I love this kind of thing, thanks BP!

Many of these places have been empty for only a few years. First squatters or druggies move over, then come the scrappers, and as soon as the water gets in it's a quick downhill slide until it gets burned down.

It doesn't take long for nature to reclaim thing. If I didn't hack down the ivy and grape vines constantly during the spring and summer months, my house and garage would like that that by September.

My favourite ever feral house.

OMG essexjan- that's fantastic.

Someone's hopes and dreams, gone. Oh well.

At the end of the National Geographic documentary about what would happen if all humans suddenly disappeared (the original one, the excellent one), it said that basically, except for stainless steel, the earth would totally reclaim itself. The very last line of the show is: "All we have to do is get out of the way."

That round house is near where George lived. When I'm in OH next month I plan a visit to it.

They looked like upscale treehouses!

Detroit is so fascinating to me. I never get tired of photos of it.

I knew this would be Sweet Juniper.

This makes me sad. A few of those houses looked like they were probably so neat and actually "crafted" instead of just "assembled." I've seen so many of the gorgeous old farmhouses out here snapped up by developers and left to rot because all they really wanted was the land. Houses that were built by hand by the people who would live in them. Houses that were occupied for 100+ years, discarded. I'm always tempted to break into them and steal the mantels, handrails, floorboards,etc. just to rescue some of that unappreciated work.

I've always had a fascination with abandoned houses. These are great shots. I wish I'd been able to take photos of one that I pass on a daily basis: it's an old farmhouse with an "ell" off the back - the front is crumbling away while the people who run the farmstand still live in the ell in the back. Literally the right wall was coming away from the house, the roof had caved in partially, and I believe the second floor had collapsed.

But just this week they tore down the front part. If I can, I'll try to get pictures of the rest - you can see the inner skeleton of the house, and tons of stuff in the attic. I can't take my eyes off of the place.