From the 1950s until present, a Canadian family has owned this very isolated cabin the middle of the Ontario back country. It was the only property on this very small lake. There were two others across the lake, but they were pretty far away with the exception of the side of the cabin that was facing the water, the rest of it was surrounded by really dense forests that went on for a while. About two miles away from this cabin on the other side of this dirt road was a huge wildlife reserve that was just a huge forest that was protected and any time the family was visiting this cabin, the kids would at some point go into the reserve and explore it.
In 2001 when the family was at the cabin, the kids were across the road over at the reserve and they decided to walk down this particular trail that they hadn't seen before. For about 30 minutes they're seeing new areas they hadn't seen before and then they come to this clearing and there's all these abandoned houses.
At first there was a little debate about whether these were actually abandoned because they did look like they were in pretty good condition, but when they walking a little closer it became very clear that nature is reclaiming this land. Grass is up to your waist, vines growing up the side of the houses, cars still parked in driveways that were rusted out with grass growing all through them. They knew these were abandoned, so they walked up to the first house they saw, and they looked in and they couldn't believe what they were looking at.
It looked like whoever lived here had left without taking anything, the house was still totally furnished in fact their dining room table still had cups and forks and knives like they just had dinner and then just got up and left. They start talking about going into these houses and looking around inside, but they started wondering like is this a museum? Is that why everything is in such good repair? They decided to not go inside of these houses, and they start looking around for any indication that definitely this is not a museum and that these are just abandoned.
Across the street from the house, there was at was this decrepit looking house. "Let's go over there and look in there," said one of the kids. They look in a window and very clearly the ceiling is sagging down. The first floor is buckling completely and there's clothes and shoes scattered everywhere. So, for them this was confirmation that this was no museum. "These are abandoned so we can totally go look around inside."
For the next couple of hours, the kids explored all the houses that looked structurally sound that weren't going to collapse on them, and it was just fascinating. There was all this stuff that was left behind that was fairly valuable, and they didn't take anything, but they just thought it was very cool. After a while they decided they had seen enough, and they turned around and headed back to their cabin.
After they got back, they told their parents about what they found and their father was like, "Man, that sounds awesome! I want to go check that out." And so that day they went right back over to the abandoned houses. The first house they showed him was the really decrepit looking one where the ceiling was sagging and there was women's shoes and clothes all over the ground because we had some doubts at first too to show him for sure these were abandoned.
After they look at that house, they went back to the very first house they saw when they walked into this complex, the one that was in great condition and had the dining table still set. They go inside and they go upstairs, and they find this bedroom that is like everything else in the house; totally intact. There are pictures on the wall, it's fully furnished, there's even still sheets made on the bed in the pillow. It's got a head imprint from whoever was there last, and at the foot of the bed is this beautiful fur coat and the father walks over to it, and he looks at is and he's like, "This is real fur. This is probably a really expensive coat. I want to take this for our family."
But before he took it, he had a hesitation; is this really abandoned? If someone had been here, they would have seen footprint all over the house just because there's grime all over the ground and they can clearly see their footprints from where they've just come in. He concludes that no, this is just a weird situation it's definitely abandoned and finders' keepers. He picks up the jacket and he said, "I'm going to give this to mom after I clean it up." And so, with the jacket in hand, the father and the kids explore the rest of the house. When they go outside, they realize it's starting to get late and its probably time to head back and so they turn around and they start walking away from these houses towards their cabin.
They get a couple hundred feet away when one of the kids said that he had this weird sense that they were being watched, so he turns around and is in shock when he sees there is an old woman standing in the bedroom that they had just been in where the fur coat was. She's got a loose bun on the top of her head, a blue shawl on her shoulders over a cream blouse and she's glaring at them. When the kids saw this woman, he made an audible gasp and the rest of the group turned around too. All of them saw this woman in the window and the feeling was guilt so they're like, "Oh my goodness, we just stole from this poor woman who lives in this abandoned house."
Right away the whole group starts walking right back towards the house. The dad is like, "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have taken this. I'm sorry." As they're walking back towards the property, the woman in the window who hasn't said anything just turns around and walks back into the main part of the house. As they're walking close to the house, they're assuming she's going to come downstairs to retrieve this jacket that they've taken from her. They get up to the front door and the father is yelling to her, "I'm sorry, where do you want me to leave this jacket? I can bring it in for you." They're just waiting for her to come downstairs, and she doesn't. She's nowhere to be found. She's not making any sound, not indicating what to do.
And after waiting for a couple of minutes, the kids don't really know what to do and they're kind of getting uneasy about the situation. The father is still very confident that he just wants to give this back and make amends, make peace with her, say he's sorry. He walks inside and he tells his kids to stay outside. "I'm gonna go give it to her." Said the father. He goes inside and he disappears upstairs.
All of a sudden from across the street in that decrepit house with the caved in ceiling, they hear one of the second-floor windows come slamming down and at the time their dad comes charging down the stairs, no jacket with him. He hastily said, "Go, go, go, now!" The kids are spooked from the window getting slammed and they start running away until they're about 300 feet away from the houses and they stop.
They're panting and out of breath and the kids ask their dad what had happened. The dad replies, "I looked everywhere upstairs, and I could not find that lady. I don't know where she is. Either she's hiding form us or something, but I happened to be looking out at that other house when something caught my eye. There was movement and I saw another person on the second floor of that building that's falling apart. I watched them slam the window and then as soon as I did, I heard someone yell 'GET OUT.' and I ran out after you guys."
Both the kids and the dad are absolutely terrified, they want to leave but they also want one more look at these buildings before they do go. And when they had run away, they had stopped behind this big group of trees that obscured their view to the buildings. So, they begin to peak their heads around the tree until they can see the building and they can't believe what they see. Standing in the window of the fur coat room is not only the old woman, but also a very tall man who's holding her shoulders and is bending down because his head is too high to look standing. He's crouched down and he's looking out the window near to her and they're both glaring towards them. The father and his kids are practically falling over themselves to sprint away and back to their cabin.
To this day that family has no idea who those people were, what they were doing there, how they were able to move around without making any noise, and consistently hide from them and not leave any footprints. It was all very strange and terrifying stuff. Then the government ended up demolishing those houses almost immediately after they were there and so they'll never get any answers because everything's gone.
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