The Clem Diaries

We took a trip to the abandoned turnpike at the beginning of the year.  It's a 13 mile stretch of closed down highway that has three abandoned tunnels.  We only went through the first tunnel because we got there late in the day and quickly lost sunlight.  The tunnel is about a mile long, and it is incredibly creepy being in the middle of it.  It's pitch black and you can barely see anything.  Walking through it with flashlights and viewing all of the graffiti on the walls - some of which is beyond creepy.  It was definetley an interesting experience. The tunnel itself wasn't the greatest, but above the tunnels are old rooms filled with these huge turbines for ventilation.  It was incredible to see from the outside, I peeked through the window and was amazed.  We ended up finding a way in to the top and there were a couple different rooms, one that led to this huge room that is basically an attic the entire l...

Compared to the prior two places I've posted about, the prison isn't the most exciting.  It is in the best condition, trash and graffiti wise, than other abandoned places I've visited it, especially since it's been empty since 1979.  But it is also a lot more difficult to get in to than any other place I've been to. We couldn't manage to get in to the basement, and the rest of the floors are all laid out pretty similar.  The top floor is a big room that has this freestanding ladder that leads to the top of the building.  Unsurprisingly, I do not have the balls to climb on top of an abandoned prison.

In the sprawling hills of Eastern Pennsylvania, the Poconos Mountains were once dubbed the "Honeymoon Capital of The World" - the area was, and still is littered with tons of hotels, casinos, and lodging.  One of the most popular ones - Penn Hills resort, has sat abandoned since it closed in 2009. In it's heyday, the 1960's and 1970's, Penn Hills was an extremely popular place for newlyweds and swingers.  There was an indoor skating rink, a tennis court, ski slopes, a night club, an archery range - tons of things that made Penn Hills the resort to go to decades ago.  Over 100 rooms, on 500 acres of land - they would boast about hosting 1,000 people a night and requiring months notice to book a room. Going to Forest Haven made me feel this deep sadness for everything that the people who lived there went through.  My trip to Penn Hills also left me feeling sad, but more so sad and upset with people.  It was by far the most trashed pla...