A series of photos taken over 8 years shows how nature is slowly claiming an abandoned church

"Every year I think the next year is going to be gone," Dave said.

Visiting the church has turned into something of a tradition for him. "I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep going until it's a heap of rubble."

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Though the bible was never stolen, eight years of water damage have not been kind to the book. The binding has come undone, and the leather covering is beginning to wear away.

Some of the pews and the grand piano have collapsed through the floorboards. The floor has also started to crack in front of the altar. Overhead, the sections of the roof have completely eroded away, as has the heating pipe above the altar.

"The holes in the roof keep getting worse, and everything is happening as a result of the holes in the roof," Dave said. Whether it's rain or melting snow, water finds its way into the interior of the church, rotting away the light fixtures and floors.

The church remains a mystery. Dave theorized the church was abandoned in the late 1990s. He hasn't been able to find out who the owner is or why it closed, but he said if he had to guess, perhaps the congregation opened a new church. There were other worship centers in the area.

"You kind of tell your own story, if you don't know the history," he said. "You tell your own story, which can be dangerous because I don't want to put false information out there."

Except for appearing slightly faded, the painting of Jesus and his apostles appeared unaffected by rot and decay.

The altar and green curtain remained in the same position as Dave found them in 2012, but the bronze cross had fallen from the wall. Dave picked it up and propped it near where it had originally hung. The piano had also began to fall into the floor as if it was a sinking ship.

"If I go closer to the end of the year then it's had that whole year of different seasons, which has more of an effect on the decay," Dave said.

By 2018, gaping holes had formed in the roof revealing the wooden frame underneath, and the hardwood floor of the church had blackened with rot.

The ivory keys of the piano had been chipped away by nature.

In parts of the church, the floor had collapsed in on itself. Dave theorized that the holes were caused by people falling through the weakened wood planks. There were signs that other people had visited the church in the previous three years. The chairs and the bible had moved positions, but still, no one had ransacked the place.

"It's interesting to strictly document what Mother Nature does in damaging the structure when you don't have the added destruction of vandals," he said.

"I realized how much natural damage had taken place over three years," Dave said. "At this point I decided, 'This is pretty interesting, I'm going to try to get back here every year and try to document what nature is doing to this place.'"

"Every time I go there there's usually fresh flowers on some of the graves," Dave said. "People are still visiting."

"What happens a lot when you find an abandoned building, it's normally very quickly discovered by scrappers and graffiti artists and people who are basically up to no good or looking to steal things," Dave said.

One of the reasons the church may have remained untouched is because of its remote location, which Dave would not disclose. He said the reservation doesn't have many visitors, and the road the church is on isn't well traveled.

"It's pretty secluded and the handful of people who do know where it is have actually been pretty good at keeping its location a secret," he said.

The piano stood vacant, its ivory keys flecked with dirt and grime.

Dave was surprised no one had stolen the bible because it was leather-bound and an older copy.

"It stayed there all this time," he said. "A bible like this would have been stolen in any other location."

The church had a painting of "The Last Supper," a green curtain, and a bronze cross still hanging on the wall behind the altar. A pair of glasses, perhaps worn by the preacher, had been left on the altar. The pews were perfectly lined up, waiting for patrons who would never return.

Dave had been riding his motorcycle down a remote road on a reservation in Canada when he saw the abandoned church. He pulled over and decided to look around, gaining access to the church through an open window.

Dave said he wears the mask to protect against black mold. He'll also wear gloves and steel-toe safety boots. When he gets home after an exploration, he'll wash his clothes to clean out any mold spores, termites, fleas, and ticks.

"It's almost an archaeological site sometimes," said Dave, who asked Insider not to use his last name. "It's an interesting hobby and an interesting way to express creativity and the abandoned buildings are more interesting than photographing people or photographing experiences. You get a bit of adrenaline rush when doing it."