acpme_IHB
New member
the other thread about haunted houses in irvine and abandoned homes in rancho santa fe made me think of this story so i thought i'd share it.
a few yrs back, a RE appraiser friend of mine said she went to appraise a house in laguna hills and freaked out when she got there. she immediately left and asked if some friends to go back with her later. we couldn't understand why she was so afraid but it sounded like curious fun.
it was wintertime so when the rest of us were available to help her out after work, it was nearing dark. it didn't take long to figure out why the house creeped my friend out. the house was a 10,000 sq ft custom in nellie gail ranch, built in 1981 by a chinese family... and it appeared to have been abandoned since the 80s. there was buick of that era sitting on the parkway, almost wrapped up by the weeds and vines that had grown around it. the house had no power so we had to go in with flashlights. the design and layout suggested the architect was doing heavy coke back in those days because the place was a literal maze. oddly shaped rooms, ceiling lines, layout that made no sense like a long corridor that would led to a closet. neverthless, we had to confirm everything that was on the listing, i.e. if the listing said the house had a meatlocker, then we had to go find it and check it out.
it appeared that there might have been squatters living there since some of the beds looked like they had been slept in and still had sheets and blankets. bathrooms had cups and toothbrushes. there were fast food wrappers left here and there. some of the other bedrooms were completely torn apart, beds flipped, sheets halfway pulled off. door jams were splintered with the locks on the doors in the out-position indicating the doors were bashed in.
the squatter theory however didn't make sense as some of the other rooms were completely untouched - as if frozen in time. the study/office, aside from a thick layer of dust everywhere, was immaculate. one would think this room would have been ransacked. books, personal files and documents were all neatly shelved. there was even a bucket of coins sitting on a shelf. on the desk there was an open ledger, checkbook, bills, and some airplane tickets dated to the late 80s. whoever was there obviously intended to come back... but apparently never did. it was a unsettling feeling to think about a family just vanishing, and us uncovering a 20-yr old crime scene. as we continued to move through the house, those first few moments of turning a dark corner, stepping into the next room, or opening a closet door was marked by a momentary dread of what we might find.
by the way, when i mentioned meatlocker earlier, i wasn't kidding. the house did indeed have one. we opened it and found a few banker boxes filled with documents (we didn't go through them.) the kitchen had multiple woodburning brick ovens, with small clay pots (um, urns perhaps??) sitting next to them. i dared one person to open the fridge. big mistake - it was still full... and probably hadn't been opened since the 80s. the backyard pool wasn't much better. it was filled with foamy green, standing water - probably the accumulation of yrs of old rain water. there was supposed to be a trail leading to some stables but we weren't able to find the trail because of overgrown weeds and roughage. nor would anyone dare venture down into the basement.
and this i found very disturbing. the family had owned two adjacent lots, but everything was built only on one lot. on the neighboring lot, there was just a wooden playground set built perfectly in the middle of the huge lot. the playground was ringed with a circular concrete strip and the lot itself had a circular ring of hedges. and for some reason, it seemed like there had been some maintenance here because the weeds and hedges here weren't overgrown. the image of a lone playground on that lot just seemed odd and out of place. if anyone's seen the original x-files movie, you'll know what i mean.
what makes it more strange is the home is surrounded by multi-million dollar equestrian estates. anyone familiar with nellie gail and know the history of this home? i have no clue how it managed to stay in that condition for 20 yrs without neighbors or the hoa doing something about it. aside from the state of the home, it's an amazing property. huge view lot, multi-level yard with pools, outdoor kitchen and grill, tennis court, stables, etc. i'd love to post pics but out of respect to whoever might have/is living there, i'll just post the pool and playground.
a few yrs back, a RE appraiser friend of mine said she went to appraise a house in laguna hills and freaked out when she got there. she immediately left and asked if some friends to go back with her later. we couldn't understand why she was so afraid but it sounded like curious fun.
it was wintertime so when the rest of us were available to help her out after work, it was nearing dark. it didn't take long to figure out why the house creeped my friend out. the house was a 10,000 sq ft custom in nellie gail ranch, built in 1981 by a chinese family... and it appeared to have been abandoned since the 80s. there was buick of that era sitting on the parkway, almost wrapped up by the weeds and vines that had grown around it. the house had no power so we had to go in with flashlights. the design and layout suggested the architect was doing heavy coke back in those days because the place was a literal maze. oddly shaped rooms, ceiling lines, layout that made no sense like a long corridor that would led to a closet. neverthless, we had to confirm everything that was on the listing, i.e. if the listing said the house had a meatlocker, then we had to go find it and check it out.
it appeared that there might have been squatters living there since some of the beds looked like they had been slept in and still had sheets and blankets. bathrooms had cups and toothbrushes. there were fast food wrappers left here and there. some of the other bedrooms were completely torn apart, beds flipped, sheets halfway pulled off. door jams were splintered with the locks on the doors in the out-position indicating the doors were bashed in.
the squatter theory however didn't make sense as some of the other rooms were completely untouched - as if frozen in time. the study/office, aside from a thick layer of dust everywhere, was immaculate. one would think this room would have been ransacked. books, personal files and documents were all neatly shelved. there was even a bucket of coins sitting on a shelf. on the desk there was an open ledger, checkbook, bills, and some airplane tickets dated to the late 80s. whoever was there obviously intended to come back... but apparently never did. it was a unsettling feeling to think about a family just vanishing, and us uncovering a 20-yr old crime scene. as we continued to move through the house, those first few moments of turning a dark corner, stepping into the next room, or opening a closet door was marked by a momentary dread of what we might find.
by the way, when i mentioned meatlocker earlier, i wasn't kidding. the house did indeed have one. we opened it and found a few banker boxes filled with documents (we didn't go through them.) the kitchen had multiple woodburning brick ovens, with small clay pots (um, urns perhaps??) sitting next to them. i dared one person to open the fridge. big mistake - it was still full... and probably hadn't been opened since the 80s. the backyard pool wasn't much better. it was filled with foamy green, standing water - probably the accumulation of yrs of old rain water. there was supposed to be a trail leading to some stables but we weren't able to find the trail because of overgrown weeds and roughage. nor would anyone dare venture down into the basement.
and this i found very disturbing. the family had owned two adjacent lots, but everything was built only on one lot. on the neighboring lot, there was just a wooden playground set built perfectly in the middle of the huge lot. the playground was ringed with a circular concrete strip and the lot itself had a circular ring of hedges. and for some reason, it seemed like there had been some maintenance here because the weeds and hedges here weren't overgrown. the image of a lone playground on that lot just seemed odd and out of place. if anyone's seen the original x-files movie, you'll know what i mean.
what makes it more strange is the home is surrounded by multi-million dollar equestrian estates. anyone familiar with nellie gail and know the history of this home? i have no clue how it managed to stay in that condition for 20 yrs without neighbors or the hoa doing something about it. aside from the state of the home, it's an amazing property. huge view lot, multi-level yard with pools, outdoor kitchen and grill, tennis court, stables, etc. i'd love to post pics but out of respect to whoever might have/is living there, i'll just post the pool and playground.
