Sweat continuously fell from my face as I walked alongside cacti and crumbling adobe homes, kicking up dirt and stones with each step. I could swear I heard at least a few drops sizzle as they hit the hot ground – though it’s possible that could have just been my mind fizzling out. It was like tiny people were working a sweatshop inside my head, powering a bullet train by hand.

The town of Spectre resides on a small island, which stretches over Jackson Lake within the city of Millbrook, Alabama. Twelve years later, the town still remains empty, standing in silence atop this land.

The Abandoned Geauga Lake pre-demolition

Hopes remain strong of sharing its legacy for years to come, bringing attention to the importance of why we must save this staple of Ohio’s history.

I wake up every morning just hoping to discover or learn at least one new thing – something that I will be able to take away, hopefully forever as a piece of my life. One successful day in particular, started during a drive into Buffalo, New York.

It has been called one of the most terrifying places in America, and though I am not one for ghost hunts and the study of the paranormal, I don’t doubt that some restless spirits haunt the eerie lands of this former amusement park.

The year was 1942 – World War II raged across Europe and the Pacific, while the United States became united in a state of panic. War planes screamed overhead as the Navy hurriedly built 17 hangars across the nation, with Tillamook Bay in Oregon being home to two of these massive structures.

You could call it a winter wonderland, though I feel that would not be doing it proper justice; it was much more than that. Constantly shifting weight from so much snow after years of neglect had weakened the glass of skylights above, causing ceilings to bust open overhead. It was as if clouds had fallen from the sky, filling this normally dark and desolate destruction with a brand new, much brighter life.

So today marks the 50th birthday of the famous UNIROYAL tire in Allen Park, Michigan. While many are busy, celebrating such a momentous occasion, I can’t help but shake some images from my head. Things that I have seen inside a former UNIROYAL factory will never quite fade from my memories. Don’t get me wrong, the company is amazing as a whole, but you will always have that one bad apple – sometimes a few.

With a current population of only 36, it’s no surprise that I was able to meet some amazing and very friendly people – people who were more than excited to share stories of the town’s past, and were incredibly inviting as well as helpful.