Lets face it, if your here chances are you already know or have heard of ''Confluence'' aka The Belly Of The Beast, Niagara Tailraces or The Supervillian Hideout. As such i don't feel the need to go into the history, its already posted elsewhere and in greater detail then i ever could. If however history is your bag then the links at the bottom of the page will provide ample information to get you off.

Tonight was the night, Christmas Eve for Drainers with only a few hours remaining till i could open my present. I had traveled to Canada for the sole purpose of exploring the Niagara tailraces, everything else was just a bonus. Sat in a casino car park eating pizza and ''crazy bread'', we formulated our plan. For the most part Confluence is fairly straight forward, once your inside the building your good to go. However, getting into the building is another story.

The Ontario Power Company Power Station sits at the edge of town, in solitude, with a very long walk to the nearest inhabited area. As such, given it was fast approaching 1am, simple strolling up to the building was out of the question. Everytime we drove by police cruisers were there to greet us. Our hearts sank, potential opportunities constantly denied by Niagara's finest. Lets face it, any cop who sees three men dressed like ninjas and carrying several bags towards an abandoned building at 2am is going to raise an eyebrow, and his gun. Sure, some possibly might be persuaded otherwise, but there's only so far you can push the ''Lost Tourist'' excuse. We waited patiently, and waited, and waited some more before finally a slim window appeared. Leaping from the car we ran for the waters edge, keeping to the shadows as best possible, kissing the dirt at the first sight of headlights.

Nowadays the power station is bare, stripped of any and every sign of its previous purpose, glowing green water tanks and turbines now a thing of the past. One by one we descended into the unknown, any scraps of natural light by this point non existent. Years of being exposed to the elements have left the basement in a very bad shape. The walkways, stairways, machines, in fact anything made of metal had turned to rust.

We pushed on, staircases crumbling underfoot, the ensuing clangs and bangs from falling debris a constant reminder the structure was unsafe. The deeper we ventured, the worse it became. At the lowest accessible point the walkways had completely rusted away and now sat several limb impaling meters below, progression only possible by clinging to the suspended railings. But that was nothing compared to what was next, the last hurdle we had to overcome to complete our journey, ''the slot''.

Back in the day the slot would have been a simple affair. Workers requiring access to the tailrace floor would have simply climbed down a ladder. Presumably the same ladder which now lay in several twisted pieces below, leaving a 20m drop between us and our goal. Thankfully we came prepared.

The Slot is littered with anchors, battle scars from previous and pioneering adventures, each a story in itself. With no form of power tool to affix our own we had no choice but to pick and choose from existing ones. This wasn't a clever idea for two reasons. One, if the anchors fail your going to fall, its going to hurt. Two, if this happens your not getting out. This was the biggest concern. Now I've broken a few bones while attempting reckless things but i was always at the other end of a convenient 999 call (911 to you Americans). Here things were different, several stories underground climbing out would not be possible, and due to confluences ''situation'' at the time, we hadn't told anyone where we were.

So worst case scenario you have two options. One, hope for the 0.02% chance someone might find you, consuming the remains of your comrades for sustenance while you wait. Or two, take a manly leap into the falls and see where your body washes up. In other words, if the rope or anchors fail, your dead.

With this in mind we double, triple and quadruple anchored the rope, placing an emergency rope on the remaining anchors just in case. With our final checks complete, we were ready to go. Say what you will about the rest of the experience but for me descending the slot is the part i will never forget, watching the red brick slowly revealing the true nature of the beast is a truly unique experience.

As my feet touched the floor i only felt one thing, satisfaction. For five years Confluence had been the pinnacle of my desires, the one grail that until this point i believed unattainable. Now i stood inside it, the most legendary drain in the world. The size, the shape, the location, everything was perfect. With my jaw picked from the floor we regrouped and headed towards the wishbone junction.

For many this is the main event, the poster model if you were looking to advertise. The section where the two red brick giants converge into a monster, the confluence. We took what acceptable photos we could before starting our final leg of the journey, the outfall.

Slowly but surely the water level rose, the winds increased and so did the noise. We progressed closer and closer until we were mere meters away from the thundering falls. By this point the noise was incredible, conversations longer than one word impossible. We were directly behind Niagara Falls, in a drain. Honestly, i don't think i need to say anymore then that.

Further Reading

Sleepycity , Vanishing Point
Pridian , Quantum-X , N.P.O.S