Strange Things Found In Abandoned Houses [18 Photos]
Famous Youtuber and urban explorer, ExploringWithJosh, asked his followers to share a few stories of strange things found in abandoned houses.
Some of the replies were a bit creepy and unsettling, to say the least. One guy found a machete next to a blood-sprayed door, another said she came across a medical bag full of human body parts.
I personally have my limits when it comes to exploring. But some explorers are fearless and will venture into just about any abandoned house, no matter how creepy they look.
It’s in these darks and forgotten corners of the world that the strangest things have been found by urban explorers. Below are some of the strangest.
Strangest Urban Explorer Discoveries
1. Suicide Files From An Abandoned Hospital
“There used to be an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan that my friends and I would explore on the weekend nights in 2003. It was four floors plus a basement (which included a morgue) and we explored every nook & cranny of that place. Judging by the most recent magazines in the 4th-floor waiting room, it seemed to have closed in 1990. The previous institution just up & left everything Chernobyl-style (furniture, equipment, drugs, patient files…even found some suicide reports!). By 2003, the place was broken and trashed by vandals while the building itself decayed. It looked worse than the hospitals in the Silent Hill games.” – Jamesonn
This one is a little creepy, to say the least. People tragically took their own lives in this hospital whenever it was in operation. That’s just sad to think about.
I don’t know how this person handled the situation, but I personally would not have read a single page of those reports. Would you?
2. Seats With Deep Scratch Marks In Abandoned Rehab Center
“I explored an abandoned brain trauma rehab center in my area. The most unsettling things in there were the dated wheelchairs of patients with the patient’s names on them throughout the building as well as one room at the end of a hall that had a seat with straps that looks like it was used to restrain patients. The hand rests of the seat had deep scratch marks as if the patients were clawing at them to get out which kinda creeped me out.” – NotDeletedYet
We’ve all heard horror stories of hospitals mistreating mentally ill or old patients. Was this hospital one of them? Is that why they closed down and abandoned this place?
3. A Live Goldfish In 2 Inches Of Water
“I was in exploring an abandoned building in Detroit last summer. Behind the building we were in, there were a couple of other structures. We decided to check them out. While in there I found a live goldfish in an inch of black water, in a slowly evaporating tank in a tiny abandoned house. I took him home and he’s still alive over a year later. The photos are from when I got him home that day and today, a little over 15 months later.” – Coragypsatratus
I’ve found several strange things in abandoned houses during my explorations. But a live animal left behind is not one of them.
Someone clearly forgot their aquatic buddy. Maybe wasn’t a buddy if they just left him behind. At least it got rescued and taken care of.
4. Half-Destroyed Soviet Military Helicopter
“When I lived in Rostov on Don, Russia a couple of years ago, I got lost between some old abandoned houses on my way home. I stumbled upon an alley courtyard area with an abandoned Soviet Military helicopter. It was totally covered with graffiti and had no rotor wings, but it was quite cool. I have no idea what it was doing in an abandoned residential alley.” – Loopymae
This happened in Russia. You can’t really make sense of most things that happen there. Helicopter in someone’s backyard? Fair enough man, not gonna question it.
This reminds me of the time I came across an abandoned military tank in an old garage. It’s definitely the most strange thing I’ve found in abandoned houses.
This happened when I was exploring an abandoned house in Florida, you can’t make sense of things in that place either.
5. Polaroids Of An Old Mans Hairy Genitals
“My mom and I were checking out this abandoned house in Miami and under a bed, she found an old box filled with several polaroid shots of an old man’s hairy bu**hole and balls. lol” – Ickylump
Some people would consider this a score. I’m not one of them. Are you?
6. A Cardboard Cutout Of A Person In A Dark Room
“I was exploring an abandoned women’s juvenile prison. I turned a corner, and at the end of a long, dark room, there was a person just standing there, looking straight at me. Scared the sh*t out of me. Then, I realized ‘he’ was actually a cardboard cutout and I knocked him over.” – Semiawesomeness
I’m actually impressed this person got close enough to realize it was a cardboard cutout. I would have noped the f*ck out of there at first sight. No way I’m sticking around to see who’s staring at me.
7. Room Covered In P*rnography Photos
“The creepiest thing was what I called the Wank-a-torium, a room in an abandoned mental hospital that had hundreds of torn-out pages from adult mags. They were arranged all over on the walls and floor of the room with a circle in the center with a swivel chair, you could (theoretically, I didn’t venture in) sit in the chair and “enjoy” a panoramic self-pleasuring. It must have taken ages to glue all the photos to the walls and set it up.” – Replyingnow
This stands high on the list of strangest things found in abandoned buildings. Also, what do you think they used to glue all those photos to the walls? Don’t answer that.
8. Creepy Dolls In Chernobyl
“Went to Chernobyl last week, and I mean as you would expect the whole place is pretty messed up. We were looking around some old houses and found several dolls had been left rotting on beds with its head resting on pillows. Was made creepier by the fact that the rest of my tour group had moved on but I wanted to look around in the room some more, so I was just alone and took more photos. Gave me the creeps.” – Edynviper
This is actually sad to think about because everyone who was evacuated from Chornobyl was told they would be back soon. Think about the little kids having to decide which toys to take, leaving the other ones tucked into bed, and never coming back.
9. Claw Marks On Walls
“Lincoln way, Clairton Pa. It’s a neighborhood of about 13 houses that all got mysteriously abandoned simultaneously. Everything in the houses is still there (clothes, furniture, dishes in the sink) like they all just left without packing. Look it up on Google and you can read about the “beast” that supposedly lurks and caused these people to move. When we visited we saw walls in the houses with massive claw marks. We GTFO real quick.” – Yinzerworks
I just looked it up and it was an interesting read. I wonder if they ever figured out why everyone left exactly. I don’t really buy this “beasts in the forest” explanation. Wbu?
10. Machete Next To A Blood-Sprayed Door
“I found an abandoned farmhouse near lake Lowell in Idaho, I was 16 and I probably trespassed but I found a machete next to what looked like a blood-sprayed door.” – Cassie_1991
The photos are low quality but it’s not hard to see the blood spray on the door. You can see the rest of the photos here. It’s clearly a creepy place to be exploring.
I wonder what other strange things they found in this house.
11. Amputated Human Finger In Medical Cup
“I found a finger in an abandoned morgue.” – Donebythehands
I’m not going to point any fingers at anyone but clearly, some medical ‘professionals’ didn’t do their job right. Why is there an amputated finger just left behind in a morgue? Seriously, wtf?
12. Shopping Carts Everywhere
“I find shopping carts wherever I go. It’ll be a place where the nearest store isn’t for miles and there’d be at least two f*cking shopping carts there. I found one in a tree once too. How the f*ck does that happen?!? None of these places were abandoned stores by the way :p” – Cryptidman117
Tell me this isn’t strange though, seriously. In every abandoned place I’ve been there’s ALWAYS been a shopping cart just lying around. Does this happen to anyone else?
It seems the older the abandoned place I’m exploring is, the higher the possibility that I will run into a shopping cart. I always thought it was strange.
13. Illegal Marijuana Grow Operation
“As a teen, a buddy rode up on his bike and said, “You gotta see this!” I jumped on his handlebars and we rode a couple of miles to this old abandoned house. We had been in it before and it was just a couple of rooms downstairs and they each had stairwells to a room up above. We climbed one and it was literally full of pot plants. He pulled some bread bags out of his pocket and we stuffed them full.” – Weedful_things
What would you have done in this situation? Stuff your pockets, or leave?
14. Strange Hanging Clothes
“I was exploring some abandoned shacks in the Mojave for a HS photo project. I got out of that one pretty quickly.” – Solincaec
Looks like someone’s art project, but still a strange thing to find in an abandoned house.
15. Eerie Clean Room In An Abandoned Building
“I explored an abandoned building near me and one of the rooms in it was in almost perfect condition. It was like someone was squatting in it which wouldn’t be unusual but they had painted the walls and there was some nice furniture and they had fitted a door back into the frame as well. It was pretty unsettling seeing a nice clean room in the middle of a crumbling building and while I don’t know if there were actually people living there recently they must have been because that specific room wasn’t falling apart like the rest.” – Proddyhorsespice97
If I ran into a room like this I would instantly leave. I don’t you about you, but I wouldn’t want to be there if/when someone comes back.
16. 2,000 Unmarked Graves At An Abandoned Asylum
“I was exploring with friends and came across 2,000 unmarked graves at an abandoned asylum in Milledgeville, Georgia. The place was opened in the 1800s and most people were killed through “treatment”. – Bigdaddygriffy
I looked it up and it’s actually true. There is an abandoned asylum in Milledgeville, GA, with 2,000 unmarked graves. What’s most strange, is that 2,000 people didn’t die there, the number of patients that died there was actually 25,000!
17. Medical Bag Full Of Real Human Parts
“It was January 2016 and my first explore of the year, we had gone to explore an abandoned hospital that we knew had a great autopsy room and much more. What we did not know was inside the autopsy room there was a small fridge that no one had yet looked inside. I opened the drawer and pulled out a medical bag full of specimen jars each containing different human specimens taken during autopsies that were to be sent to the lab. They were labeled with things like “stomach contents”, “liver”, “fetal …..”, I couldn’t make out that last one.” – Freaktography.com
This seems to be common with abandoned medical facilities. It’s strange that hospitals just close down so suddenly without properly disposing of human parts.
18. Indoor Cages In Abandoned Farmhouse
Neil from the popular Abandoned Explorer youtube channel was having a look inside an abandoned farmhouse. The house was FULL of personal stuff that was just left behind by the previous family that lived there.
Books, family photos, dishes, clothes, a record player, and beds, were all just left behind as if the people who lived there expected to return but never did.
In one corner of the house, there are what appear to be old cages. Neil speculates the cages were for animals. Could they have been used for a more sinister purpose?
What Strange Things Have YOU Found In Abandoned Houses?
If you have ever explored an abandoned building, there’s a chance you have come across some strange things. Share them in the comments!