I've recently become fascinated with Urbex (Urban Exploration... a.k.a. exploring abandoned homes and businesses, etc.) It is nothing short of amazing to me! There are a number of explorers that do YouTube videos everywhere they go. I love peeking around in homes and sometimes they're totally abandoned with things like photo albums and kids toys, clothing, etc. intact as if someone still lives there, but it's been abandoned for years or decades! It's dangerous at times for a few different reasons (unsafe structure, coming across squatters, drug deals, etc.) and I'm not certain it's ... well, legal exactly but it's becoming very popular and I'm enjoying it. I've always had this dream of being able to explore people's attics that haven't been touched in decades... I guess this just goes along with that interest of mine.
Within the last few months I saw a house up on the hill in our development that looks like it has been vacant for the last 30 or 40 years. It isn't very visible from the road, so it is not surprising I hadn't noticed it before. I don't think I really want to look inside though. My guess is it has been taken over by some kind of varmints. It is lonely and deserted all by itself up there...and Lord knows why it was left there without anybody. Maybe the owners died, or maybe it was un sellable. Anyway, not going to investigate.
But the ATTIC, @K E Gordon , the attic! It may be full of all kinds of wonderful treasures from a much better era. Uh... or bats. There's always that.
It sounds like fun, I love to explore and go through other peoples stuff, junk, treasures...just not my own. I would never buy antiques but I always enjoyed going through the stores and just looking through old postcards. Love looking at old pictures, etc. wondering about the lives of the people. Where I live there really isn't the opportunity unless I go to some seedier neighborhoods and I'm too chicken for that. The reason I said that I wouldn't buy antiques is because I won't buy anything anymore, don't need it. Not because I dislike them.
This urbex is new to me but I guess people here will be catching up with that. However, with the suspicion of burglary, I don't think that adventure will prosper. Even abandoned houses here are not easy to explore because you may need a permit especially if the house is inside a village. There is one investigative journalist who had done that. I had seen a portion of his documentary where he explored the so called depressed areas to see how the squatters live. Especially the shanties by the estero (small waterway) tv viewers may be wondering how those people live with no water and no toilet and bathroom. Do they take a bath? Some said yes and some said no. But I don't think that kind of urbex is appealing.
When I was still prowling the back roads pheasant hunting, I came across a strange house. Actually, it looked like two identical 2 story wood houses sitting side by side with a short covered wood hallway connecting them. The houses were vacant. Over on the next road a friend lived. I asked him about the house. He said there was one house on the site originally. The family that owned the farm found another house nearly identical that was for sale. They bought it and moved it next to the other house. The family was a large one and made good use of both houses. Later, they sold their farm to my friend's brother. He boarded up the houses and left them. I don't know if they are still standing or not. That's my vacant house story. P.S. When I was on the prowl I took photos of any old derelict houses and barns I found. Got 'em all here somewhere.
Here is a link to someone in the UK, Abandoned World Explorer, who does Urban Exploring around the islands and Europe with s few stops in Japan, too. Castles, Mansions, Chateaus, farm house, middle class, churches, he does them all and his friends do tunnels, the UK Area 51, et ak. He posts his videos on YouTube on his channel. The amount of antiques, art and personal items simply left behind is amazing. Many look as if the people just disappeared, others look as if they left in a hurry to avoid the law. Check him out!