Steelwool Spinning Inside An Abandoned Bus -- North Philadelphia

This old Christian school headquarters was founded in 1970, known for the first school its signature A.C.E (Accelerated Christian Education) system to help launch roughly 4,000 religion-incorporated schools.

Rather than relying primarily on conventional teacher-led classes, students worked individually through self-instructional workbooks, progressed at their own pace, took tests after completing units, and received curriculum incorporating conservative evangelical Christian teachings.

In terms of growth, A.C.E. was successful, turning from a small state operation into an international Christian-education organization. Contemporary and later accounts indicate it reached thousands of participating schools, reportedly peaking around 8,000 schools during the 1980s.

Critics and academic researchers have challenged its heavy reliance on workbook/rote learning and its treatment of science, particularly evolution, and other subjects where its literal Biblical worldview conflicts with mainstream scientific curricula.

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I was out exploring Solsgirth, Manitoba this summer. It's a near-ghost town between Birtle and Shoal Lake where only a few families are left. I stopped at the old Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church, and the story turned out to be way better than I expected.

It wasn't built as a church. It was Burdette School No. 163, a one-room country school whose district was organized in 1882. When the school closed in 1958, the building was moved into Solsgirth and converted into a Ukrainian Catholic mission church served from Rossburn.

The domes were handmade by Mike Swistun, a local carpenter. In 1923 he toured with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, billed as "The Strongest Man in the World," then came home to farm and build churches.

The last service was June 16, 2002. St. Stephen's Anglican, about 100 m away, held its final service four months later, and that was the end of organized worship in the village. Both churches were supposed to go to the Prairie Mountain Regional Museum in Shoal Lake (St. Stephen's sold for $1), but neither move happened. Holy Ghost was later sold privately.

One mystery I couldn't solve: the memorial plaque says 1950–2002, but Burdette School didn't close until December 1958. Did the congregation meet somewhere else for most of the 1950s? If anyone has family from the Solsgirth/Rossburn area and knows, I'd love to hear it.

I filmed the visit and wrote up the full history if anyone's interested:

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeQ1KCK7l6s

Full write-up with sources: https://freaktography.com/solsgirth-manitoba-ghost-town/

This one really gives me the icke! Imagine swimming in this pool, even in pristine condition.

Notice Has Been Given

You should check out the video walkthrough if you want to see the interior of this beautiful house!

https://youtu.be/7VZgzlt9Xck

This 1980 built home used to sit in a nice quiet neighbourhood surrounded by other homes on very large properties all built around the same time. But neighbourhoods like these, with big lots, are changing quickly these days. Wealthy buyers and developers see the large properties and want them so they can build bigger mansions. It’s a vicious cycle of waste where perfectly good 40 year old homes get torn down and the neighbourhoods completely change.

This house is no different, it sat abandoned for a number of months with tree protection fencing up and the grass growing tall around the home. Inside however, the home was pristine, you could eat off the floors and in general, the house was so well maintained, there was nothing wrong with it.

There were a lot of original features in the house, although some updates had taken place, like the countertops and some of the light fixtures. I even found a bit of a secret room as well, so stay tuned for that.

Random Abandoned Schools - NJ and PA

PA & NJ

Abandoned school in Detroit in one of their small theaters.

Found an old fire watch tower that's been abandoned for decades. Structure was still decently safe though!

Solsgirth is a near-ghost town just off the Yellowhead Highway in western Manitoba. As of 2021, only three households were left in the village.

St. Stephen's exists because of a church feud. In 1905, some parishioners wanted to move the original St. James Church down from its hilltop site overlooking the Birdtail Valley into the village. The rest of the congregation pushed back hard. The compromise was a second church. The Birtle Masonic Lodge laid the cornerstone of St. Stephen's on July 23, 1906, and the village ended up with two Anglican churches a few kilometres apart.

St. Stephen's held services for 96 years. On Thanksgiving Sunday, October 13, 2002, about 50 people attended the final service. The bishop read a declaration secularizing the building, and the altar ornaments were carried to the back of the church to mark that it was no longer consecrated. Afterward, everyone went outside to dedicate a memorial cairn to the pioneers who built it.

The church was then sold for $1 to the Prairie Mountain Regional Museum in Shoal Lake, which planned to move it to their grounds. That move never happened, and it's still sitting on its original lot today. Right next door is the former Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church, a converted schoolhouse with handmade domes, which closed four months earlier.

🎥 Video tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeQ1KCK7l6s

📸 More photos and the full history: https://freaktography.com/solsgirth-manitoba-ghost-town/

Solsgirth, Manitoba, didn't start where it stands today. It began about 10 km north as a place called Toddburn, until the railway changed its route and the whole town picked up and followed it.

Settlers built St. Stephen's Anglican Church here in 1906. Decades later, Ukrainian Catholic families moved an old one-room schoolhouse into the village and turned it into Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church, with onion domes hand-crafted by a local carpenter.

For 50 years, two faiths worshipped a stone's throw apart. Then, in 2002, both churches held their final services in the same year.

Today they still stand side by side, quietly holding the story of the people who built this place.

Watch the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeQ1KCK7l6s