Ok fellas, we've talked about everything except haunted houses, and so I offer up my haunted house experiences.
First haunted house I've ever been to was built out of oyster shells back in the early 1900s, (though I found check receipts from the 1870's in the attic.) The house was located in a remote spot, but it's long gone now. Partying teens burned it down most likely. But it's burned down unfortunately.
I went there 3 or 4 times and took my frat bros with me when I found out about it. The first time we went there I saw a newspaper in the attic with the headlines "Battle of Britain." (1941) There was an old trunk in the attic and it may have been in there, I can't remember. It was looted by us (I shoulda kept the paper!) as were some check stubs.
This was a good sized house, three stories with a lookout tower and about 1200 square feet on the first floor. All constructed from oyster shells. It was built in the late 1800's or early 1900's.
The legend goes, an old sea captain built the house and it was believed he had stashed away money there. One night a robber came up and demanded the money, and when the old man refused, the robber struck him down with an ax on the front porch, killing him. The rocking chair was still on the porch and hadn't been moved from where the old captain sat when he was killed.
We talked about spending the night there, but the house was not far from an occupied house (on their property.) Local kids knew about it and stayed clear. We didn't stay overnight more because of trespassing than being scared of ghosts.
On one of my visits I brought home a decorative piece of furniture, a small fleur-de-lis design that would have gone on a hall tree. I remember seeing the hall tree on one of my previous visits, but it wasn't there that time. Only the piece was left. My house burned down not long after that, and I blame it on that piece of wood.
My friend and I negotiated a spider web covered stairwell full of hundreds of baby black spiders with orange dots on them. I figured them for mutated or newly hatched black widows because of the house. They didn't look like black widows and were small. This was the only way to the attic, but the house was well lit during the daytime. The attic was huge and a welcome sight, as the floor was solid..
There was no practical way up into the tower. The stairway was collapsed and the third floor walls were mostly down. But that house would definitely qualify as a haunted house even without ghosts. It was fun to explore.
Les
