To put it bluntly, no.
Some of the ebay user ID’s are no longer traded on, is that because they have seen the light? (Hopefully) Or simply because they trade under a new name or sell elsewhere?
We have been monitoring the regular almost twice weekly abandoned building news item to appear on the Mail Online website, as much as we all love the manors, mansions and cottages, there has to be a point when you need to stop and think before you sell your images.
Now we don’t mean give your images away, we mean you don’t let the media have them at all. Once a place is out to the general public who wouldn’t have come across an Urbex site in their lifetime, here are the Mail giving a pin point location and all the pictures of the items inside.
No wonder the places are getting locked down/stripped. And all for a quick buck. You might think its cool to be in the papers, but think about the peoples possessions that are now in the hands of thieves, especially if it was from an old residential property. Decades of family memories gone in an instant because some bright spark wanted 5 minutes of fame (Or weeks of fame if you’re Bradley ‘I’m an academic’ Garrett).
A recent Facebook post by Angelique Brunas, which has been shared over 90 times has brought up these concerns yet again, this time unfortunately it is more to do with foreign sites. Angelique said that “you have to visit new sites in Belgium in under two weeks before they get stripped” Not so long ago it used to be the case that most foreign places were codenamed for this very reason, but as soon as the media get hold of it or even new users being given access details, then it becomes a free-for-all.
It’s great that the hobby is becoming popular but people need to earn the right to have places shared with them and this right should be taken away if they sell images to the press (we don’t mind the sale of images of buildings that are no more/converted or if you have been given permission to sell them by the properties owner, we can’t see a problem if it is not at risk).
Here are Angelique’s comments
After the massive attack on urbex locations I’ve came to the conclusion to stop posting pictures from new locations. I refuse to be whatever kind of source for the people that are fucking this up! Below are some samples to show you why. I’ve used images from various urbexers including myself. If you want me to remove your image or credit you please let me know or feel free to tag yourself.
*We would also like to state that if any of the images in the picture below are yours and you would like them removed please contact us through our Facebook page and we will remove them, we will ask to be shown the image either on your facebook page or on a website to confirm it is yours.
Have any of the haters actually been out exploring before? If you have then you’ll know that everyone takes something from the places they’ve been to, no exceptions! Some people keep the trinkets, some people swap them and others trade them in, anyone who says otherwise is a hypocrite. So what if people make a bit of cash selling them on, next you’ll be saying I shouldn’t be earning money from working during the day, just like a lot of the ‘urbexers’.
If anyone else has anything to say to me then they can say it to my face. I seriously doubt there’s anyone that has the guts to.
The original comment can be seen in the comments section in the article below. For all those people who think we made this comment up, we are sure if you do what he say’s and ask him face to face he won’t deny it.
So, when we started this blog, we had never thought anything like this would happen. We try to keep people anonymous. But sometimes people can put 2 and 2 together. One of our contributers (now an EX contributer) was phoned up and threatened with violence. So fearful of repercussions they have cut all contact. All because they had an opinion and felt the need to share it with everyone else.
If you are reading this, we hope you are okay!
——
Now we were going to run this item a week or so ago but Bull Manor got in the way. But with the above that has happened we feel it more important to say it now as we don’t want anyone else being threatened with violence.
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Not so long ago we created our Facebook page, then we started to add people who we thought would benefit from learning more about the dark side of UE. Now without even sending friend requests people are adding us every day.
This may be to your peril though as if you have access to Non-Public on 28dayslater and freely contribute to either this blog or on our Facebook page (all private messages to us are kept private, so we won’t let them know who has been talking to us), Oxygen Thief will kick you out…
(Click the images to enlarge)
Then if you agree with anything from this blog, or, god forbid, you question them you are out…
Oxygen Thief then gets annoyed that someone has posted on here and bans them…
So, if you want to stay with the thugs who phone people up and threaten them with violence, then we suggest you never post on here with an opinion that hasn’t been verified as 28dayslater safe, we also suggest you promptly ‘unfriend’ us on Facebook.
If however you do NOT want to be controlled by the almighty then feel free to add us on Facebook, or comment on our blog. We won’t threaten violence, no matter what you say, even if it hurts our feelings.
We have been passed an interesting conversation that happened between some known London explorers.
They were celebrating how they had set fireworks off a crane (believed to be next to sea containers house in London) at the start of 2013.
Now we aren’t concerned about this, in fact we have done similar elsewhere.
However the conversation continues..
Oliver Torwell states:
I just can’t wait for the workers to turn up tomorrow morning and find scorch marks all over the crane/building
Simon Hawkins replies:
With all their fog horns gone
Oliver Torwell replies:
Oh, and lots of empty fire extinguishers
So they have used up their equipment, but more importantly they have emptied the sites fire extinguishers which is extremely dangerous. If there was a fire on that site and the contractors needed to put the flames out but found that they couldn’t as idiots thought it was ‘cool’ to use them up, then god only knows what might happen. There might even be a fatality on explorers hands due to reckless actions.
(Scroll down for images of those arrested)
Today has got the forums going, there was a phone in to BBC Berkshire Radio (below) regarding break-ins & theft at Berkyn/Bull Manor (nicknamed Bull Manor due to the menacing bull that guards the premises). The theft was some old, yet personal books from the site. According to the owner, 5 people who claim to be urban explorers were arrested with items (books) taken from the site.
Now the owner of the building starts off with the usual ‘explorers break in’ scenario and we all know that this is 97% untrue, the majority of us do NOT break in, we (should) all go by the mantra Take only Photos, Leave only footprints.
If you A) Break in, you are breaking and entering and if you B) take something, it is theft/burglary.
Now the forums are talking about this, the usual 28dayslater one sided view that it’s all the owners fault, however the owner didn’t advertise it on the internet did he? Up until the point it was posted in public (it started life in non public) to our knowledge it was known but only visited by a few, then all manor houses were removed from non-public (see our older posts regarding this) and all code names were removed, it became a free-for-all.
Here is the one sided chat on 28days…
And here is a different view, a view from explorers who are sick and disgusted of hearing about people who call themselves explorers who take items from buildings without permission…
http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=24867
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Now that’s all the information done with, Have you noticed something about this post? No mention of Dweeb or Speed! Well there’s a shock for some of our haters out there. That is because we research EVERY item we post on here to get the truth as best as possible. We have had a few comments through our facebook page saying that why do we have a vendetta against 28dayslater? We don’t, we just don’t usually get information linking anyone else to the thefts, it’s usually the troublesome duo (Dweeb/Speed) who leave the biggest bread trail behind.
Well not this time! A simple bit of research came up trumps, in fact we couldn’t quite believe our eyes when we saw it.
A quick search came up with this blog (below) by Swedish born Michelle Fundin. She visited the manor on the 7th of January
Look, here she is in the manor…
Copyright: Michelle Fundin
Now here gets the interesting bit, at the bottom of the lovely list of images is the following bit of writing…
Five hours in Jail? A coincidence possibly? Maybe people get caught here all the time and the police hold them in the cells for five hours all for a bit of trespass?
Well maybe not, as from the horses mouth (view the second comment, both captured for the context, click the image to view it larger)…
We Shit you not!! You can’t get much more evidential than that if it smacked you round the face with a wet kipper!!
To read it for yourself, here WAS the page, however since WE exposed her, she has now removed the page. It’s good we took the screenshots isn’t it…
http://mimisioux.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/bull-manor/
She has since put the following announcement up…
http://mimisioux.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/wonders-of-the-www/
NEW IMAGES OF THE CULPRITS
(Including Michelle Fundin)
Running away from the scene of the crime…
Our very own self confessed Michelle Fundin leaving the property…
Well it has been a busy day today hasn’t it!
Here are the current standings…
| Country | Views |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom |
1,127 |
 France |
37 |
 Germany |
24 |
 Belgium |
10 |
 United States |
9 |
 Australia |
3 |
 Netherlands |
2 |
 Nigeria |
1 |
 Turkey |
1 |
We have been linked from many forums but especially Facebook.Welcome Nigeria, not a country we expected really!
We expect this may be the peak as it’s a Sunday, but one day worth it’s weight in gold anyway!
People are also searching the following terms:
| Search | Views |
|---|---|
| urbex against theft | 14 |
| urbex theft | 5 |
| https://urbexagainsttheft.wordpress.com | 3 |
| rookinella thief | 2 |
| rookinella | 2 |
| chris warren oxygen thief | 1 |
| whois urbex theft | 1 |
| 28 days later theft | 1 |
| 28 days later rookinella | 1 |
| who is urbex theft | 1 |
| 28dayslater thieves | 1 |
| Total search terms | 32 |
Whois urbex theft made us chuckle.
Welcome everyone and happy reading!
UPDATE: Today has overtaken yesterdays views!! Topping 441 views!
Lets welcome people from the Globe to the blog (welcome)…
| Country | Views |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom |
392 |
| Germany |
36 |
| Belgium |
8 |
| United States |
3 |
 Canada |
1 |
 Ecuador |
1 |
04/01/2013————————————
Thanks to all the Facebook visitors we have had today, topping 263 views (at time of posting). Most were from the UK but a couple were from Belgium, So big up to the visitors from across the Sea!!
Also the people who visited from Googles searched the following terms:
| urbex against theft | 2 |
| oxygen thief urbex | 2 |
| admel edge binding machine | 1 |
| Total search terms | 5 |
So a massive FIVE people came from the Googles, respect to you all!
Here’s to a good new year with hopefully less ransacked buildings!
PS. If you google ‘oxygen thief urbex’ you will find our blog right at the top. Ha!
It seems we have Royally pissed off those from 28 days later again as they have somehow linked any linkback to their site from this blog with a spam screen.
Obviously too much unwanted attention. You cant block the fire with a screen, people can still access the website by going around it! We’ll think of other ways to link to their site instead then, the internet is a wonderful place.
Update, I have worked around it now, all links are back up.
Previous (28 days later linked to b3ta.com spam screen, not safe for work *calls your boss a c*nt ->) www.28dayslater.co.uk
All links are now linked through Microsoft Translator, and unless they want to block that translation engine which has masses of traffic going through daily, they will have to put up with it!!
So now you can freely click (safe version->) www.28dayslater.co.uk without a problem.
Something strange has happened on 28dayslater Rookinella has seemed to have lost her Mod status, which would mean she is no longer allowed to view the ‘elite’ Moderator forum there that discussion on the infamous Cardiff Bunker shopping list came from…
Cardiff Sub Command Bunker Shopping List (pdf download)
This may mean that she has fallen out with the top Mods or with Chris Warren (Oxygen Thief). Or maybe she has seen the light and does not want to be assosiated with the like of the thieves from that forum?
Well, maybe not. As it seems that the switches she has been recently selling are not British industrial switches from the 1930’s but ones stolen from her recent trip to the Maginot Line in France. (From a very credible source).
The switches in question (at a mere £80 a pop!)…
So the reason behind why Rookinella has decided to leave the dammed of the Mods at 28 Days Later or why she has been reduced to a ‘normal’ member is a mystery.
But the fact she is still willing to sell stolen items on ebay means that she certainly hasn’t turned over a new leaf!
Rookinella’s ebay history…
| User ID | Effective Date | End Date | |||||
| architecturalswitches | 12-Dec-12 | Present | |||||
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| brightonantiquities | 13-Jun-10 | 12-Dec-12 | |||||
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| rookinella | 16-Sep-06 | 13-Jun-10 | |||||
You can see by her feedback that she has had an active history of selling items from sites (such as lampshades, eye test charts, eyeball bowls!
Oh and thanks to the 5,000+ visitors we had last year! Nearly 10,000 hits in total since the blog began, I really hope it has opened the eyes of explorers to what is going on behind the scenes.
Gone are the days where everyone trusts each other, people used to post locations (not access points) in the title without a thought of anything bad happening.
But then people start to take advantage of situations and spoil it for everyone else.
It’s this reason that a lot of places from overseas are never given the real name or location, for instance ‘Hospital H, Belgium’ or ‘The Horror Labs’ etc.
But since the fiasco of the Hoarders House, many new locations in the UK are being given secret names and no locations. But who is getting annoyed with this rule? 28 days later of course! No other forum is making a fuss, but long standing members are fleeing the nest of 28 days due to being given the choice of either naming the location or having the place Deleted. Some places, such as houses or farms are put in a holding area in Non Public (at the time of posting, no threads are in this section)…
You will have also noticed that 28 days later now have a dedicated ‘Public’ forum for mansions/manors/country houses etc but with their names and locations, easy for people to use to get locations.
If you find it really hard to do a bit of googling, Oxygen Thief will happily blurt out the FULL address for you…
I always thought giving locations out on the public forum was a no no, but obviously not.
It seems OT is getting pissed off with all these house posts anyway, maybe if he thinks that if they are in the public eye, it will take the heat off the items being stolen by the moderators of his forum?
He has also gone to the point of removing most threads from non-public and posting them in public for the reason given below. I think this is a shame, for as much as non public is still in the eyes of the dammed, putting the locations on a well monitored public site by ‘salvagers’ I can only see it going one way, and it’s not a good way!!
urbexagainsttheft 