Since he was a child, Ramy Awad, now 34, has always gone places he shouldn’t go.
“I remember being in Chinatown in New York City with my parents and they were literally picking vegetables and I disappeared because something looked interesting in the distance,” Awad told FOX News Digital. “I’ve always been that curious kid.”
Today, he is a leading influencer in the urban exploration community, creating viral TikToks showing the strange and creepy things found inside decrepit houses, hospitals, prisons, and abandoned towns.
Awad’s most popular videos feature locations such as the $8 million mansion of disgraced adult film star Ron Jeremy, a French castle that once belonged to Titanic passengers, the Manicomio di Voghera asylum, the former home of Bill Cosby in Pennsylvania and the 1970s caravan of an alleged serial killer.
“[In] In the Urbex community, there is a lot of word of mouth. You form alliances and friends, and you exchange places,” the TikToker explained. “But my main way of finding my places is using Google Maps. I put the map in satellite mode and look for ruined buildings, overgrown trees, swimming pools that look ruined, things like that.”
Exploring and documenting abandoned sites has become his full-time job – a radical change from his previous profession in aviation maintenance. He combines the videos of himself with creepy, horror movie-like music, appealing to viewers’ mysterious sides.
“Honestly, I think people like to be scared,” he said. “I’ve come to the conclusion that people love creepy things. “People love mystery, fear and spooky music.”
Awad is a firm follower of the “unwritten rules” of urban exploration, which include never going anywhere alone, not vandalizing or stealing anything from property, and not revealing the location of unique finds to large audiences or random followers.
“You never know what’s going to happen… it could be very dangerous when you need someone else to go get help,” Awad explained.
“It is another unwritten rule of urbex not to give a location because there are TikTokers who enter a location and destroy it, and they call themselves explorers. “They vandalize it, they burn it, they paint it,” he added.
Commenters often tell the influencer that too much curiosity can kill, and he told Digital that he recognizes and plans for the potential risks involved.
“They are absolutely right. Literally, half of my body fell through an abandoned church. I was in a church in Philadelphia, I took one step and the ground literally fell. And if I didn’t extend my arms I would have fallen [sic] to the basement,” he explained. “On top of that, inhaling black mold, asbestos… I have experience and I try to stay as safe as possible.”
Ramy Awad is an urban explorer who takes risks to see abandoned buildings. TikTok/@@pimpmycamel
Concerns of encroachment also arise, and while Awad always alerts the property’s caretaker of his plans, there have been some legal problems that came close to ending.
However, government and state-owned buildings are always prohibited.
“I was actually exploring a hospital here in New York City, where I just couldn’t contact the person looking after the hospital… at the end of my exploration, I’m in the basement filming and then I hear a walkie-talkie. talkies, and it was the NYPD,” she said. “They ended up telling me that it is very dangerous, that I have to leave, that I can’t come back here.”
Awad follows “unwritten rules” to survive. TikTok/@pimpmycamel
Other TikTok comments express shock at mansions frozen in time left empty, destroyed from the inside although their foundations are intact. While some users jokingly say “I’m moving” or “I’ll buy it and renovate it,” Awad noted that it’s more complicated than that.
“These places have gone through renovations, as if these places really need to be torn down and rebuilt,” he argued. “So I think people don’t really see that on video… black mold, structural damage.”
For the next generation of urban explorers, Awad emphasized research, supply preparation, and respect for places.
Awad has seen some of the spookiest places in the world. TikTok/@pimpmycamel
“Do as much research as possible. Prepare as much as possible. Do not enter there with the intention of vandalizing or stealing… always bring someone with you,” he listed.
Places that remain on Awad’s list of abandoned places include a theme park in China that was intended to rival Disney World, Japanese ghost towns and the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor.
“It’s been very surreal to go viral on TikTok,” Awad reflected. “It makes me want to go out and explore more places and push myself harder than ever.”
“This [has] It made me happier to just travel and social network. And this is what I always wanted to do.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn