Call it karma for being home to one of the most disturbing corporate conspiracies of the 20th century, but it seems Detroit is getting hit hard by a wave of economic depression. Sadly, scores of residents have left since the 1960s, residential and commercial real estate prices are soon to be counted in pennies and the over-filled prison system is taxing an already over-burdened local government.

Though major campaigns are underway to improve Detroit’s image and local economy with waterfront condos (that few can afford) and tourism-related projects, much of Detroit’s beautiful art deco architecture is left vacant and begging for people to poke around inside. Which is exactly what our urban exploring Detroitians are doing daily over at Forgotten Detroit, an amazing collection of photographs, videos and information on some of Detroit’s absolutely stunning pre-depression architecture. Absolute treasures are sitting vacant, waiting to be torn down as “progress” sweeps the city, meaning they would be replaced with the city’s 100th Best Buy or Wal-Mart.

Seeing such beautiful landmarks as the United Artists Theater of Detroit above, sitting vacant, vandalized and abused is almost painful. But the beauty of seeing this once shining, mighty example of better times and certainly better architecture, sitting abandoned is awe-inspiring. If only all modern cities could still carry such class in their architecture, life would be a dream.

Explore: Forgotten Detroit

We all know that the US is strange, but, this takes it to a new level. Just a few minutes looking at StrangeUSA.com, a database of strange places in the United States, one would think the whole country is one giant haunted, zombie-infested ghost town. StrangeUSA consolidates all the information it can find on haunted buildings, spooky cemetaries, unidentified monsters, ghost towns and all the scariest places they can find, collected by users and urban explorers to give you the best darn database of haunted stuff your side of the Mississippi. Oh look, that church whose bells I used to hear down the street, haunted. Super.

See more: Strange USA

The Tailrace Tunnel running behind Niagara Falls was a work of engineering art when it was laid (brick by brick) in 1906, becoming at the time, the largest tunnel of its type in the world. Part of a hydroelectric station, the Tailrace Tunnel expels water back into Niagara Falls which has been used to generate electricity. For the time, few have entered the tunnels, save a few engineers and construction workers. But urban explorers can never resist a challenge and the Tailrace Tunnels proved to be too much for 3 daring travelers. Late one evening, the three seasoned explorers descended upon the facility, stocked with bags of gear, radio communications, drills, lights and everything else one could think of when descending into the belly of a hydroelectric tunnel. Thankfully, they documented each part of the trip, both in pictures and words, creating an extraordinary tale of risk, adventure and some pretty damn spooky experiences.

See more: Explorers document trip through Tailrace Tunnel under Niagra Falls

I’m not 100% what the story behind these tunnels or the photos are (I’m trying to find out more information), but they appear to be some sort of flood control and/or irrigation and drainage tunnels. Whatever they are, these photos are extremely amazing and remind me of a mix between Blade Runner and Alien 4 movie sets. If anyone has more information on these, please e-mail us [Email address: nerds #AT# bunchofnerds.com - replace #AT# with @ ] and we’ll be happy to update the post.

[Amazing photos of Japanese flood tunnel]

[Update 1. Thanks to the many people emailing us regarding this story! More information is coming to light and I'm happy to update the post with what I've learned. The infrastructure is named the G-Cans Project and is an underground system in Tokyo intended to collect floodwater. I've also been forwarded an interesting travel diary of someone who was able to take a tour of the facility! Thanks Jackson and everyone else mailing me on this.]