Burning Down Brick Row

-

One of the things we wanted to do while staying at Pipestem, WV was to go urban exploring.  We wanted to find different places in our second Abandoned Places book from what we found in our first book.  We saw places along the highway and cruised around the town of Hinton.  Driving up one of the streets, we came across a row of townhouses which underwent a tragedy.  There were 10 apartments which were gutted and destroyed by a fire.  We were immediately drawn to the structure.  Sharon tried to get a reading on a burned down house in Moblile, AZ, but did not get anything from it.  She felt different about this place.

They called the 10 apartments Brick Row and was where 11 families once lived.  They were built in 1905 for railroad officials to live in with their families.  In February of 2013, a 25 year old man torched the place.  He was later caught and charged with two counts of first degree arson.  He apparently was busy lighting a fire on another structure earlier that day.  Whatever his reason (which there is no excuse for), 11 families were displaced and homeless.

As we walked closer to the building, we could still smell the chard remains.  I know that each individual place was probably decorated with each owners scene of style, but all we saw were their love and care burnt to a crisp.  Inside, you can see that each place was three stories.  Children's beds were barely hanging from the third floor while a baby stroller sits outside another door.  Although the situation was a sad and tragic one, we saw the beauty in what was still there.  This place was amazing to photograph.  My heart and prayers go out to all of the families who lost their homes due to this scentless act.

For more photos of this place, check out my Julie Ferguson Designs blog.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

26 Bar Ranch (John Wayne Ranch)

-
Image
Immersed in the Hereford’s history in Eagar, AZ, sits the 26 Bar Ranch.It was first known as the Milky Way Ranch in the 1940’s with its big white show barn which housed many Hereford cattle.The barn is now a local landmark.In 1964 the ranch became the 26 Bar Ranch or John Wayne’s Ranch, who was one of the owners.Wayne, along with Ken Reafsnyder and Louis Johnson, his business partners, kept the ranch until John Wayne’s death in 1979 from lung and stomach cancer.
Lately, I have heard rumors that Bigfoot has been seen near the ranch.I don’t know if that is true or not, but it would be worth checking out.



Read more

Cowboy Mummy Found in Desert

-
Image
There are many strange stories in the Arizona files. One that is told is about the mummy found in the desert near Gila Bend nicknamed “Sylvester”. Many believe that he once was a 19th century cowboy, a con that loved to play cards. Stories are told that he finally got caught cheating and was shot in the stomach. He made a hasty exit while bleeding profusely from his wound. He got as far as Arizona’s Gila Bend desert when he fell off his horse and died face down in the sweltering heat. Shortly afterwards, he was covered by the blowing sands, which appeared to have dried his body overnight. This apparently preserved his body resulting in the mummified form he was found in.

The more believable story was that he was found shortly after death and preserved in a high level of arsenic. Arsenic was used to stop the physical occurrences of a corpse rotting by killing bacteria and insects that invaded it. This custom of using arsenic was found to be poisonous by the 1900’s and never used again…
Read more

The Haunted Strip Mall

-
Image
This unassuming strip mall, on 19th Avenue & Northern in Phoenix, has an Albertsons, Starbucks, Einstein’s Bagels and other shops or offices, and would never thought to be haunted, but it is. Many years before the strip mall existed on this site, there used to be several eroded buildings standing there. These structures were murky and eerie and abandoned for many years. There was much speculation that the buildings were haunted and ghosts have been reported wandering around the grounds. Between the deteriorating walls of these dark dwellings, apparitions and other strange occurrences had been seen and heard by eyewitnesses. Young kids and teens would dare each other to investigate the buildings at night using only a flashlight for protection. They would find an open hole in the fence to gain access and slowly, as a group, would enter a building. They never lasted the night claiming to hear crying, and whimpering sounds coming from the long dark passage. Only a few brave souls wou…
Read more