Did any of you all have a "haunted house" in your neighborhood? No, not the ones that charge you a few bucks for some animated scares, I mean a big old house, abandoned property, or just a house that was not maintained and you never saw the occupant.
We had a couple of ones that were good enough to spawn the imaginations of us kids (and some adults too!).
The first one was the big farmhouse up in front the neighborhood. That was the original farmhouse that was built about the time of the Civil war. The homes in the neighborhood were built on the farmland. Well, it's a much bigger house than any of the other ones, and it looked so much older (especially with the others showing lots of mid-century modern architecture!) It just looked like the classic haunted house, just like something you think of while reading Edgar Allen Poe's works. The home was not too bad, but it could have used some repair work....the begraggled appearance made it all the creepier. An older couple lived in it at the time who were actually quite friendly...but this didn't stop us from conjuring up erie stories about soldiers that died in battle that still roamed the land, or about the generatons of farmers that still roamed the halls of the house. Our imaginations ran so wild that we wouldn't dare walk on the property after dark, for fear of it being guarded by ghosts and other supernatural beings!
The other house that was the basis for a lot of stories was a few doors down from me. According to my parents, the house got caught up in a messy divorce, and it sat abandoned while the legal issues were worked out...for 12 years! The grass and vegitation grew up so tall one couldn't even see the house from the street. Animals and other creatures lived in the brush. We would tell stories to each other about the house being "possessed" and that was the reason why it was abandoned. We would dare each other to walk up through the brush, only to be frightened back away when a rabbit or a 'coon would scurry away beneath our feet.
I've moved out into my own home, and my own neighborhood has a house that's probably the topic the kids' imaginations on Halloween. Both of the homes in my parent's neighborhood today have been fixed up quite nicely by their new owners, but another home up the street from them has fallen into a state of disrepair after it's owners passed away... and it's now probably the new "haunted house" .
It seems like every neighborhood, especially old ones, have that interesting, unique house that just doesn't fit in architecturally, or maybe it's a little run down, or just in some way is just different enough to spark the imaginations of kids! Do any of you all have any kids? Chances are, they can "tell" you all sorts of interesting stories about it!
We had a couple of ones that were good enough to spawn the imaginations of us kids (and some adults too!).
The first one was the big farmhouse up in front the neighborhood. That was the original farmhouse that was built about the time of the Civil war. The homes in the neighborhood were built on the farmland. Well, it's a much bigger house than any of the other ones, and it looked so much older (especially with the others showing lots of mid-century modern architecture!) It just looked like the classic haunted house, just like something you think of while reading Edgar Allen Poe's works. The home was not too bad, but it could have used some repair work....the begraggled appearance made it all the creepier. An older couple lived in it at the time who were actually quite friendly...but this didn't stop us from conjuring up erie stories about soldiers that died in battle that still roamed the land, or about the generatons of farmers that still roamed the halls of the house. Our imaginations ran so wild that we wouldn't dare walk on the property after dark, for fear of it being guarded by ghosts and other supernatural beings!
The other house that was the basis for a lot of stories was a few doors down from me. According to my parents, the house got caught up in a messy divorce, and it sat abandoned while the legal issues were worked out...for 12 years! The grass and vegitation grew up so tall one couldn't even see the house from the street. Animals and other creatures lived in the brush. We would tell stories to each other about the house being "possessed" and that was the reason why it was abandoned. We would dare each other to walk up through the brush, only to be frightened back away when a rabbit or a 'coon would scurry away beneath our feet.
I've moved out into my own home, and my own neighborhood has a house that's probably the topic the kids' imaginations on Halloween. Both of the homes in my parent's neighborhood today have been fixed up quite nicely by their new owners, but another home up the street from them has fallen into a state of disrepair after it's owners passed away... and it's now probably the new "haunted house" .
It seems like every neighborhood, especially old ones, have that interesting, unique house that just doesn't fit in architecturally, or maybe it's a little run down, or just in some way is just different enough to spark the imaginations of kids! Do any of you all have any kids? Chances are, they can "tell" you all sorts of interesting stories about it!
