If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence.
I took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly so cunningly, that no human eye — not even his — could have detected anything wrong. There was nothing to wash out — no stain of any kind — no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that.

The ReUse’s main capital is architectural salvage. Strictly speaking this is framing lumber, flooring, windows, doors, bricks, and that sort of stuff. When dealing with old houses, however, it is unavoidable that all kinds of things… I’ll call it unconventional salvage, turn up. Although no gold bars, money stashes, lost artwork (worth saving that is), guns, bodies (rodents excluded) or, as master Poe describes above, beating hearts have turned up under the floorboards many other interesting things do.

Finding this stuff is somewhat of an art form, and experienced crew members know where to look for it. It requires part Indiana Jones, This Old House, and Antiques Road Show. Basements, attics, crawlspaces, cupboards, closets, rafters, coal bunkers, etc… are where this stuff resides. Your inner Dr. Jones is needed to wedge yourself into filthy crawlspaces, past wads of spider webs, mice, centipedes, spiders and other filth and vermin. Your Bob Villa (or whoever is hosting these days) knows how old houses are put together and where people could stash stuff. Finally your Antiques Road Show expert knows that a particular light globe is old glass not just a Chinese knock-off.

So in honor of Halloween tomorrow I thought I’d spin a few yarns about some of the stuff I’ve seen and heard about while working in old houses.

Flying Free Again

Attics always contain cool stuff. Michael and I recently cleared out an attic, and while leaving looked up and saw two poles, neatly wrapped in brown paper, stashed up in the rafters. They are 48-star American flags (1912-1959) made of stitched linen. They were probably made in the 1920’s since the depression and WWII luxuries and materials in short supply, and all flags after WWII were made of nylon. I always wonder who stowed these flags in such a loving manner. We may never know but their flags now proudly fly in the ReSource and are a perfect symbol for rebuilding urban America.

The Curmudgeon Bench

An East Side garage yielded a monstrously heavy pattern-maker’s bench and vise. The bench is made of hardwoods and bears the scars from of years of hard work – deep oil stains and tool marks. A favorite conversation of Kevin’s and mine is about old curmudgeons that seem haunt workshops, garages, and places like that, and this bench just screams “old curmudgeon” and I believe the builder would begrudgingly approve of its reuse at 100 years old (Note it’s not for sale because we use it).

Toyland, Toyland, little Girl and Boy-land…

Its always poignant to find toys in houses. It is a reminder that even the most dilapidated houses once housed families. I’m not a Polyanna but I always hope that the toys we from happy children with caring families that gave these toys to the children as presents on Christmas mornings, or any special event. We mostly modern plastic toys but one house north of the city yielded the tubular steel chassis of chain-drive peddle car. It looks like it once sported a streamlined body, something like a 49 Mercury. I imagine a young child played with it for years and then in the teens decided to remove the body with plans to convert it to a hot rod go-cart. Like many things, however, the chassis sat in the basement, the boy moved out, eventually mom and dad passed away and the there it sat until the house was scheduled for demolition.

What’s Your Sign Baby?

Another ubiquitous feature of old houses is the adult entertainment…oh heck…porn stashes under the stairs or in a back closet. There’s usually no vintage Betty Page pinups but mostly assortments of cheesy 1970’s items and media. Because of the commonness of these prurient collections I do not believe they are the product of any Ted Bundy types, but rather the personal library of an Archie Bunker-type guy who kept this little bit of forbidden fruit for himself and the fellas on poker night. What Archie didn’t know is that Edith pretended not to know about it and Junior shared it with every other guy and their younger brothers on the block. Amazingly, Junior (who couldn’t chew gum and walk) always rearranged it in such perfect order so that only Pops believed it was a secret.

You Wanna Go Where Everybody Knows Your Name…

Buffalo is said to have a church, bowling alley, and tavern on every corner. The amount of brewski memorabilia and paraphernalia certainly corroborates that saying. Printed beer crates and beer memorabilia are particularly common finds. We recently found an Iroquois Brewing Co.-branded pop-top opener that exactly matched the Iroquois Brewing Co. bottle boxes found a few months earlier in an attic. Must have been a popular brand. Teenage hangouts in attics and basements are postered with Labatts and Coors signs – in between Farah Fawcett and Bo Derrick posters. Actual bars are also a popular find along with church pews and church parts!. I particularly like the souvenir mugs from Bishop Timon High School’s 1987 junior prom (same year as my junior prom). “Don’t Dream it’s Over” by Crowded House was their theme song. However the wisdom of beer mugs for a high school prom escapes me.

Heavy Boots of Lead, Fills His Victims full of Dread…

This story is really heavy, although there are no clever anecdotes I can find to open it. Simply, a former medical office yielded an X-ray machine and several tons of lead. Having worked with radiation I am not surprised, but the crews were when they discovered that the walls and door were lined with ¼ inch lead sheeting. Pretty heavy Eh?

We’ve Got Trouble Right Here in River City

Mason jars, glass containers, and old bottles, especially patent medicine bottles are always an interesting find. I always wonder how they end up under houses (perhaps next to the beating heart!), under stairs, in crawls spaces, etc… Under a house in South Buffalo a bottle of tonic “For everything that ails you” was recovered. Brewed up in Rochester New York this marvelous “tonic” contained 75% alcohol and some herbs (I believe this is called a Harvey Wallbanger nowadays), and if it at least didn’t cure you it must have made you forget about whatever ailed you.

Everything Old is New Again, and Again

While deconstructing a house in South Buffalo we discovered that ReUsing is not an entirely new idea. As we lifted the beams from this mid-1800’s house we noticed they were particularly heavy and not made of hemlock – the usual structural wood in Buffalo housing – and had notches and bolt holes indicating a previous life as perhaps a railroad bridge. Closer inspection and discussions with a customer revealed that these beams probably came a factory since the notches appeared to be mounting points for pulleys for leather belt driven machinery. Kevin and I imagined another old curmudgeon grumbling about lumber prices and dragging these monsters (grumbling as he went) from the former factory site. I know we certainly grumbled loading them on the trailer.

Return to sender, address unknown…

As you pull apart old houses you find all sorts of postcards, stamps, pictures and documents in boxes, under baseboards, etc… Recently I found a segment of a postcard with a two cent stamp (1920s) used to shim up a door hinge. These documents are always interesting because they remind us that old buildings once houses people. Some lives were exciting and exotic as we find postcards, letters, and brochures from all over the world. Others were very normal as is attested by school notebooks, ticket stubs, and shopping lists. One interesting find I remember is a piece of drywall from an East Side house. On the back, obviously done when a repair was made, three children left a note for the future. It said that is was January 1972, Gerald Ford was president and it was cloudy and 23 degrees outside. Message received.

Well there’s a few stories for today. As I go out I’ll leave you with the end of the Tell Tale Heart. Happy Halloween and see you at the ReSource.

Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! — no, no? They heard! — they suspected! — they KNEW! — they were making a mockery of my horror! — this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! — and now — again — hark! louder! louder! louder! LOUDER! — “Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! — tear up the planks! — here, here! — it is the beating of his hideous heart!”