T H E   G E I S L E R   P L A C E

You may delay, but time will not --Benjamin Franklin

*this location has since been demolished

Geisler Place, Jackson, New Jersey

explored & photographed by: Shady

In Jackson, there is a crooked, narrow little lane cutting through the woods called Geisler Lane. Off of this road, nearly hidden under mounds of thorny vines and brambles, lies this half-constructed house... left incomplete, neglected, and forgotten by all but time.

It appears that work on the building was just cut off mid-construction and abandoned. It's a smallish, two-story place, with a tiny screened-in porch around back. Someone spray-painted a message- KEEP OUT- right on the house. Whoopsie. I'll just pretend I didn't see that. The whole area is tangled with viciously thorny bushes, as I (and my hundreds of scratched & gauged body parts) can personally attest. There is also waist-high grass all around the house

The house looks aged and timeworn beyond it's apparent years, as if the harshness of nature has attacked the weaknesses of the unfinished home, speeding up it's untimely decay. Some of the upper windows still have glass in them, despite the crumbling state of the sad structure. The screening on the little porch is ripped and hangs in tattered ribbons.

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Green leafy tendrils reach for the house and poke their way onto the porch. The fading sun paints strange shadows on the lonely building, illuminating the empty interior. Giant cracks and holes in the walls allow glimpses into the murky would-be home.

The wild woods around the Geisler place are beautiful in a chaotic, natural way... even as they encroach on the lost house. The front of the building is threadbare and choked with dry grass. The porch around back doesn't look too sturdy, the wooden planks are splintered and warped. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist treading carefully over the porch and into the empty house...

Inside, the place is a hollow shell. Support beams stand naked in a house without walls, and the feeble orange-y light shines in bars across the dusty concrete floor. There's not much to be seen on the ground floor. A staircase leads up to the second floor; I tested it lightly with one foot and heard the sound of groaning, splintering wood. I decided against going up (and possibly through) those stairs... so unfortunately, I didn't investigate the upper floor.

The railing on the staircase is pretty wicked looking in the gloom, casting curvy shadows across the floor. The stairway is steep and narrow, and a gaping hole in the ceiling above reveals useless insulation and wiring. The home that was probably intended for a family now houses a host of wildlife- squirrels, birds, spiders and mice- instead.

This house was not so much creepy as it was just desolate. I can only imagine that someone was looking forward to making this place a home at one time, and it's sad to see the state of disrepair and neglect that it ended up falling into.

*May 2002- I was surprised to drive by this site recently, only to find that the Geisler Place has been totally demolished. It really seems that it was there one day, and gone the next! Nothing now stands on the site where it used to be besides an empty, flattened clearing. Well, at least we have these pics to remember it by!

Our visitor Stephanie wrote, "I just wanted to let you know that I came across your website while goofing around on the computer. I used to live on Geisler Lane while growing up (in the 80s and 90s). That house on the corner was mostly deserted while I lived there, but when I was about 10 or 11 there was a family living there, and I was friends with their children. I don't know the family's name or what happened to them. Thought you might like this information."

Do you have any background information or stories to tell about this site?

The Geisler Place... hidden away amidst mounds of twisting thorny vines... an unfinished, forgotten house... creep out your desktop with a GP wallpaper

 

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