Tips for Exploring Abandoned Buildings (Livonia, Wayne: how much, houses, transfer)

[jonnynonos]

I'm sure everyone knows about it but if you're interested in this stuff, "Detroityes.com" (formerly ruinsofdetroit) is a great resource.

[detwahDJ]

Be very cautious. I did this in Berlin when some bldgs were not fully restored. You might descend a staircase which suddenly ends - not easy to see in the dark (you could end up like Gandalf in Fellowship Of The Ring).
Some of these buildings were former bomb shelters, and the graffiti was of course very interesting.

[LivoniaMi]

Best tip is don't do it. Potential for injury, and if the place isn't yours you're trespassing and subject to arrest.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

You are probably talking about the Northville Tunnels on Sheldon/Center, between Ply. and Northville. Used to be completely rural. It was actually a series of about 50 buildings scattered on either side of the road in the woods and had started off as the psychiatric facility for Wayne County 100 years ago, etc., became a tuberculosis hospital and finally in the 50s-70s a youth reformatory.

The most interesting thing about it is that all, or a large portion, of the buildings were connected by tunnel. Kids used to go down there all the time.

Well, the dumb ones anyway. The riskiest thing we ever did was go into the old abandoned theater and smoke cigarettes.

All torn down now for new subdivisions.

However, there was no prison near there.

You may be talking about another tuberculosis/psychiatric facility, which was where Mayberry State Park is now, which is down N. Territorial from a prison. (Although timing may be off.)

There was an abandoned 'more modern' hospital on the corner of Sheldon and 5 Mile that was built after the tunnels, everyone just thought of it as the tunnels.

Finally, there is a now-abandoned youth reformatory called the Hawthorne Center down 7 Mile that I believe is next o another abandoned hospital of some sort.

there was a fully operational prison with a sherriff's department in the front but not connectd tot he prison. There as a field or something between them. the psych prison was around the corner from the sherriffs dperatment. We went down a dirt track through a field in behind the prison and parked then walked about a mile and came in behind the psych prison. You could access it directly off the road from the front, but of course we did not want our cars parked there. You could see the sherrifs station form the psych prison. It was a rural area. Lots of open fields.

Maybury was already a park (we used to go into the tunnels there). Maybury is at Eight mile and Beck roads. Are walking about the same park? Maybury was a former sanitorim that became a state park, but it is not on North territorial.

Thepsych hospital in Northville was still operating. This place was a prison not a hospital. Cells with bars, a room with shackles, solitary rooms, etc. It was not real big. You could explore the whole place in about an hour or two. We never found any tunnels, but there were rooms we could not get into. I do nto recall any other buildings around there, just the prison, sherrifs station and psych prison. I think there may have been a golf course accross the street from the shrriffs station. There was a fence around it an a guard tower that you could not get into. The fence was falling apart. That is abot all I can remember. Ring any bells?

[jonnynonos]

Sorry, not N. Territorial, Beck.

No idea. The only prison I know of was the one on Beck Rd which closed a few years ago and wasn't that old. Maybe there was an older prison around there before that. I just did a quick search and the tunnels were completely abandoned by the 70s, and no mention of it ever being used for a prison.

The tunnels were down Sheldon/Center, anyway, and surrounded by woods, not fields. You could generally not see one building from another, though if you kept walking you would walk into one.

The psych hospital at Sheldon and 5 Mile closed in the 90s.

[robin687]

Interesting responses. I have no intentions of taking anything. I will be taking my dslr along and that is the primary point of my explorations. I am fascinated with the decay and try to see it for what it once was. I only want to see it, will certainly use common sense and stay away from anyone I may come across. Good to know about things like dead bodies... although I think that I would keep my composure well

What are the odds of seeing crime happen? I don't want to venture too far away from downtown/midtown buildings just yet as I don't know the area all too well yet.

[jonnynonos]

It sounds like you are still going to do this and you have not mentioned bringing a pal--which is insane. Regarding your questions, I don't think it takes a genius to figure out the dangers of walking around an abandoned structure by yourself in one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country.

What are the odds of seeing crime happen? Probably not very good, in reality.

There is probably a far greater chance of you, as has been mentioned, falling down an elevator shaft.

The problem with running into someone with bad intentions with a gun, etc., is that, yes, the odds are probably stacked in the thousands-to-one that it will not happen. But if it does happen, you are completely s*****d.

However it if's worth it to you to be the 10,000th person to take pictures of the train station, go for it.

[zthatzmanz28]

Originally Posted by robin687

Interesting responses. I have no intentions of taking anything. I will be taking my dslr along and that is the primary point of my explorations. I am fascinated with the decay and try to see it for what it once was. I only want to see it, will certainly use common sense and stay away from anyone I may come across. Good to know about things like dead bodies... although I think that I would keep my composure well

What are the odds of seeing crime happen? I don't want to venture too far away from downtown/midtown buildings just yet as I don't know the area all too well yet.

I am thinking the odds are 3:2 of seeing a crime or exposing yourself to a crime--especially if you are alone.
When I was doing it in 1998, there were always 6-7 of us traveling in 2-3 vehicles. We had black T-shirts with HUGE white initials on the back and most people thought we were law enforcement doing an investigation with all our gear. We stayed out of the train station and other buildings that might be housing homeless or being used as crack HQ.
Once we scared the be-jesus out of 2-3 crack heads when we all entered a house at the end of Belmont Street in Arden Park. Either they didn't have guns or were convinced we were law enforcement when they hear all our voices and someone in the group shouted police...

[Retroit]

Wear clean underwear.

(The least you can do is be courteous to the coroner.)

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

You are probably talking about the Northville Tunnels on Sheldon/Center, between Ply. and Northville. Used to be completely rural. It was actually a series of about 50 buildings scattered on either side of the road in the woods and had started off as the psychiatric facility for Wayne County 100 years ago, etc., became a tuberculosis hospital and finally in the 50s-70s a youth reformatory.

The most interesting thing about it is that all, or a large portion, of the buildings were connected by tunnel. Kids used to go down there all the time.

Well, the dumb ones anyway. The riskiest thing we ever did was go into the old abandoned theater and smoke cigarettes.

All torn down now for new subdivisions.

However, there was no prison near there.

You may be talking about another tuberculosis/psychiatric facility, which was where Mayberry State Park is now, which is down N. Territorial from a prison. (Although timing may be off.)

There was an abandoned 'more modern' hospital on the corner of Sheldon and 5 Mile that was built after the tunnels, everyone just thought of it as the tunnels.

Finally, there is a now-abandoned youth reformatory called the Hawthorne Center down 7 Mile that I believe is next o another abandoned hospital of some sort.

We used to explore the Sheldon Center at 5 and Sheldon when we were were high school kids back in the late 90s. We would park at the strip mall at the corner and then walk across the street and duck in on the west side of Sheldon. This side was a series of abandoned buildings that used to be schools for mentally handicapped children. These were all connected to the tunnels. Across the street was the Sheldon Center (it had a sign out front) which was the more modern hospital. We used to go there at night when we REALLY wanted to terrify ourselves.

North of that were all of the abandoned buildings from the 50s. The only remnanat left is the psychiatric hospital on 7 Mile across from Rocky's that was the centerpiece of the Livonia/Northville annexation battle. I have heard that there are still lots of files, beds and other crazy stuff there. If I were younger and much dumber I might consider checking it out, though the Northville police are tired of busting people there and will really throw the book at you if they catch you trespassing there.

We got caught by the Northville police back in the day trespassing and I'll never forget it. The cop told us "You stay out of there. You don't belong here. Now go on and get your @ss out of town!" I always think about that when I drive by the million dollar homes that sit on those properties now. It used to be such a one-horse town!