The sharing aspect of urban exploration can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, sharing photos of a location is fairly standard. At the very least, it’s how one documents one’s explore, but the process can also confer credentials, proof that one’s been at a location, and sometimes they even serve as bragging rights. While documentation does not necessarily occur every time one explores, it is a common practice. On the other hand, photos can serve as breadcrumbs for others who are hot on your trail and want their chance to visit wherever you’ve shot. Every photo runs the risk of giving away vital information about a location, there’s no way around that. Video is even riskier.
With the rise of social media in the last decade, a new wave of explorers has grown as well, native to platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Explorers can now share their photos and videos with unprecedented reach, sometimes reaching millions of views and garnering a loyal fanbase in the process. Audiences at this scale have never been seen by the urbex community until now, and thus the consequences of sharing explores at this scale have also never been seen.
Today, we’re going to analyze the consequences of one such explore, that of the “Nine Million Dollar Mansion” by the channels Yes Theory and Exploring with Josh from 2017:
First, a bit of context. This location first surfaced in two videos posted on YouTube in March of 2017, first by mcsportzhawk, then the team at Livexplore. Unlike mcsportzhawk, who posts mainly gameplay footage and vlogs, Livexplore is primarily an urban exploration channel. Neither video racked that many views in the first couple months they were online.
The location quickly spread amongst the local Instagram explorers of Southern California, but overall did not garner any additional attention than any other new location does in the first few months of its life cycle.
Fast forward to July 16, 2017. Exploring with Josh (or Josh from here on out) posted a video titled “ABANDONED DARK MANSION $9,000,000 ON BEACH!! ( SECRET ROOM FOUND )”, which was a collab explore with the team at Yes Theory, who posted their own video, titled “ABANDONED $9,000,000 BEACH MANSION (underground vault found)”.
Note, before these, the only two YouTube videos existed of the location. Between the end of July and September, however, seven more videos were publicly uploaded, five of which from individuals or channels who had never promoted or published any urban exploration-related content before. All of them were local to the greater Los Angeles area. By August, multiple reports confirmed that while no active surveillance had been placed on location, there was a car parked in front of the garage. Neighborhood residents were also calling local LEOs on a regular basis.
In the fall of that year, the location’s popularity came to a head. First was the creation of an account called Nine Million on October 20th, presumably in reference to the by-then defacto name of the house in question. That same day, the account posted a six-minute clip taken from camcorder footage dated to February of 2005. The recording was of a mudslide caused by a rainstorm that damaged the property. The description of the video was a lengthy essay decrying the illegality of those that had trespassed on the property, explaining why the house was not abandoned, but simply vacant due to physical endangerment of its occupants. This account was also used to post comments on several of the videos posted of the location, threatening legal action and even doxxing. It is safe to assume this account was created by the property manager and that he was aware of what was going on.
On November 15, 2017, Fox 11 Los Angeles posted a news piece titled “Trespassing into Trouble”, containing video footage from Josh, Yes Theory, mcsportzhawk, Livexplore and two other channels, as well as interviews with mcsportzhawk and Livexplore. The property manager also features prominently in the segment, walking around the house as he reviews property damage, as well as a representative of the LA County Sheriff’s Department. At the end, the reporter notes that two videos shown in the piece were under investigation by law enforcement.
No new videos or photos of the location were posted through the end of the year. In January of 2018, two new videos of the Mansion were posted, both by confirmed explorers. In the same month, a fence was erected around the property.
In February, a YouTube explorer by the name of Sobaire began leaving comments on older videos, alleging that the property owner had begun reaching out to explorers, threatening to prosecute them for trespassing if they did not take down their respective videos, echoing the comments made by Nine Million. It was by this point, mcsportzhawk had either privated or removed his video altogether. No one else has taken down a video since.
A few different observations can be made from this series of events.
One, it was not until after the publication of Josh and Yes Theory’s videos that the majority of explores made to the Mansion were by individuals or groups that were not known to urban explore. They were all local to the greater Los Angeles area. A few called out Josh explicitly either in the video or in the tags, directly linking him to them.
Two, it was not until after the publication of Josh and Yes Theory’s videos that the rate of decay within the property accelerated. Between March and July of 2017, very few parts of the Mansion were tagged, and only a few objects had disappeared. By the end of the year, most of the original furniture, documents and family heirlooms had been removed, presumably taken as “souvenirs”. Many of the unique architectural features of the site were also heavily tagged. Even a few people left their Instagram handles.
Three, after the news segment “Trespassing into Trouble” had aired, the only new photos and videos taken of the Mansion were published by urban explorers.
From these observations, I have come to conclude that this location was burned by Josh and Yes Theory. Because of their videos, the property suffered from an accelerated rate of decay and increased attention from non-urbexers, law enforcement, and the mainstream media. The explores themselves were no different than your typical run-of-the-mill visit to an abandonment. However, how they chose to document their explores, with easy-to-use drone footage, published to audiences of millions, lead to regrettable, somewhat foreseeable but completely avoidable consequences.
Video is not inherently a “bad” way to document something, but there are higher risks depending on how one uses it. Having a large audience who views one’s explorations is not inherently a bad thing, either. But when someone publishes something that can potentially burn the locations we so desperately seek to explore, document and preserve, preventing both ourselves and other people from doing the same, then there’s a problem. A problem I’m not sure there’s a solution to.
UPDATE: As of January 2021, both of the original videos by Exploring with Josh and Yes Theory have been either privated or removed from YouTube completely.