During my wanderings I sometimes step into history when visiting abandoned buildings

Some have been empty for many years whereas others have only been neglected for a short time

I found the skeleton of a cat in a house deep within a Hampshire village opposite a busy inn

It had been wrapped in a blanket as the owner could not bear to be parted from her much loved friend

This dilapidated house smelt of death which was strange as it was so near the beating heart of the community

 

When I was in Australia a few years ago I visited an old mining settlement and explored the decaying shacks

It was almost as if the residents had stepped out for a moment as coffee pots and china cups lay waiting for their return

Newspapers and magazines dating back over sixty years lay abandoned on the once splendid and cherished rugs

I invaded the bedrooms of these ghosts and found photographs in fine frames staring into vacancy of time

The mine closed and the impoverished miners moved out leaving their lives for future generations to explore

 

One of my favourite abandoned houses is called Geraldine in the Woods by the locals who pass its austere remains

On enquiry I was told that for many years it was supposed that a ghost haunted a nearby copse during the dark winter months

A woman of only twenty-nine years had hung herself on learning that her husband had died during the last war

They had only lived in this house for five years and were quite blissfully happy although without issue

Since that tragic day it had remained empty and was slowly retreating into a history of its own making

 

 

to be continued