Moving Bottles in my First Apartment
When I got out of the Marine Corps in 1993, I was determined to take a little time off to get back into civilian life, then get a job, and move out. In my early-20’s I couldn’t be living with my mom. I found a place for $190/month. It was the back part of a house that appeared to be converted from one main house. It had a small living room, small bedroom, small kitchen, and a small bathroom with only a shower. Some utilities paid and free cable because it apparently was never turned off. It was the stereotypical first crappy apartment someone rents, but I had to get out of mom’s house for my own sanity.
I didn’t have any furniture really, just a bed and computer desk. I bought a sofa and entertainment center because my TV, CD’s, LD’s (laserdiscs for you kids under 40), and VHS movies were my existence back then. To adorn my newly assembled entertainment center, I would put empty liquor bottles on top of it…because that was cool (ugh). Over a few months time, I probably had six or so empties evenly spaced across the top. One morning, I wake up and notice that all the bottles were on the left side. It was like someone just started on the right side of the entertainment center and simply scooted them to the opposite side. They were still next to each other, just only on the left side. It was just me living there, so yeah, I was a little confused at the time.
One day the neighbor who lived in the front portion of the house and I were hanging out on the front porch just talking and out of nowhere he asked me if anything weird has happened in my apartment. That was an odd question. The bottle thing didn’t really register until later, so in the meantime I told him not really. And of course I asked him why he would ask me that. He said a few years back someone died in a fire back there.
Now this was back in the day when you couldn’t just hop on the internet and find out if that was true or not, so I just nodded and thought, “That was interesting.” I’m thinking he was just messing with me for some reason. He was a bit odd anyway. Couple months later, he skipped town, packed his stuff and left. He did have the bigger place, so I moved out of that back apartment and into the front part of the house. At the time, I thinking he's just a weird tenant trying to freak me out.
So now about 25 years later, one day I was just sitting around thinking, “Hmmm, I wonder if that story was true.” Just on a whim I check out online news archives and *BAM* there it is in black and white, literally. In the Tuesday, September 16th, 1986 edition of the Independence Examiner: “Man perishes in apartment fire – A 35 year old Independence man died in an early morning fire today in the back apartment of a two unit house at 1025 S. Cottage St.”
Well, I guess that confirms the neighbor’s story and someone did die in my apartment in the room where I slept. Finding further articles, it sounds like the tenants in the front part of the house smelled smoke around midnight and looked outside. They saw a fan blowing smoke through the front door and apparently they thought things were fine? A bit later, they heard the resident moving around and smelled smoke again. This time when they went outside, they saw flames coming from the apartment and called 911.
The fire was confined to the back apartment and appeared to have started in the mattress, so use your detective skills to figure out the cause. Damage to the body must have been pretty bad because they had to be identified through dental records and X-rays and died of smoke inhalation.
The victim’s name was 34 year old Donald Verne Snyder. He was an over the road trucker with Roadway Freight. Now I don’t know if he was a prankster or not, but maybe he took a liking to my empty liquor bottles on top of the entertainment center and moved them all to one side. I am not saying Donald’s ghost did that. I have no evidence of such, however if at the sight of a tragic death, something is lingering behind…object manipulation is said to be possible. Donald Snyder was laid to rest in Mount Muncie Cemetery in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Now that I think about it, I was also having odd electrical issues in that apartment. Again, not saying it was Donald. It could have just been faulty wiring. And if that was the case, it’s a good thing I didn’t die in a fire when I lived in that apartment.
Rest In Peace – Donald Verne Snyder (March 28, 1952 – September 16, 1986)
