[ad_1]
ESTANCIA, N.M. (CBS Local) – An abandoned house in a small town southeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico, attracts locals from across the region.
Many think that it is haunted.
"If you pass by, you can sometimes see ghosts standing at the window," Raul Zubia told KRQE.
"It's kind of a ghost house," said Michelle Jones. "People love it for this time of year, for Halloween."
The house now without a door is fenced off the public on Highway 55 in Estancia.
"It's been abandoned for probably 20 years," said Estancia board member and former Mayor Morrow Hall.
How it happened can surprise you.
According to Hall, a local lawyer, Fred Ayers, purchased the kit home in the 1920s in the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog.
It turns out that the retail giant sold more than 70,000 of these home kits to build in about 450 different housing styles between 1908 and 1940.
READ MORE: "Piece of American History": The 1912 Sears House in Greeley
The house still belongs to the Ayers family, who are currently raising livestock on the surrounding land.
"I just think it's wonderful that it's in our city," Jones said.
Of course, things have not been so great for Sears lately. Sears Holdings Corp., the parent company of Sears and Kmart chain stores, filed for bankruptcy protection this week, announcing the closure of 142 additional stores by the end of the year.
Hall can not help but see the irony.
"[The abandoned house] looks like Sears and Roebuck are doing right now, "said Hall.
Source link
