Thread by @critographer

THE WITCH HOUSE NEXT DOOR is a story I grew up with. In the early 60’s, several illegally-built houses in the woods nearby were being demolished to make room for a public park. One house had an especially poor reputation.🧵 1/12
#inspiration #urbanlegends #ttrpg #RPG #dnd #dnd5e

The story—as told by my stepfather—goes that the house’s owner was a practitioner of the black arts. Shortly after he died, local kids began daring each other to sneak into the house after dark. It took several weeks before any of them dared venture into the basement 🧵 2/12

Dirk, the local ‘tough kid’was a buddy of my stepdad at the time, and convinced him to explore the basement of the witch house together before it would be torn down by bulldozers. The boys didn’t expect to find much, since the upper stories had held nothing interesting 🧵 3/12

They were in for a surprise though. In the basement, the boys made some startling finds. Upon a desk lay a large tome, next to a human skull. Unlit black candles lined the walls. In the corner, there stood an unstrung steel bow, and a rusty bayonet lay on the floor. 🧵 4/12

Of course, the discovery, along with the house’s dark reputation, caused a bit of a panic. The boys turned tail and hurried up the stairs, but not before grabbing a trophy of their eerie expedition. My stepdad had taken the bow, while Dirk had managed to grab the skull. 🧵 5/12

The “witch house” was demolished not long after that night, together with several other houses. I took a walk there, this afternoon, and you can still see the outlines of the old foundations and gardens of these, even sixty years later. But there’s always been one oddity 🧵 6/12

Where the witch house stood, plants refuse to grow. Even the grass has an unhealthy, yellow tinge to it. In today’s spring afternoon, I saw how caterpillars had spun large silken webs around the dead trees, lending the place a haunting appearance, even in broad daylight 🧵 7/12

While walking across the site, I couldn’t help but wonder what lay entombed in that old basement beneath me, and what had been written in that tome. Who had been the owner of the witch house? And was the man’s sinister reputation as well-deserved as once believed? 🧵 8/12

Perhaps it was just a tall tale, after all. My stepdad and Dirk fell out years ago, and even before that, Dirk confessed to him he’d gotten rid of the skull long ago. The second trophy, the steel bow eventually was lost, leaving no hard evidence of the basement delve. 🧵 9/12

It’s also funny how you notice legends changing over time. When I was a kid (in the early 90’s), the old witch house had long been demolished. But a single house had survived the purge, due to its owner remaining alive and unwilling to move, in spite of legal threats. 🧵 10/12

This lone abode, surrounded by an overgrown garden, became the “witch house” of the ‘90s. I can’t tell you how many kids that poor man must have had to chase from his garden, but it must have been dozens, at least. The last surviving heir died some three years ago. 🧵 11/12

I decided to walk by and noticed the fence standing open and the windows broken. No doubt the old legend lives on, as kids have been exploring the place. I’m too old to still have my ear to the ground with the young ‘uns, but I do wonder how the legend goes these days… 🧵 12/12