Exploring an Empty House

When Harry and I were in high school, our junior or senior year most likely, we were with a small group of friends riding around on the back roads between towns one day when we found an empty house set back a short distance from the road. We parked the car and headed in to investigate.

We walked up the long driveway. There were still a few yard ornaments hidden in the tall weeds of the yard. It was a big two story white house. We first explored every side of the house for secret entrances. We found nothing but the front and back doors.

When we tried to go inside, the doors were locked. We looked in the windows. What I remember seeing was just the shell of a house. There was no upstairs floor, just one large open area. There were windows up high that indicated there should be an upstairs, but there wasn't one. We saw many birds and/or bats flying around inside. That was the main reason we didn't try harder to get inside.

Since we couldn't get inside to cause any mischief, we ended up leaving to find somewhere else to explore. Today the house is still there. And since our exploration the house has been remodeled and currently has people living in it.

Kids in an Electronic Candy Store

It was around 1986 or 1987 when Harry and I first used a computer to go "online" and browse a virtual mall.

He had a Commodore 64 for a few years. I eventually had one of my own. We mostly played games on them. We also dabbled in programming. But when he bought a modem for it that connected the computer to the phone line, we knew the future of mankind had arrived.

With the modem came one free hour with a service called CompuServ. That was a golden hour and we didn't want to waste it. Eventually the big day came and we dialed up CompuServ. Our next stop after that was to crack into some government computer and see if we could take control of any intercontinental ballistic missiles.

And with our countdown timer started, we got connected. Everything was text based. We saw the main menu that had games, chat rooms, shopping, and more. So we chose to shop from home. Wow, I felt like we were living an episode of the Jetsons. Once in the mall there was another menu to select clothing, music, food, etc. We chose food. We went deeper and deeper until we were in a candy store. I believe we even selected some candy to buy, but we didn't get as far as purchasing. Then we logged off.

I was hoping there had been some kind of glitch and the candy would show up on Harry's doorstep anyway, but as far as I know it didn't. I don't think we ever used the full hour. And as far as I remember we only connected that one time. I know the country's defense system was never in danger.

It would be another ten years or so before I went back online when I finally subscribed to my own dial-up Internet. And now, more than another ten years later, I'm writing this.

Exposing the Spy Film

With a group of high school friends, Harry and I explored an abandoned church located out in the country between our town and a nearby town. But that story will be a different post.

One day after that exploration, Harry, his mom, his brother, and I were headed to that nearby town. So one of suggested we show the abandoned church to his mom. We took the back roads and finally got to the church. We got out and were walking around the grounds when another car pulled up. An older guy got out and started talking to us. He seemed friendly, but in an awkward way. Before he left he asked if he could take our picture. For some reason we all stood in a group and smiled, he took a couple pictures, then he got in his car and left.

Then we realized, "Why would he need our picture?" Something didn't seem right. So we got in our car and the chase was on. We soon caught up to him and tailed him at a distance so he wouldn't know we were behind him.

We followed him down many country roads that I had never been on, a meandering route that ended up in that nearby town we were going to anyway. We continued following him through town until he turned into the parking lot of the very store we had been going to. He parked and walked into the store.

So Harry's mom parked her car next to this crazy guy's car. He had left his driver side window open. I got out of our car, reached into his car, and grabbed his camera that was lying in the front seat. I opened the film door and exposed the film to the bright sunlight for a few seconds, then closed the camera, put it back on the seat, and got in our car.

We drove to the other side of the lot and parked, did our shopping, and never did see or hear from that man again. It remains a mystery to this day who he was and why he wanted our picture.

TAYE

It was shortly after the space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986 when I had an idea. Would it be possible to build a space shuttle out of paper and launch it with bottle rockets? So I began designing my own version of the space shuttle, but on a much smaller scale.

Harry and I were very much into model rockets, space, and astronomy. So experimenting with our own home-made rocket designs was right up our alley. I soon had a prototype built and we launched it with some bottle rockets. Well, we attempted to launch it. I don't exactly remember the results of that first launch, but I know they weren't good. I built more shuttles and we had more launches. The launches usually ended up in the shuttles burning, just falling over on the launch pad, or lifting a couple of inches and exploding.

Soon a few friends joined in on the designing and launches. So we considered it our own aerospace club and called it TAYE. By 1988-1989 TAYE was in full swing with no fewer than five full-time designers. I had tested more than a dozen designs myself and the others probably another dozen collectively. We branched out from shuttles to rockets.

Then in October of 1988, TAYE had a breakthrough when a rocket designed by one of our friends actually lifted off the launch pad and flew about 15' in the air! That cranked up the excitement because now we knew it was possible to get one off the ground.

Many of these launches were recorded to audio cassette. And some (including the historical Oct '88 launch) were videotaped. Some day I would like to organize all of the TAYE footage (audio and video) and get all the launches catalogued. We kept records of every launch.

After high school graduation in 1989, the club slowly disbanded. There was a resurgence in the early 90's using Estes model rockets, but TAYE was soon shut down to inactivity and now just remains a part of aeronautical history.

The Cave

Harry and I loved to explore while growing up. There was a place just outside of town, not too far from our grandma and grandpa's house, that had plenty of ground to explore. It was located just behind what we called the Corner Dump. In fact, it wasn't too far from where we had our titanic rafting excursion.

But on this particular day we crossed a wide ditch, then walked across a large field, went through some woods, and found a road. We followed the road a while and came to a bluff that overlooked a lake (probably a coal mining strip pit). We made our way down the embankment to the bottom near the shore. Where the water had lapped against the dirt wall there was an area carved out that resembled a shallow cave.

So we spent a lot of time there that day, thinking we had really been great explorers to have found a "cave". It started getting late so we returned home.

I managed to go back there years later and there was no sign of the cave. It had all washed away. Had we really discovered a cave or was it a materialization of our collective imagination?

A Scrape at the Rock Piles

One summer when Harry and I were around 13 or 14 (it was around the same time as our subterranean exploration) we were riding our bikes around the rock piles behind my house. There were some younger kids (probably around 9-12 years old) also playing at the rock piles. I remember they climbed to the top of one of the piles and started yelling at us, calling us names, trying to pick a fight.

So after a bit we climbed the pile they were on and stood next to them. We didn't fight, we just talked really mean. But that was enough to scare them pretty good. They ran off saying they were going to get their big brothers. Whatever.

A little while later we were still riding our bikes around the rock piles and the kids came back. This time they had their big brothers! They called out to us, so we stopped riding and were now sitting on our bikes. The group walked up to us and one of the older (a couple of years older than me and Harry) brothers asked if we were picking on their little brothers. We explained what happened, but they didn't like that answer. The threats started flying and the tension was buiding.

They started to surround me and Harry (still sitting on our bikes). I looked towards the road that ran beside the rock piles and beside my house and was doing some quick calculations in my mind. Just when I thought getting physical was inevitable, I hopped up onto my seat, peeled out, and pedaled as fast as I could to get to my house! I can only imagine Harry's thoughts as I left a small dust trail as I tore across the rocks, "Is he crazy? Is he gonna die? And did he just leave me here by myself?"

I glanced back behind me and saw several of the kids chasing me. A few seconds later I made it to the road. As I raced down the road toward my yard they cut across some grass and caught up to me. Just as my front tire reached my yard, one of the kids grabbed the back bar of my banana seat and pulled the bike to an immediate stop. I'm still not sure how I managed to do it, but even though the bike stopped instantly, I didn't. I somehow flung a leg up and cleared the bike, landed on my feet, and continued on foot.

I yelled back to them "This is my house! Get out of here!" But it wasn't until I was safely on the back porch looking out the back door at them that they slowly turned around and walked away. I stuck my head out the door to let them know "I just called the police!", which I hadn't but it showed I wasn't playing around.

I don't think I have ever asked Harry what happened to him after I darted off on my bike. But apparently he made it through ok. I'm sure he eventually rode up to the house to see if I had made it.

It was a close call, but we had both made it through another rough scrape.

House of Pain Update

Since posting the House of Pain story on August 4, Harry has emailed me additional details that I had originally forgotten. I remember most of his additions, but some of the details have already been erased from my memory and replaced with newer data.

So instead of a new story today, click here for the updated House of Pain story.

Enjoy.