December 13, 2014

When a house deserves the death penalty.

"The overwhelming response we got from the survey is just to have the land taken over by woodland... to raze the house and have nothing there."

Last sentence of "Newtown Weighs What to Do With Adam Lanza’s Home."

25 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Reminds me of the way some people thought the World Trade Center site should be returned to nature somehow -- just trees.

tim in vermont said...

It worked for Jenny's house at the end of Forest Gump, and, had the rape at UVA actually taken place as described, it would have been appropriate there, and they could have built a gallows on the site and had Jackie pull the lever one by one.

Laslo Spatula said...

I suppose turning it into a Day-Care Center would be considered inappropriate.

I am Laslo.

DavidD said...

Oh, c,mon. It's. A. House. The house didn't do anything.

Owen said...

This is nothing new. Think of the deodand. Our first emotion is to punish the things that were used to hurt us; to send out of the world what frightens or saddens us. The eradication of the Lanza house is almost trivial compared to the obliteration and replacement of the ENTIRE SCHOOL where he carried out his slaughter. Because scary magic or something.

People, especially in groups, and most especially politicians preying on people in groups, are not always exactly rational.

David said...

With the emotional environment there, who would buy it? Their kids would be outcasts. Nobody would come over to have coffee with the mom.

Best to turn it into a wood.

A haunted wood.

TommyC1 said...

Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment building was razed to the ground and is now an empty lot. Who would live there? Same situation. Who would live there?

Original Mike said...

I didn't realize they were rich.

MisterBuddwing said...

Remember the McDonald's massacre in San Ysidro, California, back in 1984? Originally, McDonald's wanted to keep the restaurant open for business as usual, but the locals were adamant that it be razed. And it was.

donald said...


Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment building was razed to the ground and is now an empty lot. Who would live there? Same situation. Who would live there?

12/13/14, 8:51 AM



Somebody that could get a great deal would live there.

donald said...

Ah San Ysidro MCDonalds...

I had been back from my 1st cruise about a month. Our 1st class took a few of us down to TJ for an all nighter.

We stopped at that McDonalds on the way out, ate, left, got back to the ship turned on the tube and durn...

mikee said...

After 12 college kids were killed at Texas A&M University in the collapse of a badly re-sited and inadequately supervised Bonfire construction, a memorial not unlike Stonehenge was erected on the site and the annual Bonfire was banned for years and banished from campus. Each massive plinth had engraved on it a dead student's photo and brief biography.

An elderly Aggie, a friend of mine who spent 20+ years in the Army after graduation from the University back when it was an all-male Corps of Cadets military academy, took me to see the Bonfire memorial when it was completed.

Then we walked over to the Corps dorms where the memorial stands for former students who as soldiers died in battle, a small slab with tiny brass name tags grouped by graduation year of the many, many former students who gave their lives for their country.

The tribute after death does not enlarge upon nor diminish the lives of those who die, but only reflects the current fashions.

Burn down the house, salt the earth upon which it stood, then excavate the soil and dump it in the sea, if that makes anyone feel better. The kids killed by a madman are still dead, and so is he, and that is all the memorial the event really needs.

Biff said...

Interesting point, mikee. My current town has both a Newtown memorial and a 9/11 memorial. The town lost several citizens on 9/11, but suffered no losses in Newtown. Nonetheless, the Newtown memorial is much larger and in a much more visible place than our 9/11 memorial.

In my darker moments, I've wondered if the difference is due to the politics of the town (college town, overwhelmingly on the left; gun control and fighting "islamophobia" are popular topics), rather than the heartrending targets of the Newtown massacre. (Somehow, we do seem to forget that at least eight children under 12 years old were killed on 9/11.)

YoungHegelian said...

There's a house in my neighborhood that has had 3 murders in it in the past 15 years.

The first two people murdered were a father & a daughter. A family "friend" broke in to rape the daughter, and ended up killing both father & daughter.

Then, a middle school principal bought the house, and only afterwards found out about the house's history. He freaked out & complained to the real estate agent, who arranged for an Episcopal priest* to do an exorcism. That placated the new buyer.

Unfortunately, it turned out that said middle school principal was gay & into "rough trade" with thugs. One day he brought home three of them for "recreational activities", and they robbed & murdered him.

All the malefactors were caught & found guilty in both cases. The house, however, keeps on going back onto the market. It sat uninhabited for a long time after the last murder, but now, there's someone living in it again, owner or renter I don't know.

* ALWAYS, ALWAYS demand not only Roman Catholic, but also a Jesuit or Franciscan for your exorcism needs. Don't go after evil spirits with anything but the best! There's quality control issues to consider here, people!

Owen said...
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Owen said...

Young Hegelian: excellent advice about the FSE (Full Spectrum Exorcism). If you buy the premium service pack, I believe they will throw in Shinto and Buddhist as well.

Plus free glass coverage and a carpet steam-clean.

twgin said...

This is industrial strength idiocy along the same lines as hashtag sign holding. We have to show that "we care" or we have to "do something" to show our social justice bona fides.

The memorial thing is part and parcel of the same thing, started perhaps with the canonization of the "first responders" after 9/11 ?

Here in my town is a big piece of granite dedicated to law enforcement fatalities. There's room on there for about 500 names but only about 5 names are engraved on there so far. I guess that big hunk of blank granite shows how much we "care".

It's a beautiful house in a beautiful setting, sell it to someone who wants it.

Owen said...

twgin: you're being entirely too rational.

But ultimately the market will operate. Some arbitrageur will buy the lot and find a better use for it than simply fallow ground.

Hysteria has a half-life, and I don't think it's all that long. There's a house near us where a murder occurred about 20 years ago, and it is very happily occupied by very decent folk.

Jupiter said...

"Who would live there?"

I would. Looks like a nice house.

The Godfather said...

In the Colosseum, Christians were eaten alive by lions, and slaves were required to fight each other to the death. Tear it down.

At Stonehenge, and at the Aztec pyramids, human beings were sacrificed to the pagan gods. Tear them down.

In Canterbury Cathedral, the Archbishop was murdered by the King's henchmen. It has been a site of devotion and a destination of pilgrims ever since.

My recommendation to Newtown is that they sell the house and devote the proceeds to paying and equipping armed guards at the school. Never surrender to fear.

Danno said...

It shows that Newtown is a town of very affluent elitist libtards, when they both tear down the school where the murders occurred and the home owned by the mother of the murderer where no murders occurred.

MisterBuddwing said...

It shows that Newtown is a town of very affluent elitist libtards, when they both tear down the school where the murders occurred and the home owned by the mother of the murderer where no murders occurred.

Except for the murder of the gunman's mother, Nancy Lanza.

Delete your post, and thanks for playing.

Kelly said...

It's a beautiful house. It needs a large family that makes new memories to replace the old.