Mexia Supermarket (partially found footage of abandoned Texas grocery store; 1999)

Mexia Supermarket, three months after it was abandoned.

Status: Partially Found

In July of 1999, Mexia Supermarket, a Fort Worth, Texas grocery store, was shut down after its owners declared bankruptcy. Three months following its abandonment, city officials would discover that everything was left inside to decay, creating an extremely biohazardous environment. It is known that a walkthrough, the clean-up process, and other news story footage was captured of the incident.

Background

A few details are known regarding the owners and operations of Mexia Supermarket, which is believed to have been situated within Hemphill Street, Fort Worth. According to Soul Strut user THE_HOOK_UP, the owners were originally from Laos, and had opened the grocery store to serve the needs of a low income community. It is unclear how long Mexia operated for, but it became obvious that its owners could not make the 36,000-square-foot business venture profitable, with the store becoming bankrupt by July of 1999. Following this, the owners opted to return to Laos. Under normal circumstances, Mexia's inventory would go elsewhere, perhaps in a clearance sale or simply being discarded as seemingly unsellable goods. However, Mexia's owners made a considerably different choice; they merely locked the doors of their former store, and left everything inside.

Not long following the store's abandonment, the electricity was shut off as payment was not forthcoming. Following a lack of refrigeration, unpackaged meat and fish soon spoiled as pseudomonas and lactic acid bacteria multiplied, causing swift decomposition. Meanwhile, fruits and vegetables started emitting ethylene, a hormone that resulted in them overripening and thus begin rotting. The smell of rotting produce and meat attracted numerous insects and rodents, including fruit flies, blow flies, cockroaches, and rats. All these species quickly consumed the spoiled products, which in turn allowed the pests to regularly breed. Lactic acid soon ended up and multiplied inside milk containers, causing them to go sour. Butter and other dairy products shortly melted and decayed following a rise in temperature.

Investigation

In the weeks following its closure, Mexia had suffered massive and very noticeable deterioration. Nearby residents began to complain of a growing stench sourced from within the store. This prompted Fort Worth Department of Environmental Management officials, led by director Brian Boerner, to investigate the store approximately three months post-abandonment. Already, they knew that something horrific was waiting for them, based on the stench and the hordes of roaches enveloping the store's windows. Aware of the store's clear risk to health, workers who entered donned hazmat suits and oxygen tanks, preventing a clear indication of the smell inside. Every aisle of Mexia revealed its biohazardous nature; hundreds of rats had infested the building, consuming the rotting produce before focusing on dried goods. This allowed them to breed and produce store-wide excrement. Flies had produced eggs that hatched into maggots. By this point, countless insects were present across the store. Officials reported that such was the volume of flies covering all areas of Mexia, they could no longer see their hands as they explored the building.

Aside from decomposing, fruit and vegetables also showed areas where they had been gnawed through by rats. The extent of lactic acid and other gases caused milk containers to rupture and explode. Packaged meat either was seemingly untouched, or was covered in a greyish-black goo. Every aisle revealed new disturbing revelations for the investigators. Ultimately, it was never known exactly what bacteria and other diseases were present, though another troubling revelation had soon emerged. Throughout Mexia's abandonment, it was revealed through news footage that some people had broken into the building, and risked their health to steal items such as canned goods, which likely remained edible thanks to their aluminium containers.

This occurred even in the days before the clean-up process finally began, with officials fumigating and disinfecting the highly toxic building. They then removed some items by hand, and left other rotting matter to be cleared away via front-end loaders. Suggestions the store be burned down were rejected, as concern arose that thousands of rats would escape and potentially invade the nearby community. According to Groceteria user wnetmacman, a Fort Worth City Council minutes revealed the clean-up process cost the city around $100,000. The building itself still exists today, and is now housed by various other businesses such as Dollar General.

Availability

The incident attracted media attention, including a summary of planned clean-up work in the 14th November 1999 issue of The Victoria Advocate. Additionally, a few news reports were broadcast on television. According to THE_HOOK_UP, said reports contained footage showing the windows darkened by roaches, numerous scenes of rotting food affected by insects and rodents, and even incidents where people broke into the store and pillaged items. It is unclear which stations covered the story, but ultimately, no news report has since publicly resurfaced.

However, the incident gained further notoriety when footage was included in the Life After People episode titled "The Last Supper". Originally broadcast on History on 26th January 2010, the documentary speculates on the fate regarding humanity's food supply if the population was suddenly wiped out. It uses Mexia Supermarket as a case study, airing clips of a walkthrough and officials partially clearing out the mess within, with Boerner recalling what he and others encountered. The episode then claims that within three months of humanity's disappearance, every supermarket across the planet will have its own "chamber of horrors". The walkthrough footage explored every aisle of the building, though only brief clips of each section were shown. While the Life After People episode can be easily found online, the uncut tape, footage outside the building, and clips of people breaking into the store remain as lost media.

See Also

• Life After People (partially found uncut CGI of History television series; 2008-2010)

External Link

• Life After People Wiki page on Mexia Supermarket.