Abandoned Photography

Chateau De Bambi

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Chateau De Bambi was beautiful! Unfortunately we ran in and had to pretty much run right back out – it sucked. We circled the perimeter and decided to just ‘go for it’! So we literally parked the car on the side of a dirt road – in the mud, threw on our camera backpacks, turned on the GoPro’s and scurried as fast as we could through the gate and down a dirt road. All the time, looking back for someone coming to scold us.

It was just creepy… you could tell the grounds had been/was used for paintballing and who knew if today was a day when they would be there. But we continued on. Continuously looking over our shoulders.

We finally reach the main stairs and doorway (which is wide open, but sprawling with “do not enter” caution tape. Needless to say, we lifted the tape and continued inside 🙂 We didn’t feel comfortable (at all) at this particular location, so we had decided to hurry through it, snapping as many pics as possible. About 7 minutes in, we hear SIRENS!! I run out of the upstairs room I’m in, to make eye contact with the hubby, who’s eyes are about as wide as mine – with worry lol. We decided to haul a** back down the stairs and scurry outside, to see if the car is even still there, and/or who or what authorities might be waiting for us.

Luckily, when we got to the car, it was right as rain and no one was in sight. YAY! But awwww, we could have spent more time in there, darn!! Oh well…it was an adventure to say the least. Here are a few (and I mean few lol) pics that I got from this beautiful chateau.

Crime Lab / Elementary School

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STATUS: Demolished (2017)

The former Stephen Foster Elementary School ceased to be used as a school in 1987 and was re-purposed as the City of Detroit Police Department Crime Lab. It was also home to the DPD’s Tactical Services Section, including special units like the Bomb Squad, SWAT, Sharpshooter unit, etc.

The infamous Detroit Police Department Crime Lab was shut down in 2008 after it was found routinely committing “serious errors” caused in part by “the deplorable conditions of the facility”. An audit, conducted by the State Police, uncovered serious errors in numerous cases and a 10% error rate was found in firearms analysis. The audit said sloppy work had probably resulted in wrongful convictions, and officials expect a wave of appeals in cases that the laboratory processed. Upon its closure, evidence from approximately 10,000 unprocessed rape kits were discovered in the lab, dating back nearly twenty years.

The auditors said that officers at the laboratory often cut corners and that in many instances “an assumption was made to the entirety of all items based on the analysis of only a few.” Technical reviews of the work were “almost nonexistent,” they wrote. Factors that contributed to the problems, they said, were a heavy workload, a lack of training and “the deplorable conditions of the facility.”

The Detroit Free Press reported that evidence, thousands of rounds of live ammunition, blood samples, sealed evidence kits and case files (some containing Social Security numbers of rape and assault victims) lay amid rubble in the abandoned crime lab that was open to trespass.

Kronk Gym

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Kronk Community Center was closed for good in 2006, after thieves invaded one night and ripped out the copper water pipes. Within weeks, the city’s underfunded recreation department deemed repairs prohibitively expensive and closed the internationally revered building.

Kronk became famous for one reason: In its basement was one of the finest boxing gyms ever created. Producing several world champions, with Thomas Hearns being the best-known. The old palace sits exposed to the elements. Over ten years have passed – exterior doors have been removed and the interior walls are crumbling. Many believe that it should be on the National Register of Historic Places but there isn’t anything left to preserve and honor, just missing and boarded-up windows, and graffiti-covered brick. You never would know that kings were made here.

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