The House That Wasn't There
In October 1987, Thomas and Elaine Porter were driving through rural Vermont when they became lost.
They were looking for an old bed-and-breakfast recommended by a friend.
The directions were simple.
Take Route 9.
Turn onto a dirt road.
Continue until you see a white farmhouse.
They found the dirt road.
They found the farmhouse.
They never found the bed-and-breakfast.
The house stood at the end of a long gravel driveway.
It was large, white, and surrounded by overgrown apple trees.
Smoke rose from the chimney.
A porch light was glowing.
Elaine assumed they had arrived.
Thomas parked beside the house and knocked.
An elderly woman answered.
She wore a dark blue dress and looked surprised to see them.
Thomas explained that they were looking for the bed-and-breakfast.
The woman smiled.
"You're a little early," she said.
Thomas apologized and asked if they could use the telephone.
The woman stepped aside.
Inside, the house appeared strangely old.
There were no modern appliances.
No television.
No electric lamps.
Only candles and oil lamps.
Thomas noticed a calendar hanging on the kitchen wall.
The date was October 1953.
He assumed it was decorative.
The woman handed him a telephone receiver.
There was no dial.
Thomas asked where the phone number was.
The woman stared at him.
"There isn't one."
Something about the answer frightened him.
Elaine suddenly wanted to leave.
They thanked the woman and returned to their car.
As they pulled away, Elaine looked through the rear window.
The woman was standing on the porch.
Watching them.
They drove back down the dirt road.
After several minutes, they reached the highway.
The next morning they asked the owner of the bed-and-breakfast about the farmhouse.
The owner became visibly uncomfortable.
"There hasn't been a house there for thirty years."
Thomas laughed.
He assumed there had been some misunderstanding.
But when they returned to the location, there was no farmhouse.
Only a field.
No driveway.
No apple trees.
No foundation.
Nothing.
Curious, Thomas contacted the local historical society.
An old map eventually provided an answer.
A farmhouse had stood on the property.
It had burned in 1954.
The woman who owned it had died in the fire.
The house was never rebuilt.
Thomas and Elaine kept thinking about the calendar.
October 1953.
Exactly one year before the fire.
They never returned.
Years later, another driver reported seeing a white farmhouse at the end of the same road.
Smoke was rising from the chimney.
A porch light was glowing.
And an elderly woman was standing outside.
Waiting.
Some haunted places aren't abandoned.
Sometimes they simply exist somewhere they shouldn't.
