We dubbed ourselves the Survival "Crackas" one day in 2003 at the Packard Plant. Though we have only been dedicated to exploring Detroit since then, we collectively have about 50 years of exploring experience between us, seeing as R3d started in 1979, and I started not long after, at age 9.

We were all brought together by the memory of the old "Northville Tunnels"...Chad decided to have a get-together in November '03 to trade stories and artifacts from the old "Tunnels," and that's how we all met. That very night, we trespassed as a group at the Northville Regional Psychiatric Hospital, and soon afterward began going to Detroit.

Our first trip was to the Packard where we stumbled upon a decrepit old can of Civil Defense "Survival Crackers," and joked about how funny a name it would be for an exploring crew, since--like us--they are white, and always found in every abandoned building you go to. The name stuck. Or, depending on which version of the story you heard, we were also auto workers at the Packard Plant "back in the day," and lost our jobs when it closed, but for some reason stayed at the plant and survived on crackers...which might explain why we are still only in our 20's and 30's, even though the Packard Plant closed in 1956....

Personally I like that second version better. Especially if YOU believe it. Anyway, after that we hit the Lee Plaza, Eddystone, and United Artists' in rapid succession, and eventually undertook the Quest of the "Dirty Dozen," which we completed in February of 2005. Every weekend since forming, we've done some kind of exploring (and sometimes even during the week). 90% of the time it's in Detroit, but we have explored all over Michigan, and across several other states.

What the fuck for? Why the fuck not. We don't have to explain ourselves to you! It's a pastime we can afford with our meager wages. And don't ask us who "Surval" is, or you might be sacrificed to him, hipster glasses and all. Make no mistake, he is a hungry deity.

Allow me to "apologize" for our neanderthalic ways; we've been doing this shit since before most of you digital photo fags were born, since before Al Gore even invented the internet, and before it somehow "legitemized" this illegal activity with its cheap, fakey vinyl facade of 1's and 0's. Simply put, if you don't like us, you can do as the Nuge commands and KISS OUR ASS.

This site is intended primarily for showing to our other out of town explorer friends, and for "educational" purposes....It is not intended to encourage the general public to trespass...this thing that some of you want to call "Urban Spelunking," or "Urbexing," (or whatever the fuck) is becoming just a little too popular all of a sudden. So why don't you do us all a favor and stay behind your keyboard with your Mountain Dew self.

We've included here a fairly thorough sampling of the places we've visited (legally or otherwise). But be advised, this is far from being a complete list...we've chosen to leave out about half the places we've explored because they're either of little interest or because they are too sensitive to make public. And yes, many of the pictures we have up here are older, so don't gimme no shit.