Deserted Finland

A Yearly Pilgrimage

The following location was all too familiar to me and I already knew, that there would be nothing else to find here than what I had already seen.

This is what is left of the location where my interest towards the abandoned. It burned down in 2021 just around a month after I had said my last goodbyes to it.

I will probably come here every summer just to have a look. I would even take an item or two to have as a memory, but that thing is contaminated with all kinds of things you shouldn’t have in your home.

Trying To Rail It Again

My adventures through the all too familiar locations I had visited numerous times, had now taken me to one of the many railway stations in the area. They were all looking pretty much abandoned, but a part of them might still have some technology related to railway operations, as they were kept in some shape.

And as you clearly can see, the building still has electricity. The light on top of the door is on.

The main entrance had one intact window left.

The light that never goes out.

As I believed, this was another no go. I didn’t expect anything else. But if you don’t try, you don’t win.

An Ambition For The Ancient

Back when I was a child and we travelled to our grandparents or summerplace, I remembering wondering a massive Viking ship standing on a mountainside. I had forgotten all about it, until I read an article about it the previous winter.

The park was built in the 1980’s by a local construction foreman, who loved Greek mythology for once reason or another. The park was located near his home, and although he was a construction professional, he didn’t built the statues and canopies himself, but ordered them from Greece. What he did was the gardening in the area.

When the park was in its prime, it even made headlines in the Greek television. The builder died in 1994, and the decay started. The constructions are made of Greek concrete, which doesn’t do well in Finnish conditions.

Before his death, the builder told his son to tear it down once he was gone, but he had no heart for that. As he couldn’t handle the upkeep, nature has slowly started to take over.

And here we are. I spent 15 years of my life driving past the place at least monthly, but I’ve never been this close.

The boat was the most visible structure in the park. It was also the last addition.

This temple is still almost standing straight.

While that one is on the verge of collapse.

I can’t really understand, but I think the words ‘fun in soon a decade’ have been hidden in Swedish the text a bit misorganized.

It’s probably been a while since water flowed in those fountains.

According to the neighbour who spoke to the media, the owner could often be seen wandering around the park.

Approaching the boat, which was the biggest structure of all in the park.

Sadly it wasn’t a full boat, just the front of it.

The runes engraved to the boat are copies of the runes found in a nearby village. Although the runes haven’t been proven ancient, the neighbor believes, that this is the owners statement about believing that they indeed are made by ancient Vikings.

There were other structures, which nature has already taken over. The rooftops of the center of the village can be seen in the distance.

So, now this local landmark has been explored, too.

The Injury Didn’t Prevent Me From Retrying

So welcome yet to another familiar location. This one is the dairy plant converted into a service station in 1959. The previous time I was here, I fell and got my first urbex injury. Now I am back.

But as the appearance of the building seems unchanged, I decided not to even leave my car. Another check up, another location, which goes back to the waiting list.

Let’s continue!

Celebrating 30’s And Checking On Locations Part IV

The following location was already out of town, but it was still part of the same trip to my former home town. This time it was about a former service station documented earlier in here.

The place looked about the same as it did previously.

Going around to see if I can find a point of entry.

The reference to a song was still visible.

And nobody had cleaned the broken windows.

It looks like there has been a major fire inside.

And it looks like the roof has collapsed.

A better look at the facade of the building revealing its unique style.

And the back of the building revealing its awful shape.

Still no luck – the theme of this season.

Celebrating 30’s And Checking On Locations Part III

That was quite a party night. We went to several bars in my birth town and I made an agreement with one of my friends to be my wing woman. Well, she agreed on three dates for herself and finally took me home.

When I finally could drive the following day, I first travelled to a location, which would soon be demolished. I had been there several times, but this was my last chance.

It was of course the old youth association building in the Vanha Vaasa area, the former center of the town of Vaasa, which was abandoned in 1852 after a fire in favor of the current location.

The demolition was scheduled to begin in the autumn, and I wouldn’t be travelling to the town again before that, so this really was a last chance.

But despite looking for every possible hole, it seemed like this building would become an impossibility.

That loose board was the best I could do. As it didn’t bend enough without breaking things I had to concede defeat.

And yet this wasn’t quite the end of the story.

Celebrating 30’s And Checking On Locations Part II

The 30’s birthday party was held at the old elevator tower of a massive mill now converted into an event venue. But wait a second, haven’t we been here before?

The elevator tower in question is to the right of the picture on the other side of the wooden bridge. But this monster here in the foreground are the former silos of the mill. I have previously written an article about their protection battle, but now the battle is over. The silos are being demolished.

And so another landscape from my childhood is slowly disappearing. As is my childhood. I am turning 37 next month.

Celebrating 30’s And Checking On Locations Part I

That summer the mother of my godson turned 30. That’s why I travelled to my former home town to attend the party. But the trip would have been nothing without a couple of explorations.

This here is the power station of a former sawmill, which I first discovered earlier that spring. As it was partially collapsed and the entrance to the still standing section was covered with debris and ice, I decided to give it a try in the summer.

Pretty much nothing had changed. Except, that there was a lot of more vegetation than there was the previous time.

The large doors at the back didn’t seem like an original feature.

This is the collapsed section, where entry would have been possible. And this time there was no ice. But there was such a field of burning nettles and growing forest, that it was impossible this time too with the clothes I was wearing.

I guess I’ll have to be back. Again.

The Unusual Guides Are Back Part III

The following location was by the same small road where the previous one was located. My friend told me that a clocksmith had lived and worked there.

I was a bit sceptical at first. It was actually just a shed. But my friend’s father, who has lived his entire life in the village, confirmed, that it had indeed a home, too.

Why this is important? I keep a list of locations I’ve managed to enter. Sheds, garages and stuff like that don’t count. But as this has been a home, we’re now at 246.

The place has been very, very primitive, and it has mostly collapsed. But there is a bed, so I guess, that the story is true.

The damage was so bad, that a bigger part of the building was destroyed than intact.

This must be where he kept his tools.

There were remains of other buildings on the lot. They had been gone for decades.

Like I said, the house resembled a shed. But someone had been working and living there.

The Unusual Guides Are Back Part II

Another van standing in the grass. I can’t recognize its marque or model.

But what I can recognize is the car tax sticker from 1996. Back in the 1990’s for a couple of years it was mandatory to wear a sticker indicating that you had paid your annual car tax. It was also mandatory to remove them, but the devils didn’t want to come off.

A look at the badly worn out roof of the house.

There are no external photos of it, but now I’m inside the other building on the lot seen behind the third Volvo and the second van.

It is rather evident, that there’s a sauna here. But the building was larger than that.

The stove and the toilet seem both out of place. Is this again a case of failed renovations?

Two stoves? I think this is only explained by renovations.

A photograph of a row house. Interesting. It is quite common for farm houses to have an aerial photo of the farm on the wall, but this is something new.