While traveling out of state to shoot a wedding in Maine, Kaylah and I decided to turn the trip into a miniature vacation. After a couple days in Maine we got a hotel in New York for a night. In the morning we started the day at Dead Horse Bay. Afterwards we headed further away from the city and drove towards Kings Park Psychiatric. This has been an urban exploration hot spot for as long as I can remember, and I had always wanted to see it for myself. I knew the place was still standing but had no idea how accessible it was, or what kind of adventure we might be getting ourselves into. To be honest I didn’t expect to get in. I have sort of a weird curse that seems to haunt me as soon as I leave Ohio, that keeps me from exploring out of state spots (don’t get me started on Buffalo or Pittsburgh).
Anyways, we get there and realize that the massive hospital property has been designated as a city park. It was incredibly hot that day and I was relieved to not have to hike a mile through the woods only to find an impenetrable building. I knew that at the very least I could take some exterior photos, maybe even without having to leave the comfort of the air conditioned car.
Much to my surprise, the curse seemed to have taken the day off and we quickly found ourselves inside the behemoth of a structure known as Building 93. Empty, decaying, and covered in graffiti. It looks as though it might have seen more visitors since it’s closure than it did while in operation. We quickly made our way through the well traveled tower, and onto another one of the property’s many buildings.
While I would have liked to have seen the inside of every building, and explored every foot of tunnel that connects them, the unrelenting heat and the looming long drive back home hung over us. We decided to explore one final building, one of the oldest in the complex. We found our way in relatively quickly but after an hour or so of wandering down corridors and hallways that all look alike, we realized that we were not getting out as quickly as we’d gotten in. Sweat dripping, panic setting in, I found an open window and decided we would drop down to the ground below and have to cut through the woods until we found a road, but at least we’d be out of the building. Boy was I wrong. The very moment Kaylah’s boots hit the ground I realized that this space was merely a courtyard. To this day I’m not entirely sure how she managed to climb back up to the window and pull herself in. All I can tell you is that she somehow used her own leg as a grappling hook.
Not long after the courtyard fiasco, Kaylah, still functioning at super human levels, figured out that we were in fact one floor above our entry point and was able to retrace our steps and find the exit.
