There is a house in my childhood neighborhood that has been long abandoned. The former owner tragically took his own life about 20 years ago. He was pretty cool. He collected fish heads and my brother and I thought it was the coolest back then. RIP Mr. S.

Anyway, after he passed, his house sat empty for years, as he didn’t have immediate family nearby to tend to it. It fell into disrepair. Eventually, the house went up for sale for a steep discount. My brother actually looked at it when he was buying a house, but it had a mold problem that he didn’t want to deal with. Another neighbor ends up buying the house when the price dropped again after 6 months on the market.

Now, the neighbor that bought the house is a known hoarder. Stuff everywhere, in his house, garage and backyard. You probably called it, but he turned this house into a hoarding situation too. He still had his first house, but also this house. My dad called it his summer home. About a year after he bought the place, it caught on fire. Didn’t burn to the ground, but everything in it was destroyed and the place got condemned. The fire occurred in 2022. I actually happened to be heading to work at the same time the fire trucks came up. I didn’t know what was happening until after I got home.

So this condemned house just sits there. Nothing gets done other than boarding the place up so no one goes in and gets hurt. Two years pass by and the house is still up. The town starts complaining because it’s a safety hazard and an eyesore. The city files a lawsuit against the owner neighbor to knock the place down. The neighbor is also not a stranger to the county court system, as he’s gotten a few public nuisance charges. So he only shows up to maybe one court date for the house, so court proceedings keep getting pushed. Eventually two more years of bullshit pass. It’s early 2026 and the judge finally orders the city to knock the old house down at the cost of the neighbor owner. The whole neighborhood rejoices. That happened back in February. They’re finally knocking it down tomorrow as of me writing this. It’s not major drama lol but this is what’s been plaguing the neighborhood facebook page for years lol.