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Chapter 18 - A Mansion and Apartments
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 18 After the explorers left the restaurant, the next location was a peculiar residential setup. On one side of the block was an ornate mansion, standing four stories high and looking somewhat like a medieval castle. Melissa drove the van around to the other side of the block, finding a park and a set of low-income apartments. “That’s what I love about living in Helmintoller. There aren’t many places where there would be a mansion and lower-income apartments on the same block – what, there was even a covered walkway between them!” said Billy. “Which side do you all want to see first?” asked Melissa. “Since we’ve seen a mansion already, why not look at the apartments.” said Billy. Melissa parked the van in front of the apartments. The red-brick, 1950s-style apartments were two stories high and 12 units wide, with a balcony running across the front. They were crumbling, with numerous holes in the roof, overgrowth, and even a wall collapse which left the interior of unit 210 exposed. Through the collapse, the explorers could see the contents of the unit’s living room; a console television, a green plaid patterned couch, a plywood, wood-veneered coffee table with a book still on it, and some type of unidentified computer monitor. The roof was bowed downward over the room. Billy got a close-up shot of the exposed room. About a third of the cars were left in the parking lot, mostly 1970s models. Bricks from the wall of room 210 had crushed the front end and roof of a red Chevy Monza. A tree grew between the front ends of a white Ford Gran Torino and a dark green 1979-1983 Toyota Corolla. While Billy, David, and Melissa went into unit 107, Megan began to look at the old cars. “I wonder which came first, the mansion or these apartments? And how well did the living arrangement work out? I’ve seen a few of these mansions next to lower-income housing.” asked Billy. “Worked out quite well, actually. There was very low crime, and people were close with their neighbors. They’d often meet in the parks or in between the two buildings. A lot of times, the wealthier residents would help some of the poorer residents get jobs, and they also got to see things and do things that many others in their situation wouldn’t have, like get to go to a mansion from time to time.” said Melissa. The living room of unit 107 had peeling harvest gold wallpaper, surely a remnant from the 1970s. The ceiling above was bowed and was completely made of exposed beams and lath, the covering having flaked off years ago. The tan carpet floor had numerous discolored, wet spots, obvious evidence of water damage, but the floor was still stable. A couple of abstract paintings were the only decorative items, but the contents of the room were more complete. The room’s contents included a Magnavox console TV, an overstuffed red cloth couch, a plywood coffee table, a couple of bookshelves, a small Yorx cassette boombox, and a folding card table with a plastic chair behind it and a Commander V50 computer with a disk drive on it. The bookshelves included the household’s cassette and computer software collection – about 50 tapes in all, as well as 25 floppy disks. “What percent of people in Izzy had computers when it was abandoned? Seems pretty high.” asked Billy. “I would say at least 80 percent of households had computers. Maybe close to 90. It was almost considered a necessity. Between Izzy-Net and Commander marketing, even the working class usually had a low-end computer. I remember the saying being that you could get a used V50 for 50 bucks.” said Melissa. After doing his normal filming of the room, Billy became enamored with the computer and the books, while the others took a more general look at the room. Billy soon zoned out in a Time Magazine issue dated February 16, 1987. “Billy, do you want to see the rest of the house or stay in here with your magazine?” asked Melissa. “I’m too deep in this magazine.” said Billy. Melissa and David went on to the next room, a small bedroom, square, about 10 feet on each side. Billy continued to read the Time magazine for about thirty seconds, before putting it up and joining Melissa and David. The bedroom was in a similar condition as the living room, but the wallpaper was a baby blue. The blanket was crumpled up in one corner of the twin bed, which was centered in the room with its head area against a wall. “I guess someone was sleeping and left in a hurry.” said David. David got a glimpse of some magazines under the bed and took a closer look. “Oh, dear.” he said. “What?” asked Billy. “Adult magazines.” said David. “Uh, let’s look at the rest of the room.” said Billy. A poster of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had fallen off the wall and was rolled up and water damaged on the floor; posters for “Back To The Future”, Duran Duran, Devo, and Kelly LeBrock still barely hung on. A 5-foot-tall wooden dresser in one corner of the room had a 1970s-model, off-brand black and white 13-inch television on it. A small desk in the other corner had a lamp, a small AM/FM clock radio, and a chair. Textbooks, which included Gold level literature, Biology, Algebra II, and BASIC Programming were still stacked on the far side of the desk, above a folder filled with various assignments. A half-built Lego model of the Millennium Falcon sat on the floor next to the desk; a half-finished algebra assignment, dated March 30, 1987, sat on the desk next to the folder, with a freshly sharpened Musgrave pencil next to it. Billy was tempted to try to finish the assignment. “I hated weekend homework growing up. HATED it.” said Billy. “You know what? So did I.” said Melissa. Billy pushed the papers in the folder out a short way, to get a reverse chronology of the dates, which he would use in his video of the room. “Another building, another story.” said Billy, off-camera. The next room was the master bedroom, located at the rear of the unit. This room was a bit larger, about 10 by 15 feet, with a bathroom on the far side; together, the rooms made up the entire 20-foot width of the apartment. The layout was like the kid’s bedroom, with the full-size bed parallel to the long end of the room, next to a broken window where the blinds had fallen off. A large crack ran down the wall and through the window, pushing the two halves of the rear wall out slightly, as if the walls were ready to burst open and whatever was above crash down. Several feet below the foot of the bed, there were two large armoires, made of engineered wood made to look like cherry, with a small table to their right holding a Yorx 13-inch television. A large photo of an east Helmintoller beach hung to the left side of the bed, while on an end table to the right, next to the window, was a clock radio identical to the one in the kids’ room and a multi-colored glass lamp. Through the window, the explorers could see the garden that had been in the mansion’s backyard. The once meticulously maintained garden had grown into a tangled mass of multi-colored leaves. Cypress trees towered over the mansion, which was barely visible through the foliage. To the right of the garden, a vine reached its way into a broken window on the mansion’s third floor. “That would have been a pretty view at one time.” said Melissa. “Have you ever been to these apartments?” asked Billy. “Yes, once, but I’ve also been to a couple other similar sets.” said Melissa. “For low-priced housing, these were pretty nice. How much was rent here?” asked Billy. “I think about $180 a month, so maybe like $400 today.” said Melissa. In the bathroom, there was a two-inch gap between the inner and outer wall, and the ceiling above bowed just above the bathtub dramatically. Billy quickly filmed the room and left, reasoning that the bathtub on the floor above was getting ready to come crashing down. The final room to explore was the kitchen, a generic kitchen with avocado green countertops over gold-colored counters. The walls were the same yellow as in the living room. Appliances included an Amana fridge, an oven/range, and a microwave. Billy carefully opened one of the cabinet doors, finding stale food still boxed and canned and a hole in the wall where he could see into the next apartment unit. Poking his camera through the hole, he took a picture and quickly analyzed it. “What’s in there?” asked David. “Looks like a college student’s bedroom. I saw a fraternity paddle for Theta Phi Epsilon, football schedule, some textbooks, and a Commander 64K. And lots of posters on the wall. Can we look at it, Melissa?” asked Billy. Melissa checked her watch. “Sounds good.” The explorers left unit 107, finding Megan next to a sporty car, covered in moss, with all the windows broken and tires deflated. Due to the decay, the type of car wasn’t immediately recognizable; only that it had been orange in a past life. A tree next to the car explained some of the decay. “I can’t tell what kind of car this is, but it looks nice.” said Megan. The other explorers took a closer look at it. “Lancia Fulvia Coupe.” said Billy. “There are no badges left on it, how’d you know?” asked Megan. “I’ve had a thing for Fulvias my whole life. I know Fulvia Man himself.” said Billy. “Fulvia Man?” asked Megan. “This man can tell you anything about any Fulvia. He’s a walking Fulvia encyclopedia. He has three Fulvias and a room in his house dedicated to Fulvias. He’s loved them since they came out when he was a teenager, that would make him, I think, 74 now.” said Billy. Billy filmed the Fulvia inside and out before his face turned suddenly dour. “I can’t look at this Fulvia anymore, it’s going to make me cry.” While Megan stayed outside, the remaining explorers went into unit 108. The living room was painted red, and the paint was in oddly good shape. The flooring was the same tan carpet as in 107. On the left side of the ceiling, against the wall between units 107 and 108, was a hole, about a square foot, with a television half-fallen through it. Aside from a fairly standard red cloth couch and TV, there was a plastic red coffee table with a Scuderia Ferrari logo on it, and several car posters – Alfa Romeo Spider Graduate, Lamborghini Countach, Jaguar XJ12, BMW M1. “Someone who lived here must have had a thing for European sports cars. Could this be the Fulvia owner?” asked Billy. There were no computers in the room, but there was an Atari 2600 hooked up to the TV, its controllers still in situ on the coffee table. The other side of the room had two bookshelves, one less than half-full and containing mostly textbooks, the other full of car magazines, as well as textbooks. Both also had “The Theta Phi Epsilon Creed” in them – evidence that the residents here were college roommates in the same fraternity. The corkboards on the wall further showed the divergent interests of the two roommates. The left corkboard had pictures from fraternity parties and football games, while the right corkboard was cars, cars, and more cars: pictures of cars, pictures of the resident inside cars, and ride receipts from the supercar center. “I always liked the Theta Phi Epsilons. Good guys. We had homecoming with them my sophomore year.” said Melissa. “I’ve had a good experience with them myself.” said Billy. “They had good heads on their shoulders. Did you happen to know the person who lived here?” asked David. “No, I think they were a freshman, so they would have come in the fall after I left.” said Melissa. Billy examined the car pictures. “Look up here. There’s a man posing next to an orange Fulvia, and the same man in what looks like the Fulvia’s interior. Fulvia owner confirmed. Guy had a Fulvia and was in a fraternity, I’m jealous.” said Billy. “That’s the life.” said David. “Look at this record. I’m counting 73 supercar rides in about 3 years, 1984 to 1987.” said Billy. The explorers proceeded to the room that Billy had seen through the hole in the wall, but didn’t stay long, before going to the master bedroom. There were some automotive artifacts; a couple automotive posters, one for the Fulvia and one for a W126 Mercedes S-Class, as well as about twenty model cars, all European except for a C4 Corvette, on a small table. A Porsche 959 model car was abandoned in mid-construction. Some of the cars were rusting. There was also a Commander 64K on a small desk, along with many disks and papers with BASIC programs typed out on them. Many of them had assignment markings; a five-page assignment, labeled “Intro to BASIC Final Exam” and dated December 11, 1986 had a grade of 105 on it with a comment from the professor “Daniel, this is junior-level work from a freshman.” “Hmmm, I wonder what Daniel V. Palmer is up to today?” asked David. “My dad might know him. I’ll have to call him. He told me that he knew a guy with a Fulvia in college, but he sold it long before I was born.” said Billy. Billy took pictures of the BASIC programs, intending to try them out himself. After he finished filming the room, he realized he had only 14 seconds left of video on his SD card. “I have to change out my SD card when we finish exploring this unit.” said Billy. Melissa handed him the keys to the van, and Billy went to the van and hit the unlock button, which did nothing. She forgot she left her van unlocked, he thought. He opened the passenger door and got into the glovebox to swap out cards, before shutting the glove box. He noticed an “SRS Airbag” on the glove box door and took his camera bag out of the glove box. He found Megan taking pictures outside about 15 feet from the van. “Just curious, why’d you take your camera bag out of the glove box?” asked Megan. “I don’t want it smashed by Melissa’s glove box airbag.” said Billy. “It’ll be fine. It’s happened to me.” said Megan. “With a glove box airbag?” asked Billy. “Yup, steering wheel airbag, passenger airbag, my knee airbag, glove box airbag, and both the side airbags on my side. I don’t know why the airbags went off on the passenger side, I had no passenger, and the car was supposed to have advanced airbags. Also, the side airbags, I was told they went off because I hit at an angle, but it wasn’t that bad of a crash. Someone ran a red light and I hit them at about 35 miles per hour. I wasn’t hurt at all, the steering wheel airbag held me in the seat, so I barely moved. After the crash, I moved the deflated passenger airbag out of the way and opened the glove box. The glove box airbag fell down on its own.” said Megan. Melissa and David walked out of the abandoned apartment. “Ready to go to the mansion?” asked Melissa. “Let’s do it. You coming for this one, Megan?” asked Billy. “Looks a bit sketchy, I’ll just stay out here.” said Megan. All the explorers walked through a passageway between units 106 and 107 in the apartments, then down a sidewalk to a side entrance of the mansion, where Megan split off and began taking pictures of the front of the mansion. The remaining explorers gently opened the door. The room they found themselves in was cavernous – and very moldy. Even through their masks, the stench was overpowering. The floor above had collapsed, spilling the contents of the rooms above onto the former ice rink. The floor above that bulged downward, threatening to collapse. In the rubble, bits and pieces of a living room were visible; a couch, crumpled and standing on its end; a large rear-projection television that had somehow stayed relatively intact; and a couple of computers. The explorers immediately left after Billy had filmed an overall shot of the room and walked along the side of the house to the next entrance, on the side of the house near the front. They entered a large room, about the size of three of the apartment units put together. The room was still in decent condition; about half of the ceiling covering was missing, some of the wood paneling on the walls had been eaten by termites, and the wooden parquet floor was buckled and warped in a few spots. There was a slight odor of mold. “I guess this was the meeting point for the whole complex.” said Billy. A roller coaster cart, suspended between two rails, said “Virtucoaster” on it, presumably controlled by an unidentified type of Commander computer. “Oh, I loved the Virtucoaster as a kid!” said David. “They had a virtual roller coaster at a family fun center I went to when I was a kid, but it was enclosed and had a big screen at the front, so it was like you were on a VR track.” said Billy. “This one wasn’t quite so fancy. This cart would simulate a roller coaster’s movements, it would flip you upside down and tilt you every which way. It was unrealistic as heck, but fun.” said David. “I also rode the Virtucoaster a lot in college. There were several here in Izzy.” said Melissa. Billy made sure to get a video of every inch of this contraption he’d never seen before, including the severe rust on the joints. “If you tried to use this today, it’d snap apart.” said Billy. Next to the Virtucoaster were tables filled with board games, including Clue, Life, Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots, checkers, chess, and Go for Broke. “Did every mansion in Izzy have an entertainment room? Both of the ones we’ve been to have.” asked Billy. “It was very common, probably 70 percent had one, but most weren’t this big. Some charged admission.” said Melissa. “Were there any reclusive millionaire types, the ones that didn’t want to be bothered?” asked Billy. “Not here in Izzy. Izzy was a town that wasn’t very well suited for recluses. They existed, but there weren’t many, and certainly not millionaires.” said Melissa. “I love people from Izzy. Everyone I’ve ever met is really nice and willing to talk to you.” said Billy. “My parents taught me from a very young age, ‘Be kind to everyone. Everyone’s in your life for a reason.” said Melissa. “Yeah, too bad Dirk didn’t get the memo.” said Billy. The explorers trudged on in the room, finding a bank of TVs with video game consoles hooked up – three NESes and two Sega Master Systems. Past the TVs, against a back wall, were two dartboards. “Nice. Someone got a bullseye here.” said David. Pool tables, five Dostim Plus computers, and a DJing booth rounded out the main part of the room, but an alcove of the room had a large dining table. The dining table was a U-shaped unit, custom-built from hand-hewn wood with a granite top, with a total of 26 green leather chairs around it. What caught more attention than the chair, however, were the countertops at the corners of the room. There was a collection of 12 Chinese vases, intact, still in glass cases. Billy carefully filmed the vases; knowing little about Chinese vases, he was silent, figuring he could do some research later to determine their rarity or authenticity. Melissa came over and began to look at the vases herself. “I’m not an expert on Chinese vases myself, but I’ve studied them some. These don’t look to be super-rare, but they still look to be worth potentially several thousand dollars apiece. Let’s document these vases, and attempt to contact the owner.” said Melissa. “I say we just take the things and at least put them in a stable building. The whole floor collapsed in the next room over, from what I assume was water damage from that ice rink next door, so we’ve already got water in the envelope of the building.” said Billy. “You’re right, but I think this is stable enough that it’ll last a week, so let’s keep them in here for the time being. There’s a good chance that no one owns it, though. I was here, once, in 1981 and I remember the owners being an older Chinese couple, probably in their early to mid-60s. I’m sad to say it, but they’ve probably passed from old age, and no one would have taken over property in an active volcanic area.” said Melissa. “So, if there’s no owners, what happens?” asked Billy. “Contact the next of kin and see what they want to do with them.” said Melissa. Billy almost said, if there’s no owners, why not take them, before realizing that had the volcano not happened, the vases would have probably been handed down. David came to the same conclusion. Both were bummed that they may not be getting the thousands – with a slight chance of it being millions – from the vases. Billy documented the vases. “409 Oakley Road, Izydorczak, Helmintoller. Twelve ancient Chinese vases in danger due to abandonment and structural instability.” After examining the kitchenette, which featured a refrigerator, stove, oven, microwave, and food processor, the explorers went to the door that led into the house and found it locked. “I guess there was some attention paid to security here.” said Billy.-
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