Telling the stories of Ontario's forgotten places
Monthly archives: March, 2024
64
Ontario Abandoned Places and Urban Exploration
Creator of Canada's first urbex database and 26 years of exploring.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Hello everyone
A younger version of me would have posted a rundown of the exploring year and some of the highlights. This year however I'm choosing not to do that. As you know I've been pushing my content away from Meta because I disagree with their weak enforcement of community safety. (I recommend everyone install the Fluff Busting Purity browser plugin by the way)
My non urbex-website is generating twice the revenue of the urbex blog so I hold off on posting many of the recent places. (Much of that passive income went to food for the homeless.)
In speaking with several other explorers this year, it seems 2025 was a year that many of us spent less time exploring than normal. Some of the reasons included family commitments, or the loss of a loved one, or just waning interest. I hold the upmost respect for those who put family before exploring in a hobby where live-at-home explorers think exploring is clout.
I focused on trying to find new unseen buildings, and was quite successful in doing so.
2025 threw our family some unexpected curveballs but as the year comes to a close, I'm pleased to say most of those challenges have been resolved.
In 2025 about 90% of the messages I received were asking for whereabouts of my locations. My answer is this...
Sit down for a few hours and Google a township + "environmental impact" + "demolition permit" + "rezoning application" + "developer" and with some time, you will find all of the hot spots.
When a developer wants to demolish a heritage property or a large industrial site, they need to have environmental studies done, permits received, and community input. All of that is available on the internet. It's not as easy as asking, "where is this?" but it does build self-sufficiency.
Wishing you all the best this Christmas. And thank you for continuing to support this project.
/ml
A few of the original finds that I did post on Meta...
www.talkingwallsphoto.com/2 weeks ago6 CommentsComment on Facebook
Every Christmas season I choose to post this particular house. It was shared with me via a resident of Bracebridge. It was an absolute gem, untouched and everything intact. While it was summer, there was a Christmas tree and decorations set up.
Why does this house resonate with me? There are several reasons.
1) It remained perfectly untouched, which is extremely rare. In today's society some measure success by the number of followers they have and how much clout they get from views. This leads to inevitable vandalism. This house had none. It was an incredible feat we were able to keep this house off the proverbial explore radar for years - and we did!
2) It represents life being like an hourglass glued to the table, ready to be cut short any any particular time. Someone had prepared for Christmas, only to either never celebrate it or never to return to take down the decorations.
Every room was left perfectly preserved and this remains on of my top three explores of all time. A companion returned to the house some years later and informed me that the house had been trashed and spray painted. It was only a matter of time before the graffiti idiots found it and do what they do best.
I have a few regrets... one, that I shot in 18-55mm portrait mode (no wide angle lens for me) and that I failed to take video of this explore. I did get video of a return visit but by then it was empty.
There's been some controversy and mixed opinions on what happened to the resident and I've tried to update the blog post as best I can. While people may leave comments indicating they know what happened to the resident, facts speak louder than words.
Each Christmas I remind myself that this could be our last as a family. Aging parents, life getting in the way of things... you know how it goes.
A HUGE shout out to Brianna who shared this with me.
www.talkingwallsphoto.com/abandoned-time-capsule/the-abandoned-ontario-christmas-time-capsule/1 month ago22 CommentsComment on Facebook