Lincoln Mall | Matteson, IL

The abandoned Lincoln Mall. All of it. We are back. CHAPTER SELECTION: -0:00 Introduction -3:55 Mall lower level -12:12 MW wing ruins (lower: Foot Locker, Kaybee Toys, ruins of Aladdin's Castle) -19:20 Sears -31:27 Mall upper level -33:53 MW wing ruins (upper; Payless, Merry-Go-Round) -42:05 Carson's forgotten display boneyard -48:00 Departure (spooked by unknown van) -51:19 Drivearound Built in 1973, Lincoln Mall was the average four-anchor, two level regional suburban shopping mall of the Chicago Southland, located in Matteson, Illinois. Although it dropped an anchor store to bankruptcy for a while (eventually filling it, again), the mall fared quite well for the first 25 or so years of its life - being, in fact, a nail in the coffin for nearby Dixie Square Mall. The turn of the millennium saw the loss of two anchor stores back-to-back, beginning its slow and tragic descent into chaos and malaise following a botched revitalization effort that fell victim to the Great Recession. The mall finally shuttered due to obvious safety hazards in January 2015, and was demolished two years, later. Presented raw, with minimal editing. This is a complete walkthrough of the mall which includes some of the cool stuff left behind in the stores. Unfortunately this was shot several months after it got blown-up to WGN, when literally everyone and their mom started coming here. The vandalism was so bad at this point that the village hired a sleazy private security company to patrol the place until demolition began... who never showed up until the afternoon. Here's a protip... never leave your daily logbook and stuff in a spot where I can get to them. Thanks for the flashlights. Couple notes, here... this was the last video shot using our old Dixie Square-era rig (now nine years old). The lighting also sucks. We've since upgraded both camera and lighting to something a little more presentable, but figured this footage should still be put out there. We filmed another round during demolition, using the DSLR, and will be releasing that video soon. www.jonrev.com @jonrev everywhere but Twitter