25 years ago today...

[TorpX]

I am surprised that so many people work and live in the zone.
Also, it seems odd that anyone would loot items likely to be contaminated.

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by TorpX

I am surprised that so many people work and live in the zone.
Also, it seems odd that anyone would loot items likely to be contaminated.

Most likely, the people sneaking into the exclusion zone to loot and sell radioactive scrap metal are junkies or boozers who don't give a damn about their own lives or the lives of the people they sell it to.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by TorpX

Also, it seems odd that anyone would loot items likely to be contaminated.

People will loot just about anything that isn't nailed down. Although i think most of the looting in the alienation zone was motivated by greed then by souvineer hunters. I've read or heard (probably on some documentary) that most everything of value in the zone has been looted already. Mostly anything that can be sold as scrap for profit. Electrical wiring, water heaters, etc.

One thing i've always wondered, is how much looting and tresspassing has been inspired by the stalker video game series. I love the game series, but in the back of my mind ive always had this niggeling thought that it's probably inspiring the wrong kind of behavior, in a place that should be left alone.

[Torplexed]

There are quite a few mentions of Stalker in the comments section of that Firesuite.com site. I get the impression that a lot of younger people learned most of what they know about Chernobyl through that game. Might also be responsible for the feeling that some had of "being watched" in the crumbling hospital.

[Ducimus]

I get the impression that a lot of younger people learned most of what they know about Chernobyl through that game.

Your probably right. Interesting tidbit. The last stalker game, "Call of Pripyat" actually features many areas from the real alienation zone. They are not arranged to be geographically correct in relation to one another, but some of the locations were made to be represent the real thing. I was reading in the games credits the makers had a few tours of the area. Makes sense really.

[TorpX]

I guess you're right about people taking anything that isn't nailed down.

I've never played any of the "stalker" games so most of what I know of the zone is from newspaper stories back when or bits and pieces since. That travelog was interesting though. It reminded me of things written about places like Pompeii, where disaster struck a city without warning and left the ruins as stark monuments to what occured. I had never heard of the "bridge of death" before. The part about the old woman who went back and still lives in her home is moving. If I was in her shoes, I would do the same, I guess.