They were taking photos on the roof when a teenage girl fell through, down to the cement floor 45 feet below. She survived. Others have not been as lucky.
In September 2007, 23-year-old Metro State student John Polzin and two other urban adventurers decided to explore the abandoned building; Polzin wound up falling through a hole in the floor and was so badly injured he died a month later.
This trio was hardly the first crew to explore the abandoned factory. A half-dozen years ago, Urban Explorers, a reality show on the Discovery Channel, featured Gates in a lengthy segment, with the on-camera hosts crawling through steam tunnels beneath the buildings, explaining the purposes of long-dormant machinery, scaling the famous water tower on the roof. But they were there with the permission of the property's owners, who are supposed to keep the place locked up tight.
Urban explorers and neighbors alike have debated how effective that security has been. Gates is a legendary draw, as evidenced by this Abandoned Places post. But while the author got into the place, he also got busted by the cops and taken to jail. "If you live around Denver, he notes, "this is one of the only exploration points I highly advise steering clear of."
More from our Follow That Story archive: "Lawsuit over urban explorer death at abandoned Gates Rubber factory going to trial."
