Normally I steer clear of dead malls, too much risk of someone taking a photo or video of you and generally for very little gain. You see dead malls are like crack for urban explorers, time capsules, but pretty recent ones, the early nineties frozen in time. On the subject of crack, guess who also loves abandoned malls? Crack addicts, another good reason to give them a wide birth.

But I got wind of a possible big score at an abandoned mall about an hour north-west of Chicago. Not sure why they built so many malls in the Midwest, hard winters maybe? I suppose strip malls are less fun when the temperature regularly drops below zero.

Usually I hit old estate houses once they’ve been abandoned at least six months. I’m not some tweaker stripping copper wiring. Don’t judge, old estate houses often have ornate solid brass fittings, some go for hundreds a piece and you can strip fifty or sixty in a short time and get out of there.

So why was I willing to risk a dead mall you ask?

Three reasons:

1. This one seemed to be genuinely dead, the Urban Exploration kids seemed to steer clear because they got the heebie-jeebies from it or something. Either way their forums all seemed to warn not to go near the place.
2. The temperature on the day I was visiting was in the low single digits. No crackhead was stripping wires in that cold, even if it was indoors.
3. One of the Urban explorer kids who had braved the place a few months ago had posted a few photos. In the corner of one of the photos, were boxes filled with sealed video games. Old Nintendo cartridges, a fence I know says they are worth a small fortune if they are still there. Some of those cartridges were going for thousands if they were sealed and from what I could see they seemed to be in good condition despite the weather.

It was freezing when I arrived, the sun had just set, but the snow wasn’t too deep at least. I pulled my van up to one of the smaller side-entrances and out of sight. Although I don’t think it mattered, the place didn’t seem to be monitored by any kind of security. I managed to pry open a door at the green entrance, a faded large giraffe was painted on it, supposed to remind people where they parked.

I turned on my flashlight and swept it around, the place was a crypt. But it was dry, no water ingress, that was the most important thing. The goods might still be in sellable condition, it didn’t matter if the electronics didn’t function from being frozen solid, no collector was ever taking them out of the plastic case to check, it killed the resale value.

I made my way to a map kiosk nearby, my footsteps echoed through the darkness as I walked. Using my glove I wiped a thick layer of dust off the plexiglass. In large print at the top was printed:

The _________ Hills Mall – Memories to last a lifetime!

I chuckled to myself at the over ambitious statement given the malls current state, whatever dull memories people had of the place were already faded or gone. Scanning the map I searched for my quarry. I could see a ‘You are here’ marker giving my position on the ground floor, I swept my eyes through the selection of stores. There it was, second floor, Krazy Konsoles, a defunct regional game chain. There was no miracle rescue by some reddit nerds for this game store, it had been dead as a doornail for at least twenty years. Odd that some of its stock was still sitting there, at least until a few months ago.

I made my way to the central atrium, the place was cavernous, only a little moonlight made its way into the place through the overhead skylights. Pitching my head up I could see the second floor above, I swept the beam of my flashlight around hoping to spot Krazy Konsoles. For a split second I thought I saw a group of people staring down at me from the upper railing, my guts dropped for a second, but when I moved the beam back to the spot there was nothing there. I put it down to my mind playing tricks on me. I was used to places far creepier than this, sometimes you just got spooked.

The place had old step escalators rather than newer flat ones, I trudged up the large steps to the first floor and swept the beam around again. Nothing but empty shop fronts, most were all smashed up and what little was left seemed to have been looted. I was getting worried, in the photos the guy posted most of the mall look this bad, but the game shop or at least its storeroom looked much better, why had it remained unscathed. Maybe the second floor was in much better condition generally. Either way I had come this far, the score was too big to walk away from without knowing for certain. I trudged upward to the second floor.

A stiff wind blew through the place, cold, it cut to the bone, not sure where it came from, probably a broken window somewhere. For a moment I swore I heard laughter, not a single person but a group, cackling like schoolgirls. In a panic I spun the beam around searching for a source. Nothing but broken shop fronts, then the beam fell on a group of people. I ducked behind a planter pot and shut off my flashlight. Fuck. Maybe a group of tweekers, but they had to have seen the beam. I peaked my head to the side of the planter to get a quick look. Through the darkness I could make out figures for sure, a group, but they were perfectly still. I turned back on my flashlight to confirm my suspicions.

I breathed a sigh of relief, it was just three mannequins in an open area of the floor. They had been arranged in a group and posed as if they were walking. Clearly it was funny to someone. I put the laughter I thought I heard down to the wind whistling through the cavernous central atrium and my imagination. As I illuminated the mannequins I could see Krazy Konsoles across the open area, it looked relatively intact, maybe this wouldn’t be a waste of time after all. I made a beeline for the old game shop.

As I walked I shook my head to clear it, tried to refocus, couldn’t get distracted, just get the stuff and get out. As I walked past the mannequins I noticed someone had dressed them in old clothing, not nineties old but seventies, like elderly ladies. Some were wearing jewellery like rings and strings of old pearls. The jewellery looked like it might be worth something but I reasoned that if it had been worth anything whoever posed them like this would have just stolen the stuff. Besides I didn’t wanna get close enough to the creepy as fuck mannequins to verify the goods. Maybe I’d risk it on the way out if the game shop was a bust.

As I gave the mannequins a wide birth I swore they were watching me, but nothing moved, they were still as the night. I didn’t turn to illuminate the mannequins, instead I shook my head to snap myself back to my senses. Just get the goods and get out. It’s just a creepy old mall, pull it together.

Big red letters in a sharp font above the store read Krazy Konsoles. The place looked mostly intact, a great sign. The door was only open a few inches or so, enough for someone slender to slip through but I couldn’t manage it with my backpack and gear, I had to use my crowbar to get it open further. It was another good sign, it meant not many people had been coming and going from the store. The door was stiff with age but it did finally pull open.

Bare shelves greeted me, the place wasn’t as wrecked as the other stores, but it wasn’t exactly great and worryingly there was a stench of mold. I made for the back storeroom as quickly as possible, I’d know soon enough if this had all been a waste of time. The door opened easily, there were only a few boxes left. I shone my flashlight on them. Inside were the games, but they were wrecked, water damaged and then frozen. Looking up to the roof I could see a pipe had broken and leaked all over them. When had this happened, the games looked like they had been in a bad state for years, what the hell was going on. I put my crowbar on the ground and rifled through the boxes. I’d been had and I didn’t know why, but my instinct told me to get out of the place as quick as possible.

As I turned to leave I just caught a glance of a figure for only a split second before something heavy struck me across the side of the head. I was dazed but didn’t lose consciousness, I could feel blood trickling through my hair. It was my own damn crowbar that had hit me. But I still had fight in me, I grabbed the hand that struck me, but it didn’t give like soft flesh, it was solid and cold. I pointed my flashlight up to blind my attacker, it illuminated an almost formless face, no skin tone, wide unblinking eyes, mouth unmoving, coarse black horse-like hair. The head twitched violently but none of its features changed, a horrifying frozen face staring back at me.

I had to have a concussion, this couldn’t be real. Using all my strength I gave the best door-kick into my assailant’s torso I was capable of. She or it stumbled and fell to the ground and writhed around trying to get up, as if not sure quite how, like some new-born animal. I looked on in horror for only a moment, adrenaline pumped, my survival instinct kicked in and I ran. It grabbed for my leg as I passed, but I was too fast. The thing let out a raspy clicking noise in frustration.

As I reached the door of the store a voice spoke behind me in a low breathy tone.

“Stay with us dear, we’re so lonely.”

I didn’t turn around, I could hear the thing finding its feet, it wasn’t flailing around anymore. It would be coming for me.

I burst out into the atrium and kept running, sweeping the beam of my flashlight around I could see that all three of the arranged mannequins were gone from their positions. Where the hell were the other two? I got my answer quick enough. As I reached the escalators, one of the abominations emerged from behind a planter, dressed like a kindly old lady with her string of pearls. It had been lying in wait.

I didn’t react quick enough, didn’t spot the knife it had clutched in its fiberglass hand till it was too late. Its arm twitched, moving quicker than any human could. The blade was razor sharp, it sliced through my jacket and cut deeply through the muscle of my left arm. I howled in pain and struck out using the heavy duty flashlight like a baton. It connected with the mannequin’s head perfectly, its gray wig fell off as if in some terrible comedy. The thing stumbled backward as if stunned, flailing its blade holding arm in quick motions, like some animation where frames were missing. The impact of the blow damaged the flashlight, I was now back in darkness, there was some moonlight seeping through from the skylights above but not enough to see clearly.

“Please, our families don’t come and see us anymore, we get so lonely,” the voice seemed to be coming from somewhere in the dummies skull if you could call it that.

Its lips didn’t move but the head seemed to twitch as it spoke, I could barely see through the dark. Blood was soaking into my sleeve, I bounded down the broken escalator running on pure adrenaline. I made it to the first floor. My eyes darted around at the darkness, I knew there was a third one somewhere. I couldn’t wait to be sure, I could hear the other two clicking their way down the escalators behind me.

I was losing blood, I wasn’t feeling faint yet, but that would come, it wasn’t my first rodeo, I’d been cut up before. Maybe this time it was the sheer terror keeping me going. But it wouldn’t last forever I had to get out of the place. I bounded down the escalator toward the ground floor. About halfway down the upper-body of the third mannequin popped up on the opposite side of the escalator like it was spring-loaded. It lunged across at me grabbing with both hands, it just managed to get a hold of me, I couldn’t shake it off. In a panic I jumped over the side of the escalator, it was less than half a floor but the impact on my legs was sharp and painful, my left leg buckled but luckily didn’t break. The mannequin had lost its grip in the fall, it was less lucky, the impact split it in two at the torso. I could see the two pieces in the darkness. The legs were kicking and thrashing by themselves, the torso was crawling along the tiles desperately trying to get to me.

My heart beat like a jackhammer. I moved as fast as possible with my one good leg toward the exit and didn’t look back. I was running out of steam as I reached the door I had come in by, the adrenaline was wearing off, I had to get to my van. As I pulled open the door I could still hear them coming, calling after me in their breathy voices.

“Come back,” I heard them call, “Stay and talk for a while, just a little while, just a little.”

The cold air sobered me just enough to keep going, I made it to my van, I had the keys out and ready. The engine took a few seconds to turn over, when it did I slammed it into drive and planted my foot on the gas. The wheels spun in the snow and finally caught, the van bolted forward at speed. I made it out of the parking lot and onto a quiet road. I kept driving as fast as I could given the ice and snow and my condition. I finally reached a minor public road, a few cars were coming and going I waved for help but nobody stopped. Eventually blood loss and shock caught up with me, I don’t remember anything for a while after that.

I woke up in a clinic in Rockford, someone had found me slumped over the steering wheel of my Van stuck in a ditch. I was lucky, the local PD had a lot of questions for me but I made up some cock-and-bull story, I was well practiced at that. What was I going to tell them, the truth? The doctors had me on some synthetic opioid for the wounds on my arm and head, I barely knew what the truth was myself at that point.

I can only tell you people one thing with certainty, don’t go near The ______ Hills Mall. It doesn’t matter what you see in photos, or what score you hear is there, it’s not worth it.

‘Memories to last a lifetime’

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