The Murder House

A few years ago, I heard about a murder that happened at a suburban home that's located in a prominent place in my community, on a fairly busy street that many people pass each day. Every time I would drive by this home, which by then was vacant, it was all I could do not to stare at it, especially if the traffic light had turned red. A local man had killed his landscaper in a crime of passion after finding out his wife was having an affair with him. He'd shot the guy, put him in the trunk of his car for days, driving it around and then finally went back to the murder house, dumped the body in the garage and turned himself into authorities.

I was intrigued by this crime, as the community in which it happened is an upscale place with very little crime. A few months after the murder, someone purchased the house and they built this beautiful gazebo in the back yard (visible because it's on the busy corner) but then put up a tall privacy fence. The house sat for years, and I never did see anyone there.

A little over a year ago, I noticed that the house was for sale. This might sound weird, but I went to the real estate website to look at the photos of the interior of the house. It wasn't entirely because I wanted to see the "scene of the crime" but more because I had discovered over the last few years that I can easily notice spirits in photos. My background in newspapers and many photography classes over the years helps me to see when light is not natural, but I suspect it's more about being open to seeing strange images as well as having an eye for detail. In any case, it was obvious from the real estate photos that someone had purchased the house, updated it and was trying to flip it. I didn't see anything unusual in the approximately 20 photos of the house, until I got to a photo that was taken by the photographer from outside the kitchen, from the sunroom on the back of the house. I'm going to send the photo, attached, to the webmaster, not sure how he will display, but I really want to share with you guys and get your thoughts.

If you look carefully, you can see a figure standing inside the kitchen, looking out the window towards the photographer taking the photo. There are bright squares showing in the kitchen window, which are the reflections of the sunroom windows located behind the photographer. But as you can see, the figure in the window is only visible above the reflection of the other windows. Where the body should be, it cannot be seen... Which I think means the figure is not solid enough to be visible through the reflection. You can make out a man, with dark areas where his eyes should be. It almost looks like he's wearing a hoodie, but maybe not...

When I spotted this, I snipped the photo and added it to my "X-Files" folder, a place where I finally decided to put all the strange photos I started to run across in the last few years. Some of these are personal of my family (with phenomena) and some are just snipped (for example, there was a news conference last year at the White House, and behind the action, in the White House window, I identified a face that looked like one of the presidents... I can't remember which one now, but I had identified it one morning when I was just messing around). I've got a couple dozen photos, have no idea why I'm saving them, but I figure why not?).

And I kept telling my husband, "If I had only gotten the name of the Realtor, I could ask whether or not there was another person in the kitchen the day the photos were taken." To try to debunk this figure, obviously.

So guess what?! Yesterday, I was talking to a new friend I met while working on a local community issue. She's a Realtor, and we had gotten off on a tangent. I mentioned something about the house, and she said, "Oh, that was MY listing!" I almost fell off my chair!

I told her about my photo, and that I'd been wanting to ask about the photography session. She knew/remembered immediately that the only one there besides her photographer that day was herself, and she had been upstairs when the photos had been taken. I sent her the photo, and she confirmed that the figure in the kitchen window was DEFINITELY not her and she immediately started telling me the story, how she'd been working for an investor and that he had also dug up the inside of the garage and replaced the cement (she didn't know why and hadn't wanted to know) and that she had been in that house MANY times alone while it was listed. She also said she had to go over there many times because "people kept leaving lights on after showings, or doors open, or other weird alarm stuff." I wonder if it was really careless lookers and their Realtors who "left the lights on."

Apparently, the people who bought it the first time after the murder had planned to stay (that's why they built the gazebo) but for some reason did not, and moved out after putting quite a bit of money into the place.

Funny thing: as we were talking and looking at the photo, I also noticed a face (with eyes maybe closed?) in the reflected window/light rectangle just to the left of the more solid looking figure, still in the kitchen window. Do you all see that one? The whole thing is pretty wild, and I wanted to share with you. Look forward to your thoughts. Mrs. R.