Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying your long weekend, for those of you who get one. Monday is a holiday here and in our town this is the biggest holiday weekend of the summer. This tops Canada Day even, by quite a lot actually. It is still smoky today, that’s over a week now, though we have had several other times this summer when that forest fire smoke has descended on us.

Now, let’s follow my title.  Some years ago on a beautiful August evening I decided to go for a drive.  I enjoyed driving down some of our country roads, it was often a good way to see wildlife, plus occasionally finding some abandoned buildings or farms which can then lead to finding some interesting old items.  Driving along this one road I came to a spot and stopped. 

Not the same place, and later in the fall, but it did look much like this picture.

Hmm, I thought, looks like a house may have stood there at one time.  As you know, I enjoy exploring.  So I drove off the road and into the little clearing among the trees.  It looked like a driveway may have been in that location anyway years ago. 

But, I was careful not to go too far, I didn’t want to end up driving into an old well or some partially buried piece of metal or farm equipment which could damage my car.. I stopped the car and started to walk around.  Sure enough, a house did stand there at some point in the past.  An old floor, that definitely didn’t look safe to stand on, was still there.  And what’s this?  An opening into an old cellar. 

Same thing with this picture, but so similar.

Wow!  Just think what might be in that old cellar.  Old canning jars, bottles, boxes, stoneware, a skeleton.  What?!  Who said skeleton?  Anyway, I went back to my car to get a flashlight and gloves.  I just had to check this out! Of course, it meant walking across the old unsafe looking floor.  But it was only about 10 feet (3 meters). 

That’s not so bad, and you can’t explore by sitting back and looking at things, you have to be brave (although my friends and family have a different word for it…Stupid). But, off I went anyway.  The old boards creaked and sagged as I slowly and nervously walked over to the cellar opening.  The cellar door was missing, and had been for a long time by the looks of things. 

There was some very steep stairs leading down to the cellar.  They certainly looked solid enough.  I knelt down to push on them.  Yep, solid enough I figured.  I made it this far, may as well keep going the rest of the way.  So off I went down the stairs, slowly and carefully. The stairs creaked and groaned with all kinds of noises as I gingerly made my way down. I put my foot on the third step. 

An old abandoned field.

That was it.  Down I went with a loud crash, landing on my back in a cloud of dust with the broken stairs under, and all around me.  I lay there for a minute, then looked around for my flashlight.  Why wasn’t it working, I did have it on.  As my eyes became accustomed to the dim light of the cellar, I found my flashlight.  It was under part of the stairs.  And, it was broken.  Great. 

Slowly I could see things a bit better in that cellar.  Not much there.  Some old shelves at one end with a few, still full, canning jars.  Some old wood boxes in one corner.  An old broom that had seen better days was close by.  Hmm, not much. And how am I going to get out of here? 

This is where I lived previous to this place. This is a young bear, but even they can be dangerous.

I forgot to mention, it was already getting late by the time I found this place.  The sun was setting.  Which means it will be dark in about an hour.  I didn’t really want to spend the night in that cellar.  Then I heard someone walking on the floor above so I called out.  No answer.  I listened. Then I heard what sounded like panting. 

That wasn’t a person walking around up there!  Then this big black head looked in the cellar opening.  A bear! Well, I guess that’s long enough for today, I will share part 2 tomorrow. Have a great weekend everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin. ©2025 Steve McLeod.