On January 30th, 2006, I was suddenly compelled to explore the hidden crawlspace under my back stairs.
Now, I'm "Max Action - Urban Explorer" - a huge part of my life and self has been built up around my passion for exploring caves, tunnels, rooftops, basements - spaces between, spaces forgotten, spaces forbidden. And, of course, I LOVE crawlspaces.
They're definitive Spaces Between - hidden away out of sight and mind - voids where people put things to be kept yet forgotten forever - a shadowy Sheol where "the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten."
And my particular crawlspace has great potential, in part because my little house is pretty old - built in 1912.
And this is one of the Weird Things involved in this tale - in eight years of living in the house, years spent exploring every dark and hidden nook and
cranny I could find in the Twin Cities area - I had never, ever been into the crawlspace, in my own house.
I'd never even looked into it.
The white access panel is visible at upper right.
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There's only one way to get in - an access hatch in the wall, on the way down into the basement.
It's easy to miss if you're not looking for it - a plain white board set firmly in place within a white wooden frame. There's no handle, no simple way to open it.
Of course, I could have gotten in with 15 seconds work and a screwdriver.
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But I never did.
It's been under my nose all this time, and I've never had the curiosity, even once, to pull it open and see what is in there.
Weird.
But now, suddenly, it was time to check it out.
Exploration > |
