The Blairstown Cottage • Over the river and through the woods.

On July 8, 2014, I was doing a little exploring in Blairstown, NJ and found a small cottage in the woods. It was truly in the middle of nowhere, with no signs of life and a barely passable driveway. I actually drove by the entrance and almost missed it. Something told me to turn around and see if there was anything interesting back there. There was. You couldn't even see the house from the main road but it was definitely worth the short trek into the woods. 

The house itself was small and at first I wasn't really sure if it was occupied or not. Logic told me it had to be abandoned, based on the surroundings.  I cautiously drove up to the house and parked my car near the garage. There were no other cars around which reassured me that the place was probably vacant. A peek inside confirmed it. The poor house was trashed, but still filled with personal belongings. Not only was there still furniture inside but there were also photographs, books, knick knacks and paperwork. Tons of paperwork.

Even though there was a sadness to this place, I was excited to go from room to room and see what I could find. I explored the entire first and second floor with my camera in one hand and my flashlight in the other. I was even in the crawl space over the dining room. God, it was dark up there. I would have gone in the basement but when I opened the door I was confronted with several cave crickets that were waiting to pounce on my head. The sight and sound of them scurrying around was too much. No thanks!!

I also found a real gem: a very large, dusty, old journal. It was like something out of a Harry Potter movie. The contents of the book seemed to be related to paint or color formulas. I didn't really understand it, but it was an awesome, old book. I took it home with me with the intention of going back at another time to get more stuff. I knew it wouldn't be long before this house and its contents would be gone forever ... or trashed beyond saving.

So, what happened to the owners of this place, I wondered? Why was their stuff left behind? Dolls on the floor in one bedroom, paint supplies in another. Upstairs, in what would have been the master bedroom, I found a filing cabinet full of paperwork and a framed diploma on the floor.

My second visit was the following month, on August 30th. It was a Saturday morning and I arrived very early — 7:30AM. I was alone, but I'm used to being alone. Once again, I navigated the overgrown driveway, about a quarter of a mile into the woods, to arrive at the little abandoned cottage. I parked parallel to the garage, again — facing the way out.

The surrounding forest was so quiet, so still. Every now and then I could hear the faint sound of a leaf tumbling off a tree, softly hitting the ground. There were no bird sounds, no nearby traffic sounds — nothing.  It was so early and so quiet that it made me uncomfortable. The world had not woken up yet. I paced around outside the house, trying to get in some sort of comfort zone. My pacing made noise.

I spent a few minutes trying to get comfortable by taking a selfie near the garage. I used the window sill of my car as a tripod. The garage doors and roof were in bad shape. The garage itself was full of car tires, suitcases, garbage, furniture and an old boat. Next to the garage was a small storage trailer. Its contents were spilling out on to the ground. 

Just behind the garage was a discarded stuffed animal. I wondered who's it was.

Were the owners of the house in the middle of packing up when they decided to just abandoned the place? I had forgotten about the name on the diploma, so I still didn't have any information on the place. 

After a few minutes I made my way over to the cottage and took some exterior shots. The view from my vantage point was the side and back of the house. The real front of the house faced the woods. I doubted the original owners ever used their front door.

I walked closer to the house. The windows looked so dark from the outside. If anyone was in there looking out, I never would have seen them. I looked up at the tiny attic window above the dining room and thought, "how did I ever have the balls to go in there?" For the first time on one of my explorations, I really felt alone and isolated. What am I doing here alone? What if? What if? I was starting to freak myself out. I was oddly uncomfortable. I noticed the back door was closed and remembered that I had purposely left it open when I was there a few weeks earlier. Obviously, I am not the only one that knows about this place, yet I still wondered who closed the back door.

As I walked past the dining room windows I could see clear through the small living room and into one of the back bedrooms. Everything was in silhouette but I could see that the Asian dolls that had been scattered on the bedroom floor on my last visit — were now neatly placed on the window sill. 

How creepy ... and cool!

And creepy. 

I would have to get a picture when I get inside!

After a few more exterior shots I got up the nerve to go in the back door. There was a chalkboard on the wall in the utility room that "visitors" had written on. The earliest date was 3/1/12, which made me wonder if the house had been abandoned for only 2 years.

I didn't waste any time, and went over to a drawer full of yearbooks and loose family photos. I started to shuffle through them. Because the house is surrounded by woods, the room I was in seemed extremely dark. The curtains were all closed, so that didn't help. I used my flashlight to get a better look at the photos that I was rummaging through. I also snapped a few pics from where I was standing, and used a flash. That is when I heard a rumbling sound coming from above. It's a sound I've heard before ... and assumed it was a bird or squirrel in the attic ... or something on the roof. After all, there was no second floor in that section of the house. I also thought I heard a noise just outside the window. Probably a deer walking by.

I decided to ignore all of the audible distractions. I mean, the condition of that house did not indicate that anyone in their right mind would be living there. I gathered up a handful of photos and headed out to my car. I knew I would be making several trips. I put them in the trunk and then went back to the house to get more stuff. This time I went around to the front door, which was open— just like last time. Getting to the front door was the hard part, due to an uprooted tree and the thickness of the woods. With a little effort, I made it. I stood there, in the front door of the house and took several shots of the living room. Behind the front door was an old piano. I leaned on the door frame to keep my camera steady and aimed my camera towards the stairs. It was not the brightest room and my camera was having trouble focusing. I got frustrated and set it to manual and took another shot.

Then a noise broke the silence: Thhhhhhhhhump! 

It came from upstairs. 

I completely froze. 

My brain was quickly trying to figure out what was happening. What the hell was that loud noise? It was not a noise I had ever heard before. It was like a sound from a movie — a sound they added later ... to scare the crap out of you.

Then it happened again: Thhhhhhhhump! 

I kept my eyes focused on the living room stairs, expecting to see someone or something coming down. 

Again: Thhhhhhhhhhump! 

It was getting louder. It sounded like someone with a wooden leg, but with a metallic noise mixed in. It was as if they were dragging their leg and then stomping but they weren't doing it to scare me ... they were doing it because they had to.

What the fuck is that?

After the forth Thhhhhhhhhhhhhhump! I turned around, walked out — and casually headed to my car. I think I was in shock. It was the longest walk I've ever taken and it was only about 30 feet. The hardest part was passing the living room windows, then the dining room windows — wondering if someone was now at the bottom of the stairs watching me. I was asking myself why I waited for the forth Thhhhhhhhump!  Why didn't I leave sooner? 

Why wasn't I fucking running? 

Am I about to get shot in the back? 

It was absolutely terrifying.

As soon as I was close enough, I used my remote to unlock the car. I got in, started it up and drove through the woods to the main road. The entire time I was looking in my rearview mirror to see if anyone was chasing me. No one was. The forest was so thick that when I looked to the left, I could not even see the cottage.

I don't know what I heard that morning, but it was very loud and was definitely coming from inside the house ... upstairs. It was not a vulture or a raccoon or a squirrel. The sound had a heaviness to it, like a person. I heard no animal sounds — no grunting, no breathing, no flapping. And there was no sense of urgency. Whatever it was, it did not seem to be intentionally coming after me or even know that I was there. Was it a squatter that woke up? Maybe, when I put those items in my car, I woke them up when I closed the trunk? 

God, it wasn't even 8:15 in the morning and I had already had the living shit scared out of me.

Later, when I looked at my pictures, I noticed a pristine toothbrush and a disposable razor in one of the medicine cabinets. In another shot, was a seemingly brand new roll of toilet paper. It's quite possible that someone was using this place to crash and I had almost come face to face with them.

As far as the name on the diploma that I found — I had to do a little research. The owners of the property were John and Alma M. John died in 1978 at age 72 and Alma died in 1984 at age 81. Jack and Jed were their sons. Jack died in 1993 at the age of 61 and Jed died at age 76 in August of 2014. In other words, Jed had just passed away. According to Google, Jed and his wife Rosemary lived in West Caldwell, NJ. Jack may have lived at the family farm, in Blairstown. 

So, how long was the house abandoned? Was it two years as suggested by the chalkboard writing or was it really more like 21 years ... since Jack passed away? The mystery continues. And according to Jed's obituary, Jed was affililiated with a multi generation family Printing Ink business. 

That explains the book I found. Hopefully there aren't any ghosts out there that are angry that I took it.  

But wait, there's more. 

After I told everyone I've ever met about this experience, a woman I used to work with sent me the following note:

My crazy (not kidding) brother is hiding in abandoned houses in the woods there, I suspect. I also suspect he has a gun. I'm serious ... He doesn't care if there's a bed to sleep in, and if the house is well hidden that would be perfect, in his mind. I moved to get away from him. He lived for years in the very cold Black Forest in Germany in the attic of an abandoned house. No bed, no electric, no running water. He showered in the rain. He was arrested when a hiker discovered his pot farm in the woods and he spent 2 years in prison there. When the police came for him he stood on the door to the attic so they couldn't open it.

To be continued ...

Google Earth view • Garage visible in the center of this photo

The Waretown House

When I came out of this house there was a man walking by. He asked me what I was doing. I told him I wanted to document this house cause eventually it would crumble or get torn down. He got very sad and told me he hadn't been inside for at least 40 years. 

He said the family had died off and the house became abandoned. I asked him if he knew that there was still some furniture and stuff in there. He shook his head and walked off saying, "I ain't going in there ... ".