# The Night of the Abandoned House



## Thx (Sep 7, 2013)

*The Night Of The Abandoned House.*

It was about 6 pm on a Friday night in February and my friends, Mike, Paul and I decided we would take a bus ride to Northbend. It is a drag going home to a dark, damp tent so early in the evening, a leisurely ride to the Bend would make a nice diversion.

We had the mini bus to ourselves and I could have ridden on that little bus all night.

When we arrived our thinking was to buy some small Cokes and sit somewhere warm for a couple hours until the bus was ready to take us back. Big jukebox Friday night eh?

The Micky-Ds was festooned with 30 somethings and their riotous children, we stood there for about one minute and decided to flee for our very sanity.

The three of us ended up at Safeway with fountain drinks. Paul asked me once more if I were certain I didn’t want to buy his large can of pepper spray (I declined) and Mike was telling us about a crazy old man in a Chinatown hotel who used to spray bug spray in the face of prostitutes who erroneously knocked on his door.

I layed a couple of my best stories on ‘em, including the time I was trapped in a dumpster with two cops a few feet away.

We killed a couple hours, then the bus took us back to High Point and I think I arrived at my camp around 9 o’clock.

My “camp” was an old abandoned house, must have been empty for 30 years, completely trashed. We used to call it the haunted house.

I decided to set up in the garage instead of the house, it was pretty spooky and the garage was more open and not as dank.

About 2 am I got up for my nightly smoke break, it was very cold, my breath hovered in front of the smiling full moon. “Our friend the moon” I remember thinking and gazed at the pleasant, benevolent face I imagined looking over us all.

Suddenly two cars pulled up to the front of the house, two sets of identical headlights, I had to think it was a couple cops having a pow-wow or wanting to check the place out, I was not worried, but hid in the shadows.

No, these were not cops, just 10 teenage boys with baseball bats and axe handles twas all.
They all lined up before the front door of the house. It really didn’t quite dawn on me what they were about until the leader said “use that wheelbarrow for the bodies”, “there’s a hole right there, we could put ‘em there.”

Okay, these nice clean-cut, “some mother’s little angels” were hunting the homeless and I don’t think they were going to ask if they wanted to join the baseball team…

Fortunately, they didn’t check the garage. I was panicky, yet my thinking was fast and clear. I think your brain goes on auto-pilot at such times. If they sent one of ‘em to look in the garage I was going to either kill or hurt him seriously so he would want to go to the hospital. Also, I wanted his bat.

Well, upon signal they burst into the house, yelling and beating the walls. The leader took them down into the basement and that was the time I decided to boogie.

I didn’t even take the time to put my boots on, I left in my stocking feet as quickly, but as quietly as possible.

They left their cars unattended and idling, I could have easily taken one and been long gone before they knew. I would have trashed the heck out of it later, but I left my wallet there in my haste and just wanted to take the sure thing and get away on foot, I didn’t know if they heard me and would be in pursuit or not.

I hid in the woods for the rest of the night, I was in shock for a couple days after, I had never been so terrified. I didn’t know if these little angels would merely beat me to death or tie me up and torture me for months.

For a long time after I wanted to get even, and to this day I think I would want to mess ‘em up pretty good, especially the leader. I planned all kinds of booby traps for them and kept my eye out in town for quite some time.

Two days later I went back and all my gear was intact, they never looked in the garage at all.
So this is why I say never squat somewhere too obvious, you are better off way out in a tent where people seldom go.

Your wits are your best friend, comfort and weapon in tough times and dire circumstances, use them first.

Thx
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____A note: And it seems my fears were well founded...

About six months after the above incident, a girl from the local high school lied and said a guy she was interested in, but who spurned her had raped her...

I guess she told the guys that I encountered that night because they took the kid to the abandoned house, tied him to a tree and beat him into a coma that lasted six weeks.

Be safe folks, this is why we strongly suggest camping in the woods and staying away from obvious places like abandoned houses and bridges and downtown doorways!

Thx


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## Dmac (Sep 7, 2013)

i agree, obvious places are not where i camp. the harder a place is to get to, the more i like it.


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## Thx (Sep 7, 2013)

That was a close call and easily my worst night homeless or otherwise.

Hiding in the woods I had time to ponder how I got in that situation in the first place, I should have known better being a veteran homeless, but you never think something like that is going to go down right at the time you are there and it just can't happen to you...

I decided that night that I would do my best to become more methodical in the things that I do and also THINK about what I'm doing, think it through and also try and maximize my circumstance, no matter what it may be.

Oh, and of course, I'd never visit abandoned houses or under bridges again, from then on I was a solid stealth camper.

(And in some ways became a bit more bold, I'd camp right in the middle of town, bivvy it in some unattended weeds, they are all over here in the Pacific Northwest.)

Thx


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## Tude (Sep 8, 2013)

WOW - scary!!!.. I like your writing btw.


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## Crimsonandclover (Mar 25, 2014)

I clicked on this story for the title and I was not disappointed.Wow I'm scared wondering how many psychopaths disguised as "normal" are out there in the world.


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## japanarchist (Mar 26, 2014)

That was a close call indeed, but luckily fate was on your side that night. Kudos to you for taking wise precautions, I try to do the same myself and sometimes times people give me shit for it thinking that I'm too paranoid ha.

You should hope for the best but plan for the worst, disaster usually strikes when you get complacent and don't expect it. It is best to sleep somewhere discrete or where most wouldn't think to look and to always plan for a quick escape route of a squat. 



Crimsonandclover said:


> I clicked on this story for the title and I was not disappointed.Wow I'm scared wondering how many psychopaths disguised as "normal" are out there in the world.



Yeah it really sucks to know that there are psychos around who do shit like this, it's also been estimated that at least 4% of americans are sociopaths. Unfortunately I've even known a few people who've did similar things.


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## Ridire (Mar 31, 2014)

Suburban kids are typically terrible people. They grow up privileged and don't understand the consequences of their actions, so they try to emulate 'ghetto' culture which they understand only through unrealistic rap music and bad drama shows. Cruelty and vice are virtues in suburban teen culture, sadly.


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