Restoring old properties is a hobby of mine. A very profitable one. And in my travels I’ve definitely experienced a good bit of “if these walls could talk” scenarios — but nothing tops my most recent encounter.

Not long ago, I took a job in a sleepy town right after a vicious storm had swept through the area. I was working on a red-brick beauty — a hidden gem of an abandoned house that had fallen into disrepair.

I was inspecting a massive brass and crystal chandelier’s wiring, while a crew of other guys I’d hired worked on the fireplace in the parlor. They were blasting music so they could hear their tunes over their stone-chiseling and hammering.

As such, I had on my noise-canceling headphones and never heard the front door open. But when I felt a draft on my... Read More