The cabin stands alone, barely visible among the overgrown trees that protect its secrets. Its windows are smashed or missing; its front door is nowhere to be seen. What’s more, the rot and decay of its roof make it seem as if the cabin has been ripped from the scene of a horror movie. The sensible thing to do would be to let the house alone and carry on about your day. But, luckily for us, one curious man did not do the sensible thing.
Image: imgur/durnse
Indeed, not only did this man – known as “Durnse” on reddit – venture into a spooky old building on his own, but he also took pictures of his adventure inside and uploaded the results to imgur. This is his story.
Image: imgur/durnse
And for Durnse it was a story long in the making. In fact, these pictures are some six years old, taken when Durnse was just 15 years old.
Image: imgur/durnse
It all started because Durnse grew up spending part of his time at his family’s vacation home in Rolla, among the Ozarks of Missouri. He didn’t know about the creepy property across the river at first, so well hidden was it amid the area’s overgrown weeds.
Image: imgur/durnse
But he did eventually spot it and, naturally enough, decided to explore it. As he put it on reddit, this occurred one day in 2010 when he was “alone” during “the middle of winter.”
Image: imgur/durnse
The cabin itself is tucked away on a long road. On this particular day, Durnse followed the road for nearly a quarter of an hour and found no other signs of live. He did, however, suspect that there might’ve been another building elsewhere on the land.
Image: imgur/durnse
But if there was someone else living in these parts, it was clear from the look of this building that they didn’t look after the cabin. Indeed, dead trees and crumbling outbuildings surrounded it; it looked as if it had been abandoned years ago.
Image: imgur/durnse
Regardless, Durnse ventured closer, and he found plenty of things that ramped the creepiness factor up to the max. For instance, he discovered rusting old machinery lying on the ground and speculated that this was how a previous owner “had got water out of the river.”
Image: imgur/durnse
Elsewhere he got a better look at the cracked and broken windows of the house. A forlorn outbuilding, meanwhile, stood empty nearby, its roof caved in – exposing its skeletal beams to the sky.
Image: imgur/durnse
Durnse also discovered something he felt might be the first hint as to how long the cabin has been here. It was an ancient-looking wooden board marked with a vintage logo for Sunkist Oranges.
Image: imgur/durnse
Finally, it was time to see what the interior of the house had in store. Seeing no signs forbidding entry, Durnse decided to risk what he called “trespassing in the second degree,” and he tried the door.
Image: imgur/durnse
Fortunately, the door was unlocked. So Durnse wandered inside and found, strangely enough for an abandoned property, that some of the house’s fixtures and fittings were still in place.
Image: imgur/durnse
In one corner, for example, the heavy metal stove that would once have heated the building stood empty and cold. It’s not known when it was last used, though Durnse estimated that the building was “at least 50 years” old.
Image: imgur/durnse
On the kitchen shelves, meanwhile, cracked cups and saucers were covered in thick layers of dust. In fact, whatever was once on a long-forgotten plate had now congealed into a black, crusty mess.
Image: imgur/durnse
Strangely, a vintage bottle of gum turpentine was also seen on a random table. This solvent may have in the past been used for a number of tasks, from stripping paint to lighting lamps.
Image: imgur/durnse
Whatever the bottle’s owners were using the turpentine for then, though, they apparently abandoned it in a rush. Certainly, the bottle was still open, and it was stood next to a cup and a peppershaker in a mysterious tableau.
Image: imgur/durnse
In fact, the whole setup gave Durnse an unnerving feeling. He said it looks as though “someone just got up and left” or “like someone went out after breakfast and just never returned.”
Image: imgur/durnse
Having had a thorough look around the place, then, Durnse determined to beat a hasty retreat, leaving the house alone with its ghosts. Four years later, he decided to share his photos on reddit.
Image: imgur/durnse
An enthusiastic discussion inevitably followed, and one eagle-eyed observer added another element to the mystery. According to this user, a painting spotted on the wall of the house might have had an estimated value of around $3,000.
Image: imgur/durnse
Who would leave such a valuable painting in their property, left exposed to the damaging effects of the cold winters and humid summers of this part of Missouri? One answer, perhaps, is someone who had a very good reason not to return.