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Gary Church Revisited

Kyle — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:15:43 +0000

Here's a few more. I've been busy at the paper with all of the floods going on in the area, but in my downtime I managed to stop by my old favorite to take a few shots.
In the rain, the church takes on a whole new mood. Water floods in from the ceiling and collects on the floor of the once great church. The brickwork is exposed where the water hits, dirt washed away. Water runs down the limestone pillars. It was absolutely beautiful.

I climbed up into the church bell tower in order to get a shot from above. I knew that I probably wouldn't be in the area next time it was raining so hard so I figured I'd capture the moment.

Cold water hitting warm glass caused my lens to fog up a bit. I took advantage of this situation and shot a few more before I left.

Finally, the result of exploring a very wet abandoned church:

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Abandoned Church Exploration pt.2

Kyle — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:31:33 +0000

I loved the place so much that I went back again. Unfortunately, it took me forever to write about it, so I might be a bit fuzzy on the details. More exploration to come! Here are some photos of the abandoned church, as well as explanation.

The rooms in the church show so much decay, it's incredible. This particular room was part of the "school" section of the building. The ceiling had fallen in and there was a single chair left. Further in, evidence of looters. The ceilings were torn out and stripped of all valuable materials.

I climbed to the top of the church as high as I could go and came upon a pile of cinderblocks against the wall. Luckily, they had been securely placed (or frozen), so they held my weight without collapsing. I lifted myself up through a hole in the roof onto a rusty old catwalk and found myself at the top of the steeple in the main sanctuary area (more photos of that on the post before this one). It was pretty high up and I was nervous, so I got down there pretty quickly. For good measure, Elise took a photo of me from the bottom. You can see my face in the center of the photo to the right.

Some of the rooms had some pretty interesting graffiti in them.

The floors in some of the rooms were completely covered in a layer of ice. Others were covered ankle deep with clothes and toys.

Finally, we ventured down into the basement. We hadn't thought of bringing flashlights, so we were navigating using the light of our cell phones. It was an ominous place. I found a piano from the 1800's, but couldn't get a shot of it due to the poor lighting. I was able to get a quick shot of a hole in the ceiling and a blindingly lit opening created by what seems to be someone pounding away at the bricks.

The last place we visited seemed to be where the fire started - an abandoned bookstore in the storefront area of the church. There were so many neat things there. We found a poster announcing the original release of Stephen King's "Carrie" as well as a giant poster of "The Fonz" and a Mork and Mindy book. I also found a stack of resumes from the 70's. I might post them - important information blanked out - in the future.

More exploration to come.

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Ruins of an abandoned church – Gary, Indiana

Kyle — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:53:36 +0000

CMC was shut down in the 70's due to a lack of attendance and suffered a fire in '97 (thanks to Corby for the correction!). To this day, stands in the streets of Gary, Indiana as a relic of the past - the vast sanctuary, shadowy hallways, and decaying innards a testament to the ravages of time.

After about three minutes of driving around a bit aimlessly, I saw a spire above a few old looking buildings about a street away from me. I navigated my way over and found myself at the base of one of the biggest and most beautiful abandoned buildings that I'd ever seen. The second I ducked into a side door, I knew that I'd found it. To the left, a stage littered with all sorts of clothing and wreckage. To the right, a small room leading into a huge sanctuary.

I left after snapping a few photos and returned later with Elise. Here are the results:

I plan on getting back there as soon as possible to take more photos - we had to give up eventually because the sun was quickly fading and our fingers were completely numb from the cold. I plan on exploring more of Gary with my camera soon in the future, as well as the surrounding areas.

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