'Jumping Jack' Power Plant – Brooklyn, New York - Atlas Obscura

'Jumping Jack' Power Plant

A mysterious, abandoned building rotting on the Brooklyn waterfront. 

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This abandoned power plant is tucked away along the Brooklyn waterfront. Dilapidated and looking as though it could crumble into itself at any moment, it stands like a ghostly reminder of the area’s industrial past.

Not much is known about the decaying structure, beyond the fact that it was once either a power plant or pump house. Old papers found inside have led some to speculate that the plant was used up until the 1960s.

But life inside the building didn’t stop after the power plant ceased buzzing to life. Based on the bits of old cars scattered around its first floor, it was likely also once a chop shop.

Its floors are caked with dust and leftover crumbs of coal and rusted pipes crisscross the walls. Enormous steel beams form the shape of a person doing a jumping jack—an image that earned the mysterious old building its name. Graffiti covers the walls of the gritty place, proof that the old power plant has yet to fade into complete oblivion.

Know Before You Go

Stick to admiring the building from the outside. Entering the building is extremely hazardous, as its rotting interior holds missing stairs, holes in the floors, and collapsing machinery.

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