Pants On Fire

Now we knew we'd find surprises during renovation.

Such as the original siding behind the wallboard...

Partially scraped cork tile floors under the carpet...

Honeycomb behind the fireplace brick (but thankfully no bees)...

Unused space behind walls...

But the soot and the evidence of the fire was really amazing to see.

behind the sink wall in the upstairs bathroom

behind the toilet wall, also in the upstairs bathroom

The Farmer thought that the fire had been started in a bathroom, so these discoveries confirm this. It was just pretty wild to see the soot (and charred wood...see below) behind the walls.

As the story goes, three owners ago (and when anyone in town asks where we live, they know it as the Sz** house) tried to burn the house down because he thought it would be cheaper to collect the insurance money than try to sell the house. He was devastated that his son had moved away and gone to college, and he wanted to move on too.

He put baggies of gasoline all throughout the upstairs and down the stairs, into the first floor. He set the fire and then left.

The problem?

He was a carpenter and built much of the house as you now see it. He built it well, too well - too air-tight - and he forgot to open a window to let in air. As such, the fire just smoldered.

The owner's brother saw the smoke and called The Farmer's uncle out of the field (apparently the owner and the brother didn't get along and he wanted a witness that he didn't start the fire...the irony...). They went to the house and broke a window. The flood of fresh air ignited the fire into a fire-y blaze, but the firemen arrived quickly by this point and put the fire out.

Unfortunately, the evidence against the owner was all over the house, in small baggies of fuel.

Fortunately, it wasn't much other than smoke.

But as you can see, there was some damage.

Door frame downstairs

The owner? He was deported. He was a legal immigrant but they took this status away from him. He now lives in Britain.