The House, Part 2/x

https://moelane.com/tag/the-house/

As you may have guessed, I am difficult to please.  But I had high hopes from the start for the house that I will now write of.  In a world where a creaking board or cut-rate insulation could spawn an entire episode on the more lurid ‘unexplained mysteries’ shows, this house somehow managed to be consistently overlooked.  The actual crimes committed there were mundane enough; humans being humans to other humans, with all ending with a few murders and a suicide’s noose. The papers at the time covered it; and then they stopped.

This piqued my interest greatly, and when I investigated further the results excited me.  The house existed, for there were records of it in the city and county files. But there were no listings of current ownership, no tax assessments, no liens on the house or land.  I could find nothing that might suggest that someone had lived there since the crime — and yet, the house showed up on digital maps. It was an unlovely-looking place, even from above, with wooden fences and no grass in the yard; but the roof appeared sound enough and there was no obvious debris around. It did not look abandoned, in other words.

Of course, there was only so much one can learn from computers and pictures.  If I wanted to investigate, I would actually have to go there physically. And I was eager to go; indeed, compelled.  I do not know whether this compulsion was internal or external, and I truthfully do not think that it would have mattered, either way.