Explorer finds elderly couple’s abandoned home full of ‘lost memories’

An urban explorer has found an elderly couple’s abandoned home still completely intact – with the bed still made and old photograph’s left on the coffee table.Show more

Gaby, 24, from the US, found the property after researching online for disused homes, but was stunned to find it packed full of “lost memories."

While she has chosen not to disclose the location, Gaby described the house as having 10 small rooms spread out over two floors – some of which had “no clear purpose” and was “stuffed with miscellaneous belongings."

Gaby, who explored the home with her boyfriend, Sonny, found appliances and furniture still in place around the home, with the kitchen full of cabinets of dishes, glasses and utensils.

In the lounge, they found crocheted blankets, an old Zenith TV and a few older model vacuums.

They later discovered a polaroid picture showing an older man sitting and reading a newspaper on the same sofa still in the home.

A luggage case revealed vintage photographs – some of weddings and others with a couple holding a baby – which Gaby found “fascinating” to pour over.

She even found a handwritten recipe for zucchini bread – which she later tried and said was “absolutely delicious."

“It's always hard to know why an abandoned home was left behind, or what led the family to leave so many belongings,” Gaby, who is also a student, said.

“As for this home, I really don't know for sure. But we can look at what is left and sometimes that can tell us at least a part of the story of the people who once resided there.

“In this case, there were so many photos of an older couple, and generally the decor and style of the home suggested that it was indeed an older couple that resided there.

“I hope this may not be the case, but there is the potential that they passed on and no one else in the family who the home was left to wants to do anything with it, and chooses to let it sit there and rot away.

“Based on my observations of the home alone and the unkempt state of it, I imagine it's been more than a few years at least [since it was abandoned].”

She shared clips filmed inside the home on her TikTok account (@urbex_muse) with her 1.5 million followers.

The post was viewed nearly 300,000 times and racked up 40,000 likes.

Gaby says part of the fun of exploring abandoned properties is the mystery and trying to piece together information based on what was left behind – but she admits it can be an emotional experience too.

She said: “It always feels a little sombre knowing that the home I am exploring was once bursting at the seams with memories, and that for some people still out there that home means the world to them.

“But it can also warm my soul so much when seeing evidence of a happy home rather than an unhappy one, whether that be reading old letters or postcards from the family members to seeing the photographs left behind to just feeling the energy of the home itself.

“Sometimes just even stepping into the space you can so clearly feel the sense of happiness and love left behind by the people that once stayed there.”

The property also appears to have been left relatively untouched – likely due to other explorer’s not finding it yet.

Gaby said: “Luckily this home did not have an extensive amount of intentional vandalism –graffiti, smashed items, etc – which I believe is due to it not receiving as much foot traffic as other more popular abandoned locations.

“As for weather damage, the detached garage had slightly collapsed and you could generally note a sense of wear and tear across the home, from peeling paint and water damage to some presence of mould.

“However, I do find beauty in the natural decay of these homes. It adds a haunting beauty to the photos I capture, and reminds us that nothing lasts forever.”