Is Anybody Home?

Before I begin, I just want to offer a little disclaimer: this is a bit of a cheeky post in the sense that this was clearly a very mischievous and potentially dangerous activity, of that I'm very much aware. Our curiosity got the better of us this time, and with trespassing laws in Northern Ireland less concrete as in other parts of the UK, we weren't technically breaking any laws, but even so, it's risky business and I wouldn't try this at home.

Chris, Phil and I were en route somewhere else when we spotted this house, sitting snugly yet quite visibly, alone just off a country road. I'd seen it first, my attention having been drawn in by the two fireplaces protruding out of its exterior, and pointed it out to Chris, who, always up for an adventure, was eager to get a closer look. 

After driving around in an feverish loop trying to find a good place to turn back, we parked by the side of the road, at the top of an overgrown path that descended in a slope down to what was now clear to us as a very long-abandoned building.

At most I had expected just for us to have a quick snoop around the house's outside, which was interesting enough for me. As it had looked from a distance, half the house appeared to be missing, probably demolished. We examined each outside wall. The windows were sash and clearly very old. As expected, some of their panes had been broken, but most were still intact. 

As we made our way around the side and the back we were surprised to find that the house's front door was lying wide open, albeit completely obstructed by briers and weeds. The desire to have a look inside was just all too much for Chris as he and Phil began forming a pathway through. From the condition of the outside, which was quite a lot better than expected, I was beginning to think that perhaps it hadn't been abandoned for as long as we'd first believed. Maybe it had only been a few short years?

Once the boys had finally broken through I summoned up a bit of courage and followed them through the treacherous undergrowth and in through the door. It sounds incredibly cliché, but walking into the house we may as well just have passed into another world. 

Upon entering it became quite clear to us that the house had been left quite untouched, judging by the décor, for some thirty- or even forty-odd years. Carpets and curtains had frayed away to nothing, the walls and floor were beginning to seriously decay, and the green from outside was growing in and taking over what was once presumably the living room, through a large now non-existent window. Despite this, traces of another time certainly still remained: see retro wallpaper.

I didn't manage to capture everything we saw in the house, mostly because I was completely creeped out the entire time and didn't want to venture too far without either Chris or Phil close by my side; but among our finds was a huge television, from the 50s or 60s, the kind with the massive dials on the front. There was also a beautiful free-standing bath, which you can see, and the phone pictured. Weirdly, its line had been cut. 

I'd definitely be lying if I said this wasn't a bit of a chilling experience. I felt very much as though I was in someone else's home, in their personal space, even if that home was now just fragments of what it once was. I almost expected to turn a corner and find someone sitting quietly among the debris, but there was no one. I think that was the strangest part. Despite the open door and broken window, there was no sign of anyone having been there in decades. No litter, no graffiti, no blankets or dens made by squatters, just an empty house. 

I've spent the last couple of days trawling through Google trying to find out any information at all about this house, and bizarrely, so far I have found absolutely nothing. It may as well not even exist. However, our visit there has ignited a very violent curiosity in me, so I'm definitely not giving up just yet.