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Padova city/ Tranquille farms

27K views 26 replies 17 participants last post by  Shortbuss 
#1 ·
Not an "offroad destination" but interesting nonetheless!!!
Was just recently used as the site for the A team movie, has a huge history with a curse and looks like it could carry out that curse!! haha, its being torn down and built upon currently however for the few who knew about it, i hope it lives on.
Just recently i had the privilidge (or curse) of going through the entire site building by building, through all of the underground tunnels, the power building, etc on halloween night with a full moon... bloody scary i tell ya! anyways for those who dont know about it...
Photos of the site
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38647394@N03/sets/72157622136446602/

Small writeup
http://www.cariboo.bc.ca/news/Pastnov26/tranqll.html

In short- was a large TB hospital, turned into a self contained city of sorts creating its own power, laundry, even newspaper, seperated from kamloops,
Then unconfirmed but several people who have lived here for years say the military purchased the area and surrounding hills somewhere in the 80s, then gave it up, and ya its been vacant since, is now just turning into a resort of sorts. Its a very freakishly intriguing place to explore so ya, just thought i would pass on the info!

Oh and the ghost stories continue... this was just taken from a random posting site,
"you want to hear something interesting....
i live in the city of kamloops, 2 weeks before the owner commited suicide my father and i rode our bikes out there during the day and got the chance to talk to him. my paps jokingly asked if he had seen any ghosts? his answer was, "i can feel them when i sleep, they surround me, they dont want me hear anymore" he also showed us his plans to make it into a tourist site...anyway we dident take it seriously until we saw his name in the paper and the suicide part. well got me interested in the place. i've been out there a few times looking around, and i'm going again tonight. anyway write me back if you have any questions. oh yah and send me some info if you can cause i cant get the posting you have here."
 
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#3 ·
Micheal (230, bcghosttowns) has done a tour of Tranquille. He'll be happy to catch this post, he's pretty interested in the place. Supposedly it has an extremely dark history to it, sometime during a winter storm they got buried in and lost power for 3 days. When the authorities went in to check everyone out it turns out the doctor killed everyone and escaped, or something to that effect. Don't know if its true or not but the place has a very oppressing feeling to it none-the-less. LR
 
#5 ·
haha, some guys watch too many steven king movies! There is lots of buildings left. I don't know why but there is also alot of ghost weird type stories around the hoodoos across the road from it. I found when I was alot younger and into smoking pot late at night that whole area would totally freak me out,,, then I quit smoking pot and it just didn't seem scary anymore.
 
#6 ·
So I swung by today on my way thru Kamloops. The whole area is fenced off but you can walk in to the site office. I didn't get to far before some guy in a creepy old Ford truck was just sitting in his truck watching me. It looks like a couple people live there - maybe care takers? The place is old and even during the middle of the day it is just spooky. I took a few pictures from around the perimeter. Will post them up when I get home. It would be neat to figure out how to get a tour thru there.

Derek
 
#11 ·
He is the caretaker,He's a real nice guy and gave me a guided tour last time i was there.He's part owner of the place and had a load of stories for us.I saw everything except the tunnels.he totally denied that they even exsisted.We actually rolled by the place today on our way to the races and concidered stopping in for another tour.
 
#7 ·
Im sorry bud i had a last minute trip to osoyoos i just got back from, yes you can still get in, yes there are still caretakers on site, he is pretty much on site security trying to kick all the kids out all the time. He owes me a couple favours and seems to be a pretty nice dude as long as your on his good side. Yes, it is very ominous.... oppressing, i was in the tunnels that night, they lead all over the city and come up in every building there, including the houses. The one tunnel i took ended up in the basement of the power plant, then down one story further there is a large, well huge room. In this room there are several adjoining rooms, one had a large metal door, inside was all brick wall, one toilet in the middle of it, one cast iron sink, one vanity, and fingernail scratches all over the walls. an old cast fan also stood on the ceiling pointing down, no lights at all in the room. Really does give it a freaky feeling... I am not sure how the developement is going, but hey if there is enough interest and there not working on destryoing the actual city yet, i can try to set up a tour? I dont know the new owners but do know the old ones. You can view most of the areas on the internet and i am not sure if he will allow anyone in the tunnels? i will have to call and ask. I did note that nearly every building i went into had asbestos covering the piping and as insulation, black mold seemed to be everywhere and ya a lot of the areas were caving in or just opened up into huge sink holes (ie, i went through a door in the "laundry" and my foot went straight down, turned and looked, was an inspection cover which was removed, went down about 40 feet into a fully flooded basement with a ton of piping/wires and a tiny rotten ladder was the only way out... got the heart going a bit! the place is huge, the history seems to change with anyone you speak with, but it never remains to be a very interesting story from those who actually lived through the times when it was up and running. It helps the "portrait" in knowing that nearly every body drowned in the river ends up right at the mouth of padova city as it is located just where the Thompson empties into the lake.. have done several recoveries of "ghost" jet skis, boats and fishing boats in this area as well which are abandoned and no one ever claims... well maybe a couple, but it sounds better the other way! haha
 
#8 ·
Hey Ryan,

Its Ryan and Andrea... How have you been?... I see your in Kamloops, Shoot me your contact info and maybe we can hook up. We have friends and family in Kamloops and are heading up next weekend, and a few times this summer...

Now about this tranquille, This is the first I have ever heard of the stories of this place, and my aunt and uncle lived only minutes away (just east of Ord Rd. on Tranquille Rd.) and I lived there for about 5 yrs when I was younger(mid to late '80's). I've been back many times, but had no clue about this place. I'm definitely going to check it out next weekend when I'm back up there... I'll ask my Aunt if she has any stories of this place as well, since she's lived up there since the early 70's.

Very cool find Ryan, thanks for posting..

Ryan
 
#9 ·
the rumors of them developing a resort there are hit or miss they have been sayin that for years and nothing ever happens, last i heard is one of the partners backed out of the deal so it remains as it was, some of the building were tore down but most are intact and can be scary as hell, the newest owners dont want people on the site due to kids taggin stuff up and leaving there crap behind, plus the liability factor is huge in that place, it definatley gives you a dark feeling like something definatly wasnt right there, but everyone heres different things, there are a few different sites dedicated to this city, a few are just the ghost stories and those who have broke in, but there is one and ill see if i can find it again that is more of a historical site that tells you everything about it from the first build up to when they finally closed the doors, it really cool, but if you guys do want to try to get in please try to get permission dont just break in, the care takers have been there for years and have delt with people getting in for a lon time and if you think they dont know your there your wrong, but if you can get permission its a pretty cool place to see for sure
 
#10 ·
Nope, not going to "break" in to this place, as i said the caretaker on site owes me a couple, will chat with him later today to see if he can speak with the owners and we can get a date to explore... if not, well at least it brings a little awareness to the site.
 
#12 ·
There are most certainly a ton of tunnels, have been through most of them, great condition, even clean of mold that i could see, anyway for anyone else who cant make it up, the A-team was filmed mostly in the area of Tranquille farms!
 
#14 ·
Sorry buddy have been tied up trying to get the jeep started for the whipsaw run, i am gone up north for the next week but when i come back i will get a hold of the caretaker. i have left one message with no response yet, i usually do better talking to him face to face anyway.
 
#15 ·
In the early 90's I had a meeting with a guy named Erwin Liem who was representing the then-current owner of Padova City, Giovanni Camporese. Erwin was a young guy, maybe in his late 20's, or early 30's, and said he'd come out of retirement to manage the place for Giovanni. His specialty was mergers and acquisitions. They were working out of the A&A Foods building in Port Coquitlam; which had a very tight security protocol which I thought was weird at the time. Erwin showed me the glossy brochures of what they had planned for "Padova City", which they were planning to make into a high-end tourist destination for kings, sultans, etc. He said that a mere Prime Minister was not good enough for the place. They were going to have high-end stores, golf course, etc. It was pretty fascinating. Unfortunately, he wouldn't give me a brochure.

Anyways, they didn't go for my proposal, and I more or less forgot about the place. Then one day last year, I half-remembered about it, and did a Google search for the people involved. Interesting stuff. :D
 
#18 ·
New here. Saw this thread and thought I would contribute. I live near Tranquille or Padova and I must say it's one hell of a place. I used to go in there a few years back and infiltrated the property. The only advice I can give you is to go at night because it is under security and recently crawling with restoration personal. If you do end up finding the tunnels be careful there is still alot of asbestos in the walls and ceilings. Enter from the far north west end and make you way up to the main street where you will approach many of the doctors houses. I find them to be the creepiest.

Apart from this place being an abandoned facility with very interesting historical significance, the property where it sits is at the mouth of the Tranquille River. This river is the birthplace of the gold rush in British Columbia and if you venture past Padova and follow up the same road it will eventually follow the river all the way up to abandoned gold mines and a place called Watching Creek where gold panning is limited to Pan and shovel only. There is still alot of gold in this river.

For the more adventurous if you continue to follow the criss creek rd it eventually meets up with Vidette which is another old gold mining town with a rich history and a recent one as well.
Buddhist monks have declared the foot hills above the Vidette gold mine the Centre of the Universe. More Info HereThere is also a beautiful 120ft water fall. The gravel road eventually loops back to Highway 1 just 40KM west of Kamloops on the opposite end of the Lake where you started off.

Its a great loop with endless forestry roads and epic countryside.

Here is a picture of my 95 4runner overlooking Padova as it is today on the Tranquille/Criss Creek Rd.

 
#19 ·
I've been inside the place twice and echo Night Crawlers words. Not only is there security, but several of the buildings have alarms. The caretaker wasn't the most the kindest of people when I met him. He also called the police. Luckily they passed me when i was driving away so by the time they got to the farm i was long gone. This place is shut up and being let to rot. I think the plan is to just hope all the building turn into rubble so they don't have to get permits to tear them down.\

For the past ten years it's been a will they won't they on the demolition/development side. In this economy (therefore a lack of American investors) I sincerely doubt it. While it's possible to poke in and peak around it is not a 4x4 trip. It's a get in and get out without being seen. Definitely an Erie place though.
 
#20 ·
Is it still there? Im wanting to borrow a Dslr from my school and head up for some night photography. Is sneaking onto the property doable? I have night vision goggles etc.
 
#21 ·
Fascinating reading, it would be some serious fun to poke around there, even for a guy like me I would want to see the entire farm and structures, how that staved silo is still standing must be divine intervention, they only last 30 years.
 
#22 ·
I live about 5 minutes from Tranquille/Padova city, There is security on site and as far as I know a couple of the older houses have been renovated and are rented out.
I wouldn't waste my time going there for a look, but the drive to vidette and criss creek area is a nice drive.
 
#24 ·
That is a nice drive. Also suggest taking a right west of tranquile valley sub (at the sign that says wendego lodge) taking that crossover road and meeting up with sawmill fsr and touring up that way. You will meet up with the JoeRoss road and then the 3800 haul road that leads into Chasm.
 
#23 ·
When i was out there this summer I had my first close encounter with a rattlesnake. Scared the sh*t out of me how noisy and how fast they are!
My buddys uncle used to hay out there and was telling storys about how the bales of hay would sometimes have parts of the snakes sticking out of them but unable to move being wound up so tight.
That's creepy enough for me!
I wouldn't bother trespassing and risk getting charged going out there.
 
#25 ·
Sorry for bumping a somewhat old thread, but does anybody know if Padova/Tranquille is still accessible?
I'd love to take a trip up to Kamloops to check it out, but I don't want to get up there just to find out it's been closed off / demo'd / reno'd...
If it's not accessible, does anybody know of any similar places that aren't too far of a drive from the lower mainland? I'm thinking of at most a 5 hour drive away...
Thanks
 
#26 ·
I was up there last year, at and it was all locked up.. We were able to drive up to the fence and take some pictures and up the hill to get a view of the whole place. But no legal access. It looked they were doing some work as there was machines on the grounds. You might be able to talk with someone during the week, or on the weekend if they still have a caretaker.
HTH
Ryan
 
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