I can’t remember how we found out about the Bliss school. I think we stumbled upon it while looking for something else in the area. Eventually we got over to the school only to find its parking lots were being used as a free parking for locals. So it was very active, even though the building itself was dead as could be. We still made our way around the building looking for a way in but found that it was pretty secure.

A few days later went back for a second visit figuring we would be unable to access the building but we still wanted some pictures. Much to our surprise local vandals had torn off one of the well-mounted boards blocking entry to the building. We left hoping to not draw too much attention and came back later that night with Chas.

Once we were inside we found that the basement was flooded in as much as 5 feet of freezing cold water, and covered in asbestos. Keti was kinda sketched out so she decided to walk back home while Chas and I checked out the school. Due to the deep water I gave keti my camera just incase I fell or found myself in a position where the camera was going to get soaked.

With some very careful climbing over two enormous asbestos-covered furnaces, we made it across. We were in the upper level of the basement now. Let me say, this school is the only place where I have ever been creeped out and thought I might be facing a crazy person, or escaped prison inmate. It just had that kind of creepy feel to it. We made our way around the school where we could, as some floors were completely eroded. There were barricades in some places right before the floors of the rear section started to cave in. We made our way up to the top floor, very, very carefully. It felt like every place you stepped was about to give way and you'd plummet to your death. That probably isn't really the case but under the very low light conditions it was hard to think positively about the condition of the floors.

One really cool thing that I'd never seen before was this place had an auditorium on the top floor above the classrooms. Every board across the entire floor creaked and felt like it was bending in half. We finally got across from one side to the other stepping very carefully. All of a sudden we hear a lot of police sirens in the area. We thought we were fucked, but we decided to stay put and watch what happens from the window. All the cruisers passed by and split up around the nearby roads.

Now looked like a good time to leave. We got back to our entrance and stealthily got off of the grounds by hiding in the shadows from any passing cars or cruisers. When we got back to Keti's house we found a note: Matt I'm at the police station, don’t worry I'm not in trouble. As it turned out what had happened was some guy tried to pull her into his car on her trip back from the school. But until we caught up with her I though she must have been caught leaving the grounds of the school. I guess she should have stayed with us :P

A few days after the first trip inside the Bliss school Chas and I returned, but this time I brought my camera. The place was just as creepy as the last time, but the floors seemed a little better. I didn't know when the next opening to get into this place was going to be if there was one. So I took tons of pictures and filled my entire 128mb card at 2 megapixel. This trip seemed creepier that the first time. It felt like someone was watching us the entire time. We went up on to the roof to get some long exposures, and I swore I heard people (children) talking just inside the window we came out through. We were starting to get sketched, so we quickly got out of there.

On the way back I was was looking though my pics on the LCD of my camera and some of them had wierd outlines, and overexposed areas, I found this a little wierd because I didn't use any light or flash in my pics. The next morning when I went to upload the pics off of my camera the card corrupted and I lost everything.

I decided to go back in a few days and take more interior pics but when we went back we found the school had been re-boarded. Since then I've just used he exterior of the building to practice improving on my 'hack' photography.

~Matt Fallout