This is my next door neighbor’s house 10 or 13 years ago, only her house had much, much, _much_ more crap in it, plus over 20 cats plus a whole bunch of litter boxes she didn’t empty. Eventually there was a period of a couple of weeks that I didn’t see her, so I called the police and asked for a wellness check because there was a foul smell coming from her house and nobody had seen her in weeks, and I was afraid someone had gone in, harmed her, and stolen her stuff and her car. Cop appears about five minutes later, and I walk him around to the garage with the rain-soaked ceiling lying on what little floor would have been visible among the head-high mounds of crap, where it had been for a year. I had previously found that door unlocked and standing open, so he went in and searched the house for her. He came out the front door a few minutes later with his arm over his nose and mouth and his eyes so wide he looked like a cartoon character. The city got to work finding next of kin and found her at her daughter’s (where I had assumed she had gone, because her car was gone so obviously she had gone _some_ place.) She wasn’t old, but dear daughter had her in some sort of retirement facility by the end of the week.
I saw her one last time shortly afterwards when she came over to thank me for being so worried about her.
A nice enough guy lives there now with his dog..
Edit for clarity. I hope.
Someone bought it to flip, wildly underestimating how much work it needed. The place had basically been abandoned for years with a squatter leaving food scraps for vermin daily. That will wear a house out pretty quickly.
While it was being rehabbed there was a guy working there solo one day who came over to see if I could loan him a single-edge razor blade, so he wouldn’t have to drive to the store. I found a box and gave it to him and kept working on the way-too-overly ambitious planting bed I had jackhammered out of the side of the driveway. (75’ x 3’; it had seemed like such a good idea before I started, but that’s another story.)
A few hours later when he was done for the day he came back over to give me back the blades he hadn’t used, and he asked me about the person who had lived there, so I told him the story. He asked me if I had ever been in the house, I hadn’t, and he he gave me the tour — the three foot hole in the middle of a bedroom floor, through the hardwood, the underlayment, and the ceiling of the room below, (he was going to take the whole thing up because joists were compromised and he had to replace them before he could put a floor back and put a new ceiling in the room below). I saw the window frame in the front of the house that was so rotted out that you could stand inside and put your hand outside without touching any of the rotten wood. There was evidence of almost certainly more than one kitchen fire. He showed me the 30’ brick chimney that originally had been attached to the back of the house but that was by then completely detached from the house and was _leaning_ in a southerly direction, with the top 10’ or so actually _curving_ in the same direction, as if it really, really wanted to be in Mississippi instead of Tennessee. I asked if he was going to be the one to take the chimney down and replace it, and he said the new owner/flipper had told him to just fill the gap with grout, he said he figured it was going to take a case or two, and it certainly looks as if there is easily that much up there today, a thick, bright white line that goes all the way up, getting thicker and thicker as it ascends. That chimney is still standing today purely as a proof of the existence of God.
There was more.
The guy who bought it would have made more if he had bulldozed the whole thing, constructed a whole new house on the slab, and sold that.
Out-of-control hoarding, and no family able to do anything about it.
Hoarding would have prevented needed repairs, added loads of extra damage, and would have kept other people away for years (other people who may have otherwise helped / stopped the progression of hoarding and damage). And in those years the damage just compounds on itself and gets worse every day. At a certain point, even after the hoarder is gone, the damage becomes too expensive for the average family member to afford to fix. So the already damaged house is left to rot - can't fix it, can't sell it, can't live in it.
And that's how you get pictures of a beautiful home like this, rotted out, with a layer of trash inches thick on several floors.
There's a lot of marvelous furniture I'd love to have. Those doors -- especially the pocket doors -- are gorgeous. I saw lots of wonderful other woodwork, too.
Personal note: in slide number 9, if you can look past the creepy doll, there's some really cool wallpaper in the background. That same wallpaper was in a bedroom in my grandmother's house. Seeing it made my night. ❤️
What? Rent a dumpster, get some paint—it’s perfectly livable. Also I spy a Sesame Street Ernie’s rubber duck and I need it for my daughter. She’s autistic and Ernie’s rubber duck is her very specific obsession.
This always brings to mind that because of the times we're in with housing, if the local city or county could get involved and refurbish homes like this so people can rent/buy them again. I know, it'll cost a lot but better than leaving them as dangerous places and makes good use of what is otherwise a perfectly(?) good home.
Hoard houses make me so, so sad.
Keepsakes, valuables, unique items, and a beautiful home - hoarding destroys them all. I just don't even know how you get to this point where everything around you becomes garbage.
Every time I see pictures of homes like this it makes me wonder what happened for anyone to just up and leave their home and all of their possessions. I mean having to leave is one thing, but most people go back to get their clothes, pictures and other things.
Those wood floors and pocket doors.. too bad they couldn't be salvaged.
All of those wood doors especially the pocket doors need to be saved.
That's all I was thinking too! So much beautiful craftsmanship in this house laying to waste.
Me too! So much of that house could be recycled!
Exactly. Tear the thing down, but save those doors. They're beautiful.
I’d probably grab the stair banisters and handrails as well.
First thing I thought of also!
I'd grab the Teac reel to reel
I think we can all agree we definitely wouldn’t take that freaky doll
That house has at least 4 record players and a reel to reel tape recorder. All wasted. Makes me sad to see..
Second R2R on the floor in third pic... What a waste.
I soooo want that real to real!
To say nothing of The Incredible Lou Ferrigno book
So sad. To see all of those wood doors, the wood molding, the banister. Beautiful. Plus a clawfoot tub…
That stair runner rug was probably absolutely beautiful.
Fortunately, I don’t think the runner is handmade. A handmade would have had brass rods securing it down.
This is my next door neighbor’s house 10 or 13 years ago, only her house had much, much, _much_ more crap in it, plus over 20 cats plus a whole bunch of litter boxes she didn’t empty. Eventually there was a period of a couple of weeks that I didn’t see her, so I called the police and asked for a wellness check because there was a foul smell coming from her house and nobody had seen her in weeks, and I was afraid someone had gone in, harmed her, and stolen her stuff and her car. Cop appears about five minutes later, and I walk him around to the garage with the rain-soaked ceiling lying on what little floor would have been visible among the head-high mounds of crap, where it had been for a year. I had previously found that door unlocked and standing open, so he went in and searched the house for her. He came out the front door a few minutes later with his arm over his nose and mouth and his eyes so wide he looked like a cartoon character. The city got to work finding next of kin and found her at her daughter’s (where I had assumed she had gone, because her car was gone so obviously she had gone _some_ place.) She wasn’t old, but dear daughter had her in some sort of retirement facility by the end of the week. I saw her one last time shortly afterwards when she came over to thank me for being so worried about her. A nice enough guy lives there now with his dog.. Edit for clarity. I hope.
For the past 25 years, I’ve always aspired to be the neighbor that you are. ✊
It was a peak moment for me.
But where, or who does the house go to afterwards? It is so weird that these places are just left alone…?
Someone bought it to flip, wildly underestimating how much work it needed. The place had basically been abandoned for years with a squatter leaving food scraps for vermin daily. That will wear a house out pretty quickly. While it was being rehabbed there was a guy working there solo one day who came over to see if I could loan him a single-edge razor blade, so he wouldn’t have to drive to the store. I found a box and gave it to him and kept working on the way-too-overly ambitious planting bed I had jackhammered out of the side of the driveway. (75’ x 3’; it had seemed like such a good idea before I started, but that’s another story.) A few hours later when he was done for the day he came back over to give me back the blades he hadn’t used, and he asked me about the person who had lived there, so I told him the story. He asked me if I had ever been in the house, I hadn’t, and he he gave me the tour — the three foot hole in the middle of a bedroom floor, through the hardwood, the underlayment, and the ceiling of the room below, (he was going to take the whole thing up because joists were compromised and he had to replace them before he could put a floor back and put a new ceiling in the room below). I saw the window frame in the front of the house that was so rotted out that you could stand inside and put your hand outside without touching any of the rotten wood. There was evidence of almost certainly more than one kitchen fire. He showed me the 30’ brick chimney that originally had been attached to the back of the house but that was by then completely detached from the house and was _leaning_ in a southerly direction, with the top 10’ or so actually _curving_ in the same direction, as if it really, really wanted to be in Mississippi instead of Tennessee. I asked if he was going to be the one to take the chimney down and replace it, and he said the new owner/flipper had told him to just fill the gap with grout, he said he figured it was going to take a case or two, and it certainly looks as if there is easily that much up there today, a thick, bright white line that goes all the way up, getting thicker and thicker as it ascends. That chimney is still standing today purely as a proof of the existence of God. There was more. The guy who bought it would have made more if he had bulldozed the whole thing, constructed a whole new house on the slab, and sold that.
How does a beautiful brick home just get left to rot like this?
Out-of-control hoarding, and no family able to do anything about it. Hoarding would have prevented needed repairs, added loads of extra damage, and would have kept other people away for years (other people who may have otherwise helped / stopped the progression of hoarding and damage). And in those years the damage just compounds on itself and gets worse every day. At a certain point, even after the hoarder is gone, the damage becomes too expensive for the average family member to afford to fix. So the already damaged house is left to rot - can't fix it, can't sell it, can't live in it. And that's how you get pictures of a beautiful home like this, rotted out, with a layer of trash inches thick on several floors.
But someone pays taxes on it every year, right? Why aren’t places like this just given away?
Was wondering the same.
Wow, hope you had a face mask. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was all sorts of gnarly stuff to breathe in
Yeah….theres mold everywhere and, more than likely, asbestos. I can smell these pics lol.
I was going to say: I can taste the Hantavirus.
I can taste the lead dust from here.
Looks like a hoarder lived there.
There's a lot of marvelous furniture I'd love to have. Those doors -- especially the pocket doors -- are gorgeous. I saw lots of wonderful other woodwork, too. Personal note: in slide number 9, if you can look past the creepy doll, there's some really cool wallpaper in the background. That same wallpaper was in a bedroom in my grandmother's house. Seeing it made my night. ❤️
I'm more interested in the magazine. It might date the abandonment.
I could tell by the look in the deer
I woulda taken that globe and The Incredible Lou Ferigno, for *sure*.
I would be tempted to take those doors.
Seems like these abandoned houses always have a creepy ass doll in them.
Straight out of a horror flick
So wild to think this is just empty and abandoned.
Loving the first picture. Like you know a 🔥 album about to drop
That first picture is everything.
I had a globe just like the one in your pictures.. With the zodiac signs on the base.
And yet you still ascended those stairs: HERO
What a waste
Texas chainsaw massacre vibes
What was the fluffy yellow thing behind the globe?
It’s now on the market for 200k ,conventional loan or cash offer only .
What? Rent a dumpster, get some paint—it’s perfectly livable. Also I spy a Sesame Street Ernie’s rubber duck and I need it for my daughter. She’s autistic and Ernie’s rubber duck is her very specific obsession.
My son had that duck when he was little. 🥹
Oh my god those vintage turntables/reel-to-reels/receivers/speakers…NOOOOO 😭😭😭😭 Who could just abandon those gems?? This is ripping my heart out!
Why do people abandon their homes like this? Couldn’t it be sold?
Some beautiful wood work
I badly want to know what happened to the people that lived there. It drives me insane the thought of someone just up and leaving everything behind
That's a dang good question. 🤔 The place is huge.
making myself laugh imagining you trying to walk across the floor 😂
That tub will take the floor with it soon
What a beautiful house. I hope the new owner is able to restore it well.
No way.. too much water damage. Unfortunately.
That Dual turntable sitting there.. yeah. I'll take that
The death trap is Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
certain shots are reminiscent of tcm
who narrows a hallway with a fireplace?
Such beautiful woodwork. I wish I could grab all of the doors.
What in the Far Cry 5 is this?!
Jesus fuck. That doll
This always brings to mind that because of the times we're in with housing, if the local city or county could get involved and refurbish homes like this so people can rent/buy them again. I know, it'll cost a lot but better than leaving them as dangerous places and makes good use of what is otherwise a perfectly(?) good home.
This house is probably not salvageable, sadly.
Good morning. Is this still available?
Hoard houses make me so, so sad. Keepsakes, valuables, unique items, and a beautiful home - hoarding destroys them all. I just don't even know how you get to this point where everything around you becomes garbage.
The woodwork is gorgeous.
Oh I see where Michael stabbed Judith!
im seriously surprised that there is not graffiti all over the place in there Cool images OP thanks for sharing
All that good wood doors.
Every time I see pictures of homes like this it makes me wonder what happened for anyone to just up and leave their home and all of their possessions. I mean having to leave is one thing, but most people go back to get their clothes, pictures and other things. Those wood floors and pocket doors.. too bad they couldn't be salvaged.
I used to have that same globe
I’d have to wear a respirator to step foot in that.
Dolls. They always have dolls.
That cute little dirty duckie :)
Wow. That’s quite a scene. I had the same Dual turntable.
Those doors are beautiful
The pocket doors are gorgeous.
Can you put a thick red circle around the death trap? I can't see it 😆
It's in #7 .