Urban Exploring at ISU

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MNCYWX

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Feb 7, 2010
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I've been to the top of CY Stephens and Hilton (roof too). I tell ya, both were pretty scary honestly. Both buildings lack a solid floor up there, just pathways. One false step could be quite the doozy.

Pretty cool though. If you ever get the opportunity take it.

Sat up on the roof of Hilton for a good half hour. Great view of the city from there.

Outside of the weird playground/garden west of town, and trying to find hidden hallways/rooms in buildings, it's the extent of my crazy exploring while at ISU.
 
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DistrictCyclone

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I hate this thread. Every time I see it, I think it has something to do with Urban Meyer and ISU.
 

wxman1

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So for some reason I thought of this thread tonight and my roommates have been going through the whole thing. They have convinced me to go out to the shrine sometime during the day, me might also try to at least find the entrance to the steam tunnels before we graduate in May.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
There was a tunnel entrance in the bottom of the English building,the one between Curtis and east halls. Also in the main floor of the chemistry lecture hall, getting old and forgetting names. The English building was the best entrance, just yank hard on one of the doors and you got in, lock didn't hold. Was nice since you had a covered place to enter at.

Worked concerts at Hilton while in college. Worst was walking 2x4s to pull up flags for some reason. No fake floor in that little area, saw seats 60-80' below.
 
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josh4isu

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Aug 10, 2010
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At first I thought this thread had something to do with Urban Meyer and/or Tom Herman but it turns out I was wrong. It appears as if people are telling stories of their explorations throughout the Ames metro.

I'm just wondering if anyone has ever heard of or seen the house or "shrine" built by some creepy old guy whose daughters may or may not have been killed in a hit and run. His name is Randy. He chases people in a white van.




I just read this entire thread. Best hour of the day. NOBODY EVER POSTED PICTURES OF THE SHRINE AND PEOPLE DISAPPEARED.
 

Bartastic

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Dec 29, 2008
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That playground is super creepy at night. Post #25 is exactly the experience I had...where a durango full of us drove by slowly...then drove back and that old guy was on the middle of the road....our idiot driver decided to stop and talk to him. We were all freaking out, and that old guy said young folks drive by here all the time. I wouldn't blame him for being annoyed or paranoid about people driving slowly by his house (the playhouse thing is across the road). Anyway, I've always heard the same story about him being crazy and building it after his kids died...not sure if it's true or not, but same story.

Still weird, but not nearly as creepy if you drive by it during the day.
 

RayShimley

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Sep 9, 2008
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That playground is super creepy at night. Post #25 is exactly the experience I had...where a durango full of us drove by slowly...then drove back and that old guy was on the middle of the road....our idiot driver decided to stop and talk to him. We were all freaking out, and that old guy said young folks drive by here all the time. I wouldn't blame him for being annoyed or paranoid about people driving slowly by his house (the playhouse thing is across the road). Anyway, I've always heard the same story about him being crazy and building it after his kids died...not sure if it's true or not, but same story.

Still weird, but not nearly as creepy if you drive by it during the day.

What time did you drive by? Did he say anything besides that?
 

jaretac

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Nov 26, 2006
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There was a tunnel entrance in the bottom of the English building,the one between Curtis and east halls. Also in the main floor of the chemistry lecture hall, getting old and forgetting names. The English building was the best entrance, just yank hard on one of the doors and you got in, lock didn't hold. Was nice since you had a covered place to enter at.

Worked concerts at Hilton while in college. Worst was walking 2x4s to pull up flags for some reason. No fake floor in that little area, saw seats 60-80' below.

Be careful of such entrances. They are heavier alarmed than entrances from above.
 

Bartastic

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What time did you drive by? Did he say anything besides that?

It was summer and it was dark...not real sure what time...probably 10-12 area. This has been almost 10 years now, so I don't remember everything, but it was something like, "What are you guys doing? Oh, yeah...people drive by real slow at night and I always wonder what they're up to." It was something to that effect. Like I said, I was just done with my freshman year and we had a durango full of us "kids", and we were freaking out...I can't believe our driver stopped. So many horror movies played in my head. Who stops and talks to the old guy in the middle of the road...good thing it wasn't a movie! (and that he didn't murder us in real life...that too)
 

CEcyclone

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Dec 15, 2011
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My freshman year of college (2006) me an some friends were exploring the lower bowels of Friley. Some construction work was being done to refurbish the windows area of the first floor and we found that a door was left unlock that led from dungeons to windows (looking at a map it looks like the doors that lead in to room A202 according to http://www.housing.iastate.edu/images/floorplans/Friley_F1.pdf). There we found a tunnel access for the Friley building tunnel system. While exploring them we found a map ( http://urbanexplorers.net/images/schools/iowastate_map.gif ) and some carts down there which was extremely awesome made exploration easy. We eventually worked our way north and west to the main tunnel and found that you can easily access it via a utility room on the north side of Friley, In Stange House. We duct taped the lock so we could use it the next day (this was a weekend so no utility people were around, I think).
The next night we went south through the main tunnel, you can move a lot faster through these, they are 6 ft. tall we got to southern part of Friley and came to a door, It must lead to office or somewhere important because alarms were activated. We quickly got out of there and chilled in the UDCC to see if any of the authorities would show up, we wait half an hour or so and none did so went decided to head north. We were able to move fairly fast, had to climb over and around some large pipes here and there but were able to explore off branching tunnels. We ended up climbing out and entering Marston from the basement.
We decided to call it a night. Unfortunately we were never able to access the tunnels this way again, doors were always locked, but I got to participate in the ISU tunnel exploring tradition!

Also I’m going to be in Ames this weekend and will have to check out Sun Park. Can’t believe I went through school with our hearing about this place.


Also, the thread lives!!!
 

CloneFan319

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Aug 18, 2010
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[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocm50cWcR9Q]The Shrine - YouTube[/ame]

Good video I found of Youtube about this place
Me and some buddies are thinking about driving out there tonight..Friday the 13th :eek:
 

jaretac

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Nov 26, 2006
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The Shrine - YouTube

Good video I found of Youtube about this place
Me and some buddies are thinking about driving out there tonight..Friday the 13th :eek:

Thats the best video I've seen of it. According to neighbors there was no wife or daughter or loss of. The guy just decided to build it for no apparent reason.

My personal opinion is he sounds like a guy that was or is into drug use. The comment about thinking the kids coming out to look at it are undercover agents from the Iowa DEA was the clincher for me. Paranoia is a symptom of many drugs but most notable is Meth.
 

Farnsworth

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Apr 11, 2006
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The Shrine - YouTube

Good video I found of Youtube about this place
Me and some buddies are thinking about driving out there tonight..Friday the 13th :eek:

Thanks for sharing, never seen this before. Very interesting toward the end. I just think it's crazy how nobody knows the real story, I'd be interested in hearing more from his neighbors at the end, they had a lot of good insight. Does anyone know when exactly he started to build, or how long he was working on it before stopping?
 

jaretac

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Thanks for sharing, never seen this before. Very interesting toward the end. I just think it's crazy how nobody knows the real story, I'd be interested in hearing more from his neighbors at the end, they had a lot of good insight. Does anyone know when exactly he started to build, or how long he was working on it before stopping?

That neighbor does lose a little credibility. I looked it up on the Boone County Assessor web site and that old guy does own the field behind the shrine. He actually owns it all the way down to 200th st. I'm guessing he leases it out to another farmer who actually takes care of it, probably also pays taxes on it for him. I think the Neighbor's point of view is actually like everyone else's, based on his observation and not on any real knowledge. The big difference is he has been able to observe a lot more than us.
 

CloneFan319

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Aug 18, 2010
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My friends and i went out to the Shrine today. The old guy was out in the "park" on his hands and knees digging a hole.

theshrine.jpg
[/URL] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]
 
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