Feral Houses and Ghost Homes

Wow. Sweet Juniper's series on feral houses really struck a chord with me. I never thought to call them that. I guess I thought of them more as ghost houses. I've been taking pictures of them in and around my old home town in rural Delaware for decades. Anything old, falling down, abandoned or ghostly catches my eye. If I don't have time to stop, I'll slow down will take a picture out the window, because once, I didn't stop, and the next time I went back east, it had burned down. At least I have that picture in my head. It was a spectacular ruin of a house, complete with hoarded piles of cars and appliances and a porch groaning with clutter and what not, sitting alone amid the cornfields.

Most of the ghost homes I see are family farms that have been sold, or lost, or disappeared, as I'm sure is happening across the country. These abandoned homes seem more natural somehow in their rural setting, and it is more unsettling to imagine them in a city like Detroit.

Anyway, here are a few of mine.



These two have turkey vultures or buzzards on the roof, which I find very unsettling. Many years back, an unique old man named Charlie Winder lived alone outside of town in a falling down old house. Charlie loved to tell jokes, laughed with his whole body, and always said Baaak Baaak Baaaak like a chicken when he saw you. He had no family and when he died neighbor saw the birds on his roof and found him there. I suppose they did him a favor, for who knows how long he might have waited to be laid to rest if they had not come.



This old house with the wrap around porch I find very haunting, as I almost expect to see the ghosts of the families who lived there in the windows or on the porch, looking out over the marshes.

I can't say exactly why I'm fascinated by them, except the fact that whoever lived there, and their stories are now gone. I find that both mysterious and sad. And perhaps it's the circle of life thing, the inevitable decay of the things man builds. For whatever reason, I take their pictures so I can remember what they look like and imagine what they once were.

Do yourself a favor and have a look at Sweet Juniper's photos if you haven't already. They are amazing, as is his entire blog.