Why Is This Off-Grid Desert Homestead Abandoned?

not your house out in the California desert near the border of Arizona and not far above Mexico is a relatively fancy Abode that's a mystery to find it I had to travel Beyond a ghost town and to the end of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere I'd been told by a local to have a look at it as there had been much effort put into building not only the house but also the water system rock walls and numerous other things but now it sat abandoned in the desert property enticed me I had to have look but who lived here and for how long what happened to them it was time to scour the property for Clues Rock oper here the desert holds many secrets and this region and this place May hold at least one of those but my first stop was to explore the ghost town I couldn't find much information about this place when I later researched it I'm hoping someone out there can provide me with some info on the name of the place and what it was it now had a strange and somewhat creepy Vibe but I could see that residents had put a lot of work into the structures and these were someone's loving Homes at one time a lone flag waving in the Wind made me think that perhaps someone still resided there but a closer look revealed that it was abandoned many years ago now all that was left was an odd assortment of decaying structures and the items left behind by the people who once called this place home apparently this was called The Glass House probably because it had so many windows throughout the house let's have a look inside windows even inside those cabinets look to be pretty old I'm going to say they were probably constructed maybe about the late 1940s pretty rustic looking old tomato juice can down there that's not too old what's back here no not much probably some storage got a nice fireplace there looks like somebody has been making fires in there on occasion still lots and lots of Windows that is for sure mattress and just goes out to this last room room or two out here looks like the sun room here maybe and that's where we came in over there let's go inside this one and have a look some tires some sort of chicken cages maybe rabbit cages rabbit hutches got an old fridge back there now that kind of confirms my suspicion from what the uh some locals were telling me that this could be from around the 1940s when this place was originally built this is all just some tires and junk in this room you got an old cooler there thermos with the uh actual metal not plastic and uh yeah it's pretty solidly constructed plastic on the main body and there's another fridge yeah maybe late 1940s early 1950s got some cages here and that pretty much concludes the tour got a just a couple little things up on the shelves here not much really couple fan belts back there here's an old piece of a newspaper or an ad this might have a clue as to how old things are here uh see if we can find any date you can certainly see the prices bathroom tissue 9 cents for four rolls so this has got to be at least you know 20 25 years ago uh what do we have here oh hey look there's a date right there expires four 2093 hey look this is where that gopher from CAD Shack the movie has been hiding that's where you've been at huh you little bugger okay so maybe you're a squirrel but at first it looked like a gopher it wouldn't take long to dry clothes on this line in the Desert Wind looks like they must have had some animals in cages many questions come to mind as I explore these places who lived here what was life like how long did they last why did they leave I was told that a woman lived here for quite some time and that if anybody came too close she' get out the shotgun and start shooting at them apparently they had a Brisk business in prostitution here well have a quick peek doesn't look like there's much in here at all nope not really and just down from that house is this one similar construction concrete nothing here just the remains this is where they kept their pet cans caged an old motor home that somehow ended up upside down look what we've got cooking in the oven packrat nests somebody wrote frying pan into the concrete and over here is is a date looks like 1991 so maybe someone was here at that time some sort of cemetery here can't quite make out what any of this says um but I'm going to guess that maybe this is a pet cemetery as opposed to having humans buried here but I really can't be sure of that I mean anything is possible out here [Music] looks like we found the second place I was told about let's go on through and have a look looking around you would have no idea that anybody lived out here but at the end of a tiny dirt road was a Teensy Speck of humanity out in the desert tucked snugly away at the mouth of a canyon this definitely looks interesting all right it's possible that this may have been a small lake at one time looks like somebody put some real effort into building this house out here what does that say down there Noodle and mury oh my friend Tina from Black Canyon City the one who is in my New Year's video her kitty cat was named noodles all right let's go check this place out well let's go on in here and have a look W this is uh looks like it was a pretty nice place at one time but uh it's kind of caving in here and looks like there's been a bit of vandalism some partying going on here obviously you got your wild turkey right there and uh what else do we have here well some mattresses some chairs table over here pretty dirty and dusty in here now of course that's going to happen when you live in the desert no matter what little bathroom here nothing over there shower here so this looks pretty modern this was I don't know how long they lived here for or when the guy died but uh not much in here but yeah I don't know uh sounds like this place was maybe constructed don't really know late 30s maybe 1930s what do we have back here well can't get in there that's locked up whatever is in there what is that back in there nothing just a door some more evidence of partying must have got pretty hot in here they got an extinguisher yeah got some Jose quvo back on in here yeah might as well fix up a margarita yeah while we're at it and some Jim Beam over there a few spices left in the cupboards still and we even got some wall decor going on here that's still [Applause] intact you know this was probably a really nice little desert house and that's a pretty old fridge right there I got to say was that 1950s I would think so a little tiny oven right there and what do we have back here well kind of a mess that's what we have interesting wallpaper and uh what's left of a cabinet [Applause] maybe dresser a lot of love was put into this place and it shows there are fun little touches everywhere around here where you look here's an old newspaper it's not that old looking let's see what we've got here well 1997 so maybe somebody lived here until around that time I don't know here's another paper and it's also got a date of 1997 and if I recall they said he died about 20 years ago so that might just make sense nice little fireplace back here nice rock work more papers back here what do we have can we find a date I think we can let's see that looks like 1999 hey check that out tiny Oregon Town goes on the Block for $3 million town of otus say anybody want to buy a town it's going for about the price of a three-bedroom three Bath House in San Francisco looks like they had propane lighting here and oven mitt still hanging on the wall this is where they stationed one of the Buckingham Palace guards okay maybe not it's actually just as you probably guessed the ouse the path to the ouse looks like this is where they collected water you can see where they pip probably hooked dried up to there and they collected water from the roof how about that a pink trailer huh this trailer looks to be from about the 1950s so there could be something kind of old in here let's have a look around let's see how old these uh look like magazine Pages August 1971 yeah so we're getting kind of old here this also has 1971 very interesting old trailer and you got a lot of uh curler rollers down on the floor there that was a big thing back in the 50s you know get your hair all curled with those rollers and we're going back here there's not too much peanuts with uh some kind of Clips or something in there how much were Planters peanuts $229 for one pound so that doesn't look super old but it is made out of metal they don't do that anymore more magazines down here this magazine was only 60 cents uh 9 [Music] 1969 true magazine for today's man so uh yeah there you go not real familiar with that magazine let's see what do we have January 75 cents that's pretty cheap how old is this thing h doesn't really say how old it is must be some Telltale sign judging by that carpet yeah I'm going to say 1970s that bright orange and avocado green and all that stuff what do we have come on let's find a date here oh Rush my copy of your 1972 Spring Garden catalog all right 72 look at that ad from 1972 a look inside the pink TR trailer some nice Woodwork in here they don't do stuff like that anymore in trailers look at this pretty fancy schmancy and this was a trailer bag of the day solid wood doors somebody's prescription from 1979 his name was Arthur reer I just found a 1969 Reader's Digest and you could see an ad for the VW Bug here and it's only $1,799 for for a brand new one another ouse here for the pink trailer this one's a two-seater I was told there was a very elaborate water system here quite a network of pipelines and such apparently this is the tub where the old guy would just sit there relax in the tub and just look out at the desert Beauty there's even another shower right there looks like this was once a pond there's what's left of the windmill that they know out used to pump water out of the ground and Supply this place and if you look over there there's the windmill blades lying on the ground the Desert Wind gets so strong around here I wouldn't be surprised if it blew it right off the windmill what was this I wonder have a quick look around here it looks like a lot of ston work and we to get some hooks right there some stuff hanging on there still and and uh what do we have over here look at that there's like a table so maybe this is like a barbecue area little picnic area or something what is this looks kind of like a m shaft entrance but I don't think it is looks like it's a root cellar some kind of food storage area that was built right into the side of the mountain here the only things living here now it appears are Burrows as you can see from all these tracks I just found this and it looks like it says Lambert uh e Todd over there and Bob right here and it looks like it's from 1968 February 19th so I'm wondering if these are the people who lived here looks like some old oil and gas cans possibly the amount of ston work here is quite amazing it must have taken years just to do that alone and you could consider all the other construction that's been done here there's a lot of work and a lot of effort put into this place it's getting late so I think we should check this place out a little bit more tomorrow I'll just park it here from the night good morning wind started really ripping about 3:00 a.m. so I got a little bit of sleep for a while anyway and it was good and today it's sunny but Breezy I might as well take advantage of the facilities here remember if you're going to use some of these old ouses out in desert always check underneath the seat first to make sure there are no black widows which I already did cuz that would not be a nice way to start out your day getting bit in the butt by a black widow in the pink trailer ous looks like a World War II vintage mirror some bottles and cans here a tree Suite container made out of metal so I'm riding on that one with cream moisten dry cotton generously blah blah blah astringent furniture polish I'm going to say all this stuff's from around the 1960s here's a clue this butane container says year built 1946 right there here's another clue I just found Matt B 11489 so maybe somebody lived here through the 80s and that clue was found right here along this rock walkway behind the house also behind the house is this propane tank an old turpentine container that bottle says whiteall so maybe that was a medicine of some kind and these other bottles there's salt and pepper shaker and this one here was like a Pond's Cold Cream bottle there's a desert iguana not far down the road in a different area this makes me think of that bus that Chris McCandless the guy in into of the wild stay in up in Alaska I was lucky to meet a woman who called a friend who knew some of the history of the place according to her a World War I veteran from the eastern US was exposed to mustard gas during the war after the war ended his doctor told him he needed to move to the desert in order to breathe normally again he and his wife packed up bought this piece of land at a cheap price from an old minor who was unable to find gold or other valuable medals on it and moved here his wife hired a black man who lived in the pink trailer and helped with the yard and rockwork on the property where the windmill now sits there was a small dam and pond which provided water for the property when the couple who owned the place died the handyman continued to work on the property until he passed away most of the work seen here is done by the Veteran's wife and the handyman you might think that this place has a sad ending but when you think well you know these people found a place that really speaks to their soul and they lived out the rest of their days here well you can't have much better ending than that don't forget to give me a like on the video share and subscribe until next time this is a rock hopper I'll see you is this Petroglyph older or newer another mystery