I’ve always had a fascination with Urban Exploring, or as my Mom calls it, walking around in abandoned moldy buildings. While that may be true, it’s still an activity I like to partake in every once in a while, and what makes it such an exhilarating experience is the feeling you get while you’re there. It’s hard to describe, but something about seeing a place that was once bustling and full of activity, whether it be a house, a factory, or a hospital, now sit empty and decaying as nature and graffiti take over. You’re overcome with emotions you’ve never felt before. It’s almost like looking into the mind of a dead person, if that makes any sense. The other thing is you don’t know what you’re gonna see while you explore an abandoned place. Maybe you’ll find some old newspapers or books, come across some interesting graffiti; hell, one guy found discarded costumes and props from Pokemon Live while in a theater. At the same time, you don’t know what dangers you may come across. Mold, asbestos, weak floors that’ll cave in when you step on them, or maybe even a trio of mutant cannibals! There’s a constant chill running down your back and the feeling that you’re not supposed to be there, and yet your curiosity makes you try to explore every inch of the place before you leave. I could go on and on about the various adventures my friends and I have had while urban exploring, but there’s one place that’ll always stick out in my mind. A place that was so fascinating to explore not just because of the interesting architecture and statues everywhere, but because despite being empty and abandoned, it’s actually still open.
The place in question is a mall, which goes by many names, but for the sake of making sure none of you seek out and find this place, I’ll simply just be calling it the mall. Opened in the late 80s, the Mall was once one of the coolest places to go for kids of all ages. For younger kids, there were plenty of playsets and daycare places they could run around in, and for older kids, there was an arcade and a movie theater. Overall it was just a fun and colorful place to explore. The building had a light blue color scheme that’s supposed to simulate being under the sea, and to add to that there are sculptures of various fish and coral hanging from the ceiling. But that isn’t all to the theming, because there’s also a gazebo with golden flying pigs standing atop its sides by the fountain, and some farm animals placed by entrances to the stores in the back. I imagine that it was a great hangout spot for those growing up in the radical 90s. I say imagine because I’m a 2000s kid, and I lived about an hour away from the Mall, so I didn’t really get to go to it that often, especially when it was in its prime. The only time I recall going there as a kid was when my Grandma took me to see Puss in Boots, and I remember walking past the Arcade and seeing Marvel vs. Capcom 2, a game I had heard legendary things about, and I so wanted to go in there and check out everything they had! But unfortunately, my Grandma didn’t want to stand around for a few hours while I ran around playing the games, so I could only glance at the windows. But I remember thinking that once I was old enough to drive and got my license, I’d gather up my friends and we’d spend the whole day at that arcade!
But when that time came and I returned to the mall, I remember arriving in the empty parking lot, seeing the colors and pictures by the entrance all faded from the sun. When I went in, I found nothing but an empty building full of closed stores. I remember thinking to myself, “Is this place even open?” but lo and behold, the door was unlocked, the lights were on, and there were a couple of people just wandering the place. Still, it felt like I was walking into some horror game, and just around the corner there’d be zombies I’d have to start shooting. When I say this place was nearly dead, I mean it! Every restaurant in the food court, closed! All the kiosks, gone! Almost every store in the mall was boarded up or gated off, and that wasn’t the only thing that made the place feel dead. The fountain was now shut off and sat empty, the escalators sat still, the candy in the gumball machines looked stale and gross, and there were multiple sections of the ceiling that showed devastating water damage. The only thing the staff did to deal with it was put some buckets under the leakage, which sometimes overflowed and spilled all over the floor. There were only two places in the mall that were even open. One was a Bass Pro Shop that was just connected to the mall and might as well have been a different building, and, luckily for me and my friends: The arcade was still up and running.
So at the very least, I could fulfill the dreams of my childhood self, and one day I took a group of my friends to that Mall, and we spent the whole afternoon in that arcade playing Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Ninja Turtles, Alien 3, and even a Japanese rhythm game that had anime openings on its soundtrack. We were able to do all of that and more for just 10 bucks each. It was a moment where we got to let go of our worries and just enjoy life for a few hours, and I’ll treasure it for the rest of my life.
When I got older and went off to college, I started to become fascinated with urban exploring, and whenever I went to an abandoned mansion or school, I always thought back to the mall because the state it was left in oftentimes didn’t look too different from some of the places I checked out. I wanted to go back there again with this new mindset, instead of heading straight to the arcade I wanted to just walk all around the mall and just see what I could find. Now the number one rule of Urban Exploring is to never go alone! On top of the fact that you may need a friend in case you fall or get hurt, it’s also nice to have someone to bounce off of while you’re there. So during the summer break, I recruited my good friend, Kyler, and after packing some water bottles and flashlights, we headed straight for the Mall. Our plan was to generally take a walk all around the inside of the mall and see what it was like, then we’d end the day by winding down at the arcade before leaving. Trust me when I say, I wish it was that mundane and normal.
When we first arrived, I remember being super excited to show Kyler all around the place, since he couldn’t make it the day my friends and I spent the afternoon there, so it’d be cool to try and show him around. We were also both big fighting game fanatics, so I was itching to kick his ass in a few rounds of Marvel vs. Capcom 2. But ignoring that, we were both interested to see just how dead the mall was and if there were some interesting surprises or treasures to find. When we first walked in and passed the gumball machines filled with musty candy, we were still in awe as to how such a dead-looking place could be open. One of the first things Kyler said early into our exploration was, “You know one day we should bring a whole group of people here, and we should play hide and seek.” I laughed and said it was a great idea and was secretly planning out some good hiding spots while we were there. Surprisingly enough, there were a handful of people still walking around the mall, often just taking a walk in a place with air conditioning, or sitting down at a bench reading a book. I guess it would be a pretty cool place to go if you just wanted some peace and quiet because there was hardly any talking and no music playing throughout the entire place; you could hear a raindrop hit the ceiling.
Other than the Arcade and the playground, there really wasn’t much of note that Kyler and I found unless you counted looking at blacked-out windows of closed stores. There was a place that looked like a bar that had nothing stopping you from climbing over the surprisingly short railings, but it looked basically empty so we passed it by. However, when we came across the movie theater, things got a little bit interesting. The outside had still had the labels for the last movies that played there, and though there was a security curtain blocking the entrance, you could still look inside and see the box office, concession stands, and the paths to the theaters. I could’ve sworn I saw someone around the corner but it was too dark to really be able to tell. But on top of everything else, the security curtain wasn’t actually touching the floor, and we could even slip our toes under it. After experimenting with how far we could stick our feet in there, Kyler got down on his knees and actually reached his arm in the theater. When pulling it back, he bumped the security curtain and it actually moved up a little bit.
“Dude, I think this thing is a bit loose!” Kyler said ecstatically.
“Really, I wonder how far it goes up.” I said as I kneeled down next to him and grabbed the gate. I lifted it and though it got stuck after a few inches, it still was a big enough gap that the both of us could easily slip through.
“Aw man, someone could easily get back in there if they wanted to.” Kyler half-joked as he stood up.
“Yeah, but let’s not get that risky, especially since it’s still the middle of the day and we haven’t even gone to the arcade yet.” I said as I put it back down and stood up. Kyler agreed and we walked off to continue our exploration.
Once we made it to the other end of the mall, we decided to head back to the Arcade and spend the rest of our day there, but almost immediately when we turned around, we saw a middle-aged guy with a mustache in uniform coming towards us on a segway. When he got off and approached us, he barked at us angrily, “I know you two were trying to get into the theater!” and before I could say sorry he pointed his fingers at the door and said, “Get out!” We didn’t want to make a scene or get into any more trouble so we just said sorry and left the building. Needless to say, we were a little pissed off when we got outside, having our day cut abruptly and not even getting to go into the arcade. I understood where the security guard came from, I’m sure he had kids constantly trying to sneak into the closed-off stores and he felt like he needed to just be blunt and kick out whoever got close to the line, but we had driven out an hour to get there and we spent about the same amount of time inside. Kyler wasn’t having any of it though, and basically said, “Man, that guy was an asshole.”
We walked back to my car and since I did still feel bad about our trip being cut short, I asked Kyler if I should look up some nearby places for us to check out—but he had another idea in mind. Without any hesitation, Kyler said, “I wanna go back in there.”
“Kyler, no. If we go back in, he might call the cops and have us arrested.” I replied, not wanting to jeopardize my college career by going to jail.
“No we won’t, if that guy could arrest us, he would’ve done it right then and there.”
“Yeah, but he can still call the police and they can put us in cuffs. The guard told us to leave and I don’t want to get in any more trouble.”
“No come on, you can’t just live your life worrying about everything, you gotta take some risks and get some excitement. Besides, now that we’ve been kicked out, the entire mall is now an equal playing field, including that theater.”
None of my worries got through to him, and honestly, I half agreed with his viewpoint so that made it even harder to argue. Soon enough, I gave in, but I didn’t want to just waltz back into the mall without a plan, and thankfully we were on the same page. So we decided to walk to a nearby supermarket and pick up some extra water bottles, some rubber gloves in case of broken glass, and a couple of face masks if there was black mold. After stashing it all in a backpack, we then got dinner at a nearby restaurant. While there, I pulled out my phone and started researching the mall to see if there were any helpful tips on places that were easy to sneak into and how to avoid security. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that people weren’t sharing trespassing tips online, but what I did find is that the Mall is actually a bit more strict than its empty interior would make you think. Multiple people posted about how the second security saw them not heading towards one of the two establishments, they’d suddenly start popping up around every corner with their eyes on you. If you brought in a camera or even looked like you were gonna take a picture with your phone, they’d kick you out of the mall without a warning.
Come to think of it, I didn’t see any security cameras around the whole place, yet when Kyler and I were at the cinema, there was no one around. Yet the guard almost immediately caught us a minute after we had left the theater, and there wasn’t a trace of him before then. It was almost like he rode through a portal on that segway right in front of us. It was strange, whenever I went urban exploring, one of the factors that make it so chilling is the feeling that there could be someone watching you in this lost place you’re trespassing on. With this mall that wasn’t just a feeling, there were people there watching you, and apparently, they never took their eyes off you.
By the time Kyler and I got back to the mall, it was about 8 pm, the sun was starting to set and it’d be about an hour before the arcade was scheduled to close, so the place was even emptier than usual. We opened up the door and made our way through the mall while trying to stick to the side and hide behind objects. Anytime we saw a security guard or heard footsteps that sounded close by, we’d move either up or down the stairs to try and avoid them. During this time, I looked around to see if there were any security cameras, and to my surprise, I couldn’t spot any of them. Not the classic box style ones nor the newer circular ones were in sight, and we went about halfway into the mall. Maybe they had cameras that were just so advanced they could camouflage with the rest of the building, but how could a mall that couldn’t fix one of the many areas with water damage afford a security system that advanced? I’ll admit, the mall was only more unsettling at night. Without the sun shining through the glass on the ceiling, it really showed how few lights were actually on in the building. The downstairs was almost completely unlit, and just about every hallway that went off the main path upstairs was pitch black. Luckily there was just enough light that we could navigate our way through the Mall without having to use our flashlights. But still, my heart was pounding as we went through the mall, and it felt like all the flying pig and fish sculptures were staring at me judgmentally whenever I glanced at one of them.
We finally reached the theater and the security gate was sticking above the ground just as we left it, and there wasn’t anyone in our immediate vicinity so it seemed like this was the best chance we had if we were gonna go through with this. Approaching the security curtains, I lifted it up as Kyler slipped under, then held it for me so I could get in, dropping it after I was through. Quickly we moved to the walls to try to stay out of sight and began scanning the place for any leftover movie posters or standees we could pose with. There wasn’t really anything we could see initially besides broken pieces of some of the tiles on the red floors, as well as some sort of mural of a movie camera with a film reel running through it. Truth be told, part of the reason we couldn’t see much was that it was so dark, and we didn’t want to turn on our flashlights so close to the entrance.
But seeing that mural did remind me that a bit past the concession stands, there was another piece of art past the concession stands that I saw when I went to this cinema with my Grandma almost a decade ago. I didn’t remember much, just that it had a circle of film reels with a few pictures of famous actors in movies over it, like Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, and Halle Berry in I think the Flintstones movie. I wanted to see if that mural was still there and maybe if I could recognize all the actors and movies on it, so as I slid back and got to some stairs leading to the theater rooms, we sat down at the bottom and I took out my flashlight and shined it on the upper part of the wall.
The mural was right where I remembered it, but something about it felt… off. I thought maybe some of it was torn off, but it was more like someone painted over almost all of it. The only picture that was still visible was Halley Berry, but the rest of it had some sort of jet black muck all over, and everything it covered was completely gone. Worst of all was the odor it gave off, a strong bitter smell that reminded me of cough medicine. I turned to Kyler to see if I wasn’t crazy, but he could see it too. He suggested that maybe it was mold, but I shot that down immediately. Not only does mold not smell like that, but even in places I explored that were abandoned since the 80s, the mold’s color wasn’t that strong or thick, and it normally spread in multiple dots of many different sizes, not one big blob you could fit a car into. Kyler reassured me that it was probably just some damage and it wouldn’t be dangerous as long as we acted smart, so I swallowed and decided to head further in. Still, I was even more nervous than before about doing this, and I could feel my legs trembling as I stood up and walked.
As we got closer to the back, we looked down a hallway of doors to the individual theaters, some of them even still had the names of the movies that were playing in them. Though the feeling of ‘no way out’ really struck me when I saw that there was nothing but a dead end on the other side of the hallway. Still, we wanted to go into the actual theaters since it was an area we couldn’t see outside, so it might make for some cool pictures where security couldn’t spot us. But we were still wary that the guards might be on to us, so we decided to go in shifts. While one of us would go into a screening room and look around, the other would stand by the edge of the hall and keep watch on the entrance. Then when one came back from the theater, they’d watch the front while the other would explore another room. After that, we planned on getting out because we figured once you’ve seen one screening room you’ve seen them all. Kyler was the first one on guard duty, which means that I was the lucky winner of being the first to enter these dark dusty rooms by myself. Slipping the gloves and mask on, I took a deep breath and grabbed the cold door handle, and entered theater one.
I didn’t even wait for the door to close before I turned my flashlight on, I was too on edge to be in complete darkness. As I walked further into the seats and the screen, I looked around and everything looked about how I expected at first glance. All rows of seats were folded up and the stairs were covered in asbestos and more broken pieces of the ceiling. The screen was white and had mold hovering around the edges and the glass where the projector was supposed to be was shattered, almost looking like someone made off with it. The walls almost had the same black muck covering them as the mural, though these ended before they reached the lights. Though that foul odor was all the more apparent, and it made me almost want to hold my breath while I was in there. I walked further down in the hopes I could get an up-close look at the screen, but I suddenly stopped in between the two front rows when I felt something crack beneath my feet. I looked down and saw that I stepped on a pair of glasses, which felt strange because there were no soda cans, beer bottles, or other trash you’d expect to find in an abandoned business. I shined my light down to the ground and my heart nearly sunk when I saw that it wasn’t just the glasses, but there were also earrings, a pair of shoes, and even a hoodie with some jeans next to it. Was someone else in here and is now running around in the theater? What if they were attacked and after being knocked out they were stripped? I immediately turned, startled, shining my flashlight all over the room. I began shouting, “Hello! Is anyone there!?” No one in sight. I began to feel a bit lightheaded and nauseous as if I was gonna faint. I tried to head back towards the door but I swayed to the side and my arm ran into the wall and… and… it began to sink.
A tight squeeze gripped the front of my arm as I shined my light down and saw that the black muck had made it all the way to the bottom of the wall, and I was touching it. No, my forearm was straight up sinking in there like it was a pool of oil, and the smell was overwhelming at this point. My arm only sunk in further by the second, and soon enough it got my wrist. I lost all feeling in it. My hand just twitched as I gripped my fingers, but if I didn’t act fast it’d be next! I pressed my foot to the bottom of the wall and began pulling. No use, I could barely wiggle my shoulder in there, and now my palm had been fully overtaken. “KYLER! KYLER HELP ME!” I yelled out with all the energy I could muster. I screamed louder than I ever had in my life and I felt my lungs shrivel as I did. “KYLER! I’M SERIOUS MAN! I’M GONNA FUCKING DIE!” I coughed violently after bellowing out that last cry. My leg began to twitch and as I looked down, I saw my foot sinking into the same black sludge. I closed my eyes and felt tears streaming down my face. I just wanted to hang out with a friend for the day, trying to live the best years of my life. I didn’t want to die, not now, I had so much ahead of me. Finishing school, getting to publish my work, and having a house and a family. All of it would be gone because I let Kyler convince me to do this. No… it wasn’t Kyler’s fault, he couldn’t have known this would happen. It was my idea to come here. With tears still streaming down my face, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to sink into the wall…
That’s when I heard a loud bang from across the room and a beam of light forced my eyes open. Kyler came rushing in towards me as the gunk spread around the wall beside him, but he kept his eyes straight on me. “What the hell is going on!?” He yelled as he approached me. “I don’t know man, just get me out of here!” I said with a wet and sweaty face as I held my free hand up towards him. By now my shoulder was almost in the wall and it would only be a matter of time before it got to my torso, or even worse, my face. Kyler grabbed my hand and began to pull, and I tried to help him by pushing with my free foot. It felt like I was barely moving an inch, and time was running out: my shoulder was already halfway through. Kyler grabbed one of his water bottles and splashed into the area my arm was in. It was probably a desperate attempt to try anything, but by some miracle, once the water was splashed on it, the muck actually began to recede. I began to fall out of the wall and I could feel my arm and foot again as I inched back into the room. Giving it one last tug, Kyler was able to pull me fully out, and as I fell into his arms, I hugged them tightly. “OH MY GOD! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!” I screamed for just a second as Kyler hugged back and we quickly let go. The black gunk was looming over us from the ceiling as a reminder that we were still in danger. I looked at my arm and saw that the sleeve of my shirt was missing, and not just torn. It was like it was cut off with perfect precision. Same with the front of my shoe, and the glove was completely gone. I didn’t have time to think though, as Kyler tugged my arm and we both started running towards the exit.
Kicking the door open we made our way back to the exit, and now all the walls were completely encased in the black substance. The security curtain rattled as we almost crashed running into it. The mall outside was starting to turn off the lights, it looked like they were about to close. “Uh, dude, this thing isn’t moving!” Kyler yelled as he tugged at the bottom of the gate, it staying completely stagnant. I looked and saw the wall around the security curtain was covered in the black muck and it was now encasing it. I took out one of my water bottles and began splashing the side of the walls, hoping that would do the trick, but despite the muck dissipating again, the security curtain wasn’t moving an inch vertically, we could only rattle it back and forth. I had to think fast, so I turned to Kyler and said, “Splash as much water as you can on the walls and then let’s step back to the concession stands. On three, we’re going to charge!” I wasn’t so sure of this plan myself, I was still shaking and shivering as I said each word, but Kyler just gave me a reassuring nod and splashed his side of the wall. He had faith in me, so I had to do the same.
After I splashed my edge of the wall, we ran back as far as we could, the gunk still emerging around us, and we got into position. “One… two… THREE!” We both yelled as we charged at the gate with every bit of strength we had left in us. We crashed right through the security curtain and brought it down with us, our faces slammed right into the floor. I stood up as I felt a scratch on my chin, and Kyler had a bloody nose, but we didn’t care. Scrambling to our feet, we sprinted straight towards the nearest exit. The muck began to creep into the mall behind us, but then suddenly stopped once it reached one of the parts of the roof with heavy water damage. I looked back and saw as I looked back to see the same security guard we ran into before just standing at the edge of the cinema, just watching us…
The doors banged against the wall as we came bursting out and sprinting through the parking lot. I hit the alarm on my car and it began to beep loudly, making it much easier to get to. We reached the car, I unlocked the doors and we immediately sat down and buckled up. Once I switched the car on and put it into drive, I stomped on the gas and the engine roared as we sped out of the parking lot. We finally calmed down a bit as we made it onto the main road and began driving home, though both of us were panting heavily and couldn’t even muster up enough breath to talk. Still, just looking at each other, we could see the trauma in our eyes as we tried to process just what any of that was! Where did it come from, why was it there? These were just some of the millions of questions we had going through our minds that we knew full well would never be answered. But at the very least, we were alive and safe, and that’s all that mattered.
It’s been a few years since that incident, and not only have I not gone back to that mall, I haven’t really done much Urban Exploring in general. The pandemic turned me into a bit of a germaphobe, and between finishing up college, working a full-time job, and taking care of my own place, I just don’t really have the time to research a place and then try to call someone up to explore it with for a few hours. Besides, I didn’t want to have any panic attacks if I thought too much about that incident while I was exploring. Luckily it seems Kyler has fully recovered from this incident as well, and has been pursuing a career as a traveling photographer. We still hang out to this day, but when it comes to the incident, we rarely bring it up. We never told the police or anyone about it, fearing that the Mall may find out it was us and send their secret police after us or something. So for now we mainly just end the story after we got kicked out and left it at that.
I still check on the mall online every once in a while, just to see if anyone saw the same thing as me and Kyler, as well as any new discoveries people may have found. Turns out the mall finally closed its doors and is actually going to be demolished in a few months, and in its place, they’re going to build some apartments and office buildings. Maybe some people would think good riddance after what I went through, but I’m honestly a little sad to see it go. Despite everything, I have a lot of memories of not only going to that mall, but also driving past it and wanting to check out the arcade, then finally getting that chance and finding a new appreciation for what that place had become in the years it spent in purgatory. Though honestly, I’m also afraid. Whatever was in there, whatever had me, is it gone, or is it still around? Is it going to be able to snatch people while they’re alone in their apartments, just small families ripped away from the earth in their own homes?! It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it, and it’s not helping that this morning when I woke up, I noticed a spec of black muck on my arm…