Photographer SephLawless has built a following with his haunting images of abandoned America—from crumbling malls to decaying buildings. From the outside, all these structures exhibit the obvious effects of years of neglect and constant exposure to the elements, but many of them harbor dark secrets and disturbing histories.
In his new book "13: An American Horror Story," Lawless collects the real-life stories behind abandoned "haunted" houses and mansions across the country. The images are eerie and some of the stories are just as chilling. One photo from the series, for example, shows the weather-beaten, graffiti-covered house in Cleveland, Ohio where serial killer Anthony Sowell hid the remains of his 11 victims. The three-story house, which was condemned because of problems with the roof, plumbing, heating, electricity and water supply and roach, flea, termite and rodent infestations, was demolished in 2011, according to CBS News. But Lawless says even though the house has been demolished, locals have reported hearing noises from the site.
(MORE:Abandoned Buildings of Forgotten Cleveland)
Other houses featured in "13" are lesser-known, with more buried histories. Lawless calls one house in Philadelphia the "Doll House Mansion." It's a house "fullof nothing but dolls and organized metal saws and tools neatly displayed on metal shelves through out several rooms," he says.
View the slideshow above for photos by Seph Lawless a of these real-life haunted houses. Lawless' exhibition "Autopsy of America" opens on November 21, 2014 in Amerikahaus Art Museum in Munich, Germany, and will be on view in other European cities in 2015.Images from the exhibition will be on view in December at the Beachwood Public Library in Beachwood, Ohio.
For more on Lawless' work, visit his website or follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
(For More Travel, Follow us on Facebook)