Abandoned houses evoke your fantasy

Because the weather is not too good, I am reading a lot. Right now, I'm nearly finished with The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, starring Special Agent Pendergast. In it features a - seemingly - abandoned mansion at Riverside Drive in New York city.

Isn't it strange how we begin to imagine things when we see such an abandoned house? I remember that in my student days, when I took the train to and from Ghent every day, we always passed a house where nobody seemed to live. It really worked on my fantasy. I began to imagine I got inside of this house, finding .... whatever, but it should be really spooky!

It's that same house which figures in the opening story of Face in the Mirror and Other Stories, my collection of short stories.

Many authors have used abanboned houses in their novels, and of course many movies play with the idea.

Have you ever entered an abandoned house? If so, did anything strange happen???