Riverside High School

As a handful of you guys know, I moved out of my native NJ to a college a few hours north. Since I was going to be here for a while, I knew I had to find something to explore in my current surroundings. A few drives into town showed that there really weren't a whole lot of abandoned buildings around. Then, one day while hanging out, my friend who works at a gas station mentioned how the abandoned school in town was on fire last night. I immediately started questioning him, and he filled me in on the place.

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Built in 1913, this school operated until recently, when they opened up a new regional high school. I made my way over to the school, and was greeted by a bunch of signs talking about how the building is under video surveillance.

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While I hadn't come across a sign like this before, I immediately called their bluff. A few walks around the outside of the building showed that there were no cameras on the outside. While looking in the front doors, however, I saw a motion activated light which would flash on the doors, revealing to the street that the building had been broken into. Well I tried 4 or 5 more times to get inside throughout the next 2 semesters, but I never had any luck. Then, one night, I managed to make a way in. I popped inside, and waited for my friend who was being a lookout to come in too. Not too long afterwards, a cop appeared in front of the building with his lights on. I am already on probation, for some non exploring related stuff, so I certainly didn't want to get arrested again. We slowly went to check out the front, to see what the situation was, and that is when I actually saw the motion sensor. We made our way back to our entrance, and waited to see what the officer would do. He left shortly after, we came to the conclusion that he had pulled somebody over.

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So by this point, It was already finals week at my school. I decided I'm not coming back here next year, so this was my last shot to get some pictures of the inside. So the next day, I headed out alone at 4 am. My entrance was still open, so I made my way in to get a few pictures. I didn't get that far inside, but the building was empty anyway...

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It is worth mentioning that a cop was sitting in a parking lot behind the building, with a great view of my exiting the building. Luckily he was distracted, so he didn't notice.

This school was my "white whale", always drawing me close in order to see if it was possible to enter. I'm happy to have finally be inside, even though it was empty. Thanks for anyone who took the time to read this, I wish you all luck with the buildings that you haven't been able to crack yet.

Good stuff. As I look at these pictures, I connect with the sense of adventure that comes from sneaking into a sketchy place. Good to see you pushing your limits, keep doing so, because white whales are a rare sight, but always worth a look.

Thanks dude! Its all part of the spirit of adventure. White Whales are certainly a rare and fun breed.