The Empty City of Gary Indiana - Portal To Hell at Demon House / Desolate Neighborhoods & Buildings
Gary Indiana June 2022
Transcript
0:03
today's adventure
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brings me to gary indiana
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just over the state line out of illinois
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the outskirts of chicago
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at 20 30 minutes from chicago
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the one and only gary
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indiana
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welcome everyone
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out of the woo here now i was in gary
0:28
indiana four maybe five years ago i
0:31
visited
0:32
the home of the jacksons michael jackson
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grew up here
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but there a lot of stuff i did not show
0:39
i did not really do a full tour around
0:41
the town
0:43
and want to check out a little more this
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visit as well as a place by the name of
0:48
the demon house
0:51
the portal
0:53
to hell some
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side
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i'm inviting you to join me
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gary indiana i have returned
1:02
shall you and as the recording of this
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it is friday
1:07
june 24th
1:08
2022
1:15
jerome a prince is the mayor
1:15
and the people of gary
1:18
welcome me
1:20
some city buildings over here
1:22
and the adam benjamin jr metro center
1:25
off in the distance
1:27
and the stage of some sort here
1:30
with the date of 1998 on it what drew my
1:33
attention over
1:35
was this little bench with angel wings
1:38
got lady liberty here standing tall a
1:41
miniaturized version of the real statue
1:43
of liberty now gary indiana has a very
1:45
bad reputation
1:47
for a lot of justifiable reasons but
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it's not all bad i'm gonna try to show a
1:51
little bit of both aspects of it
1:54
some areas i probably will not be
1:56
getting out of my car some areas i will
1:59
i'm just going to kind of play it by ear
2:01
and do a driving and standing and
2:04
walking tour just depends on if the mood
2:07
hits me in an area i want to get out of
2:09
got the town seal here
2:11
the city of the century
2:19
and mr gary
2:19
stands over here as well albert h gary
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he was a lawyer industrialist and
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benefactor and the founder of gary
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in 1906
2:31
and the city hall says they use the
2:33
other restaurants that's blinking over
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there
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this is the downtown
2:40
really liking this building here got the
2:43
copies and facts advertisement
2:45
restaurants hair designer it's like
2:47
something out of the 70s this building
2:49
is for sale
2:51
also by the way
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like the architecture of it and the
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signage up front the 70s signage do not
2:56
park here when the snow is over two
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inches
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deep
3:01
but what i want to point out is this
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nice little mural here on the side for
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the
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park heartland company stores all over
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men and women's wardrobe got the
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broadway shopping mall what used to be
3:14
over there on that corner and directly
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parallel to the shopping mall check out
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the palace theater down here with the
3:20
marquis still in place some amazing
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relics here in town yeah this place is
3:25
awesome
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i love all the old theaters like this
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especially when they have the marquee
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still in place you can see some of the
3:31
lettering up there on the marquee what
3:34
was placed on the marquee at one point
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this car is pulling up beside me even
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got some open windows up top there holes
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in the wall
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in fact even this building over here all
3:46
the windows are kind of busted out
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and you can kind of peek into them but
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i'm noticing there's a mural here not a
3:53
mural but a painting
3:55
of possibly one of the former workers
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dion
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he used to be here you see
4:06
his name tag there
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and just down the way
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from that theater it's a statement here
4:09
about the town itself says long ago
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american towns were connected by
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interurban trains today gary is one of
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the few places still served
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by this network the more i see gary the
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more i love gary the more
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we need gary
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over behind this fence is kind of a
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rusted out van but then also a piece of
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neon history kings
4:53
right there on that trailer
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it's a place called peacock cleaners as
4:56
a drive-through or did
5:10
another cleaners here with the roof cave
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down and uh old church building here as
5:12
well
5:13
there's a lot of firewood next to this
5:16
over here in the lot next to it's just a
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lot of wood you've got the church there
5:20
and then this lot with all this wood
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piled up another thing i'm noticing is
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these traffic lights do not work they
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put up stop signs
5:28
but the traffic lights are still here on
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the corners one there
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one on all four corners the lights are
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not working
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got the water tower over there in the
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distance
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and there are some homes down that way
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and some apartments over in that area so
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people do live here this is not a
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completely desolate town but there are
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areas that have seen better days
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the galilee baptist church is missing
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the h
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also the window over here is broken out
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as far as i can tell this is no longer
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an active
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congregation and the clock is not
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working because you notice the
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what it says to be the time on that side
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is completely the opposite
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of the time stamped on this side
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and their building permit
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is back from 2019 for whatever repairs
6:30
they were doing so probably not open
6:32
appears as if there was a couple stores
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but off to my peripheral vision
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i'm seeing this smith's cleaner sign up
6:40
here
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oh yeah this looks good
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this looks like a nice relic of the past
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up here
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neon style that is a thing of beauty
6:49
right there smith's cleaners two hours
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service
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yeah that is a serious antique
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building
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completely not in use anymore
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but that right there
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glad i saw that
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it was over on the other road and i kind
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of drew me in like a beacon
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now this street has an
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active stop light
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except it's just a blinking red though
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so as long as you stop you have the
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right of way after you stop i definitely
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don't want to present the fact that the
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entire community
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is empty and desolate
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there are neighborhoods where people are
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residing
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and there are businesses and churches
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that are still active
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i try to show a little bit of both and
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because i'm in the neighborhood and i
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mentioned it
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over to this neighborhood just to do a
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little update and
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to see what's happening over at the
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jackson family house
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here on the corner of jackson family
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boulevard and 2300 jackson street
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now four or five years ago when i was
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i had heard that they had temporarily
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removed this marker which stood tall
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and
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it is still gone so that marker will
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probably no longer
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exist there
8:23
but here's the house right here and it
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looks like next door 2306
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there are some photos of the jacksons
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so you got 2306
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2300.
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just had to swing by
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kind of go show a lot more in the area
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or in the town but i gotta stop by here
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it's kind of a winning row moment and
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right here behind this lock gate
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actually there's a lot of locks people
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that place these in memory the locks but
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this gate as well is locked is a little
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little placard down there it says you
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gave us a lifetime of the jackson family
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right down there people actually wrote
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little notes and things with sharpies
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here at the
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front of the house
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here is the active
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fire department
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number four
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department number four
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i like this too hartley's fuel and oil
9:27
company wow look at that the
9:29
architecture of that building
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old service station
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just across town pulling next to this
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property that's a
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closed down factory
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going up to the ammons house
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which back in 2011 2012
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well i believe the family moved into the
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house back in 2011.
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but in 2012 so it's the 10-year
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anniversary
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of an occurrence
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that took place at what has been labeled
10:02
and it used to stand right up here at an
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empty lot it was bulldozed and torn down
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so that others did not meet that same
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demise
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at least that's how the story goes it is
10:13
quite an interesting tale
10:19
the portal to hell
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right here in gary
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now the two houses
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sit next to it so the neighbor's house
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and that neighbor's house
10:28
and there's plenty of photos and a
10:30
little bit of video
10:33
out there of when the house used to
10:34
stand right here
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where it's kind of overgrown well
10:38
it's not overgrown here because they've
10:40
been mowing it here but this little
10:42
patch here
10:43
has not been kept up with it's kind of
10:44
grown over but right here is where the
10:47
demon house used to stand in fact part
10:49
of the sidewalk
10:51
still remains down here that would lead
10:53
up to the front of the house
10:55
now this tree can be seen very
10:57
prominently in some of the photos and
10:59
supposedly part of the house at least
11:02
the basement part so there was a
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basement underneath it you see the
11:04
neighbors next door there is a basement
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there was one just like that here it was
11:08
filled in and that is where the
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occurrence
11:11
happened right in either in the basement
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a lot of it was in the basement but a
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lot of it was up top in fact the sun
11:18
was said in the near the kitchen area
11:19
was thrown against the side of the wall
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and like a supernatural being of some
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sort
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tossed him against the side of the wall
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but i believe the basement is in a like
11:31
a haunted museum in vegas now but this
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tree is the same tree i'm glad the
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tree's still here to kind of match up
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the photos see if i can pull a photo up
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and find it when the house used to
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remain here
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or when it was being torn down they
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brought a bulldozer in
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and destroyed it and it's just like it's
11:49
like something out of the amityville
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horror when the family first moved in
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they had a problem with insects they had
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bugs and and flies that just like
11:56
infestated the entire house they only
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lasted like a very short time then the
12:00
bugs went away and then other strange
12:03
occurrences started to happen in fact
12:05
they're indeed bringing a priest in who
12:07
did an exorcism right inside
12:11
the very walls
12:13
of this house so you think of ambidevil
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horror the exorcist all that real life
12:18
happened
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in a roundabout way right here in gary
12:22
indiana and the fire hydrant still here
12:25
as well there's a photo of all three of
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the houses with the fire hydrant kind of
12:29
from this angle
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as well that fire hydrant still there
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gotta wonder if anyone lives in that
12:34
house right next to where the demon
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house used to be now using this kind of
12:38
as a point you know like a almost like a
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t you got the pavement here then you got
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the walkway into the house this is also
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where kind of a famous photo if you're
12:47
into that sort of stuff if you believe
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that sort of thing that uh a being
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appeared in the window
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like a a haunted like a ghost within the
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window right here would be kind of from
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this angle as well
13:00
walking into the house this is where
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the house would have been basement all
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down below where i'm walking right now
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at the moment
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and then the back of the house was back
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by this tree actually my friend scott on
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tape was here
13:16
a few years ago
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guy that was with him was saying that
13:20
right here was the entrance
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to the basement
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it kind of went down because this is
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concrete
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concrete right here so the photos you'll
13:30
see of the basement with that stairwell
13:32
we're kind of
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in this area
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right about here kind of looking kind of
13:36
like looking more
13:38
towards that angle so it'd be kind of
13:40
like that
13:41
going down the stairs or it could even
13:43
been from this angle
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but from what i've heard that that was
13:47
where the staircase was and the back of
13:48
the house and you can see how it matches
13:50
up with the back of this house obviously
13:52
the ac is running over there so
13:53
someone's home and someone's home over
13:56
but this is completely gone this has
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been erased
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from existence
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there is no more
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no more demon house than gary
14:07
but the stories remain okay here's a
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photo of the heavy machinery in front
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when they were about to bulldoze it and
14:13
there's that tree
14:15
that's right in front of it so bulldozer
14:17
would have been just adjacent to that
14:19
tree
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and the house behind it
14:22
when they tore it down
14:25
imagine if the house was still standing
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it'd probably get a lot more
14:28
cool don't go tourists like me
14:30
people that are into that sort of stuff
14:32
showing up
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i would imagine people still show up
14:34
here to this empty lot though i mean i
14:35
did and then the other really good angle
14:37
with the
14:38
fire hydrant there in the tree
14:40
so just realize the the house in the
14:42
middle is now gone at least parts of it
14:44
are in vegas the rest of it's just in a
14:46
junkyard somewhere
14:48
just another odd place here in gary
14:51
which is notable and a lot of other ways
14:58
just fascinating such a fascinating
14:58
story
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and you know what who knows if it's true
15:00
or not
15:02
it's up for interpretation and
15:05
theory
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and real quick like let me just
15:23
reiterate or explain a little more
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so a lot of people thought they were the
15:27
family was making up these stories so
15:29
when the authorities showed up did some
15:32
investigating
15:33
that's when things happened
15:35
when
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they were here
15:37
so
15:38
you know what they had assumed that the
15:40
family was lying about what was
15:41
happening they started to believe it and
15:43
started to
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you know document this and write things
15:46
down in their reports and that's when
15:48
they came up that this back area
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and quote they quoted was a portal
15:54
to hell so think about this
15:57
this right here is the infamous
15:59
this is where the basement was according
16:02
to a lot of people
16:03
right here
16:05
this slab in this section
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would be what the gary
16:11
officials called
16:13
a real-life portal
16:21
oh man
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that's something right
16:23
you know if if you believe that sort of
16:25
thing it's something that's that's
16:26
something else i mean even if you don't
16:28
what a tale
16:55
all right this building
16:55
is the community center i thought it was
16:56
empty but it is active there are cars
16:58
over there there's workers in the
16:59
community center
17:01
this is on the other side of that
17:02
neighborhood
17:07
this learning facility named after
17:07
benjamin franklin
17:09
closed down also
17:11
i think a lot of these have closed in
17:13
the area there might only be like
17:16
a couple schools left out of all of them
17:18
see the basketball goals over there
17:22
playground
17:24
it's all grown over well it's been mowed
17:26
but
17:28
not active
17:30
this area through here is kind of
17:32
interesting
17:33
it looks like corn stalks but it's not a
17:36
active farm
17:37
it's almost like wild corn stalks all
17:39
grown over
17:41
it's like
17:43
trees all scattered through there
17:49
does not look like an active farm but
17:49
there's a what appears to be corn stalks
17:53
here on the outskirts of town right
17:54
across from another building there's
17:56
more basketball courts
17:58
sitting over there not being utilized
18:25
that was a car wash and cafeteria
18:25
it's like it's still being used as a car
18:26
wash though got some active apartments
18:28
here and
18:30
residents living there but then here
18:32
these are just kind of gutted out
18:35
homes
18:36
on the other side okay this is really
18:38
nice
18:43
uriel's gate the garden of eden this is
18:43
a community garden
18:45
that someone has started here very nice
18:48
in this neighborhood an urban
18:50
agricultural
18:57
in project of those two
18:57
kind of empty homes there
18:58
they've used that yard as a garden space
19:01
this really is incredible
19:04
i mean just everywhere you look it's
19:06
just
19:08
empty homes
19:33
it's kind of interesting because seeing
19:33
this is definitely a little
19:35
a little sad you never want to see stuff
19:37
like this fall by the wayside people's
19:39
hopes and dreams
19:41
of their businesses
19:43
not work out or
19:45
people move out of an area
19:48
for whatever reason and a
19:50
place
19:50
falls on hard times like this
19:53
but there is beauty and decay
19:56
this is a perfect example
20:02
it's not all graffitied up
20:02
still in
20:03
decent condition even though you know
20:05
the windows are busted out and it's
20:06
overgrown
20:08
but it hasn't been destroyed with like
20:09
spray paint or anything and there's a
20:11
relic
20:13
of the past up top there
20:16
a simpler time
20:43
and if you're in the market to purchase
20:43
a home
20:44
you can buy houses in this area for
20:47
not a whole lot of money
20:56
and some of them are in pretty decent
20:56
shape not like it's not like some of the
20:57
ones i'm showing
21:08
embassy liquors buzz box this is still
21:08
open
21:09
it says we see you on the front of that
21:11
they painted we see you this liquor
21:13
store's still open there's some cars
21:14
over there shopping
21:20
this is running parallel to believe
21:20
that's broadway over there
21:23
which is probably the busiest road in
21:24
town a little traffic over there this is
21:27
really only a small percentage of what
21:29
i'm showing obviously
21:31
there's active houses as well but i'm
21:33
only showing a small percentage
21:35
of the ones that are decayed like this
21:37
as well
21:38
there's a lot more that i'm showing it's
21:40
just this is a tip of the iceberg the
21:42
ivy has taken this one over completely
21:44
the ivy
21:45
if you wanted to you could walk right in
21:47
there i'm not going to but those doors
21:48
are open those windows are open
21:51
you could just go in there and reside if
21:52
you wanted to if you need to get out of
21:54
the elements which would be good
21:56
you know in the winter time for those
21:57
who need to get out of the cold now back
21:59
over onto probably one of the busiest
22:00
roads
22:02
here in town
22:04
this whole bank here
22:06
architecture of that
22:08
pretty awesome theater there
22:11
here on the end as well
22:13
american state bank
22:16
that's awesome
22:32
there are active railroad tracks in town
22:32
but here's another
22:34
former railroad track
22:36
that also went through the outskirts of
22:37
town that's been removed the tracks are
22:40
all gone but you can see where the
22:41
equipment box was there i'll turn the
22:43
other way
22:45
show it as well if you look way over
22:47
there by the busier road
22:49
you can still see where the lights are
23:03
there's no tracks through there though
23:03
but they haven't torn down where the
23:07
stop lights are
23:08
covering a lot of ground today
23:11
it took me about four or five hours to
23:13
even get to chicago and then about
23:15
another hour to get to gary
23:17
before i even started filming this
23:19
episode
23:20
and now that i've left gary
23:22
i've got a bit of a ways to drive gotta
23:25
make up some time
23:27
a lot of toll roads
23:29
they realize how many toll roads there
23:31
are
23:33
in illinois and in indiana
23:36
and on the outskirts
23:38
of indiana
23:40
a lot of toll roads seems like every
23:42
interstate
23:43
well the interstate i'm on
23:45
has a toll
23:47
i think i've gone through about five or
23:49
six toll booths
23:50
but i'm making up some time
23:52
covering some miles
23:54
oh i hear a crow
23:56
and that's gonna do it for today
24:10
i hear you crow
24:10
see the next video
24:12
the vlog
24:23
i was trying to get the sound of that
24:23
crow
24:29
that truck distracted the crow
24:29
all right crow
24:40
thanks crow you up there crow
24:40
oh i see you
24:41
i see the crow
24:43
i see it crow