Listen to this.
LISTEN TO THIS!
NPR calls them “driveway moments”. Those bits on the radio that are so good, that after you pull into the driveway, you don’t get out, but rather, sit in the car until the story is over.
The House On Loon Lake, is as Ira Glass says, a “real-life Hardy Boys story, or an episode of Scooby-Doo.”
- Listen to 30-second promo (stream)
- Listen to full episode (stream)
- I’ve also uploaded the MP3 , so you can listen on a ‘pod’ device
Prologue
Host Ira Glass explains that our show's a little different this week. It consists of one long story, lasting the entire hour, about a young boy, an abandoned house, and the mysterious family who once lived there but seemed to disappear without a trace.
Act One
Adam Beckman tells the first part of his story, about how, back in the 1970s, he and his friends broke into an abandoned house in the small town of Freedom, New Hampshire. The home turned out to be a perfect time capsule, containing the furniture, letters and personal effects of an entire family ... abandoned for decades. It seemed like the family just vanished one day, leaving salt and pepper shakers on the table, notes on the bedroom mirror, and a wallet with money still inside. Adam and his friends read the letters, saving some as clues, and never forgot.
I heard this episode of This American Life, when I was in SLC, and sat in a parking lot until it was finished. It was cold out, so I’d restart the car every 15 minutes or so, to get the heater going.
>People's possessions have lives of their >own--and stories to tell.
Rosebud. :)
Posted by: PBK | January 28, 2011 at 06:20 PM
I love this story! So haunting. I especially like the role of the mother, just as curious as her boy. People's possessions have lives of their own--and stories to tell.
Posted by: Marta Apple | January 28, 2011 at 05:45 PM