While on a recent road trip with Zenning with Zay we spotted a house that we thought just may be abandoned. Unfortunately due to snow squalls the sunlight disappeared early & we are not fans of shooting houses in the dark. Not because we are scared but rather the picture quality often is poor. We saved the location for a future explore. We recently decided to revisit that area & see if any of our spots would pan out. The house was literally in the middle of nowhere & as we approached our hopes were high but our guard was up as it seemed to have had some recent activity. We pushed on & built up the nerve to look in a window. While looking in we could see a mess & Zay spotted a squirrel darting about which relieved us. The house looked like any old house however it was very difficult to determine if it was truly abandoned but the squirrel gave it away. What we didn't know at the times was this would be the saddest abandoned time capsule house we ever explored.
As I followed Zay through the front door we took a few steps to a hallway where Zay looked left & froze. Although I cannot recalling exactly what she said, Zay motioned to the floor in the hallway. I turned to see what she had spotted & despite knowing exactly what it was, my mind seemed to to be telling me otherwise. There before us was something I have never actually thought I would see & second to only one thing I would never actually want to find. What we saw was the very clear stain from a decomposing body.
We stood there in disbelief for several moments before heading into the basement to collect our thoughts. To some this may seem weird but to us we just needed to get away from it & figure out what we were dealing with. While in the basement we talked about it, expressed our feelings & Zay eventually broke down to which I held her close & said we could leave immediately if that is what she wanted. We talked further & decided despite the fact we had found something so sad, we needed to tell the story. The story isn't about finding what we found but the story of how elderly & alone people can often be forgotten & that we, us, everyone needs to do their part & check in on them. Time capsule house are always sad but nothing before had affected us the way this did making this truly Saddest abandoned time capsule.
We cleared our heads & decided to shoot the house. I suggested that Zay start in the basement, an area she rarely ever explores, alone, to help her decide whether or not she actually wanted to stay & I went upstairs. Starting at a far end of the house in the dining room far away from the body stain. It was difficult to focus as I kept thinking about the stain.
Moving on with the explore I went into the family room which was very dated. One thing I noticed was the film & staining for decades of cigarette smoking in the house. I noticed that a large area of the room was seemingly unused & a recliner close to the television was where she had spent most of her time.
The kitchen was a mess with items strewn about likely from the squirrels that are now inhabiting it. There was also signs of the old gal being unable to do a proper cleaning. Based on what little information I could find, I put here age to be in her 90's & not in good health judging by the numerous prescriptions found throughout. My thoughts are she was a strong & independent woman & despite there being programs out there, she refused most if not all assistance not wanting to admit she was old.
I finally built up the nerve to cross the body stain & explore the rest of the upper floor. The first room being her bedroom right by where she had passed. The room was full of clothing pilled on the bed & across the floor. There were many bright outfits, hats & even feather boa's which told the tale of a spunky lady in her day! A door in the back of the bedroom led to a huge closet jammed with clothing & then on to a library that too was jammed packed with books. It was quite overwhelming to say the least even without the reminder of where she had passed.
The rest of the upper floor included a spare bedroom that seemed to have been untouched for a long time until someone came in & started going through things. Beyond that was yet another bedroom which had a gun case, gun rack & several lock boxes, all of which were empty. The scary thing is, someone had kicked in the door of this house to rob it & stole all the firearms which included rifles & handguns & these are now on our streets. The last bedroom was actually her sewing room which had mountains of yarn from wall to wall. It seemed as though she had a hoarding problem as there was so much of everything throughout.
After finishing the upper floor, I made my way into the basement which was absolutely amazing! It was certainly a place to entertain & I bet there were some amazing parties held down there back in the day. It was difficult to get excited down there as I still had a sickening feeling about what was upstairs. I must say the bar was so cool but suspect that nobody had been down there is a very long time. With mobility an issues, climbing the stairs would be next to impossible.
As the explore was winding down I help but wonder what had happened here. Despite having the family name & hers I was able to find virtually nothing about them online which was quite odd. There wasn't even an obituary for her or her husband & based on what I saw, she had passed away only a few short years ago. My guess is that based on her age, most if not all friends had passed away & none of her family, if still alive, were in the area. As mentioned before, we decided to share this explore & our experience here as a simple but firm reminder that we all must do our part & check in on those who are alone as this is a fate I would hate for anyone to meet. This truly was the saddest abandoned time capsule. We all have our suspicions as to what could have happened, but this time it was more than clear.
Thank you so much for respectfully honouring this lady and illustrating a bit of how she was likely independent and full of life. I also wonder if she was a professional woman in her day. I have followed you for years and love your energy and unique capture of usual and unusual ( and sometimes downright odd places). This one touched me deeply as I am aging and the thought of dying alone does flicker through your mind from time to time. But I think this lady, based on things you found which speaks to her personality, lived her life exactly as she wanted knowing full well it maybe will end alone. I love you both for respectfully caring about how she died. I think she also preferred her demise the way it was as opposed to wasting away In a LTC home or in a hospital bed.
Thanks so much for the kind words. I truly believe she refused help as she clearly was so strong. It reminds me of my grandmother who outlived her husband by 20 years then her boyfriend by 8. She was very independent up until she was in her 90’s.
She lived her life the way she wanted to! ❤️
Reminds me my mom, very independent, she is in her 90s and she still insists of living alone, she sold her home and she has a one bedroom apartment, and she has her “favorite” things … It brought tears to my eyes watching this, I wanted to rum and see my mom.. She refuse to stay with any of my sister or brother…this is indeed very sad..i thank you for sharing…
I wonder if someone kicked in the door to get to her if she hadn’t answered calls? Did you check out funeral homes nearby?
The door that was kicked in was not the main door which tells me it was not someone checking on her well being.
Whom ever sadly found the lady would have made it secure when they all left.
Ambulance and pice would of attended before the lady was moved by the funeral directors.
Incase of suspicious circumstances.
Did she fall? …
Or I pray it wasn’t an intruder.
Thankyou for sharing such an exciting and interesting find.
This is your first post I have seen is this in the UK.
Gorgeous blog!
Thankyou for showing us her “treasures” in what appears to be in a sympathetic way. Her existence on this planet is now documented by you. No doubt someone will send a clean up team down to clear the place, but thanks to you we could see she loved her bright clothes, her teddies and trinkets.
I hate to add to the sadness, but something is odd about the stain she left behind that may give a clue as to her cause of death. It’s missing forearms. This could possibly mean her hands were on her chest when she passed. She may have choked or given that she smoked maybe asphyxiation. Or maybe she realized it was time, laid down, put her hands on her chest and slipped off.
Thank you for your tender and well documented exploration.
her walker was standing upright perfectly, if she fell its likely that the walker would have as well, this tells me that she deliberately set it up, and gently laid herself down. lets hope she is in a better place
She didn’t sit the cane up that way? when she was found on the floor it was more likely beside her and they moved it out of the way so that they could move her.
her forearms and hands may have also been up – regardless of how she fell – which is why we don’t see them in the stain. I’m more inclined to believe she fell on her stomach, so her arms were probably folded with her forearms and hands directly on the floor.
That would also explain why her arms are kind out out like this / \
They had a wonderful life. Thank you so much for sharing. My question is, Did they not have any family members close by, or kids? If so will family be going back to salvage things they want?
Bless her heart. I hope she went quickly and wasn’t laying on the floor waiting for help! I like to think she said have family that cared for her. Like someone going thru her clothes was them looking for something to bury her in. I’m hoping family members took the guns, but why wouldn’t they take the cases and their holders? So probably your right they were stolen. When we buried my grandmother we went through the house and got jewelry and all guns out.
We ended up pulling over a dozen guns outta of her house! We had no idea!
As crazy as it may seem, I would have wanted to stay and slowly put her house back in order. It seems so strange to just have to leave it in its disarray. I just hope you were able to secure it so nobody can get in and possibly steal or destroy her home. I fear this kind of ending for myself when my kids leave and I am old. Seeing that was incredibly frightening but I think you did the right thing.
I feel strongly the decision to show us this home was made with a great deal of thought, angst and discussion. You can tell that in the way Riddim presents the video and how respectfully mindful he was of not disrespecting her possessions. I think both Riddim and Zenningwith Zay are wonderful examples of how exploring isn’t just touring these places to look at things, but they are very mindful of the lives lived in those places.
Very well said Diehl; I totally agree.
Maybe the police broke into the gun cabinet to remove the firearms rather than search for the keys??
This is so sad that there was no one that checked in on her. I was wondering if the people who broke in for the guns had something to do with her demise. Thank you for carefully talking about this woman has she could be anyone of our mothers or grandmothers. I check on my dad on a daily basis as he is getting up in years. He has done so much for me in my life that it is now my turn to look after him.
That’s what I thought. What if her home was broken into when she was still alive and she was killed? So sad all around.
I wonder who has been paying the utility bills all of this time?! It’s as if whomever her people were or are, they just can not handle going to her house and sorting out her things. It is very sad. Did you have a listen to the messages? I didn’t see too many family photos. Very interesting! Thank you!
Usually in the case of the elderly they have a constant pension deposit into their bank account and the bills are on autopay. The utility bills would just keep being paid off until the bank account goes negative. With nobody there to use water/power the bills would be cheap so it could go on for years and years.
This is so sad and unfortunately all too common nowadays. We have become so wrapped up in our own lives that we don’t think about our elderly and disabled who live alone. Growing up, I had an elderly aunt and uncle that we would go over and see just a few times a year. I remember them being the type to never throw something usable away (they were married during the depression.) Their dining table was covered in prescription medicine bottles. I shudder thinking about it now, but back then that was just how they were. I was in my teens when they both passed away. I live in an elderly/disabled complex now and it is sad because we hardly know any of our neighbors. There have been cases of people dying alone in their apartments and no one noticing for days.
This was my first time watching an abandoned house video. The care and respect that was given to this dear soul touched my heart. Bless you all!
I smiled from ear to ear when I saw her sewing room with wall to wall yarn- it’s something only understood by someone who knits or crochets… we are addicted to yarn. Lol
The stories this lady could have shared!
As sad as this is, it is amazing just how often this type of thing happens!! I saw a documentary (I think it still is on You Tube) called A Certain Kind Of Death, in which several people that this happened to were documented (in very graphic detail). These people had NO FAMILY of any kind left and could only be documented after all attempts possible to locate family or friends are exhausted. THAT happens a lot too!!! I always enjoyed doing explores like yours when I was young. Always feared this kind of situation too. Thank God it never happened to me. Thanks for your interesting work!!
Very sad to watch this story. May God rest her soul in peace. Was there any picture of her to figure out if she was in good health.
Very sad if she has family and her house is just left. I truly believe when he entered the one room and said “ a strong scent of perfume” That was the woman letting him know she was there.
Was there a smell around the stain? I’m elderly and I hope I don’t die that way. What is weird is that the power is still on. Who is paying the bills? Whoever that is, I would think that they would want to come and lock the house back up and also sort through all the things. I imagine many of those items are valuable—- the spoon collection, the figurines, the liquor bottles, etc. It would be a terrible thing if some moron got in there and smashed everything, put graffiti or god forbid set a fire. Thank you for taking care to not show any name or address information.
There was no smell. Its quite likely that they never came to disconnect the power which happens often. The estate could also be tied up in court.
How sad… I have a few questions: exactly how old was she when she died? when was her house built (what year)? did you check the voicemail messages? did you check the fridge? and have you been back since?
Cheers.
I think you were amazingly respectful. Is there a ‘creed’ you follow, or something? Because, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from listening to those messages, looking through the collectibles, going through the clothing in the closets… Not to steal anything, but to tell the most complete story that could be told. I am curious how one finds such a place to begin with.
My heart goes out to the woman. I have visited many elderly people and it breaks my heart to see how lonely they are. But oh the stories they can tell! Some of the most amazing people to come to know are the elderly. I treasure those I met and I grieve for those like this woman who seems to have been forgotten. Thank you for being so respectful to her home.
About 10 years ago, I worked for a city doing demolitions, home inspections etc. I came to something very alike. It was wierd, like someone just left, and never came back. Shoes by the door photos on the wall, everything. Its just a wierd feeling knowing that the home owner is never coming back. I was able to do some research why there nobody was home, the power was still on, gas. Come to find out the homeowner a lady in her 80s went to a nursing home 10 years prior to that! Found out why the power was on. If the cost of electricity is than $50-$100 a month (depends on the state, and power company) The power company will not turn off the power due to it paying a whole crew to turn it off cut the gas. Also many states have laws to protect the elderly that its illegal to cut services to elderly customers. However the bad news is we had to knock down the house du to a big tree falling on it and destroying the roof. The sad part was nobody in her family wanted anything out of the house. Its something I always remember. Thanks for telling her story.
Ahh thank you for the added details! Hopefully this stops the questions I get almost daily!
If nobody claims anything you should have. #1 you get to find cool stuff for free, #2 you can sustain your paycheck selling things and keep it out of the landfill.
You don’t take anything from these homes. We’re there to explore not to take. Very weird
Its such a pitty about this house if it was anywhere near me id love to go in to it and help family deal with some of this ifnits to hard for them to clesr or if poss pass on items tbat may be of use to others .
Ms. Donna Miller, Am a minister I was drawn to this video trying to find my church sermons it was so moving her Spirit is still a Live what will become of her Home or is it to late to inquire.
She must have lived a good life! Where I live, we have mostly elderly residents in the area and it has kind of become my job making sure they are ok. But when ever I go over to visit, I always have a wonderful time with them!