Any old UO lurkers?

Submitted by Jimithyashford t3_1051hg9 in springfieldMO

If you know you know. I was pretty involved back in the day, not at in person meetups, but I was active on the forums and did a TON of urbex. Last time I checked it looked like the forum was actually gone and dead, which I will admit made me a bit sad and nostalgic.

Jordan Creek Tunnel, Acid Tunnel, Winoka, and Albino Farm were probably my favorite local sites. A little further afield were things like Dogpatch or Woodlock Cemetary or the Cherryville Highschool or Spook Hollow and Goatman's grave.

I still do a lot of exploration to this day, but my interest has shifted from just any old abandonment to a greater focus on older historic locations and metal detecting. But I still feel the urge to this day to poke around inside every time I drive past an old abandoned building.

I have a little gift for anyone interested in some Urbex, I had no idea this place even existed back when I was heavily into the hobby, but I stumbled across it completely by chance in 2020 and extended my trip by a whole day just to explore the place. Cairo Illinois. It's about 5 hours away. You wont be disappointed.

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smiyeaa t1_j389qgy wrote

Cairo is such an interesting town. It has a very long, and pretty sad history. There’s a documentary called Between Two Rivers that’s worth a watch if you’re interested in it. I would pass through when I’d travel to Nashville and it always piqued my interest as to why it’s the way it is now

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Jimithyashford OP t1_j38h1kf wrote

I didn't know there was a doc about it. Thanks I'll give it a watch.

You mentioning the Doc reminded me, there is also the Tar Creek Superfund site just a few hours over on the Oklahoma Kansas border. That place is very interesting to drive around and look at.

Also all of the buildings are demolished now, but it's one of the most polluted sites on earth, deemed by the EPA to be permanently unfit for human habitation, essentially for the rest of time. The whole town was bought out and relocated like a decade ago, with the exception of two families that refused to move and are now the only inhabitants.

There is also a doc about it that watch after visiting the place.

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rdaj_16 t1_j38tnd8 wrote

My family lived in Treece and I spent a good portion of my childhood running around there on the weekends. Definitely some unique people over that way.

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smiyeaa t1_j38ts8b wrote

Interesting, never knew about that! I’ll have to look for that doc

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Dbol504 t1_j38mr89 wrote

I saw pictures of someone exploring Heers years ago before the renovation that were very impressive. My old man brain now lacks the Google-fu skills to try to track them down and the new building owns the top Google results any more.

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telxonhacker t1_j3arrau wrote

My dad and I used to explore a lot of stuff around town when I was a kid, back in the mid 90's. There were so many empty/abandoned places that are since gone or converted to something else. The old MFA mill on Boonville was very spooky, you'd hear doors slam randomly from the wind. The "Albino Farm" (Springlawn) was awesome in the 90's, there was an old log cabin on the property, and a few other buildings that are now gone.

Old factories, grain mills, a metal recycling plant, the tunnels you mentioned, and Winoka, were all places we went to "back in the day"

Places I've gone on my own or with friends: the Woodruff Building/Sky 11 before remodel, the "Messiah Mill" on Chestnut and National, various caves, the Springfield Underground, old farmhouses further outside of town, and so many more.

I don't go as much now, as this day and age you need friends along, running into tweakers and scrappers can go sideways fast, and most of the people I went with have moved out of the area, and my dad doesn't feel up to it much any more.

I never did get to Dogpatch, which is a bummer, but I did see most of the pics online from there, and I always wanted to get into Celebration City, but heard security was pretty tight.

I never thought other people would enjoy going traipsing through old ruined buildings like Dad and I did, until the early 2000's when I started finding sites like UO/UNF, UER and others, and learned that Urbex was a hobby shared by many others.

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famichikiherushi t1_j3ksqkr wrote

We always called the "Messiah Mill" the Beer Tower. There was always a Budweiser billboard at the top.

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AmcillaSB t1_j38y2ps wrote

I see UO and thought this was an Ultima Online message =(

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Jimithyashford OP t1_j3952kg wrote

Hey, how about any old ultimate online lurkers? That’s a blast from the past too.

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RockemChalkemRobot t1_j399zgd wrote

I used to run around over there. Plenty of others here as well. The forum gets name dropped every time someone mentions haunted or UE.

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ninti500 t1_j39wetg wrote

What's a UO?

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telxonhacker t1_j3arv2n wrote

Underground Ozarks. It was a site documenting abandoned/spooky places in and around the Ozarks

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mutantxproud t1_j3avfl1 wrote

I'm from the Cairo area. Lived here in Springfield for 12 years now. Never would've thought Cairo would be mentioned here. Both my parents were born in a (now abandoned) hospital in Cairo. Building has been empty for nearly 30 years and is creepy AF. My folks talk about going in to explore all the time. I bet Cairo is a gold mine for this, but you couldn't pay me to traipse around that town knowing what I know. 11/10 don't recommend.

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Jimithyashford OP t1_j3c7o9p wrote

I spent a whole day going in and out of many abandon buildings including that hospital. What do you know that I don’t that would make you unwilling to explore it?

I ask cause I intend to go back and if there is some major danger I’d like to know.

My main concern was maybe getting mugged, but I saw basically no bother people. Place is a ghost town. No street toughs. No homeless camps, barely another soul.

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Moriartea7 t1_j3cmx72 wrote

Never participated, but always loved lurking and reading others adventures. Sad to see the old site gone but I can't blame the owner since it was becoming more inactive.

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CuriousBear23 t1_j3a6riq wrote

Could you share the link with this site? Grew up near cherryville high school/woodlock cemetery, always thought it was just local legend. Fascinating it is talked about in Springfield.

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plated_lead t1_j3bc2vd wrote

I miss UO’s glory days… underground BBQs, finding new shit all the time, WR almost dying what seemed like every other week. Good times!

Edit: the forum is still there, though ownership has changed hands and it’s pretty dead. Every once in a while something interesting gets posted though

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Murky_Wolf3895 t1_j3i87i2 wrote

oh yeah. I was on there for years. I miss how it used to be. :)

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Wolf_of_Westmarch t1_j3u2fe5 wrote

Didn't realize the site was being hosted again... nice to see it back up.

There's definitely some neat stuff around... wish I had time to see more of it (and glad to see people still remember the site!).

And indeed - Cairo is a strange, but cool, place. I've been there, but mainly to stand at the river junction (as a civil war buff, I'll take any chance to stand where Grant stood lol). Thanks for bringing back some nostalgia!

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