hello wall: Around the World in 80 Decays

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Around the World in 80 Decays

It might be because I've been playing Tomb Raider since 1996 that I have developed such a great love and interest in ancient ruins. There is something about a time-ravaged, crumbling edifice that excites such a flare within me. I don't even need to close my eyes to envision the destruction as it once was, in its former glory and grandeur. I imagine the places occupied by the people of the time, busily founding cultures and nations and ideals.

And it doesn't need to be ancient. More recent ruins are almost more melancholy. Maybe because the plight of these people is more recognizable or familiar to me. I can read about individuals and see their pictures or portraits in history books rather than be content with a crude depiction or a general impression of the population. Our recent ruins have been used by people who have lived in a time that I can begin to understand and sympathize with.

When I was around 16 or 17, I went on a college trip sponsored by my high school. One of our stops was Gettysburg, home of the Civil War battle that produced the most casualties. While visiting, we were taken to a few locations of note. One of which was the casemate that was used as a jail for Confederate prisoners-of-war and Union defectors. The door was built right into a small grassy hillside and, in my head, I'm thinking, "Oh how cool! Let's take some pics of me behind bars, you guys!" Cause that's what you do when you're a 16 year old just having fun with your friends on a college trip away from home. Everything is a Kodak moment. And everything is silly.

I can't even begin to fully describe the dread I felt as soon as that barred door closed behind me. I knew I could leave whenever I wanted, but it was chilling. It was as if I had been transported back to when this cell was used and I could not shake the panic that anyone would have to stay in there against their will. What did they think about? Were they scared? Angry? Were they hurt at all? It was a brilliant sunny day and, creepiness upon creepiness, that sun refused to pass the threshold of that tiny concrete room. And it was freezing.

I don't believe in ghosts. But there was certainly a spirit about this place. The walls echoed pain and I did not like it at all. I'm also not claustrophobic in the least. I could not breathe in that darkest of dark places and, to quote Ron Weasley, felt as if I'd never be cheerful again.

I had a similar experience in another jail cell in Colonial Williamsburg, VA when I visited there with my family. Just being able to envision the filth and the fear that these now clean-and-ready-for-a-family-photograph places once endured. . .it's frightening. I was literally sick to my stomach.

Ruins are such scary and mysterious things. They evoke this sense of secrecy and enchantment. Whether the enchantment is spiritual in nature, like the Ayers Rock in Australia and Stonehenge or sinister like abandoned asylums and old factories like those found in New York City's Hart Island. Even though Ayers Rock isn't technically a ruin, I'm sure it's been weathered and no longer resembles what it used to centuries ago. It's old, so it counts in my book.

The following details a few of these places I'd love to see someday. Not all of them are man-made but what's older than the earth?