Exploring an Abandoned Bunker near Joliet, Illinois

Urban exploration is one thing, exploring a place in the middle of nowhere is something else altogether.

While it's not exactly in the middle of nowhere, Joliet actually, it seems that in order to get to this abandoned bunker, you're going to have to walk a bit.

Posted on YouTube a few years ago by Abandoned or Cool, and titled Exploring the Inside of an Abandoned TNT Bunker in Illinois, the title covers exactly what's going on in this video.

The video description mentions the bunker as "part of the old Joliet Army Ammunition Plant."

There were 77 plants that were constructed across the US during World War II solely to produce ammo and explosives.

The United States Department of Agriculture says "At the time they were built, the Joliet plants were considered the largest, most sophisticated munitions plants in the world...TNT production stopped in 1976 and by the late 1970s, most operations had ceased. The total size at the time it was declared inactive in 1993 was 23,543 acres."

Before the plant was shut down nearly 30 years ago, it was the scene of a deadly incident.

According to the University of Illinois Press Blog, on June 5, 1942, an explosion took place in a loading line where "The blast shattered windows for miles around and was allegedly heard in Waukegan, close to 100 miles away. The 48 killed made it the deadliest US ammunition plant incident of World War II."

So the bunker is a rather historic abandoned site, and while it seems there isn't much remaining of the former Elwood Ordnance Plant, this place remains.

Take a look inside.

WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.