We have all used the term 'time capsule house', but what about a 'time capsule bedoom?'



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 00 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr


Five years ago, I noticed a peculiar farmhouse near Hamilton that had its driveway completely snowed in by multiple passes of the plow. I marked it in my DB and sort of forgot about it. But sure enough, season after season, the driveway was always completely impassable. I finally pre-dawned the location by bike last summer, arriving at the foot of the house at about 6 am. I started walking toward the back door and thought better of it, wondering if I was about to walk in on an elderly lady in bed who lived alone and just didn't have a driver's license. I left with the carrot dangling in front of my nose.

A few weeks ago, I just couldn't take it any longer! I made a quick vehicle stop on the property and found the back door wide open. Walking up, I was greeted by this sight.



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 01 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr


I was so excited, that I drove and parked 10 minutes away, took a bike back, and realized with dismay that I forgot my damn tripod!! The house actually looked so promising that I immediately left, rode all the way back to the car for the tripod, and returned. I think it was worth it. The ground level of the house was very European and very 'old'. It gave no indication of the bizarre night-and-day change that was awaiting me upstairs!



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 02 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr


The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 03 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr


The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 04 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 05 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 06 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 07 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 08 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 09 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 010 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



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The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 012 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 013 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr


I made the climb and found the upstairs was in a similar state of decay. One storage room even had gaping holes in the roof. But then I opened Sandra's bedroom door and walked into a completely different world; sealed off from the rest of the house, this room has sat in stasis since a few years after her high school grad in '94.



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 014 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 015 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 016 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 017 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr


The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 018 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 019 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 020 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 021 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 022 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 023 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 024 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 025 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 027 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 028 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr


We have all been in places where we ask that cliche question about where the family could have gone. But this house, more than any other, left me scratching my head. It truly is as if the entire family stepped out one day and went about their daily lives, but never returned home. Where the heck are Sandra and her brother today?



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 029 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 030 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 032 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



The Day Sandra's Family Vanished - 033 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr

that tricycle is a thistle, they used to be in montreal, i had one !!!!


and im lovin that temp/topaz hidden away!

This Blows me Away! I almost wanted to cry for a family i never met or knew. I think i would have to really question if i wanted to take that telephone and plug it in at my home and listen to the messages on it. What happened to Sandra!?! Awesome photos GS. Loved the notes in her yearbook. That car covered in ivy... Heavens, i hope Sandra doesn't reside in the trunk...I did see a meat-cleaver😱 My mind is running amuck, i guess. That last pic rocks! Cool teaSet and Coo-Coo Clock shots too.

That is a killer find! Congrats!

I don't normally like houses, as a rule...

But this place, this is something else.

Stellar find and set, GS.

Fantastic find. I'd love to know more about the story.

Posted by mookster I don't normally like houses, as a rule... But this place, this is something else.

Wow. I generally avoid them too.
Talk about character.
Something bad happen...

A-1 set

Posted by yokes Fantastic find. I'd love to know more about the story.

Based on the yearbook cover, a name by one of the yearbook signees, a website with graduates names and social media the woman can be found alive and well on Facebook. I'm not going to contact her but maybe someone else will.

Great post GS and awesome pics!! Brings me back to my own yearbook messages, things you totally forget about and take for granted...true undying friendship based on nothing more than who you are. Another wicked original original! Fantastic find...you rock bud!!

Great set.

I remember that phone from the yearbook photo. I'm pretty sure one of my siblings had it.

Love this set-thanks for sharing. The picture over the picture is a great idea!

Posted by Intrinsic I'm not going to contact her but maybe someone else will.

Anyone thinking of this needs to be careful, as it can open up a whole can of worms...

A classic post like only you can do, and another amazing find by you!!

I think you have the spidey senses for these places better than anyone I know in this hobby!

Thanks for all the responses, all. Some great insights!
A bit of an update on this property... real estate agent work has been such a hot bandwagon jump in the last 2 years that I have a few friends now working that as a second job. It brings a whole new facet to this hobby! I had someone check the property out and sure enough, it is for sale. It is bank-owned, and soon going up for a starting price of $760K. There is no public MLS listing for it yet, but the preliminary draft for it shows all the house details as N/A. (eg. Number of Bedrooms: N/A). So it sounds as though the house has (rightfully) already been declared a write-off that must be torn down.

More interestingly, an agent took some preliminary photos of the property and they included some shots inside the barns - which I skipped due to the setting sun. Turns out that the barns have quite a lot of old cars in them. I regret missing them, and need a re-visit. Some of you already mentioned to me that you'd like to check this place out. Want to pick a mini-meet date and go as a small group? Since I've already shot the house, I'd be willing to pull onto the property and drop everyone off unseen (the driveway wraps pretty far in) and leave you there with no vehicle on-site. You could get a good explore in with no neighbour worries.

Posted by Ground State Thanks for all the responses, all. Some great insights! A bit of an update on this property... real estate agent work has been such a hot bandwagon jump in the last 2 years that I have a few friends now working that as a second job. It brings a whole new facet to this hobby! I had someone check the property out and sure enough, it is for sale. It is bank-owned, and soon going up for a starting price of $760K. There is no public MLS listing for it yet, but the preliminary draft for it shows all the house details as N/A. (eg. Number of Bedrooms: N/A). So it sounds as though the house has (rightfully) already been declared a write-off that must be torn down. More interestingly, an agent took some preliminary photos of the property and they included some shots inside the barns - which I skipped due to the setting sun. Turns out that the barns have quite a lot of old cars in them. I regret missing them, and need a re-visit. Some of you already mentioned to me that you'd like to check this place out. Want to pick a mini-meet date and go as a small group? Since I've already shot the house, I'd be willing to pull onto the property and drop everyone off unseen (the driveway wraps pretty far in) and leave you there with no vehicle on-site. You could get a good explore in with no neighbour worries.

Interested, all depends on the day and my work schedule.

This house, holy shit this house!!

This was the kind of house where I caught myself spending too much time looking at all the stuff and not shooting. There was so much to see in this house, I feel like I barely scratched the surface.

I went into one of the bedrooms and looked up in the closet and I found two dusty old boxes, one was an old Lite Brite box and the other an Easy Bake Oven, I figured there would be blankets or paperwork in the boxes...noooope, they contained the toys and in mind condition too.

I also found an old shoe box full of love letters and typical teenage girl stuff but I couldn't bring myself to read it..or shoot it.

So much stuff, so overwhelming. Here are some of the toys I found in one bedroom, I have much more from here but I'll post those another day somewhere else. Thought you might enjoy these, I sure did!

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its wierd, one side is like wow all these childhood memories flooding back, the other side, wow what happened

Bravo

That picture-of-a-picture-of-a-picture in #32 is awesome! Super cool how that table in the window is still in the exact same position 20+ years later.

Wonder what happened to the cats.