event was no exception... a few of my favorite graffitis of the year: When the revolution comes, will your bicycle be ready? This one goes out to all the engineers! Don't click here to avoid some terrible photos of the Rochester subway!

Enter The Whale

Post author:Concrete
Post published:January 16, 2009
Post category:Rochester Underground
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I never did know quite what to think of meeting people from the Internet, least of all to go exploring in some unknown, supposedly dangerous location. Some combination of sanity and remnants of my parents' sheltering brainwash kept me reading the forums on UER for years before I dared post, let alone go to a meetup with the friendly local serial-trespassers. I'm not sure why I picked this day of any. Nothing about it screamed "exploring": it was about -5 degrees, and I was dragging around yet another pounding Chi Phi hangover. As soon as I met these people, one…

American Laundry Machinery

Post author:Concrete
Post published:November 16, 2008
Post category:Industrial Rochester
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American Laundry Machinery was one of the first inventors of washing machines small and affordable enough for home use. After being commandeered to make military optics in World War II, the company's operations never fully recovered in Rochester, and the buildings were split up to an assortment of other business, with the power plant and warehouse left to rot. We got permission to see the factory floors, which are now used for storage. No one could explain why this was here. Each of these stacks is 1440 empty Mike's Hard bottles. Classic or dinosaur? How about old green-screen terminal? Full…