From the road, it looks like any old farmhouse that has been left to the weeds. Through the windows, I could see something different. The pictures I’d seen online and the glimpse inside told me this one was special, and I was right. Within seconds of stepping inside, I said it out loud: this place is like a museum.
The living room
Nothing here was staged. An old RCA TV is so heavy that the family used it as a table for the newer TV. A rocking chair sits nearby. Family photos and old artwork cover the walls. One framed photo is dated March 13th, 1936, and I’d bet it shows this very house. Near it hangs a plaque that reads “Honor thy father and thy mother.”
The first aid kit
This is where I lost track of time. The kit is full of old packaging: Q-tips, Johnson’s gauze, Ben-Gay, Tums, Contac C, Strepsils, Aspergum and a “gentle laxative for all the family.” The graphics and typography on those boxes are a time machine, and I had to stop and photograph every one.
The kitchen and bathroom
- The kitchen still has cans of baked beans and peas, stacks of mugs and dishes, an old radio, and a closet of bandages, tape and light bulbs.
- The sink is far bigger than anything made today.
- In the bathroom is my favourite thing to find in an abandoned house: a clawfoot tub with its curtain still hanging. In years of exploring, that has been very rare.
- Hanging on the kitchen wall is a calendar stuck on 2001.
Upstairs
Four bedrooms, each with its own character: tall headboards, old linens, peeling wallpaper, an ironing board, a pair of skis, and a spinning wheel that I’ll admit I couldn’t identify (readers, tell me what it is). One hallway door has been covered over from the other side, and a small window borrows light from the next room to brighten the hall.
The best room
I saved it for last. After the dim rooms, this one is flooded with light. A box piano stands among very old photographs. Block toys sit on the floor next to board games: Bingo, Balderdash, Super Quiz, Trivial Pursuit and a jigsaw puzzle. It was the heart of the house, and the room I’ll remember longest.
There is no flash and no ending here, only a home that stopped on a calendar page in 2001 and has stayed that way. I’ll leave the ghosts to my videos. All these portraits did seem to follow me out.
