William Penn High School, PA

April 9, 2015 Another dreary day when I visited Philly for the day. I awoke around 6AM to experience the city. Taking my time, I found a parking spot and walked around all day, stopping at any store I wanted, I checked out the Philadelphia Museum of Art, I had no agenda for the day. At night, I got the car from the parking garage and drove to the abandoned William Penn High School to end the day with a bit of an adventure. Getting in wasn’t easy, but I managed to find an entrance and get in without being seen by passerbys on the city street. Photographing the school was difficult since it was night time, but I came prepared with a tripod and flashlight. Some of my exposures took as long as 30 seconds , but that didn’t matter since I had all the time in the world to check out this school. It was odd to find that the boiler room lights were on, but the green light produced in the boiler room made shooting a bit easier and more interesting. I could tell that I wasn’t the first to get into the school, chunks of copper and wire were missing from easily accessible parts of the building, scrappers took most of it. I didn’t care though, I wasn’t here to take anything besides photographs and explore the school before it gets demolished. Upstairs I discovered a chemistry lab where broken test tubes and beakers lined the floor and a cabinet full of deadly chemicals sat in the corner. Among the chemicals were formaldehyde, a jar of liquid mercury, a bottle of chloroform, and a few other miscellaneous hazardous chemicals. The next room was empty save for a piano sitting in the front of the classroom. Continuing through the school, we noticed every single toilet was filled to the brim with shit, and I wasn’t sure if they were soiled before or after the school had shut down, either way I didn’t want hang around for too long. Moving on, I found two auditoriums, one contained a decaying church organ which grabbed my attention. Moving on, I found myself at peace on top of the vacant school, looking down at the midnight city landscape. It was relaxing after my long day of walking through the city, this is when I realized how exhausted I had become and decided to climb off the roof and figure out how to get out of the school that I was now lost in. I felt as if I was walking in circles for half an hour before finding my exit and sluggishly loading my camera equipment back into the car. Photos coming soon.