Surrounded by bodies and human remains we found ourselves inside a hundred-years-old crypt during one of our adventures.
This might be the most mystical but also grim places we have ever explored.
Due to this small structure looking like it originated from some movie or a game,
we felt like real-life tomb raiders when we were unveiling the secrets of the neglected grave.
Immerse yourself in the fascinating but yet sad world of a long-forgotten family’s mausoleum.
If you enjoy our videos make sure to hit the subscribe button and click the bell to get notified when we upload new content.
Urbex always includes dealing with transience.
In the past, we came across a vast number of abandoned sites which used to be full of life and beauty.
But all that’s left today is decay and the stories those places tell.
Because above all transience also means death.
But still, we weren’t prepared for what we should experience that day.
On a neglected graveyard of some secluded village in Germany,
we found this age-old mausoleum which has become completely covered in ivy.
Immediately, we spotted an entrance to this unreal location.
But this literally meant descending into the realm of the dead.
The basement is full of coffins.
And we have to climb down there now?
This was a creepy thought, so we were looking to find another access but there wasn’t one.
The four of us just wanted to shoot some mystical footage of this very special place back then.
We knew that the old graves had already been robbed
and thought the human bones probably had been buried somewhere else by now.
But apparently, we were mistaken.
Dude, crap!
Are the bodies still there?
We're seeing a dead person here.
And suddenly, we were in the middle of several vandalized graves.
We were actually shocked to have found human remains since we didn’t expect that at all.
But since the bodies have been decaying here for already a hundred years,
we needed to take a closer look to see if this was really a skeleton or not.
I think it's a human body but the head is missing.
That's super crazy.
But you don't recognize much anymore.
Yes, someone cut the head off.
Is that another skeleton over there? Take a look!
Dude, it's a spine. - Oh no...
Crap, it's a real human body.
This grave was also robbed.
Look over there!
There are even more bones!
Every single coffin was forced open and ransacked.
The lids but also plenty of bones were scattered around the basement floor.
A beautiful tomb with many details and inscriptions was supposed to be a final resting place.
But the graves were desecrated and nobody did anything about this -
except of sealing up the building multiple times.
But vandals were breaking in again and again, so the caretaker simply gave up one day.
The two-storied mausoleum consists of the crypt downstairs and a chapel upstairs.
Although there are only a few meters between those two floors, the whole atmosphere is completely different.
We have two separate worlds inside one small building.
The harsh contrast of light and shadow gives this place such a surreal touch.
A plate on the wall revealed who was buried here:
It’s a pastor and scientist who had a wealthy family.
One hundred years ago he died and he wanted to be entombed in this mausoleum he built himself.
His wife and some other family members were also buried here.
This place was meant to help against being forgetting, but in the end it was forgotten itself.
Who should remember if there isn’t anyone left who could?
In our opinion, this is the very definition of transience.
And it is what urbex is all about –
rediscovering the past and giving it a meaning.
Because as long as we will remember, such places will never be forgotten.
If you like our photography, you should check out the BWT main social media pages
or you can visit crew member Tobi on Instagram.
Take a look in the video description to find all the links.
Next time on Broken Window Theory:
At the moment, we’re working on our biggest project so far!
In summer, we spent two weeks at Europe’s most unique street art festival.
Every year, artists from all around the globe
are transforming an abandoned industrial site in Eastern Germany to a temporary art exhibition.
We were supporting the event by documenting the whole process.
From cleaning up the property to creating fantastic art all the way to the festival weekends itself,
we were filming tons and tons of great footage.
This next episode is completely different from what we have posted so far.
It’s a pilot episode and if you like it,
we will do more of those video reports in addition to our exploration content.
Stay tuned!
Exploring this crypt was an intense experience for us and so, we wanted to dedicate an episode to the topic of transience.
It was unsettling to see those human remains ransacked by vandals and thieves.
What do you think remains in the end?
What can we do against being forgotten?
We’re looking forward to reading your comments.
Keep exploring, guys!