Lost Planet: Des Moines' forgotten teen hangout
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A photo of "Lost Planet" in the mid-1980's. Photo: Courtesy of Dennis Spitzer
Halloween weekend will be full of other-worldly places, so let's go back in time to one of Des Moines' forgotten lands: Lost Planet.
Driving the news: The 60-acre lime sludge field was used by Des Moines Water Works (DMWW) to dump remnants from its water-softening process starting in 1948.
- Sound tantalizing? For local teens, it was the spot to be.
The intrigue: Nothing grew at Lost Planet due to the used lime. Instead, the cracked white land had a ghostly, barren appearance.
State of play: Teens would cross the nearby railroad tracks to get to Lost Planet, which was west of DMWW and across from Raccoon River.
- Homeowners living up the hill in nearby Owl's Head often complained about the sight of the field just to the south of them, according to Register archives.
- In 1995, it was the site of a homicide after a group of teenagers lured a man, beat and robbed him.
What they're saying: Dennis Spitzer, who graduated from Lincoln High School in 1966, says it was a favorite spot to drink beers, make a campfire and "have a good time" without being bothered by adults or cops.
- "It was really creepy," Spitzer says. "It was almost like being on the surface of the moon."
- In the 1980s, he showed his kids his old hangout spot, bringing his old Pentax camera to capture ominous photos from a cloudy day.
Wendie O'Brien's family owned a horse stable across the road from Lost Planet.
- Because the ground never hardened, her mom would help pull out students stuck in the sludge by horse.
- Her parents would see many "parties" and "lovers" there, O'Brien tells Axios.
The bottom line: DMWW recycled leftover lime for agricultural use in the 1990s.
- Lost Plant now has a layer of dirt and planted grass.
- "Now it is full of weeds, and kind of pretty," O'Brien says, who still owns land near the once-notorious, forgotten space.