He can sense some trends with these ill-fated stores and fast foot outlets. "They [the locations] seem like retail dead zones — even if there's a new shopping center built nearby, they don't seem [to last] that long," he said to Business Insider.
Some places, he said, seem abandoned overnight. "Some places have just walked away overnight and left everything inside," he said.
"There was a restaurant that did that in my town — they just walked away overnight. They just left everything on the table and still looks the same today."
Take a look at some of the fascinating photos Eckhart has taken.
This is an abandoned Friendly's in Elyria, Ohio, as of 2014. It shut down in December 2013.
This is a dead Charley's Philly Steaks in Massilon, Ohio.
Nicholas Eckhart/Flickr
This was a Beef Corral and an Arby's at the Euclid Square Mall in Euclid, Ohio.
Nicholas Eckhart/Flickr
This Ground Round in Elyria, Ohio, according to Eckhart's captions on Flickr, allegedly didn't pay its rent (owing a total of over $91,000) — and by August 2013, they were locked out of the building.