Demolition School

The night before, a family friend informed us of a school being torn down. Having taught at the school previously, he visited the demolition site a few days prior to take some bricks as mementos. He walked away with a few words exchanged between him and some of the workers, so we figured we'd have a pretty good chance of getting in as well.

We walked around the perimeter, noting the demolition workers on rooftops and the lack of movement from bulldozers, as well as something we had never seen whilst exploring: an auditorium.

A large metal fence surrounded the property to deter people from entering, but a single gate in the front had not been closed- creating a perfect opportunity for us to explore.

Trying to stay as far away from the crane as possible, we journeyed to the back of the school. While I'm usually the more adventurous one, this time my stomach jumped from thoughts of the dangers we might encounter: floors collapsing under our feet; having to run from bulldozers eating away at the building; getting trapped under rubble. But The Unknown Cameraman pressed on, so I figured if he was up for it, then I should be, too.

We climbed the debris up into what remained of a girls' bathroom and through a hallway stripped of its wire. With landscapers and a demolition crew scattered around the property, staying invisible wasn't a possibility, so we hurried to find the auditorium before the inevitable happened.

Despite the demolition that had already taken place, along with a fire that had occurred in this room just a few months prior, the site before our eyes was incredibly beautiful. A small flag shoved in a door behind us waved in the wind, eerily casting life on a desolate room once filled with the voices of children.

Another hallway appeared just as battered as the first. Many rooms were missing walls, making our presence obvious to those below.
Every once in awhile, we could hear men shouting. Looking back, their anger was more than likely directed at us but we didn't stop long enough to confirm it.
Further exploration lead us to a brightly colored library decorated with letters, fictional characters, and signs that gave this area quite an ironic tone. At one point, a few construction workers walked down the hallway while we ducked behind a wall. We stood silent and somewhat hidden. Surprisingly, they left without seeing us.

After descending the stairs next to the library, we discovered a safe entrance to the bottom of the auditorium. The stage was covered in broken pieces of cement, brick, and wood, but beside the chaos lay tickets from past performances. From here, I could envision what the young actors once witnessed from their platform, but now stood in a state of disrepair.
  

A few toys that were probably from the school's store stood out against the monotone hallway we traveled through. Obviously, we had not been the first to find them.

As I took a few final pictures of this part of the building, I noticed one of the landscapers holler, "There they are!" and point directly at us. 

"He saw us," I said to The Unknown Cameraman who had been facing the other direction.
"Do you think we should leave?" he asked calmly.
"Yeah, probably a good idea."
Right as we began walking out, a new, commanding voice yelled up to us, "What do you think you're doing?! Get out of there!"  My partner and I turned around to reveal ourselves to a police officer standing outside. So much having a clean record.
"Go that way!" he yelled, pointing to his right. We popped the memory cards out of our cameras, stuffed them in our pockets, and tried to find an exit in the direction he had pointed. The Unknown Cameraman found a door at the bottom of a flight of stairs and pushed it hard, forcing it to open while rubble rained down on our heads. Ironically, this was much more dangerous than the way we had entered.


"What were you doing in there?!" the officer demanded as we stepped over small piles of brick. "Get over that fence!" He gestured to another officer standing on the opposite side. The Unknown Cameraman handed him his camera and bag in good faith; I held on tightly to mine.
Luckily, the other cop was much more friendly. "We thought you were scrappers," he said. After explaining to him that our interest was in taking pictures and video for historical preservation, he seemed intrigued.  As we walked over to the car to get our IDs, the officer looked at the gate surrounding the school, "Well, there aren't any 'No Trespassing' signs, so if we did fine you, you would probably win in court." 

While writing down our information, both of the officers named several other vacant buildings and asked if we had been to any of them. Believe it or not, they even told us what streets some of them were on. "But get permission first," one noted.
We drove home laughing at the strangeness of the situation we had put ourselves in. Lucky for us, our adventure left us unharmed with no fines to pay and our records unscathed. Next time, though, I'm trusting my gut.

The Unknown Cameraman

Undercover Fox