On Saturday I decided to head out to the Allen House to clean up a little. Mr. Amato called me and told me that he had two more dumpsters delivered. Call me crazy, but there is something fun about throwing all of that stuff out and seeing such a dramatic difference in a room. I’m not the only one that finds it fun because Bridget joined me! Bridget is the lady that first told me about the Allen house. That was back in January. She works at the law office that handles tax foreclosures for Vance County.
One thing about cleaning out a house where hoarding was clearly an issue, you never know what you will find and every item has to be looked over! On Saturday we wanted to clean out a closet in a downstairs room. Then we could move furniture that was salvageable into that closet. Not sure why, but the previous owner apparently refused to ever throw out a box. We got rid of about 50 empty boxes. Who knows, maybe she was going to start packing stuff up to move, but got overwhelmed and just left? We will probably never know. Mr. Amato came by on Saturday to see what we were doing.
The fact that she just up and left all of her items and antiques is what makes what I found in the closet even more baffling. Clearly she was protecting this item. I tried to pick up a box, assuming it was another empty one. I was going to fling it out the window to Bridget. She was there tossing things into the dumpster. This box wouldn’t budge. I opened it and could only see blankets. I started pulling blankets out and tossing them out the window and then I saw it. WHAT IS THIS?! I yelled for Bridget to come inside.
This item is at least 15 pounds. It looks handmade to us. The hide wrapped around it still has animal hair on it, looks like horse hair to us. It stands up to my knee, but it cannot stand on its own. An archaeologist friend that volunteered at the Allen House said it looks to be a cooking vessel to her. Around 2500 BC Native Americans would have been living in villages. They would have had a community cooking vessel, like a crock pot. To us it looks like it could have been used in a fire for many years. Others suggested a Native American water jug. What’s really frustrating is we will probably never know where the previous owner found it or got it from. She was a big gardener. Was she digging and found it on the land?
Jeremy is going to contact a friend of his that works at the State Archives and see if I can bring it in for him to examine it. One thing is for sure, the previous homeowner was trying to protect it. I’m thankful that whomever has been in there trashing the house didn’t stumble onto it and take it. It is now safely sitting in my house for the time being.
I was watching this ghost hunting show the other day and the family had poltergeist activity happening at their house. The ghost hunters swore it was from a antique item they bought at a garage sale. Better not start hearing knocking at night or anything like that! 🙂
