Fort de la Chartreuse

…My blood went cold, the certainty of his words chilling me deeper than the constant, oppressive cold of Fort de la Chartreuse. He moved on quietly into the dark, leaving me alone again, waiting for the others, with the unbearable sensation of eyes on me, unseen yet present somewhere deep within the tunnels. After that encounter in the narrow passage, I trie…

…Now the fort lies abandoned and boarded up, overgrown, forgotten except by urban explorers and local scouts daring enough to sneak in after dark. Tonight was one of those excursions. We had our rules. Strict silence. Total darkness. The road running alongside the fort wall was busy enough that headlights passed often, forcing us to climb quietly and swiftly…

…I've been leading groups into abandoned places for nearly 10 years now. Fort de la Chartreuse, outside of Liege, Belgium, has always been my favorite. It's a sprawling maze of brick tunnels and cold rooms that saw heavy use during World War II. The occupying German forces supposedly used parts of it for interrogations and detainment, though no official reco…