Halloween Story

 It's not directly horse related, but it is about the house on our little horsey micro farm. 

I bought the property 20 years ago, pre husband, pre welsh cobs, pre current career. Everything was completely overgrown and the house was a teardown. It had been foreclosed on and the price was extremely reasonable. I was in my early 20's, had a good job and a horse in a boarding situation that wasn't working. It felt like a reasonable thing to buy the place with mid term plans to sell once the market went back up or I moved away from the area. In the meantime I would have an investment and a 'free' place to keep my horse.

So, that all went fine. I hired an excavator, we cleaned up the property. I built fences and a cheap shelter. The horse moved in.

Cheap shelter still standing today, one day we'll get to those fancy barn plans :)

But what about the house? It was definitely creepy and falling down, but maybe it could be saved?

First step was cleaning it up. There was a lot of filth and water damage and literal bags of garbage rotting in there. It wasn't great. 

Then. THEN.

During the cleanup, I went down the stairs into the basement. As I stepped into the basement, the lights shut off. "Not funny!!!" I shouted up the stairs to my stepdad, who I was sure was pranking me, knowing how creepy I thought it was down there "Turn the lights back on!".

And so the lights turned on. I head the switch flip behind me. Wait, what? The switch is behind me? Cue getting scared, running back up the stairs, and finding the house empty. Stepdad was outside, nowhere near any light switches or power and no clue what I was talking about. The only switch powering the basement lights was that one at the base of the stairs.

So, OK. That was a weird thing. But I am a logical person.  I decided to stay and fix the house. I spent more than I paid for the place in basically rebuilding the house, including a new electrical panel, new service, the whole nine yards. Two way switch installed on the top of those basement stairs, as well, light that thing up bright before I get down there, it's just safety, nothing else to discuss ;) Weird coincidence, sketchy electrical, that's all it was.

A couple of years ago, in that same basement, as we discussed electrical changes to go with our kitchen renos,  I was reminded of that story and told G about it, like "ha ha silly me, either the electrical was bad or stepdad was really sneaky!" Exactly as I finished the story, the lightbulb above our heads went out. The timing was impeccable. The look on G's face was pure horror, surprisingly my reaction came out more angry like "HA HA HILARIOUS THIS IS REALLY NOT FUNNY!!!" And so, a pause, and the light came back on. Which almost made it worse.

Nothing like that has happened since. I know logically it had to be a coincidence and a faulty bulb. But, I still am weirded out enough that I will not ever mention this story inside the house ever again :D

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!