A 10,000 Year-Old Story: All-American Ruins & Human Nature Odyssey

This episode explores the intersections of human history, culture, and abandoned spaces, as well as our relationship with the environment through storytelling and personal reflections.

1. Abandoned spaces provide a unique window into the past, allowing for a form of time travel and reflection.
2. These places serve as metaphors for broader cultural and environmental issues, such as decay, preservation, and the impact of human activities.
3. Storytelling and personal memories play crucial roles in how we perceive and interact with abandoned spaces.
4. There is a beauty and intrigue in the decay, which challenges conventional notions of aesthetics and value.
5. The episode encourages listeners to explore their surroundings and appreciate the layers of history and narrative embedded in the environment.

1: Introduction to the Theme

Blake introduces the episode's theme and sets the stage for a deep dive into the significance of abandoned places in understanding human nature. Blake Pfeil: "These places... they're like time capsules."

2: Alex Leff's Perspective

Alex shares insights from his podcast and his fascination with the human aspects of abandoned sites. Alex Leff: "Every abandoned place has a story that speaks to the broader narrative of our culture."

3: Philosophical Reflections

Discussion on the philosophical implications of exploring abandoned sites and what they tell us about time, memory, and history. Blake Pfeil: "It's about connecting with a past that is still palpable in these spaces."

4: Cultural and Environmental Impact

They explore how these sites reflect on broader societal issues like capitalism, environmental degradation, and mental health. Alex Leff: "These ruins are not just physical; they symbolize much larger issues."

5: Concluding Thoughts

The episode wraps up with reflections on personal growth and societal implications of their discussions. Blake Pfeil: "We find parts of ourselves in these abandoned places."

1. Explore Local History: Visit local historical sites to connect with the past and understand your community better.
2. Use Imagination as a Tool: Engage your imagination to see beyond the present conditions of any place and envision its history and stories.
3. Reflect on Personal Impact: Consider how your own actions contribute to the preservation or decay of cultural and natural environments.
4. Participate in Community Preservation Efforts: Get involved in local efforts to preserve historical sites and natural landscapes.
5. Document Your Discoveries: Keep a journal or blog about your explorations to share insights and photos with others, encouraging community engagement.

Transmedia storyteller Alex Leff is the host of Human Nature Odyssey, a podcast that takes a unique look at humanity, civilization, and the fate of the world. In this bonus episode (which originally aired as a bonus episode for Human Nature Odyssey Patreon subscribers), join Alex as he interviews Blake where they discuss, what else? Abandoned spaces.

People

Blake Pfeil, Alex Leff

Companies

None

Books

None

Guest Name(s):

Alex Leff

Content Warnings:

None

Blake Pfeil

This is a bonus episode, so if you haven't listened to the show yet, I'd suggest you go back to the beginning to learn about Anna Moya and get a sense of what we're doing here.

Emerging documentary filmmaker, immersive theater creator, and podcast producer, Alex Leff maintains many identities, but to me, hes a good buddy who ive never actually met in person. We were both fellows in SUNY Stony Brooks audio podcast Fellowship. Hes got an extensive transmedia resume, but its his thought provoking podcast human nature odyssey that were here to talk about today. In fact, this very episode originally aired as a perk for Alexs loyal subscriber base, so its never actually been on an RSS feed. Through gentle storytelling and wistful writing, human nature Odyssey takes a unique look at humanity, civilization, and the fate of the world.

Per the description, you are living the latest chapter in a 10,000 year story. Join storyteller Alex Leff on a search for better ways to understand and more clearly experience the incredible, terrifying, and ridiculous world we live in. In the very first episode, in fact, Alex even discusses an abandoned house he used to frequent as a kid. These thickets and bushes. Watch out for the thorns.

Alex Leff

Okay, do you see it there? That really old house built of stone, covered in vines? Tree branches break through dark, empty windows. You can barely see it from the street. It's totally abandoned, which makes it the perfect place to explore.

Since we reached the end of season. Two, I figured I could kick off our interim bonus series with this conversation. If you want a new show to listen to, check out human Nature odyssey now across all podcast platforms and make sure to tell your friends about it. Also, major thanks to Alex for allowing. Me to share this.

Blake Pfeil

I hope you enjoy all american ruins in conversation with human nature odyssey.

I. First met Blake during a year long podcast fellowship with Stony Brook University when human nature Odyssey was just in its infancy. In fact, Blake was one of the people who encouraged me to go with. The name human Nature Odyssey, and as. We entered the 2024 winter hibernation period, he seemed like the perfect person to.

Help us get started. Why? Because Blake hosts a podcast all about exploring abandoned places. And if you listen to episode one or episode seven of human Nature Odyssey, youll know that my own travels through the abandoned Ashbourne Country Club were deeply impactful for me. So I invited Blake on to talk about the All American Ruins podcast, which guides listeners through immersive audio fantasies recounting Blakes experience exploring abandoned spaces across the United States.

Alex Leff

Along the way, abandoned asks critical questions about american history and culture, community, capitalism and economics, the environment, and mental health, while encouraging folks to activate their imagination as a tool for healing. Before I bring Blake on, I'd like to share an excerpt from the first episode of the All American Ruins second season Isabel and the Allentown Mafia. After all is said of the industrial might of Pennsylvania, the opportunities for profit, for plants, for a place to work, the greatest appeal of the state to the greatest number of people is still to be found in the thrill of a visit to, or a vacation in this land of beauty, fun, and history. Western's Allentown plant is in the vanguard of today's growing trend toward miniaturization, whereby an entire telephone central office may someday fit into a space no larger than a living room. In season one, we started in Allentown not for any particular reason.

It was just a place I drove. Through towards the beginning of the pandemic, and I saw a ton of abandoned buildings that somehow felt familiar. A couple of weeks later, I had that fateful dream about the abandoned dairy farm from my childhood in Colorado Springs, where I learned to use my imagination as a tool for healing. But, well, you already know that. You already know that I explore abandoned spaces.

You already know why we're here. To play pretend for a little bit. Inspired by the real ruins of America, Allentown is steel rust belt old, decimated. Something bad happened here. I can see worry perched on isabelle's.

Shoulder like a parrot as we enter the space, ducking under wires hanging from the ceiling and dodging droplets descending from tattered overhangs. Small pieces of ice crunching willfully beneath our feet. Indeed, she's not wrong. This place is totally haunted, and like any other abandoned space I've visited, it pulls me in with a little bit of wonder and also a little bit of intrigue. Whatever the story is behind this place, fact or fiction, something's cooking in my imagination and in my friend's imagination.

I think I'm gonna stick around, but. I don't know if Isabelle will.

Alex Leff

Alright, so Blake file is an award winning, multidisciplinary audio maker, musician, writer, and performance artist. He co founded folk fusion band Macabre Americana and hosts the file file on Radio Kingston. In his day job, he steps into the role of operations and programs manager at the nonprofit storytelling organization TMI project, where he also serves as a producer for the TMI project story Hour. Please welcome Blake file.

The robot stuff is just too much. Yeah, that's what someone at this podcast meetup was. She was insisting. She's like, AI's your friend, and she's, like, writing her outlines for the episodes using chat cpt. That's cheating.

I'm sorry. It's cheating. That is no longer a human production, and if you're going to put it up for awards and shit, it needs to be for robot podcasts, not human podcasts. This is. It's just gotten out of hand, and they just.

There's a fucking robot in police officer in the Times Square subway station now, and it's like. It looks like a roomba, and I don't even know what the fuck it does. And it, like, it's. It's just the robots. We got to stop the robots.

I'm over it. I don't know. I. I say down with AI in all senses. And also, I'm sure, in some capacities, there are parts of this argument that I'm missing, and maybe AI is making some people's lives better and more livable.

And so in that way, I guess I'm cool with it. I just don't know what those ways are. And I also feel like. I just think everything is moving too fast, and it's. It really actually does scare me, genuinely, a little bit.

Do you feel like, as someone who loves going to abandoned places, that you're partly drawn to these places because you're able to experience human made spaces that are filled with all sorts of technology and objects, but they've kind of been defanged? Well, that's just it. The ones that I'm interested in are the places, and I say this a lot, that look like they've been raptured. It is a time stamp, like the wayback machine on the Internet. It captures a moment in time.

This is a little bit romanticized, of course, because I don't know who's come in and out and changed things and moved things around for photography or whatever, but the actual structure itself, when somebody walks into an abandoned space, they're immediately time traveling. They're immediately going back to a moment that is no longer. And the reason that moments matter at all, the reason time exists in the first place, is because humans made it so. They quantified this thing that's now, this thing that everybody understands, but I think is actually a lot more complicated. And so it's actually very pleasurable in that regard, because I do feel like it's the one place, maybe aside from nature, that I can actually slow down.

But the thing that's cool about that is all of these spaces in some way, shape or form are accelerating towards being reclaimed by nature, which is going to happen no matter what we do. And it's strange because people have asked me, oh, wow, it's so amazing that you find such beauty in it and when they're so decayed, and it's like, well, what is beauty? How are we defining beauty? That's a subjective term. When did you think you first saw the beauty in an abandoned place?

When I was six, my dad took my brother and I. There was this abandoned dairy farm down the hill from my house. I've told a story ad nauseam at this point. This is the very first episode of all american ruins. So highly recommend listening.

Yeah, it to is the first episode. It's what I call the prologue. And the moment I knew that there was a building that once occupied people like me that no longer existed, I was hooked. And I found it to be so beautiful. And I think also, to be fair, this was set against the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains.

We were raised literally in the mountains. And so I think there's something to also be said about that, but that's abandoned spaces and nature kind of doing their thing. And I think that's part of the reason that human nature odyssey is so interesting to me is because that's, I think, part of what you're positioning. Nature versus humanity, where they intersect and where they don't, and where they actually butt heads. See, I don't need chats.

If you need to write my descriptions. I got you. That's what I'm saying. We don't need it. We just need people to read books.

Read Ishmael. Yeah, well, I do think it is so interesting with the abandoned places, because, like, you're saying, like, you know, some people love exploring wild places, and they really like, you know, the concept of wilderness. I'm actually. I'm working on an episode now for the beginning of season two about into the wild. Did you read that or watch the movie when you were younger?

I did. I used to love it. And then I read this really interesting train of thought that was super feminist and very anti into the wild. So. And that was recent.

And so I'm kind of in this crossfire when it comes to into the wild. But if we're just talking about. Yeah, if we're just talking about it, from my original perception of it, I thought it was brilliant and very moving. Yeah, I feel similarly. And the episode is going to explore, you know, I want to because.

Yes, I think there's value in. It's this very romantic look at going off on your own into the wilderness. And there was a lot of value for that when I was, you know, 15. But, yeah, I think the critiques are completely valid as well, too. And there's a certain amount of hubris and arrogance that it took tonight.

I think that you can just go off on your own to that. But what I'm interested in is, like, so just the courage that it takes to get off the beaten trail, just go into the wilderness. I think that's clearly something that I'd imagine resonates with you. And I'm interested also in all these episodes that you're describing going to. You're drawn to a different kind of wild place.

It's like this quasi wilderness, quasi urban exploration, and it's like, right on this, like, borderline. I don't know. I think it's just interesting how nature's reclaiming these abandoned spaces, and that takes time. But wilderness is kind of like, immediately it's there because when you're going to abandoned mansion and mansion, you're taking on similar types of physical risks. You know, that you would go going into an old growth forest that there's no humans around.

You're leaving the human community, and you're stepping into a dangerous place. And what do you think drives you to go to those kind of, like, border wilderness areas rather than pull a Christopher from a canalist and go into the alaskan tundra? Well, I think there's a third realm, let's say, that exists up against those other two that you're mentioning. And I think it's a spiritual realm and where my spirit feels the most aligned, meaning my body feels present and happy, no tension, no anxiety, and just there existing. And it is a spiritual realm because there is the.

There's this imagined, I'm going to say realm again. There's an imagined realm that exists there that coincides with those other two places. And I think that's the line that you're talking about. I think that's the line that I toe. And the reason that I like it so much is because we can create infinite possibilities when we use our imagination.

And for whatever reason, I think. I mean, I think I've kind of explained it already, but these places spark something in me that allow my imagination to go crazy because it's like I'm looking almost at a template. It's like I'm looking at an outline or the beginnings of a blueprint for a story that starts to unravel. In my brain as I go through these places. And really, I'm not going expecting anything.

I'm going just to be present. It's really, I think, the last remaining place on the planet where I feel like I can truly be present again aside from nature. But even that presents its challenges, and that feels really good. Did I answer your question? Yeah.

This is why I'm a bad interview subject. I go way. That's why you're a good interview subject. I. Christopher McCandless myself.

Well, no, well, I. Yeah, you're going into these abandoned places, and you're seeing. Your imagination is filling in the gaps. There's, you know, you're seeing a comb on the ground and you're imagining the person that brushed their hair, and you're seeing, you know, a dent in the wall, and it's like, how'd that dent get there? So I can see the award of that.

It's that this place is speaking to you. And I wonder if maybe growing up in these urban settings, we're much. We're very familiar with combs and walls than we are with different, like, plant species. So I imagine in nature, I would have less of a less fewer reference points for. I would just be seeing things and I could judge them aesthetically, but I wouldn't know what stories were emerging in the same way because, you know, I took this amazing course in college called field naturalist, with this professor that I love, Noah Charney, and he would take us into nature and just like, it was all about storytelling, reading different signs.

And so I had one semester where I was getting good at this, and I've forgotten everything, but it's similar to what you're doing. You're a field naturalist in these abandoned places because you're inherently an expert on what it means to live in the civilization, all these found objects. Something I love about the podcast and I think people will really enjoy listening to, is the way you invite folks to use their imagination. And you use the format of podcasting really well, because audio, it's holding your hand, but then kind of letting you go. It's definitely.

It's inviting you halfway, and you have to take the next step. And so you are in these places. You're describing the present tense of the dereliction of these spots, but then you're also using your imagination to fill in the gaps and describe what you are envisioning based on a combination of, like, what you're intuition. But also research seems to change what it looks like. But what's so cool about that is just like, the abandoned place is kind of leading you halfway and inviting you to take the next step and use your imagination.

The fact that you're not, you haven't created, like, a cartoon animation of what it looks like and you're not showing the podcast isn't all video, although I know you have some great videos, too. The fact that you are inviting the audience to use their imagination is like kind of passing on what the abandoned place is doing to you, and. And then they're hearing your words, but then they kind of have to fill in the gaps the same way you're filling in the gaps of the abandoned place. I love that. Yeah.

Yeah. It's a tall order in this day and age, actually. People don't know how to sit still, and I include myself in that broad category of people. I wanted to teach myself to slow down, and I wanted to teach myself to really look and see and understand and listen and hear and smell and taste and really just indulge in the pleasure of existing and being alive. I totally resonate with what you're saying about using abandoned places as a way to be present, because the built environments that we exist in are inherently conveying to us.

Like, don't look at this, keep moving. Especially again, in our specific 21st century american society. I think there's other urban settings that are much more humane and inviting, pausing and noticing. But, I mean, it's the reason why all of our buildings are pieces of shit. Just because it's like, yeah, no one will get this.

You're not gonna. No one's going up to a Walmart and admiring the architecture. And I remember, like, one of my first insights into this growing up was just how walking down my suburban street, you're not really. It's a faux pas to, like, pause and really look at something, especially if it's on your neighbor's lawn. You can't just, like, stop and look at someone's house, you know, that's like, the weirdest thing you can do.

And going to Ashbourne was this chance, like, oh, I can just, like, really stare at things, which staring is so rude in our society, but it's the only way that you can actually really engage with the place is, like, just really look at it instead. We usually exist in this world where, like, all of our attention has to be fleeting, not just because we're, like, flawed and we don't know how to focus. I think we've on been. I think that's something that was intentionally or unintentionally trained in us, that it's rude to focus. Don't, don't focus.

Just keep walking. Don't look, don't take in your surroundings. You know, whether you're walking down the street, in the subway, in the office, it's like, don't just like, look at stuff. You know, the only stuff we're really allowed to look at are screens that's like, oh, definitely, look at that. And so when the space is finally abandon, you're able to really look at all these things and these creations we've built in a way that you can't otherwise.

Yeah. There was a tagline for the 1999 film American Beauty was look closer. And I always thought that was so beautiful to american beauty. I just thought it was so exactly right on. Because if you spend even 2 seconds really looking at Ed, Annette Bening's character as she's clipping the leaves off the roses and looking at the flower from a distance without really looking, you see a woman cutting flowers and smiling.

But if you really look at her, there's a travesty that has unfolded. There is a tragedy that exists in her world, and it's really haunting and mesmerizing. So, yes, I agree. And not only are we taught that it's odious, but we're taught that it's dangerous to look closer. We're taught that if you.

And it is, it has become dangerous. My partner Jake spent three weeks in Thousand oaks, California, putting up fruit fly traps for the United States Department of Agriculture. He works for the USDA, and he was tasked and deployed to thousand oaks to put up these traps because there's a new species of fruit fly, the Queensland fruit fly, that's not supposed to be there. And they're really worried that it's going to just destroy the 90% of agriculture and produce that we get in this country from the state of California. And he had to go to people's doors and ring the doorbell and give them a flyer from the USDA that was like, here's the thing.

And one guy, he rang the doorbell and the guy got on and said, and I'm, I'm not embellishing this. He said, get the fuck off my property. So Jake did, and Jake walked down to the public sidewalk, and then the guy got on the camera above his garage and started screaming at Jake through that, get the fuck out of here. Get the fuck out of here. I'm going to call the cops.

And then he came out. That could have been really dangerous. You know, Jake's, Jake's six foot and he's like, kind of a built dude. So it's. He wasn't scared, but that could have been very dangerous for somebody, and that's part of it.

We're. We're not supposed to engage with people anymore, and if we do, it has to be very calculated. And, you know, I don't know. It's a real bummer. Yeah.

Well, at what point did you take your love of abandoned places and start thinking, like, you know what? I want to make this as a podcast? Well, in the pandemic, I started doing the artist's way by Julia Cameron, and some folks might know James Cameron, the director of Titanic. Julia Cameron is his sister. And she wrote this.

Yeah. I had no idea. Yeah. A little side note. But she.

Great information. Yeah. And she has, you know, garnered her own acclaim through this twelve part, I guess, program, essentially, that is also subsequently modeled after the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. And I did that in the pandemic because there was nothing else to do, and I was living with two artists, so we all kind of did it together. And there is this component of it that is artist dates and artists what dates?

So you take yourself on a date to a museum or whatever. Well, we were in a pandemic, like the throes of the beginning of a pandemic, and that wasn't an option. And so because I had already started to explore these buildings, I made my art estates going to these abandoned spaces that it felt like a natural thing just because they were filled with graffiti. My imagination was going nuts. And so as part of the artist's way, also part of the program is every morning you're supposed to do three pages of nonstop, don't let the hand stop moving.

Journaling. They're called morning pages. Which is how James Cameron came up with the idea for Avatar. Yes. And he stole that from his sister.

So she should be making big money, um, and she should be making money off of me, because those morning pages slowly but surely started to transform into what would eventually become the scripts for the podcast episodes and for my work with Hudsy. I think I said it earlier, this thing sort of just happened of its own volition. It had its own spirit that was dying to get out of me. And I had taken, you know, 36 years of. Well, at that point, it was 33.

33 years of my life to really understand what it meant to have the identity of artist, because I was told growing up, you're good at this one thing, and so you should do that one thing. And so I was like, okay, I'll do theater. Because I guess I'm good at that thing, because everyone's telling me I'm good at that thing. And also, I was a songwriter, and I wanted to be a journalist, and I wanted to be a broadcast radio operator, and I wanted to make documentaries, and I wanted to, you know, I wanted to do a lot of things.

And so the artist's way grounded me in this notion that actually, you can be a multidisciplinary artist. You can do and try a ton of different mediums and explore them as much as you want, because who. Who cares? And that is. Is what happened.

And all of the things I'd ever wanted to try, all of the different mediums that I'd ever wanted to explore, suddenly found this one home where I could do all of it. And I don't remember exactly how it happened, but the executive director at radio Kingston caught wind of what I was doing. He's. And he's featured in the first season of abandoned, but he caught wind of what I was doing and was like, have you ever thought about making a podcast? I was very.

I found I was at a point where I was like, there are too many podcasts. Everyone has a podcast. I'm bored. And he. And I think it was.

I can't remember exactly, but I think he was the one who was like, I challenge you to try to make it not boring for yourself. And so the only way to do that was to create these immersive soundscapes where I could guide folks through the physical realm, guide them through what's going on inside my imagination as I'm wandering the physical realm, and then also start to weave in the history and the culture of the places, and then have an opportunity to respond in real time and understand what these buildings represent, not just for all the things I've said, but for the underbelly of America, because they really do represent a number of different problems that this country has and has always had. So that's kind of where it all happened. Yeah.

Yes. Mentioning with COVID leaving this space, this opening for you to re ground yourself on what you were truly interested in, how you wanted to express it and manifest in this podcast. And I feel very similarly. Human Nature Odyssey was definitely born during the pandemic as well, and I think that that's not a coincidence. COVID, for those of us that were privileged enough to not have to be essential workers and just keep doing the thing, the quarantine kind of created an abandoned liminal space over everything else.

Like, I remember this one day, you know, I had spent. I was living in North Hollywood at the time, and I had spent every day in my apartment, barely left. I would go on, like, walks in the neighborhood, but this one day, I was like, I'm going to go into Hollywood. Like, Hollywood Boulevard, the center of it. I just want to see it right now.

And this is before we knew exactly what to do. So, like, I didn't have, like, the right mask. I was just wearing, like, my bandana, which I was like, that's fine, at least I'm washing my hands all the time. And so with my bandana, at the height of COVID this is, like, April, you know, mid April 2020. Get on the metro, have it completely to myself.

Get into Hollywood, which, you know, this is the Times Square of Los Angeles. It is packed, usually, but I got there, like, noon, and I took the escalator up the metro and just got out into it sounded like I was in the middle of a meadow. You know, you could hear crickets. And the only people that were out on the streets were, like, a couple lone police officers and some unhoused people. It was very post apocalyptic.

Just the buildings were boarded up. And I was just walking down Hollywood Boulevard, and I was thinking to myself, thinking in terms of Ashbourne, wow, this is an abandoned place. It will be reclaimed. But again, that's where I was thinking, like, wilderness happens just like that. It was so eerie and so COVID did that with physical spaces.

But then just with our time, like, and the beauty of abandoned places we've talked about is it allows you to sit and stare. And there's, I think, for me, like, the most visceral fun that comes with the abandoned place is that's different from being in nature, you know, is that these are places that it almost like to be an abandoned place implies possession. And the mindset of possession, it's like it's abandoned because it once was owned, you know, and therefore, it was a place of all these rules and restrictions. And to be in a place of rules and restrictions that no longer exist, just simply not because anyone waved a magic wand or anyone signed a treaty ending the rules, it was just like, oh, they've all been made up this whole time, and the second we aren't there, they go away. There's something so freeing and exciting, thrilling about that.

It's amazing to think about all of the things that are because we made them. So that's what's interesting to me. And, like, you're saying not just physical, but things like rules. Like that is that way because we said it is that way, and. Or we just agreed to it being that way.

And if people ask questions, you know, it's like when I was a kid in church and I was asking questions about the Bible that my Sunday school, you know, it caused them to become bereft because they couldn't answer it. And. Have you ever seen the backrooms? No. What's that?

This kid, Dane. I forget his last name. Cook. He's. Whatever happened to Dane Cook?

No. He's an 18 year old filmmaker who was just signed by a 24 to direct a film adaptation of the backrooms. It's this. Yeah, dude, it's this whole. It's a YouTube series called the Back rooms.

And that's all I'm going to say. But it's. It's all liminal space, and it's spooky. It's super, super spooky. But don't go to the ones that are, like, spinoffs, because he's got a bunch of fan fictions now.

So I think it's Dane Pixels, maybe. Is his username Kane Pixels? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's him. Which is great name. And so it's just these empty rooms found.

And then. Okay, okay. It starts to get a little. There's a narrative to it. Okay.

It's not just literally looking at empty rooms. No, no, it starts that way. But it's. I don't know. It's really, really well done.

And he's 18. Amazing. Yeah. Well, so if you were. You know, if someone wanted to explore an abandoned place for themselves, maybe hasn't done that before, since there's these certain risks involved.

You are going into the wilderness, and I think part. Part of. Of the hubris of into the wild, the downfall is not being quite prepared enough. Although, side note, he was way more prepared than people give him credit for the accident that caused his death. Even indigenous people made that mistake in terms of eating the wrong thing.

But anyway. But it's good to go prepared. And I'm curious, as an abandoned, ruined explorer expert, what advice would you have for folks to go on these adventures somewhat safely, despite the risk? It's so funny to step into the role of expert in anything, and I actually do. I hate that word.

No, I don't know. Anyway, well, you're moving into season three, so like it or not, like you're. You're an expert of all american ruin. Yeah. No word.

If the best thing I can offer people, because everyone asks me, they're like, oh, you must do a ton of research before you go in. Where's the fun in that? That's not fun. I know where the place is, but I don't know anything about it, and I'm not interested in knowing anything about it because I don't want preconceived notions of anything going into anywhere. It's why I don't even watch trailers for movies anymore.

But I would say, in terms of safety, take a buddy. I love solitude. I think we should be romanticizing solitude. I have a thing on my wall over here that says, romanticize solitude. But I do think when it comes to these spaces, if you want to stay alive, taking a buddy is really important.

I have ground rules for myself. I don't go into basements. I don't care if I have light and 15 other people with me. You're not going to catch me in any basement. Ever.

Ever. And then if you do go to places that have, like, second or third or fourth or fifth stories, just be really, really mindful of where you're stepping. Because a lot of these places, they're just architecturally in shambles. And I have fallen through floors. I say it sounds like I've done it many times.

Happen one time. Yeah. If it was enough, in the 9th episode of this season, which will be out in, I don't know, a month or something, I've lost track. It's at an abandoned school in painter, Virginia, which is on the eastern shores of Virginia, which is a part of the country I didn't even know existed. But if you look at the state of Virginia, it's like, oh, yeah, there's that little inlet or, like little archipelago kind of sticking out the side of it.

And that is the eastern shores of Virginia. And there's an abandoned school that I found there. And I went up to the second floor and I was in this amazing classroom that had this huge hole blasted in the wall looking out over this farmer's. Farmer's field. Um, and I fell through the floorboards.

And I was lucky to have caught myself because had I not caught myself, I don't really know what would have happened. And then the other thing I would say is, get your tetanus shot. That's super duper important because you don't really know. Bring a mask, wear thick boots, make sure you have plenty of water. If there's even so much as a question of asbestos, don't do it.

But just kind of keep your. Keep your 6th sense up because you never know what's going to be around the corner. Yeah, you're going to the wilderness you're. Going into the wilderness. Yeah, right.

And all those things make it sound super scary. On the flip side of it, it's a playground. It's wonderment. You. You have an opportunity to go see things you never would have seen before and probably won't see again, and many people haven't seen.

So I think the other piece of it would just be to, like, take an open mind and be present.

Here's my last question for you. I'm very excited to hear what you think. There's a lot of places right now that aren't abandoned, but of course, will one day be. All places will one day be abandoned. You gotta think right up until we crash into the sun.

What is your dream abandoned place to explore that so you can't go to now because it's occupied. But what is a place that you would love to have be abandoned so you could finally get in there and look around? St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England. It's my favorite place on the planet.

And it's interesting because it often can feel like it's abandoned when you're there. If you're there on like a Tuesday morning, St. Paul's Cathedral, number one, or any theme park on the planet. I am a huge roller coaster aficionado, and I have yet to go to an abandoned. Well, that's not true.

I went to an abandoned water park in North Carolina. But that. Like a roller coaster theme park? Yeah. And then anywhere that's not the United States.

I love the differences, like the cultural differences in architecture when it comes to abandonment, you can see in other countries. And I've been really fortunate to get to explore abandoned buildings in Portugal and in Mexico. And I'm kind of itching for. Oh, no. And in Finland.

I did Finland this past summer, but I'm kind of itching for more. Awesome. Awesome. Is there anything else that you'd want to share? Let people know about the podcast.

This will probably come out like in a month, so I'm not sure where you'll be with your schedule. That'll be the release week between my release weeks. So I will have just dropped on January 4 an episode called Misses Dalby and the Gravekeeper of Hatteras island. Wow. What is that, a Harry Potter sequel?

Well, dude, it's a really. It was my favorite episode to work on this season, except for maybe the final episode of this season, because it is just pure fantasy. There's no, I mean, like the beginning, the intro leading up to getting to the this grave keeper's house that I happened upon in North Carolina. But I hired this amazing actress, Elizabeth Henry, who I had seen in a play up in the Hudson Valley, and she fucking blew my mind. And so I hired her to play misses Dalby and we had a gay old time.

She's just dreamy. And then January 18, that episode I was just talking about in painter, Virginia, it's called sex, drugs, and depression. That comes out on January 18. Yeah, dude. I went and explored this building and didn't realize when I came out of it on the back of this school in just giant here, absolutely giant letters, someone had spray painted sex, drugs, depression, and it's maybe my favorite photograph that I've taken here.

I'm going to put it in the chat really quickly. Ooh, maybe can I put it on the Patreon as well when I'm posting this? Yeah, yeah, please do. That room, the one that you can see kind of. Right, the hole up at the top left, that's the one where I fell through the floor almost into the girl's bathroom.

Jesus, dude. I'm glad you're okay. Yeah, me too. Terrifying. Figuring out what are the risks worth taking in life, I think is, you know, very.

Yeah, many, many, many risks. And I hope. I hope that I just keep learning how to take more of them.

Blake Pfeil

I hope you enjoyed listening to this bonus episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Seasons one and two are available wherever you get your podcasts, so make sure you subscribe. Also, if you like to read or enjoy amateur photography, just know that you can catch up on more of my adventures@allamericanruins.com. Or follow me on Instagram at allamericanruins. Abandoned the All American Ruins podcast is written, engineered, hosted, edited, mixed and produced by me, Blake file with studio space courtesy of Radio Kingston, WKNY AM 1490 FM 179 in Kingston, New.