America has an epidemic on its hands. All across the country, massive school buildings are slowly going dark. The effects that time and nature have had on these structures is truly remarkable.

Read on to learn about what’s causing this phenomenon, and be sure to check out the footage from YouTube channel “Exploring With Josh.” In the video, explorers delve into an abandoned school…with horrifying results.

Between 2001 and 2011, about two percent of American schools shut down each year.

Flickr/Thomas Hawk St. Agnes School in Detroit, Michigan

That’s somewhere between 1,400 to 2,160 schools per year.

Flickr/Thomas Hawk School in Alameda, California.

That’s quite a lot.

Flickr/Brook Ward St. Peter and St. Paul School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

So why are these schools being shuttered? Like many things, it comes down to money and time.

Flickr/Nitram242

As the baby-boom generation grew up, the massive schools that were built to accommodate them saw huge drops in enrollment.

Flickr/Jared Eberhardt

America’s school buildings are also showing their age, with many not having undergone major renovations since the 1950s or 1960s.

Flickr/Freaktogrpahy Detroit, Michigan

There’s still hope for these abandoned buildings. Most school buildings built before World War II were actually built to be lit with natural light, which makes them attractive to potential developers.

Flickr/Brook Ward St. Peter and St. Paul School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Older schools also tend to be better ventilated and have beautiful features like wood floors.

Flickr/Brook Ward St. Peter and St. Paul School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Some are being turned into boutique hotels, movie theaters, or even breweries.

Flickr/Jonathan Haeber A.L. Miller School in Macon, Georgia.

But there are still many abandoned schools across the country that are simply sitting in silence.

Flickr/Shannon O’Tool Youngstown, Ohio

Check out this creepy footage of an abandoned school:

Flickr/Thomas Hawk

St. Agnes School in Detroit, Michigan

School in Alameda, California.

Flickr/Brook Ward

St. Peter and St. Paul School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Flickr/Nitram242

Flickr/Jared Eberhardt

Flickr/Freaktogrpahy

Detroit, Michigan

Flickr/Jonathan Haeber

A.L. Miller School in Macon, Georgia.

Flickr/Shannon O’Tool

Youngstown, Ohio

Do you think abandoned schools should be renovated or put to a different use?

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