Gingerbread

Every year around Christmas time, my family becomes a group of architects, designers, and structural engineers, as we engage in the yearly tradition of creating "gingerbread" houses. I've never actually built anything out of gingerbread. We, like ninety percent of Americans, use graham crackers.

Steve and Ashlyn build their homes in the "Puritan American" style.



Shannon does as well, but Tyler opts for the "Eco-love Hexagonal" model. His gingerbread house is entirely carbon neutral.



Mom watched little Alexa (who couldn't be happier) while we made houses.



"Ooooh..."



Shannon asked Tyler to make a jealous/disgusted face while I was decorating my house. She kept asking him to "exaggerate more." :)



This is my finished house in which two red bears live. They like ice skating on their private pond when it freezes over.

-Barry

VERY CREEPY

What I am about to show you is creepy. Really creepy.

The moment in which I discovered what I am about to show you literally gave me goosebumps. The weird goosebumps, though. Not the ones you get on a thrill ride, but the ones you get when you experience something paranormal...

A few months ago, I posted about a little trip my friends and I made to an old abandoned house in Spanish Fork. You can read the post here. I suggest you open it up in another window or another tab or something so you can follow along with me as I explain what I've seen.

Now, before I get into the creepy stuff, let me tell you that I've never seen a ghost. I do, however, believe they exist. According to the Mormon faith, when we die our spirits go to the "spirit world" which, as we have been told, exists here, but on another plane of existence. (More insight into this can be found at www.lds.org)

I've always figured that a ghost (or spirit) is seen when either a) God makes special allowance, or b) the laws of the universe provide a moment, or glimpse, into that which is normally unseen.

So, with that in mind...

The other day, I was showing a friend the post with the scary house. As I was looking at the pictures, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before. Keep in mind, these are the original pictures from that post. I have not altered or tampered with them AT ALL! In fact, I encourage you to click on them in the original post as well to see what I'm showing you...

In the second picture (the one with Scott and Laura in front of the house) look for a moment at the first window that is boarded up...


Isn't that creepy!? Yes, it could just be a pattern in the plywood, but it totally looks like a man's figure to me. The next picture, however, is what really kicked it for me...


Look at the twin windows upstairs. Look at the left one carefully. Do you see a bearded man? Are those stains on the walls? Dust? Or a ghost?

The thing is, when we were there, I got a really weird vibe. More so than from other abandoned places I've been to. I wanna go back now, though, and take more pictures. Part of me is really intrigued by this, while another part of me is downright freaked out.

-Barry

Scary Place!

Last night we decided to go visit an old, abandoned house in Spanish Fork, Utah. I don't know the history of the house, nor do I remember what it is called, but my friend, Scott, calls it the "redrum" house - a reference to some graffiti on a back wall that pays homage to the movie, "The Shining."

Due to the horribly bitter cold, I didn't take many pictures. Also, we were out there only a few minutes when we heard a dog start barking like crazy from what seemed like inside the house. When the bark suddenly grew louder (as if the dog had run out of the back of the house) we ran for our lives. It sounded really big and really mean.

(Scott and Laura brave the cold for a picture with the house)

As you can see from the pictures, the house is quite beautiful. It's a shame it's abandoned. I think it could be stunning if renovated. You wonder why it's been abandoned. These places are rarely haunted, but you never know. I look forward to going back when it's warmer. :)

Click on this one for the larger version. You can tell that the poor house is in really bad condition by the way the interior is rotting away.

-Barry