I have always heard of haunted houses, but I had never actually been in one. I saw them afar off the highway, past the haunted swing in the middle of nowhere. It was a place that time had forgotten, haunted by memories of the past and I knew I had to investigate more.
I parked and walked down the long dirt road towards them. What I came up on was more than I ever could have imagined, a place lost in time. I saw a village, abandoned and dilapidated. A place where, many years ago, people had lived, struggled and eventually left. What I had really found was a time capsule, a museum of the past, where people visit and see how our ancestors lived as it slowly rots away into the Earth.
Although we may never know why they left, they still remain there in spirit. The feeling is eerie and not quite right. As I walked through the structures, I found their possessions. I saw where and how they lived. I imagined what it would have looked like in its heyday, the nice painted house with the white picket fence surrounding it, the springs of the once cushy bed and the closet full of clothes and blankets that would keep one warm through the cold Idaho winters. I saw the old chimney and imagined seeing the family through the window on a cold winter’s night talking together by the stove.
The village I found was a place full of memories of the past. And I knew I had to go back – at night!
Tom, Stacie and I had to get out of the apartment. After telling them what I found, we all agreed to go back to investigate the spirits and memories that were still at the village. We parked at the haunted swing and walked the long muddy road to it. As we got closer, it started to appear from the darkness of the night. We shined our lights through the window openings and found remnants of the past, objects forgotten, now found. I, being their tour guide, gave them the “grand tour” to and through the structures. We heard noises of creaking floorboards, animals and noises of the structures settling into the ground. I saw shadows in the corner of my eye, but I think that was just my imagination.
I was hoping to find ghosts, but never did. The place may be haunted, but one thing I know for sure, there are memories there, a spirit that people once lived there. And that feeling that is there will always stay there.
An Eerie Place
People lived here. I imagine a picket fence.
Here I am!
Through the shadows the house is visible.
What I think are ghosts...
