The house that killed its owner’s narrative
The house that killed its owner’s narrative
On a mountaintop in the centre of Wapiti Valley, close to Cody, Wyoming, and Yellowstone National Park, a decrepit five-story wooden structure with long, twisting stairs and haphazardly extending balconies was constructed more than thirty years ago. An eccentric engineer created the home. Francis Lee Smith was given the name solely out of passion for the field.
construct a dream home
The log mansion was constructed over a twelve-year period by Smith using wood that was recovered from a nearby wildfire on Rattlesnake Mountain. Anybody who could lend a few hands to cleaning the mountain after the trees on the mountainside caught fire was welcome to take use of the partially burned logs. Smith started constructing his ideal cabin in the canyon after shipping lumber there.
When the first floor was finished, Smith moved in from the city of Cody with his wife and two children. However, he never stopped building, toiling away in his home by the light of a single lamp night after night, until his acute obsession with the home led to the dissolution of his marriage and his eventual death.
Simple existence
There was absolutely no comfort in the house. Apart for what was generated by a small generator, there was no running water, plumbing, or power. The only source of heat was a wood burner in the basement. Meals were prepared on the stove as well. The family’s dining table was a giant tree stump with smaller logs arranged around it as chairs. Throughout the winter, everyone slept on the floor in sleeping bags near the house’s only source of heat (the stove).
While the family was still residing there, a variety of wild animals including raccoons, skunks, wildcats, owls, and many other animals occupied the structure, including Mr. Smith who slept in a hammock during the summer and his children who occasionally slept in a separate large doghouse-like cabin on the front porch. Those who resided inside the structure or below the floors
Smith’s marriage came to an end and he passed away.
After a few years, Smith’s wife decided she had had enough of this life and they got divorced. She then moved to another city with the kids, but the kids continued to visit their father and occasionally spend the night there. After his family passed away, Smith continued to build additions to the house while he was grieving. The haphazard construction of the house, which was built without an engineering drawing or plan, is comparable to the well-known Sarah Winchester House in San Jose, California, which she built over the course of 38 years. Smith perished there in 1992 after falling from one of the balconies while working on the house and passing away from his injuries; his death was not reported until years later. After barely two days, his physique. The house has been vacant and abandoned since since he passed away, and the wooden building has slowly started to rot and degrade, as well as suffer some vandalism. Smith’s daughter Sunny Larsen started making efforts to raise money for its restoration a number of years ago. The home was listed for sale at $750,000 at the beginning of this month.