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In 2007, a Friend of mine moved from Easthampton to Westfield suddenly. I hadn't seen her in a few months and when we got back in touch, she told me some local legends from her new town. We had always been into Abandoned and Forgotten locations, as we both possessed an interest in photography which brought us together in the first place. She told me of a place in Westfield- a full, suburban community with beautiful houses and new appliances inside that had been abandoned abruptly because of the ground they had been built atop. I was hooked on finding out the mystery.
Flash forward about 6 months later, to present day. Another friend of mine had brought up this place in conversation, having called it "White Ninja". Upon closer research, I found out that this community was what was to be called "City View Commons" located off of City View Road in Westfield. Someone made up a lame legend claiming that if you trekked out at nite, a white ninja would appear from the first house on the left and kill you instantly. Typical teenage local folklore rubbish. Apparently, construction of this full-scale was just about wrapped up and people were already living in some houses before some environment officials claimed the land to be unsuitable to build or live on. Construction and everything surrounding the project was abandoned. I'm unclear on what year it was, but if anyone can tell me, we'd appreciate it.
So there you have it. A full community of beautiful houses on an abandoned, overgrown residential road. They still stand there today and Myself, Klondike, and our resident guide from a UE group all went on Thursday the 19th.
Our sources weren't lying. The houses were there. The interiors there- new fireplaces, countertops, bathtubs- at one time, fridges, stoves, and the rest. Over the years, the place has seen its share of wild parties, blunt smokin', and vandalism, which is clearly evident from the numerous liquor bottles and tagging.
Here are some pictures to spark interest from the community.
Here's the road leading up and a general view of Cookie Cutter Road as it is affectionately called.
"Alarm- Keep Out" - Yeah. Okay dude.
I'm gonna go ahead and guess these houses are all "big red x" buildings like the paper mill was in downtown Holyoke...
Some fun interior selections, including myself here showing that Western Mass Hardcore is apparently everywhere considering their tag is even in the most dismal of places.
Don't step on this floor. Floors are damn near rotted down through the garage!
One of the few unfinished houses... Oddly enough, the one that "White Ninja" allegedly resides in. We didn't see him that day.
Here's the exterior pics of White Ninja's cute little cottage.
Anyone remember that movie that was shot locally at Northampton Hospital, Knightville Dam, Old Easthampton Town Hall, and the surrounding areas- In Dreams? Well, someone decided to be crafty and scribble the wall markings from the movie in one of the upstairs bedrooms. They forgot a couple of words, thus just making them look stupid as hell. Oh well, better luck next year.
Overall, White Ninja aka City View Commons is definitely an oddity to add to the list of the strange things here in Western Mass, and is definitely worth the trip to check out if you're heading through the area. The road is in plain sight (unmarked) and there's not a single no trespassing sign anywhere. City View Commons: Another failed Western Mass Suburban Community.
-01027 Ninja
Hey guys, Ninj here. I just got some 35mm film developed from yesterday's trek. here's some new pictures from the Pump Station Adventure yesterday. Captions will be underneath explaining each picture further!
This picture is pretty close to the bunker. Notice how the overgrowth has basically camouflaged it from plain sight. Had you been on a trail 25-30 feet away, chances are you'd have past right by it. (Me and Klondike did the first time at least....)
This picture is from much closer. Still pretty much looks like a dike or some kind of stone wall serving no purpose. But upon closer inspection....
Universal entranceway, Ninja Style. Right through the roof. This picture shows NinjaC7 way up front explaining how to get through, with Klondike to the right listening, and NinjaC7's accomplice walking up to view. Funny thing about this pump house is that it blends in so well with the surroundings that even the roof just looks like forest floor (well, minus the big metal grates.)
Ah, the main chamber. So well preserved historically. Notice the random gearshift from a manual transmission lying atop the platform. (wtf?)
The floors of this room were so disgusting. The old wood scrap pulp melted in with all the rest of the crap laying around here from the humidity and water being rained down in for years and years and made the floor like walking on oatmeal. thank god the actual floor was cement or we'd be somewhere deep underground right now. Rumor has it there used to be a mattress in this room where the less than economically fortunate/young punks would take their companions to fornicate. As NinjaC7's accomplice said, "at least they were romantic....". Klondike later found the aforementioned mattress on a side trail leading to the water towers.
Here we have a staple of abandoned properties. Big steel trash can o'wood. Don't ask me why people load up their steel trash cans with wood chunks and never burn them or take them to a different location, but here's a shining example!
Here's a nice little shot of the donkey kong treehouse water tower, with its shorter steel behemoth tower lying behind it. From here you can see the strips of wood coming apart and falling gradually, as well as the "leaning tower" style pitch the top is beginning to get. Hell, on second thought, it looks like that big wooden barrel that splashes down on the kids at the Six Flags water park there. Anyhow, Kevin- If you're still up for climbing this for fifty bones following the viewing of this picture, I applaud you.
Until the next one,
01027 Ninja.
Last nite, I was browsing a less than respected UE webring and I stumbled upon a site allegedly somewhere in my town that I had never seen before. It was a big pump station. The post didn’t say where it was except Easthampton. Now, Klondike and I know this town like the back of our hands. We’ve been riding bikes everywhere there is to go and driving every road for as long as I can remember. I had a rough idea of where this pump station was due to the industrial nature of our town in certain sections and the style of forest where it was located.
Ended up calling up NinjaC7 (the local guy who posted about it) to find out where it was. He gave us the general vicinity of the place (exactly where I thought) so Klondike and I walked around for about two hours in and out of marshy bogs deep in mosquito and tick infested woods, through gravel pit yards, and around abandoned industrial properties to no avail.
We ended up calling him back and he agreed to come down with a buddy and lead us to it. He came and we found out the pump station had been right where we were in the first place, camouflaged amidst the greenery of Massachusetts “damn near tropical” forests (as Klondike put it).
We walked the path and NinjaC7 showed us we had to duck our way in by going through the ceiling and climbing down a series of water pipes deep into the black depths akin to the pit in the beginning of Army Of Darkness. We crept down and the smell of fresh spray paint was all over the place, showing us that punk ass kids were still using it to tag. Once down there, we discovered a bunch of barrels filled with wood, HUGE water pumps, and vast corridors leading into the blackness. Pretty cool to see a random pump station with NO road having ever led to it sitting in the middle of the woods. Check out the pics below to see the exterior/interior of the station.
Having finished up our photography and ‘splorin, we used our ninja moves and got back up to the humid forest. We glanced over and to our surprise, in the middle of the forest, stood two HUGE water towers. One was wooden and looked like Donkey Kong’s treehouse, and the other was a steel behemoth covered in festive rust. See the pics below. It’s pretty amazing to see sitting in the woods amongst the overgrowth and vegetation. *also* anyone who climbs up the rickety-ass ladder to the top of the wood water tower and gets someone to snap a pic of them up there gets 50 bucks straight out of my own pocket! You wouldn’t dare… would you?
We’ve come to the conclusion that the pump station served as a generator to suck water power into the canal to feed a certain industrial property lying next to the woods. Pretty crazy that they just left those huge structures there in the woods that could pose a danger to passerby’s of a much used transit system nearby. Big thanks goes out to NinjaC7 for taking time to show us this spot!
If you want a little clue as to where this hidden bunker deal is located, check out the picture below. Happy ‘splorin!
More Pictures To Come Tomorrow!
-01027 Ninja and Klondike.
Hey there readers. This is the 01027 Ninja. I'm gonna let you in on why I began this blog and a little history about what influenced me. I have been into the paranormal and the unknown basically all my life, or at least as soon as I began watching cartoons like Scooby Doo and Tales From The Crypt when I was a kid. It blossomed into Occult Research, Parapsychology Study, and Paranormal Research. Around 2001, I became introduced to Urban Exploration through the lens of a photographer I'm not going to name, but if you're into urbanEx I'm sure you'll know who I'm talking about- as well as the likes of Ninjalicious (RIP). Growing up a five minute drive from Old Main @ The Northampton Mental Hospital, as well as having both of my parents work there with social work for the patients, sparked interest in the field. With growing up, working, and all that business we call life- the constant work in progress, I lost time for 'Splorin. More recently in 2007, I joined up as a lead investigator in a Berkshire County based Paranormal group and got to investigate many old places ranging from Wizards Glen in Dalton (check out the history on that place- it's a trip!) and an abandoned/renovation in process Roman Catholic Church in Pittsfield, and being able to see the rich history hanging from the rafters and the rubble that once was the Holy Altar, I began thinkin about Urban Ex more and more.
Through a series of events that I still can't really figure out, I got contacted just last nite by a friend of the aforementioned unnamed photographer through Myspace. Cutting to the chase, she reminded me of UrbanEx and helped me remember how much I liked it. Once again, I became hooked. Thanks- you know who you are. So here we are.
I'm not going to waste my time posting events and places I've been in the past with old pictures and evp's and the like, but what I will do is document here all the places I go with pictures. I won't be giving out locations, as only trusted people will be handed that information. I will return to past locations and do a "Return To" special post for you all. My comrade Klondike will be with me through all these adventures. Remember - Never go it alone!
So here it is. Don't expect all high-risk ninja adventures from me. I'm too young to go to jail. But I can promise you that you will be able to find some cool stuff in your backyard that you didn't know was there before. From abandoned industrial buildings, to scenic vistas, to simple oddities lurking in the shadows of local areas, you'll find it here from my adventures. If you ever want to join up on an adventure, you're absolutely welcomed. Just email me.
Here's a picture of Myself, and below that, a picture of Klondike- the other administrator of this blog and the guy who is on every adventure with me. We always work as a team and chances are you'll see solo posts from us on here as well as collaborated ones.
So relax, and read on.
Godspeed!
-01027 Ninja
