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fatmatt:

A body has been frozen in the abandoned Roosevelt building in Detroit for at least a month.  A homeless community had been living inside.  Urban explorers had seen and photographed the body.  Nothing was done about it, even after authorities were called.  Not until a reporter got involved did anyone bother to investigate.

Full story here.

I’m not really sure what to say about this. I used to be fairly hardcore in my enthusiasm for urban exploration, my group of friends and I took quite a bit of pride in our ethics related to the hobby. We never broke in, instead looking for ways to gain access that didn’t involve any destruction to or change in the building. We never took souvenirs (except the many, many photographs). We were careful not to share the location or entry methods with people we didn’t believe held similar ethics.

I once found an injured dog limping around an abandoned WWII air force hangar and spent the afternoon driving around with local animal protection authorities trying to relocate it. (Sadly, the dog was too large for me to lift into my car so I could just drive him to get help, and after he snuck away from me I was never able to re-locate him. I still worry about him.)

You can be damn sure the instant any one of us found a dead fucking human body we would call for help. Not treat it like a photography prop and then walk away. Stories like this are why I’m such a misanthrope.