An Abandoned Gun Club Owner's House in the Woods, With Ammo Everywhere and No Guns

This house was hidden deep in the woods and had a mysterious feel to it. We did not know what it was when we walked up, and we did not know there was anything inside. It turned out to be a gun club owner’s house, loaded with unused ammunition and a lot of other finds.

There were three of us. We found what appeared to be a police or sheriff badge holder in a wallet, jewelry and possibly gold, and a ton of bullets, but no guns. I think somebody had already been through the house and taken them. The exact location stays off this page.

What we found

Early on there were a lot of tools and an old mattress with a pattern on it. The first good find was a vintage Polaroid camera, and some boxes nearby were still sealed.

The ammo started outside the house. Lead from shotgun shells was scattered around, with remnants of clay pigeons and a holster. The front door was locked, but another door was open. Inside I found an old wallet with the money taken out, an old freezer, a fat grilling machine, cartridge boxes and a heater. Some gold looking chains turned up. I doubt they were real gold, though silver is possible.

It smelled bad in the house, and one closet was full of mold. I said if you have masks, put them on. There were gun magazines, pictures of ducks with Federal ammunition ads, newspapers stacked everywhere and a National Sporting Goods membership. The office was small and buried in junk. A school project on Washington Crossing the Delaware was in there, which I figured the kids or grandkids made. I thought the owner might have made his own jewelry, but I don’t know.

Under a pile of paper, in an old wallet, was what appeared to be a police or sheriff badge holder, so we guessed this was a sheriff’s house. There were holes in the floor. We found a Shooter’s Bible, some creepy baby doll parts, a gun rack, gun oil on the stairs and a gun cabinet that I assumed had been cleared out. More unused bullets turned up. We found coins, including a 1988 nickel and a dime from the 1960s that I thought might be silver. In one room part of a wall had collapsed and the ceiling was on the floor, with a huge hole going down to the basement.

The basement had a pool table, old garden pots, matches and baby feet that someone had painted and stuck on the wall. I guessed they were grandkids’ feet. There was a back room, fake flowers, more boxes of ammo, empty shotgun shells, a pocket pack of pistol ammunition and a junk drawer.

The office had a reloading book, third edition, a canteen, a receipt for $800 at Target in 1999 and what looked like a ten thousand dollar receipt for reloading powder. I said you can’t tell me he spent that much on bullets and then just vanished and left everything.

Then came a projector and a projector screen, a barrel and stock finishing kit, stock conditioner and brand new holsters still in their packages. A little safe was empty. It looked like somebody had thrown the place apart. I assumed they stole the guns because we didn’t find any. TikTok took my video down because they don’t allow anything related to guns.

The last rooms had a cast for a broken leg, a paintball mask, records, clip on glasses in a nice case and a World War II CD. A sign read firearm safety depends on you, and a sculpture looked like half a gun. Someone opened an unopened box of ammunition, and there was a huge hunting canteen. In the yard was a Jeep with no wheels and a registration from 2013, and I said it could have been dumped there. Outside were also a ladder, a saw, a mini fridge, pallet wood and a lawn chair. I don’t know the full story on this one. I said if I couldn’t find anything online, it would stay a mystery.

Why places like this end up empty

Most of what is left in a house like this is the part that never got settled. When an owner dies without a will or an estate plan, state law decides who inherits the property. Probate can clear up who owns it, but families may not know about it, may not have the money, or may not trust the process.

Over time ownership can split among several heirs and split again with each generation. Unrecorded shares make the title cloudy, which makes it hard or impossible to insure the house, get repair loans or sell it. Some heirs have no interest in maintaining it, and distant heirs may not know they own a share. The Center for Community Progress says a property like that can sit abandoned for decades, that repair costs can exceed what it is worth, and that clearing title can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

I don’t know which of that applies here. Nothing in the house told us what happened to the owner.

The Jeep out back still had a registration from 2013.