Long story about a Motorola found on an abandoned farm

[zenith2134]

Hell, I'd take that Zenith set Actually....we tried that already didn't we ha-ha. Orb says: hands off, AKers.

Neat bunch-o pictures. I definitely agree that these orbs are real and are not just dust like everyone seems to say. Video ones are cool too: The way they appear and disappear is pretty wild.

The child's crib thing and the microwave oven near the MGA are the eeriest things in that place as far as I can see.

Call me crazy, but microwave ovens have an especially miserable and spooky presence to them in an abandoned house. I remember cleaning out my grandparents' home after they passed, and I unearthed a knob-timer oven just like that, which hadn't been used in years. An early 80s model Tappan IIRC. It worked well, and I cleaned it up for sale at a yardie. The other nuker, an old Sanyo, sat for another few years and then got junked. It used to feed the family and now they're gone and it's all by itself destined to be trash. :sad:

But yeah, very interesting stuff here Mark. And you don't even look scared in the mirror photo! Keep the Motorola, I bet you can make it work really well again!

[Sandy G]

That IS one more creepy lookin' place...Puts me in the mind of Ed Gein's house. And no, I don't think those orbs are light tricks or dust bunnies, either. And yes, I think you SHOULD save that TV. Something needs to be saved from that place, in another year or 2 it'll be too late...I'm surprised somebody hasn't torched it. That's a favorite trick of the vandal set down here.

[Eric H]

Cool house, I'd be more worried about Mold than Ghosts though.

If you clean the set up it'll look less spooky.

[Hemingray]

Look closer at that ol' MAG color set on the floor, it almost looks like it's on with a blank raster.

[truetone36]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

That IS one more creepy lookin' place...Puts me in the mind of Ed Gein's house.

I hope there weren't any meathooks on the back porch.

[AUdubon5425]

Alright, I looked carefully at the pictures again...but I can't figure something out.

What the hell is an orb?

[45rpm]

I believe it's a white spot of light, believed by many paranormalists to indicate the presence of a spirit.

[bgadow]

Looks like some attention was paid to that house back in the seventies, judging by the paneling and trim. To me it just seems empty and kinda sad. On a very slow path to death.

That MGA looks to be one of their "blue tube" sets. I don't know if I've ever seen one in person.

Another old house story (and another repeat) in the late 90s I answered an ad in the classifieds, "old TV sets for sale". Turns out that a 90+ year old gentleman had died and his nephew was settling the estate. He had a farm with an old house and lots of buildings; he lived in an old trailer out by the road. The house and farmstead had been packed with antiques and for 3 straight weekends they had held auctions at the local firehall. What was left were the TV sets, seen as pretty much worthless. I did get some decent stuff out of there, but I had to leave maybe a dozen sets. Mostly bw consoles from the late 50s/early 60s. They were all in the house, which as very close to falling down. Every room had one or two sets in it, along with assorted junk. (trash furniture, old mattresses) I would have liked to spent more time and explored but, 1) I was being escorted by the nephew who kept me from venturing far and 2) the only time I could meet with him was late in the day, just before dusk, and there was no electric in the house. The real gems were on the enclosed front porch; I was basically down on my knees digging in the dark, throwing whatever I could grab into boxes. Tubes, knobs, assorted electronic knick-knacks. There was a 50 year old refrigerator on the porch used to store tubes and such; there were also about a dozen Electrolux vacuums in there which I could have had but didn't have room for. The nephew mentioned that his uncle had never owned a color TV; well, there was an 80s RCA in one shed, in pieces (the newest set I spotted) and inside there was a sad Sylvania tube chassis color set. (I brought that one home and should have saved it, but didn't-had HV issues) The greatest find, and the one that always struck me as peculiar in some sort of way, was a Zenith 25MC30 roundie, a bare-bones metal console. (looks like they made special efforts to build it cheap) The set is clean as a pin inside and out, and I was able to get it working with very little effort. Biggest fault was a bad power switch. Seeing that big "eyeball" in that lonely back room at dusk on a cool April day....strange. For a long time I felt a little uneasy when I watched that set, as if it was going to go "kaplooey" at any point, or something.

That whole place, the house, the TV sets, the farmstead, became a practice session for the volunteer fire company. All long gone now. The nephew and I actually destroyed a shed while we were there-we were able to push what was left of it into a pile. Inside were 2-3 fruit baskets full of globe/ST tubes. Yeah, I got 'em.

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by 45rpm

I believe it's a white spot of light, believed by many paranormalists to indicate the presence of a spirit.

I get those spots often when shooting in a dirty/dusty environment, especially when firing a flashgun. Film or digital.

In fact, I took a pic last week and there's several on the side of a hutch in a warehouse. The owner is still alive btw.

[zenith2134]

I've participated in many a debate about the orbs on a couple of paranormal discussion boards. Pretty convinced that they can be something from another plane, but hey I have no proof either.

The MGA blue-screen sets made quite a nice picture. I was given a 26" one a few years ago and it had composite inputs and stereo. I sold it for I think 25 dollars. Sure looks like it's on in that picture, good point...strange.

I don't wanna see this thread 'die'

[zenithfan1]

Speaking of orbs, here are a few cool pics of the barn, dusty but the wind was still in there. There wasn't much dust in the air according to the beam on my Maglite. The dark pic was taken with no flash, orbs still appear.



Look at this one closely, some spots are little holes, but not all of them.
Here is the same pic, only brightened. Look at them now, a few are kinda green. Some were even hiding in the completely dark parts of the pic.

BTW, anyone think I should save the other sets???

[Sovereign]

Very cool post... I really enjoyed it as well as all the other contributions. Growing up in suburbia we just never have abandoned homes. Most of the homes here were built in a forty to fifty year time frame so you just don't see old homes where I live.

Thinking about if I were in an older area like that it would be really weird and creepy.

[zenithfan1]

Just for the hell of it, here's a few more...

Baby's room

To the right in same room

Further to the right, it says "HELP" on the wall

Adult bedroom. I believe this is Emma Schaffer

Religious keychain for protection, the window is broken, I thought this one wasn't in an earlier post. Still the nicest and most safe feeling room.

Also in the same room

[Sandy G]

Yeah, you oughta save all the sets you can from there. You were led to that house for a reason, maybe saving the sets was it.

[electronjohn]

Cool thread! I'm a sucker for this sort of stuff as well...in fact, stopped yesterday at a farmsite where everything but the garage had been leveled. There was a big scrap pile...I was looking for a small sheet of aluminum to fashion into a bottom cover for my ham transceiver. No aluminum...did pick a bunch of bare copper wire that'll come in handy for grounding & such. On the pile was an extremely battered "farm radio" (batteries only) that was waaaaay beyond rescue...but none of the tubes were broken! Into the trunk it went to be parted out. Found a really busted-up brown plastic AA5 radio, too...some salvageable parts there as well. I'm stopping back today...gonna load up this small air compressor that looks like it'll be easy to get going. Need one of those!

BTW: I read an article a few years ago in Popular Communications about an abandoned farmhouse somewhere in Minnesota that had the remains of a radio repair shop on the 2nd floor. Lotsa tubes, parts & radios...the usable stuff was harvested. The writer avoided indicating the location. Drat! I'd love to stumble across something like that!