Abandoned Planet

Hiking in Hicksville

Being a small town, the place was not difficult to find. There are only two roads of any significance in the town, and when driving down one of them, you can't miss the buildings. We heard from another explorer the best place to park was across the road in a group of abandoned houses. I thought I was being sneaky, going to the end of the road then hiding my car behind a house. The theory was that if police were to do a drive-by, it would be quick and they'd just drive down the road. They wouldn't see my car hidden in the brush.

Walking back across the street we were being careful. In such a small town, traffic was scarce, so any car we heard we were worried about and ducked out of sight. This is a significant change of pace from our usual "saunter-in-and-ignore-all-the-people-looking-and-pointing-at-us-as-we-cross-the-fence" attitude. Of course, I was having reservations about that attitude after it got us ratted out to the cops in Detroit. In any event, we were much more careful than usual. It didn't take us long to find an entrance when I stumbled across an open window.

Boffo and I immediately pulled our cameras out and started taking pictures. We weren't used to seeing decay without it being horribly damaged by vandals. It was truly a beautiful sight. Skold quickly got bored of our slow movement as we set up shots and wandered off somewhere. For a while, this turned out to be a frequent occurance. I really never had any idea where she went, and considering the size of the place, I was always certain that we wouldn't find her until we met up at the car, but somehow we always managed to run into each other eventually.

While in the first building, I looked out a window in the stairwell. I saw the building that was the main one we came to see, the dining hall with it's breathtaking oculus, and pointed it out to Boffo. It was definitely our next stop.

Somehow finding Skold, we decided to go see if the buildings were connected by steam tunnels, as was the rumour. Regretably, we found nothing and had to go back outside to get into the main part of the complex. The quick walk was not difficult, an an open door greeted us beside the dining hall. It led into the kitchen.

"Must... see... oculus." I said. I could come back and see the kitchen later, which I subsequently learned was considered ridiculously state-of-the-art for its time, but I couldn't wait to see this thing.

I stepped into the room and looked up. It was just as beautiful as in pictures I've seen, if not more so. I'm incredibly impressed it's still in tact, as signs of other people being in the building (beer cans, some minor graffiti) would indicate that it's chances of survival are slim, as sooner or later, some jackass is going to come smash it. I'd just like to note that if I find out that it happens and who did it, I will personally come to your house with a rusty and dull hunting knife, and slowly saw into each one of your testicles. And just for good measure, I'd break your window on the way out. God, I hate vandals.

Once we got past the awesomeness that was the dining hall, we started checking out the main building, where the patients resided. We found the auditorium, which still had lights backstage. To my dismay, we never did find the morgue. We figured there had to be one. If psychiatric hospitals all have one, surely a tuberculosis hospital must have one as well. We thought we were close in an area of the basement with many freezer doors, but we found none of the "morgue drawers" that are always the ultimate goal of exploring the basements of these places.

Interesting to note about the buildings is it seemed to be connected in three parts. The middle part, which was in exceptional condition, was to be used by staff only. Signs on doors clearly told us this. Well... it told us that it was for authorized persons only, and since Ninjalicious authorized us, we had no moral qualms looking around. The outer wings, presumably divided by gender, were in much worse shape, and curiously, even if they had not succumb to so much water damage, they seemed like they would always have been in worse shape. Exposed pipes with no ceiling wasn't uncommon, and it seemed all the parts one would assume were off access to anyone but the staff were actually the parts the patients were allowed to be in.

We spent hours in this building, noting the view was one of the best we'd seen. We wanted to get a picture, but the balconies all had fencing on them prohibiting a good photo, and getting on the roof was just asking to be spotted. Though the only sign of life we'd seen since entering the building was a deer crossing the old parking lot, we continued to be careful. I later found out that Perrysburg is actually one of the highest points in New York State, and it was selected as the location for this hospital with it's magnificent view as one of the primary reasons.

	Page 2 of 4
	Hiking in Hicksville Being a small town, the place was not difficult to find. There are only two roads of any significance in the town, and when driving down one of them, you can't miss the buildings. We heard from another explorer the best place to park was across the road in a group of abandoned houses. I thought I was being sneaky, going to the end of the road then hiding my car behind a house. The theory was that if police were to do a drive-by, it would be quick and they'd just drive down the road. They wouldn't see my car hidden in the brush. Walking back across the street we were being careful. In such a small town, traffic was scarce, so any car we heard we were worried about and ducked out of sight. This is a significant change of pace from our usual "saunter-in-and-ignore-all-the-people-looking-and-pointing-at-us-as-we-cross-the-fence" attitude. Of course, I was having reservations about that attitude after it got us ratted out to the cops in Detroit. In any event, we were much more careful than usual. It didn't take us long to find an entrance when I stumbled across an open window. Boffo and I immediately pulled our cameras out and started taking pictures. We weren't used to seeing decay without it being horribly damaged by vandals. It was truly a beautiful sight. Skold quickly got bored of our slow movement as we set up shots and wandered off somewhere. For a while, this turned out to be a frequent occurance. I really never had any idea where she went, and considering the size of the place, I was always certain that we wouldn't find her until we met up at the car, but somehow we always managed to run into each other eventually. While in the first building, I looked out a window in the stairwell. I saw the building that was the main one we came to see, the dining hall with it's breathtaking oculus, and pointed it out to Boffo. It was definitely our next stop. Somehow finding Skold, we decided to go see if the buildings were connected by steam tunnels, as was the rumour. Regretably, we found nothing and had to go back outside to get into the main part of the complex. The quick walk was not difficult, an an open door greeted us beside the dining hall. It led into the kitchen. "Must... see... oculus." I said. I could come back and see the kitchen later, which I subsequently learned was considered ridiculously state-of-the-art for its time, but I couldn't wait to see this thing. I stepped into the room and looked up. It was just as beautiful as in pictures I've seen, if not more so. I'm incredibly impressed it's still in tact, as signs of other people being in the building (beer cans, some minor graffiti) would indicate that it's chances of survival are slim, as sooner or later, some jackass is going to come smash it. I'd just like to note that if I find out that it happens and who did it, I will personally come to your house with a rusty and dull hunting knife, and slowly saw into each one of your testicles. And just for good measure, I'd break your window on the way out. God, I hate vandals. Once we got past the awesomeness that was the dining hall, we started checking out the main building, where the patients resided. We found the auditorium, which still had lights backstage. To my dismay, we never did find the morgue. We figured there had to be one. If psychiatric hospitals all have one, surely a tuberculosis hospital must have one as well. We thought we were close in an area of the basement with many freezer doors, but we found none of the "morgue drawers" that are always the ultimate goal of exploring the basements of these places. Interesting to note about the buildings is it seemed to be connected in three parts. The middle part, which was in exceptional condition, was to be used by staff only. Signs on doors clearly told us this. Well... it told us that it was for authorized persons only, and since Ninjalicious authorized us, we had no moral qualms looking around. The outer wings, presumably divided by gender, were in much worse shape, and curiously, even if they had not succumb to so much water damage, they seemed like they would always have been in worse shape. Exposed pipes with no ceiling wasn't uncommon, and it seemed all the parts one would assume were off access to anyone but the staff were actually the parts the patients were allowed to be in. We spent hours in this building, noting the view was one of the best we'd seen. We wanted to get a picture, but the balconies all had fencing on them prohibiting a good photo, and getting on the roof was just asking to be spotted. Though the only sign of life we'd seen since entering the building was a deer crossing the old parking lot, we continued to be careful. I later found out that Perrysburg is actually one of the highest points in New York State, and it was selected as the location for this hospital with it's magnificent view as one of the primary reasons.

JN Adam Tuberculosis Sanatorium