People are obsessed with a sense of place. And for some reason, abandoned homes really seem to elicit the same emotional response amongst many who see them. We crave to know the back story. "What happened there?" "Who lived there?" "Why are they gone?". Then you throw in the taboo nature of not being able to see what's inside, and you have a recipe for extreme fascination. Despite this universally shared sentiment, we all seem to have different stories as to how it materialized.. For me, it was 2 different places my friends and i would visit as middle schoolers. These decrepit houses were deep in the woods in Loudoun County and both had adjacent gravestones nearby that dated back to the late 1800's. The places were spooky enough during the day that we wouldn't dare go at night, although we frequently talked about it. Of all of my thousands of memories as a youngster, the images of those 2 houses stuck with me the most - even to this day. I often wonder if they were the genesis of my adulthood fascination with abandonment. Who knows? I would love to hear your stories if you would be willing to share. Did you have a similar story? Please chime in in the comments section below or a quick e-mail to "john@johnplashalphoto.com".
