abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast

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Join Blake on his expedition to an abandoned house at the foot of the Catskill Mountains that has been transformed into a makeshift artistic monument honoring climate activist Greta Thunberg--and Mother Nature herself.

(Note: For the best immersive experience, we strongly suggest you wear headphones 🎧 for every episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast.)

Join host Blake Pfeil for this special episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast as he chats with Radio Kingston/WKNY Executive Director Jimmy Buff about his personal experiences at the notorious abandoned psychiatric hospital on Long Island, NY.

(Note: For the best immersive experience, we strongly suggest you wear headphones 🎧 for every episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast.)

Video version of this episode is available only on Spotify. It will appear as audio on all other platforms.

Creator and host of the All-American Ruins multiverse Blake Pfeil teamed up HUDSY, a Hudson Valley, NY-based content platform cooperative, to produce a four-part video series, presented exclusively on the HUDSY platform. HUDSY's unique adaptation draws from both the original All-American Ruins blog as well as its companion podcast, abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast.

Enjoy this sneak peak at the pilot episode, "Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall," in which Blake guides you through the ruins of the Nevele Grande Hotel & Resort. Located at the foot of the Catskill Mountains, The Nevele served as a destination resort for Jewish vacationers from all over the country before it was abandoned in 2009. Join him as he fulfills his fantasy of exploring the set for Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, wandering the empty, crumbling halls of this Borscht Belt architectural sensation with the ghosts of guests past -- and Shelley Duvall.

You can also enjoy the audio podcast version of this All-American Ruins story in Season 1, Episode 3 of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.

About HUDSY

It's 1972, and Geraldo Rivera is on a mission to expose the horrific conditions inside psychiatric hospitals across New York. Fly back in time with Blake where he meets a curious, new imaginary friend named Carl who shows him around the abandoned, infamous psychiatric facility Letchworth Village in Thiells, NY.

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This episode features Sam Simahk.

In 1960, the world was introduced to the fictional voyeur and motel owner Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's revolutionary horror film Psycho; and in 2016, the world was introduced to the nonfictional voyeur and motel owner Gerald Foos in Gay Talese’s book The Voyeur’s Motel. In this episode of abandoned, host Blake Pfeil is introduced to both (in his imagination) as he wanders the abandoned Sawyerkill Motel just off the New York State Thruway in Saugerties, NY.

(Note: For the best immersive experience, we strongly suggest you wear headphones 🎧 for every episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast.)

This episode features:

In the first of a two-part episode, fall into Blake’s Erin Brockovich fantasy thriller as he explores two abandoned industrial spaces infamous for former EPA violations. First up: the Al Tech Specialty Steel Corporation, a Superfund site just outside of Albany, NY.

(Note: For the best immersive experience, we strongly suggest you wear headphones 🎧 for every episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast.)

This episode features:

The Marin Headlands is an enormous chunk of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Hillside, cliffside, and waterside all-in-one, the unique geography is dotted by several abandoned military sites. It is also the location of this deeply personal episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast, where host Blake Pfeil reflects on divorce, codependency, self-forgiveness, and a surprise encounter with a coyote.

(Note: For the best immersive experience, we strongly suggest you wear headphones 🎧 for every episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast.)

This episode features:

Four days before the January 6th insurrection at the United States Capitol, Blake wanders the Penn Hills Honeymoon Resort in the Poconos, unaware of what's about to happen to the country. On this episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast, time travel to a homogeneous couples resort with a history wrought with tax evasion, swingers parties, and good-ol'-fashioned heart-shaped tubs.

Note: For the best immersive experience, we strongly suggest you wear headphones 🎧 for every episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast.)

From a young age, Blake had an obsession with Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and fantasized about time traveling back to 1979 to explore the film set. Since that proves to be impossible, the next best thing is an adventure to The Nevele Grande Hotel, an abandoned ski resort near the Catskill Mountains. Join Blake as he wanders the halls of the Borscht Belt hotel with Shelley Duvall while the ghosts of guests past surround them both.

(Note: For the best immersive experience, we strongly suggest you wear headphones 🎧 for every episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast.)

Blake grew up next to the United States Air Force Academy, so it's fitting that his first venture to an abandoned space during the pandemic is an abandoned air force base near Saratoga Springs, NY on Memorial Day 2020. Join Blake as he time-travels to the Cold War-- when the paranoid threat of nuclear war with Russia incited the US government to produce a public awareness campaign (propaganda) starring a cartoon turtle named Bert.

This episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast is dedicated to the People of Ukraine. Happy Memorial Day.

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Setting the scene for abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast, host Blake Pfeil travels back in time to his childhood in the mountains of Colorado where he reveals the genesis for his obsession with American ruins: an abandoned dairy farm.

(Note: For the best immersive experience, we strongly suggest you wear headphones 🎧 for every episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast.)