If a Roof Collapses in Detroit, Does Anybody Hear It?

The roof on one of the buildings in the Packard Plant appears to have collapsed. Years of scrappers pillaging every last ounce of usable metal from the structure's foundation will do that. What an unbelievable place.

I'd like to share a few words about this place from Doppelganger on Flickr:

"I went up there 2 days after the collapse. I actually interviewed a scrapper we met outside, and he heard it. That thing was loud and just happened out of the blue one afternoon. Where the little oval is, there used to be lots of standing water and the roof was sagging a bit.

I just hope nobody gets killed in this building. Sooner or later, more is coming down. My last trip up there (for sunrise which was sweeeet) was my last...so I say. It's so hard to stay away from this dangerous perch. I predict it won't survive the winter, if we get a bunch of snow.

I love this place more than words can say. It really has this quality that draws me back again and again. I'm sure having been there, you've been bitten by the bug too. But with the danger this place poses, to loss of life, I can't understand honestly how it's not been demolished.

Can you imagine a bunch of structural engineers sitting down and looking at the photos of this building, and then telling them that people are walking up here almost on a daily basis? Those guys condemn buildings that look perfectly sound. Hah! Glad you got in and got out in one piece."