Finding out the location	easy
Access	hard
Safety	unsafe
Risk of being seen	very high
General condition of the place	bad
Traces of vandalism	none or very few
Good place for taking pictures?	bad
Did you see other people?	none or very few

Visit date    February 29 2021 at 7 hr
Visit duration    1 hour

I have been eying on the cathedral for a while. I case old mill towns in search of bandos which I usually assess prior to making any risks. This one in particular, I have an unfortunate history with as mentioned in my report about The Year of Our Lord. I never noticed it while living there years ago because I was trapped in a day-to-day, whirlwind routine. This red brick structure, has also been “abandoned” since ‘91, just as was The Year of Our Lord. Someone bought it with plans of turning it into a community Center. The catholic school across the street was changed into a boxing gym with a basketball court. Figuring the cost in repairs wasn’t worth the investment, the owner cut his losses. Both buildings were considered condemned since 2007.

When I googled the churches history it basically said that in the early 1800’s French immigrants migrated from Quebec to City x, taking up jobs at the nearby mills. Some of those same mills are also now abandoned due to unsafe conditions. The mill workers used their weekly earnings to help construct the gigantic monument. Across the street were two catholic schools. One was for boys and the other was for girls. I believe the one for girls was torn down based on the fact that there’s a stairway with an iron arch over it that has a cross, with nothing but a field of garbage behind it. This plot is right next to the former boxing gym.

I’ve had several goes at the cathedral ever since I saw red x’s on it. I also wanted to check out the boxing gym, but churches of that scale tend to excite urbexers more. When I had discovered, a dirt ally in back, naturally I chose that to be my place of entry verses one of the busiest streets in city x. The basement windows were double plywood and there was a back door that had been welded shut with wood nailed over it. Not to mention, the back stairs were a shooting gallery for local junkies who needed just enough privacy to do their thing. I waited for them to leave on a couple occasions and paid one to stand lookout. He said the neighbor in back was nosey and had a habit of calling the cops when he noticed people trying to break in. As I was splitting the layer of plywood, he affirmed that he was calling them. I looked up at the decrepit house behind us to see a shadowy figure in the window with a lit phone to his ear. Better to believe the homeless man and skidaddle, I decided.

I must have tried this three times throughout the course of two months. I even befriended a younger girl who I saw loitering around the premise. I also ran into her a couple days ago upon my successful entry. I was feeling brave and unstoppable because after an hour of working on the old catholic school-turned-gym I ripped a hole in an old door and went in. For the cathedral, I brought rope with me to climb up to a fire escape door that looked like I could pry it open. Thanks to the girl, she told me there was a window that wasn’t double plywood or secured by two by fours on the inside. She showed me where it was.

Unfortunately it was on the Main Street. It was a basement window with snow at the bottom and when you banged on it, it echoed proving to be hollow. It was also wet, and rotting due to the weather and being at ground level. The plywood tore off in stringy patches since it was weak. Once it was off, there was a metal cage. Cars whizzed behind me while she stood guard. I kept loosening the metal grating as rock and mortar crumbled at the sides. The bottom finally popped out. I bent the window caging upwards with all of my might, and there was enough room to squeeze through.

Inside, there was already a very long ladder leaned toward the window with cinder blocks securing it at the bottom. That is because the ladder was angled in a dangerously horizontal fashion and likely to collapse. When I got into the window, wet mud and grime wet my cuffs and knees. I spun around and placed my foot on on the third rung which bent when I put my weight on it. I looked out of the window at her and laughed. “This is NOT safe!” I laughed, all the while proceeding down with my flashlight. Each rung bent and made creaking noise so I tried to move quickly being light on my feet.

The floor was wet and I could see other basement rooms were flooded. I looked for the stair way up and found the cathedral. It was go huge and vacant that it took my breath away. The alter still had faded icons at the top but it was to high and dark to capture them. Luckily, if I angled my light just right I was able to capture most of the darkened architecture facing the alter. Long rows of brown marble pillars had rotting hand carved wood at the top securing arched ceilings. All of the seating was removed. Chandeliers still hung from chains. As I continued to walk on a carpet of pigeon shit and crumbled plaster, I found another staircase at the end which let to the top floor where the organ was. The steps up were broken, and some where missing. It was my first time seeing an organ as I am not a church-goer. This one was huge...but then again I don’t know what the normal size of one would be. It was also positioned uncomfortably close to the rail of the highest floor so it was hard to get the perfect shot of it.

Once I got a couple pictures I liked enough of the the third floor organ I decided that that was the cherry on the decay Sunday and looked for any details worth shooting on my way back down.

When I made it all the way way back down to the basement, I decided to Walk on the crunchy, wet tiles. at one point the floor dropped and a couple seats were floating in water. I thought that it was a cool sight but I didn’t capture it well enough to post it. Plus my husky light started to dim, so I hurried back to the main basement room with the ladder. As soon as I made it there my light shut off; a sign that my time there had run out and also that construction lights have a shitty life span. The only light came from the window through which I had entered. I hurried back up. The metal grating caught my jacket on the way out. Mud was slathered all over me but I didn’t care because felt like I achieved something big with my explores.



  Text and photos are by D4mge_C4se. Click here to see D4mge_C4se's profile and other reports.

    Send a message to D4mge_C4se