Haunted/Abandoned Buildings
 

Hi!

Visiting Europe in November and was wondering if there are any known haunted or abandoned buildings (that you can enter quietly) around these capital cities we are going to. It's not a huge priority so we don't want to have to try catch trains and busses for 3 hours to get anywhere however it is a bucket list cross off to visit somewhere like this.

The cities we are visiting are;
London
Paris (keen on the catacombs but wanting more of a private, squeeze through open door experience)
Amsterdam
Berlin (looking at spreepark however been reading that theres more guards on duty lately, is anyone able to confirm?)
Prague
Krakow
Budapest
Vienna
Munich
Venice
Rome


Please don't criticise if you don't approve of this, just ignore the thread :)

Thanks in advance!

Abandoned buildings that you can enter quietly are often squatted. I tell my children to avoid those. You may encounter people you don't want to in such buildings.

Hadn't considered that, may be a bit of a problem now haha. Thanks for the heads up.


Does anyone know much about entering the abandoned military hospital in Beelitz, Germany?

It caught my eye in an article but not sure if similar situation with squatters or if access is possible.

IME truly derelict/abandoned buildings are fenced off awaiting redevelopment.

Stick to the Catacombs . . .

You might want to check out the websites for alternative tours. Berlin has one. Prague has "homeless" tours that include alternative sites. You may get some ideas from their websites.

Is this just curiosity or are you interested in Psycho-geography? Maybe if you google Psychco-geography for each of your destinations, you may have more luck.

BTW, this may be of interest to you although it's UK orientated:

http://www.milliondollaryack.com/Gho...dings-project/

Here is a website for Germany:

http://www.arcanumurbex.de/

and:

arcanumphoto.blogspot.de

Be aware that visiting abandoned buildinsg is usually illegal and often dangerous.

Don't be sure if it's a good idea to pursue illegal activities when travelling another country. (I would not suggest doing illegal things in you home country, but at least you have your lawyers there and know the language and the legal system and the rules of life in jail.)

Click on my ID and you will see a recent TR to Berlin. This has some info about Spreepark which might consolidate your plans one way or the other.

Beelitz-Heilstätten, the (semi-) abandoned hospital complex has no squatters as it's too far from Berlin or any other major town.
You find infos on this abandoned place as well as on other in and around Berlin here:
http://www.abandonedberlin.com/
The "in" places are usually well frequented, so don't expect to be on an Indiana Jones style mission all on your own ;-)
And yes, you can hurt yourself seriously in most of these places.

Entering abandoned buildings would likely be illegal and very probably unsafe (unless you mean a ruined building - of which there are abbeys and castles all over - but you have to pay to get in and often take a tour).

I won't comment on the haunted part - since I have no idea what to say.

There is a ghost walk tour you can do in Paris. I did it once and while the guide was entertaining and knowledgeable the whole tour was pretty much about weird murders and stuff. In fact, there was only one real ghost story and it involved the Théâtre du Châtelet. As it so happens I work at a bar nearby this theater and we have several customers who work at the theater as our regular customers. I asked them if they've ever seen the supposed ghost in the theater and they have not. The French are not much into ghosts and superstition but England seems to be pretty ripe with the supernatural. Apparently none of their ghosts have migrated across the channel to France.

I don't know about the "haunted" part, but if bunkers count as "abandoned buildings," there are many you can explore along the Iron Curtain Trail between Austria, CZ, Slovakia and Hungary. Though most are only accessible via bicycle or on foot, we have been able to reach a few by car (though, I haven't gone inside any of them.)

As someone above commented, there are plenty of ruined castles to explore; some require a tour, others are just waiting to be visited.

Ernest Sebastien is a photographer who has spent several years roaming Europe's abandoned homes; his photos are magnificent. http://www.spiritofdecay.com

UrbEx is very likely illegal. That being said, if you really want to do it then contact some area folks that UrbEx and see if they are willing to let you tag a long.

BTW, a much better forum to ask this on would be 4chan /trv/ or /p/ as I see the topic come up from time to time there.

I do enjoy the occasional UrbEx excursion. Whatever you do, stay safe and keep your wits about you.

Thanks for all your replies!

It is more of a curiosity thing as to why we want to do it.

Thanks for the links also, if we do decide on somewhere I imagine we will do a bit of research and make sure the building isn't unstable/collapsing and hopefully find enough on visits to make sure it's not too unsafe.

Will have more of a look into castles too.

Bunkers do sound fascinating so going to look into those as well.

Thanks again

Um, if a building is abandoned how can you find out if it's safe - no one will know since it has not been inspected for safety violation - unless you mean something different by abandoned.