A Short Message From the Author When one of my formerly close friends moved to Hoffman Estates nearly a decade ago, we could have done pushups on Shoe Factory Road without worrying about traffic. Things are much different today. Subdivisions (the first of which had already been built at the time) have cropped up all along this lonely road, which used to be bordered by nothing but forest and farmland. Now, subdivisions sporting quaint, English-sounding names like “Beacon Pointe” and “Haverford Place” intrude on the landscape, replacing wetlands with water “detention areas.” Catering to latté liberals and their Hispanic lawn maintenance crews, $400-$500,000 model homes with designs like “Summerhill,” “Roseglen,” and “The Springwood,” have been built over the ruins of farmhouses. Luxury features, including 3 (no more, no less) parkway trees and “entertaining-sized kitchen islands,” can be added for merely an extra $66,000. A pair of eyesores marked for elimination are the subjects of this newsletter. Resting no more than one hundred yards apart, these two abandoned properties have sparked the imagination of local children and teenagers for the past ten years. First known to me as “that cool-looking abandoned house” and the barn down the street, a host of stories, ranging from the slightly plausible to the completely absurd, have grown up there. As you can probably ascertain from my description of these facts, I am unhappy with them. To me, building one subdivision there was enough. Now, these developers and their saccharine saleswomen are plotting the destruction of one of the last unique buildings on that road, never mind the fact that it has value in the folklore of the community. Destroying farms and forests, along with any place the imagination can run free, and replacing them with economical modularity and sameness―today that is called progress. g Your Letters In subsequent issues, we hope to print your letters commenting on what you have read. Only the best (shortest) letters will be published. Please e-mail your letters to [email protected] and we will try to publish them. Contents From the Author 1 Your Letters 1 A Quick and Dirty Guide 2 The Fallen Investigate 3 Personal Experiences 6 Trivia 6 The horrors of the supernatural have been replaced by the horrors of suburbia. Page 1 ISSN: 1934-9106
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Transcript
A Short Message From the Author
When one of my formerly close friends moved
to Hoffman Estates nearly a decade ago, we could have
done pushups on Shoe Factory Road without worrying
about traffic. Things are much different today.
Subdivisions (the first of which had already
been built at the time) have cropped up all along this
lonely road, which used to be bordered by nothing but
forest and farmland. Now, subdivisions sporting
quaint, English-sounding names like “Beacon Pointe”
and “Haverford Place” intrude on the landscape,
replacing wetlands with water “detention areas.”
Catering to latté liberals and their Hispanic lawn
maintenance crews, $400-$500,000 model homes with
designs like “Summerhill,” “Roseglen,” and “The
Springwood,” have been built over the ruins of
farmhouses. Luxury features, including 3 (no more, no
less) parkway trees and “entertaining-sized kitchen
islands,” can be added for merely an extra $66,000.
A pair of eyesores marked for elimination are
the subjects of this newsletter. Resting no more than
one hundred yards apart, these two abandoned
properties have sparked the imagination of local
children and teenagers for the past ten years. First
known to me as “that cool-looking abandoned house”
and the barn down the street, a host of stories, ranging
from the slightly plausible to the completely absurd,
have grown up there.
As you can probably ascertain from my
description of these facts, I am unhappy with them. To
me, building one subdivision there was enough. Now,
these developers and their saccharine saleswomen are
plotting the destruction of one of the last unique
buildings on that road, never mind the fact that it has
value in the folklore of the community.
Destroying farms and forests, along with any
place the imagination can run free, and replacing them
with economical modularity and sameness―today that
is called progress. g
Your Letters
In subsequent issues, we hope to print your
letters commenting on what you have read. Only the
best (shortest) letters will be published. Please e-mail