199: House on Loon Lake - This American Life
You are using an outdated browser.
您正在使用过时的浏览器。
Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience.
请升级您的浏览器或激活 Google Chrome 浏览器内嵌框架以改善您的体验。
Sign up for a free Life Partners trial, and you can watch the video “A Night of Stories and Improv.”
注册免费试用《Life Partners》，您可以观看视频“故事与即兴表演之夜”。
00:00 00:00 Transcript Share This American Life Life Partners How to Listen Episodes Recommended About Overview Staff Announcements Fellowships Jobs Music Make Radio On The Road FAQ Submissions Merch Contact Us Our Other Shows Merch Follow Us Life Partners Subscribe to our newsletter Full episode Toggle Audio and Transcript Sync Transcript | Episode #199 | July 21, 2023 199: House on Loon Lake Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard.
00:00 00:00 文字记录 分享此 美国生活 生活伙伴 如何收听 剧集 推荐 关于 概述 员工公告 奖学金 工作 音乐 在路上制作电台 常见问题解答 提交 商品 联系我们 我们的其他节目 商品 关注我们 生活伙伴 订阅我们的时事通讯 整集 切换音频和文字记录同步 文字记录 | 内容第 199 集 | 2023 年 7 月 21 日 199：卢恩湖之家 注：《美国生活》是为耳朵而制作的，旨在让人们听到。
If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page.
如果可以的话，我们强烈建议您收听音频，其中包括页面上没有的情感和重点。
Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.
文字记录是使用语音识别软件和人工转录员结合生成的，可能包含错误。
Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
请在印刷版引用前检查相应的音频。
Prologue Ira Glass From WBEZ Chicago, this is This American Life, and I'm Ira Glass.
序言 Ira Glass 来自 WBEZ 芝加哥，这就是《美国生活》，我是 Ira Glass。
The story that we bring you today is a kind of classic mystery story, but a classic mystery of a very particular kind.
今天我们给大家带来的故事是一种经典悬疑故事，而且是一种非常特殊的经典悬疑故事。
It's a real life Hardy Boys story, or maybe an episode of Scooby Doo.
这是哈迪男孩的真实故事，也可能是史酷比的一集。
There's an old abandoned house.
有一座废弃的老房子。
Some kids stumble upon it.
有些孩子偶然发现了它。
They decide to break in.
他们决定闯入。
And then at that point, they kind of hit the jackpot kid-wise.
然后在那一点上，他们在孩子方面就中了大奖。
The place is filled-- and I mean filled-- with fascinating stuff.
这个地方充满了——我的意思是充满了——充满了令人着迷的东西。
It's also creepy and mysterious.
它也令人毛骨悚然和神秘。
And there are all kinds of tantalizing clues about what happened there, which they decide to uncover and which ends up taking years-- decades actually.
关于那里发生的事情有各种各样诱人的线索，他们决定揭开这些线索，最终花了数年——实际上是几十年。
We are devoting our entire show today to this one story, The House Near Loon Lake.
我们今天的整个节目都致力于这个故事：卢恩湖附近的房子。
We first broadcast this show in 2001.
我们于 2001 年首次播出该节目。
If you're in your car right now as you hear this, I hope you have a long drive ahead of you, so you can stay tuned.
如果您现在正在车里听到此消息，我希望您还有很长的路要走，所以您可以继续收听。
If you're at home and it's night, you might consider turning down the lights.
如果你在家并且是晚上，你可以考虑关掉灯。
Adam Beckman tells the tale.
亚当·贝克曼讲述了这个故事。
It was my brother's idea to go down to the lake.
到湖边去是我哥哥的主意。
We brought an M80 firecracker, and we wanted to detonate it in the shallow water where we used to swim.
我们带了一个M80鞭炮，想在以前游泳的浅水区引爆。
We were 11, and it was late fall of 1977.
那是 1977 年深秋，我们当时 11 岁。
We were visiting a place called Freedom, New Hampshire, a small town of a few hundred people, just across the border from Maine.
我们正在参观新罕布什尔州一个叫自由的地方，这是一个只有几百人的小镇，就在缅因州边境对面。
My dad had volunteered to do some maintenance work at a summer camp I had once gone to.
我父亲自愿在我曾经去过的一个夏令营里做一些维护工作。
My brother Kenny, best friend Ian, and I went along.
我的兄弟肯尼、最好的朋友伊恩和我也一起去了。
We'd been inseparable growing up.
我们从小就形影不离。
But now Kenny had started hanging out with an older crowd.
但现在肯尼开始和一群年长的人一起出去玩。
And I'd been seeing less and less of Ian since I just transferred to a new school.
自从我刚转学到一所新学校以来，我见到伊恩的机会就越来越少了。
I was in a funk about losing touch with Kenny and Ian.
我因与肯尼和伊恩失去联系而感到恐惧。
And so for me, the stakes for the weekend were a little higher than usual.
所以对我来说，周末的赌注比平时要高一些。
In normal times, we like to go shoplifting or set things on fire.
平时，我们喜欢去商店行窃或放火烧东西。
That Halloween, we'd taken cans of WD-40 and gone from door to door, spraying it in the mouths of jack-o'-lanterns until flames burst out their eyes, and they blew up in balls of fire.
那个万圣节，我们拿着几罐 WD-40 挨家挨户地喷洒在南瓜灯的嘴里，直到火焰从它们的眼睛里喷出来，然后它们就变成了火球。
This is my brother Kenny.
这是我的兄弟肯尼。
He's now 37, and he's a scientist.
他现在37岁了，是一名科学家。
I think Ian's mom used to worry a little bit about Ian spending too much time with us or being brought under our bad influence.
我想伊恩的妈妈曾经有点担心伊恩花太多时间和我们在一起或者受到我们的不良影响。
Because I think we taught Ian about throwing woodchips at cars, and we taught Ian about unfolding paperclips so that you could shoot them at people and so on.
因为我认为我们教伊恩如何向汽车扔木片，我们教伊恩如何展开回形针，以便你可以将它们射击到人等等。
So we were wandering around, looking for something to do.
于是我们四处闲逛，想找点事做。
And we saw the house.
我们看到了房子。
It was gray, weathered, and leaning precariously at one end.
它呈灰色，饱经风霜，一端摇摇欲坠。
The windows were boarded up from the outside.
窗户从外面用木板封住了。
Two old cars, probably from the 30s, sat in the yard.
院子里停着两辆大概是三十年代的旧车。
One of them had a tree growing up through a hole where the engine had been.
其中一个在发动机所在的洞里长出了一棵树。
At the back of the house, we found a window that was broken, and I remember peering in into near darkness.
在房子的后面，我们发现一扇窗户被打破了，我记得我凝视着近乎黑暗的地方。
I remember it was kind of a dare kind of thing.
我记得那是一种大胆的事情。
That's my friend Ian.
那是我的朋友伊恩。
Ian It was one of these things where we just would say, you know, I'd go in that house.
伊恩：这是我们会说的其中一件事，你知道，我会走进那所房子。
Wouldn't you?
你不会吗？
And you would say, yeah, I have no problem going in that house.
你会说，是的，我去那所房子没有问题。
And Kenny would say, yeah, that house looks fine.
肯尼会说，是的，那栋房子看起来不错。
And none of us really wanted to go in that house because we're all scared.
我们谁都不想走进那所房子，因为我们都很害怕。
But we did.
但我们做到了。
Ian was the skinniest, so it was decided that he should go in first.
伊恩是最瘦的，所以决定让他先进去。
He slid sideways through the broken panes, so he wouldn't get cut, and disappeared.
他侧身滑过破碎的玻璃，以免被割伤，然后就消失了。
After maybe 10 seconds, he scrambled back out, clutching a newspaper.
大约十秒钟后，他抓着一张报纸爬了出来。
It was brown, and I remember it crumbled in our hands.
它是棕色的，我记得它在我们手里碎了。
The headlines said something about Nazis invading.
头条新闻报道了纳粹入侵的事情。
That was all we needed.
这就是我们所需要的。
One by one, we climbed into the house.
我们一前一后地爬进屋里。
It was dark inside.
里面很黑。
The only light came in through little cracks between the boards that covered the windows.
唯一的光线是从窗户上的木板之间的小裂缝射进来的。
The floor felt soft underfoot.
脚下的地板感觉很软。
And as my eyes adjusted, I could see that it was covered with a layer of filthy clothes.
当我的眼睛调整过来时，我发现它上面覆盖着一层脏衣服。
Junk was everywhere.
垃圾到处都是。
Actually, we couldn't walk around on the floor because you couldn't see the floor in most places.
事实上，我们不能在地板上走动，因为在大多数地方你都看不到地板。
It was just jammed with more stuff than you could live with.
它只是塞满了比你能忍受的更多的东西。
Because I remember there were a couple of rooms you couldn't go into for how much stuff that was jammed in there.
因为我记得有几个房间你不能进去，因为里面塞了多少东西。
I was careful to remember how we got in, in case we had to find our way out in a hurry.
我小心翼翼地记住我们是怎么进去的，以防我们不得不匆忙找到出去的路。
We were all very quiet.
我们都很安静。
We'd seen enough horror movies to know that joking around could get us into trouble.
我们看过足够多的恐怖电影，知道开玩笑可能会给我们带来麻烦。
Here's Ian.
这是伊恩。
We did not spread out.
我们没有散开。
We stuck probably almost hip to hip.
我们可能几乎臀部贴在一起。
And our backs were glued to each other.
我们的背也粘在一起了。
And Kenny was maybe looking the other way, and his back was kind of-- so we were sort of like this little star of people walking through the house.
肯尼可能正在看向另一个方向，他的背影有点——所以我们有点像穿过房子的人们中的小明星。
And Kenny is like one of the worst people to go into a situation like that with.
肯尼就像是遇到这种情况的最糟糕的人之一。
Why do you say that?
为什么这么说？
Ian Because he's very jittery.
伊恩因为他非常紧张。
And he always will kind of mumble about maybe what the worst thing might be that might next happen.
他总是会咕哝着接下来可能发生的最糟糕的事情是什么。
Like, I bet somebody is going to come out of that closet.
就像，我打赌有人会从那个柜子里走出来。
Some rooms were in total disarray, with things strewn about like they'd been rummaged through.
有些房间杂乱无章，东西散落一地，就像被翻过一样。
But then there were these little areas where things were untouched.
但也有一些小区域没有被触及。
In the kitchen, dishes were stacked on open shelves.
厨房里，盘子堆放在开放的架子上。
Pots and pans cluttered the sink.
水槽里堆满了锅碗瓢盆。
And the pantry was stocked with canned food.
食品储藏室里堆满了罐头食品。
I picked up a container of Hershey's syrup, and it felt heavy.
我拿起一罐好时糖浆，感觉很沉。
A salt and pepper shaker sat on the kitchen table.
厨房的桌子上放着一个盐罐和胡椒瓶。
This is my brother Kenny.
这是我的兄弟肯尼。
Kenny As if people had been kind of toodling along in their everyday lives, and something terrible had happened.
肯尼 好像人们在日常生活中缓慢前行，并且发生了一些可怕的事情。
Something catastrophic had happened to the people in the house, so catastrophic that no care had been put in arranging, or sorting, or editing any of the contents of their lives.
房子里的人发生了一些灾难性的事情，灾难性的程度以至于没有人去关心安排、分类或编辑他们生活的任何内容。
And there was a feeling as we sat there that this time capsule hadn't been opened in 50 years.
当我们坐在那里时，有一种感觉，这个时间胶囊已经有 50 年没有被打开了。
Hanging in the kitchen was one of those calendars they give out at gas stations.
厨房里挂着的是他们在加油站发放的日历之一。
It was dated December 1938.
日期是 1938 年 12 月。
In the bedroom was a pile of shoes, maybe 30 high, that had fused into one mass.
卧室里有一堆鞋子，大约有30双高，已经融合成一团。
On a nightstand, I found a pair of eyeglasses folded on top of a man's wallet.
在床头柜上，我发现一副眼镜折叠在一个男人的钱包上。
And I slipped them both into my jacket pocket.
我把它们都塞进了我的夹克口袋里。
In another room was a bureau, and tucked in the mirror frame was an invitation to a dance at the town hall.
另一个房间里有一个书桌，镜框里塞着一张参加市政厅舞会的邀请函。
Pinned to it was a rose that was completely withered.
上面钉着一朵完全枯萎的玫瑰。
Kenny opened the closet door next to the dresser.
肯尼打开梳妆台旁边的衣柜门。
And hanging there was a rotting white dress.
那里挂着一件腐烂的白色连衣裙。
We began to fabricate a little scene.
我们开始编造一个小场景。
A teenage daughter returns late from a dance with a rose.
一个十几岁的女儿在与玫瑰跳舞后很晚才回来。
She pins it to the mirror and hangs her dress in the closet.
她把它钉在镜子上，然后把衣服挂在衣柜里。
And then something horrible happens.
然后可怕的事情发生了。
And that's when time stopped.
就在那时，时间停止了。
Outside, squinting in the bright daylight, we raced back through town.
外面明亮的日光下，我们眯着眼睛，穿过城镇跑回了家。
Kenny and Ian were like kids coming off a roller coaster.
肯尼和伊恩就像刚从过山车上下来的孩子。
But I had this sense of doom about the whole thing.
但我对整件事有一种厄运的感觉。
I'd heard about the King Tut exhibit that was touring the country.
我听说图坦卡蒙展览正在全国巡回展出。
I wondered if we'd be cursed, like the guys who'd found King Tut's tomb.
我想知道我们是否会像那些发现图坦卡蒙陵墓的人一样受到诅咒。
Also, I had someone's wallet in my pocket.
而且，我的口袋里还有别人的钱包。
I took it out and showed Kenny and Ian.
我把它拿出来给肯尼和伊恩看。
Inside was a bright green $1 bill, dated 1935, and a driver's license for a man named Virgil Nason.
里面有一张亮绿色的 1 美元钞票，日期为 1935 年，还有一张名叫维吉尔·内森 (Virgil Nason) 的男子的驾驶执照。
That night, while our dad drove us home, I put on the eyeglasses I'd found to make Kenny and Ian laugh.
那天晚上，当爸爸开车送我们回家时，我戴上了我发现的能让肯尼和伊恩开怀大笑的眼镜。
But then I felt bad about the joke.
但后来我对这个笑话感到难过。
I didn't know anyone who died before, and now I was pretty sure I was carrying the wallet of a dead man.
我以前不认识任何死过的人，现在我很确定我拿着一个死人的钱包。
The next day, my brother would be going back to his high school buddies, and my best friend would be going back to our old school.
第二天，我哥哥将回到他的高中好友身边，我最好的朋友将回到我们原来的学校。
I'd have to face the kids at my new school, where I hadn't made any friends, and it seemed like everyone was named Doug and played lacrosse.
我必须面对新学校的孩子们，在那里我没有交到任何朋友，而且似乎每个人都叫道格，都打长曲棍球。
I'd always been a moody kid, but it was an unfocused sort of moodiness.
我一直是个喜怒无常的孩子，但那是一种心不在焉的喜怒无常。
Now that all this was happening in my life, my gloominess took on a new focus.
现在这一切都发生在我的生活中，我的忧郁有了新的焦点。
I brooded about the Nason house.
我想起了内森的房子。
My homeroom teacher had been an instructor for Outward Bound.
我的班主任曾是拓展训练的教练。
Throughout the year, he made us go solo in the woods around the school.
一整年，他都让我们独自去学校周围的树林里。
I spent hours sitting out there, alone with my journal and a flashlight, brooding.
我在外面坐了好几个小时，独自拿着日记和手电筒，陷入沉思。
The winter passed, and the only curse I suffered was grade seven.
冬天过去了，我唯一遭受的诅咒是七年级。
That spring, my parents went back to do their volunteer stint at the camp.
那年春天，我的父母回到营地做志愿者。
This time, I brought a new friend named David.
这次，我带来了一位新朋友，名叫大卫。
I knew it would impress him.
我知道这会给他留下深刻的印象。
We got up early and packed flashlights and our book bags.
我们起得很早，收拾好手电筒和书包。
I think we even brought a canteen of water.
我想我们甚至带了一个水壶来装水。
It was raining as we climbed through the window of the house.
当我们爬进房子的窗户时，正在下雨。
Nothing looked like it had changed over the winter.
整个冬天看起来一切都没有改变。
And just like the first time, I had this acute feeling of being watched as we moved from room to room, touching things, opening up drawers, climbing up into the attic.
就像第一次一样，当我们从一个房间移动到另一个房间、触摸东西、打开抽屉、爬上阁楼时，我有一种强烈的被监视的感觉。
David felt it, too.
大卫也感觉到了。
All their personal belongings were right there, so they felt so close.
他们所有的个人物品都在那里，所以他们感觉如此亲密。
And I remember walking through some of these dark rooms, looking around, being afraid of perhaps uncovering something, some evil scene, or discovering that they were there, discovering that they had died there.
我记得走过一些黑暗的房间，环顾四周，害怕也许会发现一些东西，一些邪恶的场景，或者发现他们在那里，发现他们死在那里。
I remember thinking that we were going to find a body in a closet at any moment.
我记得我当时想我们随时都会在壁橱里找到一具尸体。
I mean, I remember there were some closets and cupboards that we just flat out didn't want to open or even open up the oven.
我的意思是，我记得有一些壁橱和橱柜我们只是不想打开，甚至不想打开烤箱。
You're just afraid that you might find something that you just didn't want to see.
您只是担心可能会发现一些您不想看到的东西。
I don't remember that.
我不记得了。
No, I don't remember the basement.
不，我不记得地下室。
Did we ever go down?
我们曾经堕落过吗？
We did go down into the basement eventually, didn't we?
我们最终确实走进了地下室，不是吗？
I still don't remember the basement.
我还是不记得地下室。
Did you go down the-- you didn't go in the basement.
你有没有去——你没有进入地下室。
We never went into the basement.
我们从来没有进过地下室。
And here's why.
原因如下。
The door to it had been blocked shot by a couch that was propped on its end, as if someone wanted to keep something down there from getting out.
门被一张沙发挡住了，沙发的一端支撑着，好像有人想阻止下面的东西出去。
I remember uncovering-- finding a small doll whose face had been burned off.
我记得我揭开了——发现了一个小娃娃，它的脸被烧掉了。
And I remember being terrified of that, thinking this must have been some scene of some horrible ritual.
我记得我对此感到害怕，认为这一定是某种可怕仪式的场景。
David has a really strong memory of a doll with its face burned off.
大卫对一个脸被烧毁的洋娃娃有着深刻的记忆。
Do you remember that?
你还记得吗？
Oh yeah.
哦，是的。
Absolutely.
绝对地。
That was scary.
那太可怕了。
The minute you mentioned it, I've got the image of it.
你一提到它，我就想到了它。
I mean there's something so creepy about a doll that's kind of been mangled.
我的意思是，一个被毁坏的洋娃娃有一些令人毛骨悚然的东西。
I remember discovering that there was these sort of smeared feces area of-- or smeared-- either it was animal or human.
我记得我发现有这种被涂抹的粪便区域——或者被涂抹——要么是动物的，要么是人类的。
We couldn't figure that out.
我们无法弄清楚这一点。
The poop on the bed, that was scary, too.
床上的便便也太吓人了。
It made you wonder, what the hell is going on in here?
这让你想知道，这里到底发生了什么？
I think at the time, we thought, oh, gee, maybe people were crashing out here.
我想当时我们想，哦，天哪，也许人们都冲出了这里。
So that fit into a whole story about, oh, some fugitive on the lam from justice who's hiding out in an abandoned house, or the town alcoholic who used to crash out there after a binge, or something like that.
所以这符合整个故事，哦，某个逃亡者躲在一所废弃的房子里，或者是镇上的酒鬼，他在狂欢后崩溃了，或者类似的事情。
The strange part is, do people just pick up and walk out the front door one day and leave letters that are incredibly personal?
奇怪的是，人们是否有一天会拿起并走出前门，留下非常私人的信件？
I mean, these were important artifacts in their family.
我的意思是，这些是他们家族中的重要文物。
And if they did leave for some legitimate reason-- like you move, you pack up, you move-- you don't leave things like a wallet with money in it or your address book that has the birthdays written in it of your family members.
如果他们确实出于某种正当原因离开——比如你搬家、收拾行李、搬家——你就不会留下装钱的钱包或写有家人生日的地址簿之类的东西。
Why do you leave things like that?
你为什么要留下这样的东西？
How could you?
你怎么可以？
We had a mission.
我们有一个使命。
The mission was to find out as much as we could about the family who had lived there.
我们的任务是尽可能多地了解曾经住在那里的家庭。
And all over the place were letters and pieces of paper.
到处都是信件和纸片。
And each one was a potential clue, so we sat down in this dingy, kind of musky house.
每一条都是潜在的线索，所以我们坐在这间昏暗、充满麝香的房子里。
And we started to read.
我们开始读书。
November 29, 1933.
1933 年 11 月 29 日。
Dear Mr. Nason, I've checked up your case quite thoroughly and find that you have already had as much, if not more, work than most people.
亲爱的内森先生，我已经非常彻底地检查了您的情况，发现您已经与大多数人一样多（如果不是更多的话）工作。
I find also that you were working a car and a truck and that your son has a car and a truck.
我还发现您正在经营一辆汽车和一辆卡车，而您的儿子也拥有一辆汽车和一辆卡车。
Also, that your team is working hauling cut lumber.
另外，您的团队正在搬运砍伐的木材。
So long as a man has anything at all, he has to use it, as we have to give work to the people who have nothing at all.
只要一个人有任何东西，他就必须使用它，就像我们必须给那些一无所有的人提供工作一样。
Under these circumstances, you do not qualify for work at this time.
在这种情况下，您目前不符合工作资格。
Signed, the Office of the County Supervisor of Relief.
县救济监督办公室签署。
Dear Mama, I'm staying over tonight and go to the dance.
亲爱的妈妈，今晚我要留下来参加舞会。
Artie and I have had a fight.
阿蒂和我吵架了。
He thinks I'm going out with Eddie.
他认为我要和艾迪出去。
I may, I don't know.
我可能会，我不知道。
I don't want him to know where I am, so don't tell him.
我不想让他知道我在哪里，所以不要告诉他。
Come over to the dance and bring my shoes, the black spike ones.
过来参加舞会，带上我的鞋子，黑色的钉鞋。
Now come over, Mama, and don't be mad.
现在过来吧，妈妈，别生气。
Don't even tell PT.
甚至不要告诉PT。
Now Mama, please don't be mad at me.
现在，妈妈，请不要生我的气。
Mr. Jackson is ugly today.
杰克逊先生今天很丑。
Be sure you get Dad to come to the dance.
一定要让爸爸来参加舞会。
There's a ball game tonight.
今晚有一场球赛。
Over the next two years, I returned to the Nason house four times in all.
接下来的两年里，我一共回过内森家四次。
And each time, I came back with more clues about what happened.
每一次，我都带着更多关于发生的事情的线索回来。
I read these letters over and over, trying to decode them, convinced that the answer about the family's downfall was hidden in some seemingly trivial comment or offhand reference.
我一遍又一遍地阅读这些信件，试图解读它们，确信有关家庭垮台的答案隐藏在一些看似微不足道的评论或即兴参考中。
This note is written on school paper by a young girl, who was probably my age at the time.
这张纸条是一个年轻女孩写在学校报纸上的，她当时可能和我同龄。
Dear Clyde, I wanted a boyfriend, so I thought I would write to you, darling.
亲爱的克莱德，我想要一个男朋友，所以我想给你写信，亲爱的。
There's no other boy around here that interests me as you do, Clyde, darling.
这里没有其他男孩像你一样让我感兴趣，克莱德，亲爱的。
Call me up, Clyde, darling.
给我打电话，克莱德，亲爱的。
When I saw you last night over at Pink's, I thought I would go crazy because I love you so.
当我昨晚在 Pink's 看到你时，我以为我会发疯，因为我如此爱你。
From your girlfriend, ED.
来自你女朋友，ED。
We had to take things that could help us unravel a puzzle.
我们必须采取一些可以帮助我们解开谜题的东西。
I mean, I don't think we even thought of it being private property at the start because it was just abandoned, and no one cared about it.
我的意思是，我认为我们一开始就没有想到它是私有财产，因为它刚刚被遗弃，没有人关心它。
We read notes from doctors and found bills from creditors.
我们阅读了医生的笔记并找到了债权人的账单。
We scanned library past due notices and studied postmarks and came up with lots of ideas about why the place had been left.
我们扫描了图书馆逾期通知并研究了邮戳，并就为什么这个地方被留下提出了很多想法。
We started to think, gee, maybe these people had their house foreclosed and were thrown out by bankers.
我们开始想，哎呀，也许这些人的房子被取消抵押品赎回权，被银行家赶了出去。
Because it does seem as if somebody might have been shut out of the house, with all of the objects inside.
因为看起来确实有人被拒之门外，而所有的物品都在里面。
One of my favorite theories was that the father died at maybe the same time the sons had to go to war.
我最喜欢的理论之一是，父亲可能在儿子们不得不参战的同时去世。
Because we're looking at papers that talk about war starting and thinking about how a couple of events with an old father and a couple of sons could very quickly finish a family.
因为我们正在看一些谈论战争爆发的论文，并思考与一位年迈的父亲和几个儿子发生的一些事件如何能够很快结束一个家庭。
I remember finding information about bedding.
我记得找到过有关床上用品的信息。
I think we saw I think they were tickets or a schedule of a dog track or a horse racing track.
我想我们看到了我认为它们是狗场或赛马场的门票或时间表。
And the story we made up was, oh, these people had lost all their money gambling.
我们编造的故事是，哦，这些人赌博输光了所有的钱。
We needed to find someone who could give us some answers, a person who knew the family or a distant relative.
我们需要找到一个可以给我们一些答案的人，一个认识这个家庭的人或一个远房亲戚。
Freedom is a small town.
自由是一个小镇。
Someone must have known what had happened.
一定有人知道发生了什么事。
But when we'd go ask down at the general store or the post office, people gave us the cold shoulder.
但当我们去杂货店或邮局询问时，人们却对我们冷淡了。
This confirmed to us that they were part of the conspiracy to bring this family down, or at least part of the cover up.
这向我们证实，他们是推翻这个家庭的阴谋的一部分，或者至少是掩盖真相的一部分。
In retrospect, I realized the adults may have brushed us off because we were 12 years old.
回想起来，我意识到大人们可能因为我们才12岁而对我们不屑一顾。
It was David who found the breakthrough clue-- a matchbook, matches intact, soiled but legible.
大卫找到了突破性的线索——一本火柴盒，火柴完好无损，虽然脏了，但清晰可辨。
It said Stop and Shop at Nason Grocery, Freedom side near Effingham Falls Bridge.
上面写着在埃芬汉瀑布桥附近自由一侧的内森杂货店停下来购物。
We rode over and ditched our bikes under the bridge.
我们骑过去，把自行车扔在桥下。
There were two or three houses on either side, all big old Victorian buildings.
两边有两三栋房子，都是维多利亚时代的大型古老建筑。
But it was obvious to us which one was the Nason Grocery.
但我们很清楚哪一家是内森杂货店。
There were a couple of ancient gas pumps outside and a resting Moxie soda sign.
外面有几个古老的加油泵和一个静止的莫西苏打水标志。
A rope held the door closed, but we were able to squeeze through.
一根绳子把门关着，但我们还是挤了进去。
The first thing I saw when we went through the door were the boxes of Cornflakes that lined the walls.
当我们进门时，我首先看到的是墙上排列着的玉米片盒子。
The Nason Grocery was a completely intact, perfectly preserved store from the 1960s, with products still on the shelves.
内森杂货店 (Nason Grocery) 是一家完好无损、保存完好的 20 世纪 60 年代的商店，货架上还摆满了产品。
By the cash register, there were magazine racks and rows of candy.
收银台旁边有杂志架和一排排糖果。
There were glass countertops displaying fishing gear and stacks of canned vegetables, corn and green beans.
玻璃台面上陈列着渔具和成堆的罐装蔬菜、玉米和青豆。
Some of the cans had exploded from years of heating and freezing, which we thought was cool.
有些罐头因多年的加热和冷冻而爆炸，我们认为这很酷。
Upstairs, there were a few rooms that must have been an apartment.
楼上有几个房间，想必是公寓。
Being in a store all of the sudden reminded us, gee, we're breaking and entering in a place that's got candy.
在一家商店里突然提醒我们，天哪，我们正在闯入一个有糖果的地方。
There was a small safe under the counter.
柜台下面有一个小保险箱。
And when I turned the handle, the door swung open.
当我转动把手时，门就开了。
Inside, I found four silver dollars and three Kennedy half dollars.
我在里面发现了四枚银币和三枚肯尼迪半美元。
I also found a $5 gold coin from 1892.
我还发现了一枚 1892 年的 5 美元金币。
I took the coins.
我拿走了硬币。
I spent the eighth grade kind of detached from school.
我在八年级的时候有点脱离学校。
I'd stare out the window at the falling snow and think about the drifts that must've been blowing through cracks in the house.
我凝视着窗外飘落的雪花，想着一定是从房子的裂缝中吹进来的雪花。
Or I'd lie awake at night and imagine how still and cold it would be in there.
或者我会在晚上彻夜难眠，想象那里会是多么的寂静和寒冷。
Instead of doing homework, I spent a lot of time reading through my box of Nason letters, drawing up a family tree from the clues we'd found.
我没有做作业，而是花了很多时间通读我那盒内森的信件，根据我们发现的线索绘制了一个家谱。
Every reference to New Hampshire became relevant to the mystery.
每一次提到新罕布什尔州都与这个谜团有关。
I'd sit at breakfast and stare at a tin of maple syrup and think about the Nasons.
我会坐在吃早餐的时候，盯着一罐枫糖浆，想着内森一家。
I was pretty sure that if there was some way I could support a family researching abandoned houses, that it would be my vocation in life.
我非常确定，如果有什么办法可以支持一个家庭研究废弃房屋，那将是我一生的职业。
I was 13 years old, and I had a crush on a house.
那年我13岁，我迷恋上了一座房子。
I hadn't told my parents much about it.
我没有告诉我的父母太多这件事。
I was afraid they'd shut us down over fears we'd get hurt or arrested.
我担心他们会因为担心我们受伤或被捕而关闭我们。
But I remember feeling that I wanted a grown up to see it, to confirm that we hadn't imagined the whole thing.
但我记得我感觉我想让一个成年人看到它，以确认我们没有想象到整件事。
So I started to tell my mother about it.
于是我开始告诉妈妈这件事。
But I could see I wasn't getting it across how amazing it was.
但我发现我并没有意识到它有多么神奇。
So that spring, I led my mother across the field of weeds and watched as she climbed through the window of the house.
于是那年春天，我领着母亲穿过杂草丛生的田野，看着她爬进房子的窗户。
I was a little appalled-- more than appalled when I went inside.
我有点震惊——当我走进去的时候，我感到更加震惊。
It was much more-- a much greater disaster than I had imagined.
这是一场比我想象的更大的灾难。
Also, a much greater mystery than I had imagined.
而且，这个谜比我想象的要大得多。
And in many ways, much more interesting for that reason.
因此，在很多方面，这都更有趣。
My mom proved to be quite a sleuth.
事实证明，我妈妈是一位相当出色的侦探。
She drove me to the town cemetery, where we found plot after plot of Nason graves.
她开车带我去了镇上的墓地，在那里我们发现了一块又一块内森的坟墓。
There was Ivan Nason, died 1943; Bertha, died 1968; Virgil, whose dollar bill and driver's license I had, died in 1974; and Jesse, who died in 1969.
其中有伊万·内森 (Ivan Nason)，卒于 1943 年；伯莎，1968 年去世；维吉尔 (Virgil) 于 1974 年去世，我拥有他的美元钞票和驾照。以及 1969 年去世的杰西。
There was another Jesse William who had a birthday, but there was no date of death.
还有一位杰西·威廉也过生日，但没有死亡日期。
So our theories of a car carrying the whole family into a ravine, of the war, of sudden plague, of the whole town rising up against the Nasons and massacring them, these no longer made sense.
因此，我们关于一辆汽车将全家人带进峡谷的理论，关于战争的理论，关于突如其来的瘟疫的理论，关于整个城镇反抗内森一家并屠杀他们的理论，这些都不再有意义了。
Whatever had driven the family from its home hadn't been sudden.
是什么让这家人离开了家并不是突然的。
The circumstances were more complicated than anything I'd imagined.
情况比我想象的还要复杂。
That winter, I had my first nightmare.
那年冬天，我做了第一个噩梦。
I was in the house rummaging through things, and the Nasons were there in the walls watching me.
我在屋子里翻找东西，内森一家就在墙上看着我。
And they weren't friendly.
而且他们并不友好。
The next year, I didn't go to New Hampshire.
第二年，我没有去新罕布什尔州。
I'd started high school and was finally making friends.
我开始上高中，终于交到了朋友。
There was less brooding in my life.
我的生活中少了一些沉思。
And what brooding was left had to do with girls.
剩下的沉思与女孩有关。
My mother went up on the semi-annual work weekend at the summer camp, and she brought my sister along.
我妈妈每半年一次的工作周末去夏令营，她带着我妹妹一起去。
When they returned, they told me a story that made my blood run cold.
当他们回来后，他们给我讲了一个让我毛骨悚然的故事。
Tell me about the time that you went up with Claire.
告诉我你和克莱尔交往的那次经历。
What happened?
发生了什么？
That was a big mistake.
那是一个很大的错误。
I think we were both very embarrassed.
我想我们俩都非常尴尬。
We were embarrassed.
我们很尴尬。
We were both very embarrassed.
我们都很尴尬。
I was.
我是。
Mom No, we blew it.
妈妈 不，我们搞砸了。
We blew it, sort of in a sense.
从某种意义上说，我们搞砸了。
What happened was this.
事情是这样的。
My mother had brought my sister into the house, and they'd seen a child's crib rotting away in the attic.
我母亲把我妹妹带进了屋子，他们看到一张婴儿床在阁楼上腐烂了。
And they decided to take it.
他们决定接受它。
So they drove my family's bright orange Volvo station wagon up in front and went in to get the crib.
于是他们把我家的亮橙色沃尔沃旅行车开到前面，进去拿婴儿床。
There was no way one could bring that crib down the stairs.
没人能把那张婴儿床带下楼梯。
And finally, I found a piece of rope somewhere, tied it up, and we lowered it down the window.
最后，我在某处找到了一根绳子，把它绑起来，然后我们把它从窗户上放下来。
Yeah.
是的。
And that's when a boy walked by and saw it.
就在这时，一个男孩走过并看到了它。
We saw him see it.
我们看到他看到了。
We saw him see it.
我们看到他看到了。
And we realized uh oh.
我们意识到哦。
The boy returned with two women, who told my mother and sister they had no right being in the house.
男孩带着两个女人回来了，她们告诉我的母亲和姐姐她们无权呆在房子里。
My mom argued, asking them why, if someone somewhere had an interest in the property, they were letting it rot.
我妈妈争辩说，问他们为什么如果某个地方有人对这处房产感兴趣，他们却让它腐烂。
The woman said it was none of her business and that she'd better leave.
该女子表示这不关她的事，她最好离开。
I felt betrayed.
我感觉自己被背叛了。
The scene my mother had described-- the orange car, the dangling crib, the confrontation in the middle of the road, people in Freedom had a word for greedy city folk from Massachusetts and elsewhere who came to town, plundering for antiques.
我母亲所描述的场景——橙色的汽车、晃来晃去的婴儿床、路中间的对峙，《自由》里的人们有一个词来形容来自马萨诸塞州和其他地方的贪婪的城里人，他们来到城里掠夺古董。
They called them Massholes.
他们称他们为“Massholes”。
That's what we'd become, and I felt sick about it.
我们就变成这样了，我对此感到恶心。
I collected all the objects and letters I'd found and put them in a small wooden fish tackle box I'd found in the Nason grocery store.
我收集了所有找到的物品和信件，并将它们放入我在内森杂货店找到的一个小木制鱼具盒中。
I tucked the box up in our attic, and I never went in the Nason house again.
我把盒子藏在阁楼里，之后就再也没进过内森家。
Three years later, I took a trip through New England with Ian, and we decided to take a detour to Freedom.
三年后，我和伊恩一起去新英格兰旅行，我们决定绕道去自由。
I stopped the car where I thought the house stood.
我把车停在我以为房子所在的地方。
Ian remembered it being further along.
伊恩记得那是在更远的地方。
So we parked and walked up and down the road.
于是我们把车停好，在路上走来走去。
But the house was gone.
但房子不见了。
All that remained was an outline of the foundation in the dirt.
剩下的只是泥土中地基的轮廓。
We drove to the bridge to see if the store was there, but it wasn't.
我们开车到桥上想看看商店是否在那里，但没有。
We couldn't tell if the buildings had been torn down or if they'd burned.
我们无法判断这些建筑物是否已被拆除或是否已被烧毁。
But they were gone, as was, I thought, any answer I'd ever get as to why they'd been left in the first place.
但他们已经消失了，我想，我无法得到关于他们为什么被留下的任何答案。
I was having the nightmare regularly now.
我现在经常做噩梦。
Each time, it was the same.
每次都是一样的。
I was in the Nason house or some version of it.
我当时在内森的房子或者类似的房子里。
But now undead Nasons were leaving their hiding places in the walls and attacking me.
但现在不死的内森们离开了他们在墙里的藏身之处并攻击了我。
It was a terrifying dream.
这是一个可怕的梦。
And I had it many times over the next 20 years.
在接下来的 20 年里，我多次经历过这种情况。
This summer, I went to visit my mother and looked through the box of things I'd saved from the Nason house.
今年夏天，我去看望母亲，翻阅了我从内森家里保存下来的东西的盒子。
All the years I'd spent away from home, she'd kept the box, carefully labeled and stored through four moves.
我离开家的这些年里，她一直保留着这个盒子，仔细地贴上标签，并通过四次搬迁来存放。
You see?
你看？
Yes, the wooden box.
是的，木盒子。
You see, that's the wooden box that I remember.
你看，这就是我记忆中的那个木盒子。
And I think it has things in it.
我认为里面有东西。
It should.
它应该。
The box was as I'd left it, a little makeup case with powder still inside, the eyeglasses, some children's records, and the coins, photographs of the family, the letters.
盒子还是我离开时的样子，一个小化妆盒，里面还有粉、眼镜、一些儿童记录、硬币、家庭照片和信件。
And there were newspapers.
还有报纸。
Right on top was the one Ian found that very first day.
最上面就是伊恩第一天发现的那个。
Oh, and this newspaper is very old.
哦，这张报纸很旧了。
Boston Sunday Globe, look at that.
波士顿周日环球报，看看那个。
"After marching--" Jesus, [INAUDIBLE].
“行军之后——”天哪，[听不清]。
"After marching into the rest of Czechoslovakia in March, Hitler and Chamberlain exchanged speeches.
“三月份进军捷克斯洛伐克其他地区后，希特勒和张伯伦交换了讲话。
Nazis stayed there, and Chamberlain said he mustn't do it again." [LAUGHING]
纳粹留在那里，张伯伦说他不能再这样做了。” [笑]
April 16, 1939.
1939 年 4 月 16 日。
And my-- yeah, my grandparents were already in exile because of this taking of Czechoslovakia.
我的——是的，我的祖父母已经因为占领捷克斯洛伐克而流亡国外了。
Hm.
嗯。
When my great-grandparents fled their home in Czechoslovakia, they'd left furniture, paintings, letters all very suddenly and never returned.
当我的曾祖父母逃离捷克斯洛伐克的家时，他们突然留下了家具、绘画、信件，再也没有回来。
My mother tells me that all those things probably still exist somewhere.
我母亲告诉我，所有这些东西可能仍然存在于某个地方。
With that in mind, she couldn't bear to see the Nason things rotting away like they had.
考虑到这一点，她无法忍受看到内森的东西像以前一样腐烂。
It's all very melancholy, all these little remnants.
一切都非常忧郁，所有这些小残留物。
Why is it melancholy?
为什么会忧郁呢？
Mom The abandonment.
妈妈的遗弃。
The abandonment is melancholy.
被遗弃是令人悲伤的。
In a way, it's worse than throwing away, much worse.
从某种程度上来说，这比扔掉更糟糕，更糟糕。
I can understand one family being obliged to flee or run, or abandon, but that nobody else cared, that it was so overwhelmingly abandoned by everybody, that nobody had cared to solve something, to resolve something.
我可以理解一个家庭被迫逃离或逃跑，或抛弃，但没有其他人关心，它被所有人抛弃，没有人愿意解决一些问题，解决一些问题。
That was very offensive to me.
这对我来说非常冒犯。
That was-- you know, it was like leaving a corpse.
那是——你知道，这就像离开一具尸体。
You don't leave corpses.
你不会留下尸体。
And that's a little bit the feeling that I had, that here was a carcass, a carcass of a house, of a life, of a private-- And nobody cared to pick it up and give it a proper burial.
这就是我的一点感觉，这是一具尸体，一栋房子的尸体，一个生命的尸体，一个私人的尸体——没有人愿意捡起它并给它一个适当的埋葬。
I thought that it was important that somebody should care, that somehow somebody was leaning over these words, reading them, unfolding these letters that somebody had bothered to write.
我认为重要的是有人应该关心，不知何故有人俯身在这些文字上，阅读它们，展开这些有人费心写的信。
And it really didn't matter that it was an 11-year-old boy who cared.
关心的是一个 11 岁的男孩，这真的不重要。
Objects have lives.
物体是有生命的。
They are witness to things.
他们是事物的见证者。
And these objects were like that.
这些物体就是这样的。
So I was, in a way, glad that you were listening.
所以，在某种程度上，我很高兴你能倾听。
There was one letter in particular that my mother and I couldn't get out of our heads.
其中有一封信让我和母亲始终无法忘怀。
It was different from the others.
这与其他人不同。
And I'd kept it separate in a plastic Ziploc bag.
我把它单独放在一个塑料密封袋里。
It was mildewed and barely legible.
它已经发霉，几乎难以辨认。
"April 18, 1940, Laconia Hospital.
“1940 年 4 月 18 日，拉科尼亚医院。
My darling, excuse writing.
亲爱的，请原谅写作。
It's the best I can manage.
这是我能做到的最好的了。
They brought me to the hospital here Tuesday night at 8:30.
周二晚上 8:30 他们把我带到这里的医院。
The baby was born prematurely at 3:00 yesterday afternoon.
昨天下午3:00，宝宝早产了。
I am writing to you-- writing for you before I name him.
我正在写信给你——在我命名他之前为你写信。
What are we going to do?
我们要做什么？
I'm nearly crazy.
我快要疯了。
Did you get my telegram?
你收到我的电报了吗？
Be sure to bring the $20.50.
请务必携带 20.50 美元。
I am weak and can't write more.
我很弱，不能再写了。
Hurry.
快点。
I may die.
我可能会死。
But I love you more than ever.
但我比以往任何时候都更爱你。
I registered here as your wife.
我在这里登记为你的妻子。
I knew it would be better.
我知道这样会更好。
With all my heart and love, come quick." Underlined, what, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
带着我全部的心和爱，快点来吧。”下划线，什么，1、2、3、4、5、6、7、8。
I can hardly stand it.
我快受不了了。
I can hardly stand it.
我快受不了了。
I've thought about her so often.
我经常想起她。
I've worried about her.
我一直很担心她。
I've worried about that kid.
我很担心那个孩子。
I've never forgotten these.
我从来没有忘记过这些。
Yeah.
是的。
I remember finding that.
我记得发现了那个。
I think you explained to me what it was about.
我想你向我解释了它的意思。
I don't think I understood.
我想我没明白。
Yeah.
是的。
Adam Beckman Back home in New York, I started doing research on the internet, working off the list of Nason names I'd found in the cemetery.
亚当·贝克曼 (Adam Beckman) 回到纽约的家中，我开始在互联网上进行研究，列出了我在墓地找到的内森名字列表。
Eventually I found this posting in a genealogy website.
最终我在一个家谱网站上找到了这篇文章。
"Nasons of Freedom, New Hampshire, looking for relatives of Jesse Nason and his wife Bertha.
“新罕布什尔州的内森自由组织正在寻找杰西内森和他妻子伯莎的亲戚。
Any info from their kids or grandkids and pictures would be awesome.
来自他们的孩子或孙子的任何信息和照片都会很棒。
They are my great-great-grandparents."
他们是我的曾曾祖父母。”
The person who'd written it is named Samantha Thurston.
写这本书的人名叫萨曼莎·瑟斯顿。
I sent her an email confessing everything.
我给她发了一封电子邮件承认了一切。
And this is what she wrote back.
这就是她回信的内容。
"Hello, Adam.
“你好，亚当。
I'm very interested in what you found and almost wish you had taken all that you found.
我对你发现的东西很感兴趣，几乎希望你拿走了你发现的所有东西。
Jesse and Bertha are my great-great-grandparents.
杰西和伯莎是我的曾曾祖父母。
I don't know a lot about them, but they did have a store in Freedom, New Hampshire and were well known.
我对他们了解不多，但他们在新罕布什尔州自由市确实有一家商店，而且很有名。
We exchanged a few more emails and made plans to meet.
我们又交换了几封电子邮件并计划见面。
Samantha said the immediate family either didn't have many answers or didn't want to talk.
萨曼莎说，直系亲属要么没有太多答案，要么不想说话。
Her last email to me included this cryptic postscript about the Nasons.
她给我的最后一封电子邮件包含了关于纳森一家的神秘附言。
"They might not be what you'd expect.
“它们可能不是你所期望的。
They are a rough crowd." The line is followed with three exclamation points.
他们是一群粗鲁的人。”这句话后面跟着三个感叹号。
Coming up, one of the rough crowd meets one of those meddling kids, in a minute from Chicago Public Radio when our program continues.
接下来，当我们的节目继续进行时，在芝加哥公共广播电台的一分钟内，其中一个粗暴的人群遇到了一个爱管闲事的孩子。
It's This American Life.
这就是美国生活。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
We're devoting our entire show today to just one story, a real life mystery, "The House Near Loon Lake." We first broadcast today's show in 2001.
我们今天的整个节目都专注于一个故事，一个现实生活中的谜团，“卢恩湖附近的房子”。我们于 2001 年首次播出今天的节目。
Adam Beckman resumes his tale.
亚当·贝克曼继续他的故事。
In August, I drive north to New Hampshire to meet with Samantha Thurston, the woman from the internet, and see if I can find someone to talk to me about the Nasons.
八月，我开车向北前往新罕布什尔州，会见来自互联网的萨曼莎·瑟斯顿 (Samantha Thurston)，看看是否能找到人跟我谈谈内森一家。
I've brought the box of Nason stuff with me.
我带来了那盒内森的东西。
It's small, about a foot square.
很小，大约一尺见方。
Inside are family letters, the coins I took from the grocery store, the can of Hershey's syrup from the Nason's kitchen.
里面有家庭信件、我从杂货店拿来的硬币、内森厨房里的一罐好时糖浆。
I'm hoping to give it to someone who cares about the stuff.
我希望把它送给关心这个东西的人。
If not, I plan to bury it on the spot where the house stood.
如果没有的话，我打算把它埋在房子所在的地方。
At the turnoff from Route 25, I take a short bypass called Nason Road.
在 25 号公路的岔路口，我走了一条名为 Nason 路的短途支路。
On the way into town, I stopped to get directions from a woman working in her front yard.
在进城的路上，我停下来向一位在前院工作的女士询问路线。
She's wearing a sweatshirt that says Nason Landscaping.
她穿着一件印有 Nason Landscaping 字样的运动衫。
Samantha had told me that the Nasons either didn't know what had happened to the house or didn't want to talk.
萨曼莎告诉我，内森一家要么不知道房子发生了什么事，要么不想说话。
She also said that everyone would know I was in town.
她还说每个人都会知道我在城里。
It's hard not to feel a little paranoid.
很难不感到有点偏执。
Here I am, an outsider from New York City, come to town with details about the past, digging around for more details.
我，一个来自纽约市的局外人，带着过去的细节来到这座城市，四处挖掘更多细节。
I'm apprehensive about what kind of reception I'll get.
我很担心我会受到什么样的接待。
I arrive in Freedom August 2 and a parade is marching through the center of town.
我于 8 月 2 日抵达自由城，游行队伍正在市中心游行。
It's Old Home Week, the annual homecoming festival, an event created by the governor to combat problems of abandoned homes and farms in New Hampshire, all the way back in 1898.
这是旧家园周，一年一度的返乡节，这项活动由州长于 1898 年发起，旨在解决新罕布什尔州废弃房屋和农场的问题。
After the Civil War, young people had left the state in droves for better land and opportunities they'd noticed elsewhere.
内战结束后，年轻人成群结队地离开该州，去寻找他们在其他地方注意到的更好的土地和机会。
I'd last visited in the 1970s.
我上次来是在 20 世纪 70 年代。
And a few things have changed since.
从那时起，一些事情发生了变化。
The town's only store has been replaced with a shop for tourists selling tea doilies, hand-dipped candles, and Beanie Babies.
镇上唯一的商店已被一家专为游客出售茶垫、手浸蜡烛和豆豆宝宝的商店所取代。
Farming is pretty much dead.
农业几乎已经消亡。
And city people have moved in because they love how charming it is.
城里人也搬进来了，因为他们喜欢这里的魅力。
The place is so self-consciously quaint that you feel like you're on a movie set about a small town, tidy with just enough dilapidation around the edges to be rustic.
这个地方是如此的自觉古雅，让你感觉自己正在一部关于小镇的电影中，整洁，边缘的破旧程度恰到好处，显得质朴。
The parade moves past the old town hall, the one shop across the town's only intersection to the cemetery, then turns around for another pass.
游行队伍经过旧市政厅，这是该镇通往墓地的唯一十字路口的唯一商店，然后掉头再走另一条路。
The theme for the parade this year is We Are Freedom.
今年游行的主题是“我们是自由”。
When I marched in the parade as a kid, the theme was Freedom of the Press.
当我小时候参加游行时，主题是新闻自由。
I dressed as a radio reporter and pretended to interview the spectators, an irony so bizarre I don't really know what else to say about it.
我打扮成电台记者，假装采访观众，这真是太奇怪了，我真的不知道还能说些什么。
That afternoon, I check into the only place to stay in town, a bed and breakfast called the Freedom House.
那天下午，我入住了镇上唯一的住宿地点，一家名为“自由之家”的住宿加早餐酒店。
I'd been concerned that some distant relative of the Nasons might own it, part of the rough crowd.
我一直担心纳森家族的某个远亲可能拥有它，他们是粗暴人群的一部分。
I shouldn't have worried.
我不应该担心。
The owner's a New Yorker.
店主是纽约人。
There's Princess Di memorabilia in the library.
图书馆里有戴妃的纪念品。
And my room's painted bright pink.
我的房间被漆成了亮粉色。
In fact, it's been called the Ooh La La Room.
事实上，它被称为 Ooh La La Room。
I've had some people from Paris here, came in and said, ooh, la, la.
我这里有一些来自巴黎的人，进来后说，哦，啦，啦。
But anyway.
但无论如何。
Patrick Nealy is part of the new breed in Freedom.
帕特里克·尼利 (Patrick Nealy) 是自由派新一代的一员。
In the five years he's lived here, he's had the B&B meticulously restored.
在他住在这里的五年里，他精心修复了这家民宿。
Antique toiletries and bottles of talcum powder line the shelves of the washroom.
洗手间的架子上摆满了古董洗漱用品和瓶装滑石粉。
On a hallway table, silk gloves rest on top of a purse next to a pair of opera glasses.
在走廊的桌子上，丝绸手套放在钱包上，旁边放着一副歌剧眼镜。
His things are just like the stuff in my box of Nason knickknacks, only better quality.
他的东西和我的内森小玩意盒里的东西一样，只是质量更好。
Standing there with a dirty little wooden box under my arm, I feel sort of pathetic.
我腋下夹着一个肮脏的小木箱站在那里，感觉有点可悲。
And when Patrick starts talking about how people can create instant ancestors out of old junk, it doesn't make me feel any better.
当帕特里克开始谈论人们如何用旧垃圾创造即时祖先时，我的感觉并没有好转。
I've pieced together histories through photos.
我通过照片拼凑出历史。
We've come up with photographs.
我们已经拿出照片了。
I have a number of instant ancestors in this house that I've kind of-- to create the ambiance.
这所房子里有很多我的祖先，我是为了营造这种氛围而设计的。
And in a few instances, I've tried to trace whatever I could about them.
在某些情况下，我尝试尽我所能追踪他们的情况。
Patrick's learned a lot about the history of the town.
帕特里克了解了很多关于这个小镇的历史。
So I ask him about the Nason house.
所以我问他关于内森房子的事。
He doesn't know anything about it, but he does say that a Nason cousin named Rachel Mulvy once owned this very building and that she lived here, and died here.
他对此一无所知，但他确实说过，内森的表弟雷切尔·马尔维曾经拥有这座建筑，她住在这里，死在这里。
I think that Rachel's still in the house.
我想雷切尔还在房子里。
I've had a few guests tell me they've heard someone walking on the second floor.
有几位客人告诉我他们听到有人在二楼行走。
So I don't know that you'll hear it, but I mean, I've heard people down at the end rooms-- I usually don't tell them, but she was a little old lady.
所以我不知道你会听到，但我的意思是，我听到有人在楼下的房间里说话——我通常不会告诉他们，但她是个小老太太。
So you might hear little slippered feet.
所以你可能会听到小拖鞋的脚步声。
And we've had a few things with lights, light bulbs suddenly breaking.
我们遇到过一些灯、灯泡突然坏掉的情况。
I have a couple of days to kill before my meeting with Samantha.
在与萨曼莎会面之前，我还有几天时间可以消磨。
And at breakfast, Patrick suggests I talk to a few locals who might have known the Nason family.
早餐时，帕特里克建议我与一些可能认识内森家族的当地人交谈。
The first one on his list lives right across the street.
他名单上的第一个就住在街对面。
Well, my name is Gail Holmgren Bickford.
嗯，我叫盖尔·霍姆格伦·比克福德。
I came here at the age of six months with my parents and have spent most of my summers here.
我六个月大的时候和父母一起来到这里，并在这里度过了大部分夏天。
What else would you like to know?
您还想了解什么？
Do you remember-- do you remember the Nason family?
你还记得——你还记得内森一家吗？
Of course.
当然。
They were scruffy little kids.
他们都是邋遢的小孩子。
They were always kind of disheveled and half-dressed, and needing to be washed.
他们总是衣衫不整、衣衫褴褛，需要清洗。
They were real-- what do you call it, from the-- the ones who went across on the covered wagons and never got to school?
他们是真实的——你怎么称呼它——那些乘坐有篷马车却从未到过学校的人？
Really?
真的吗？
Gail Holmgren Bickford Well, I guess maybe they did go to school, but I think they went barefoot.
盖尔·霍姆格伦·比克福德 嗯，我想也许他们确实去上学了，但我认为他们是赤脚的。
They were sort of scary to go by there.
他们从那里经过有点害怕。
If we walked to the beach, you went pretty fast to get by that house.
如果我们步行到海滩，你会很快经过那所房子。
Why?
为什么？
Gail Holmgren Bickford I don't know exactly.
盖尔·霍姆格伦·比克福德 我不太清楚。
I think the firemen burned it down for a practice session.
我认为消防员把它烧毁是为了练习。
What was their status in the town?
他们在镇上的地位如何？
Were they ostracized?
他们被排斥了吗？
I don't know.
我不知道。
I don't know anything about that.
我对此一无所知。
And I don't know the whole family setup, but one of them was into race horses and made quite a lot of money, I think, in race horsing.
我不知道整个家庭的情况，但其中一个人喜欢赛马，我认为在赛马方面赚了很多钱。
I asked Gail if she thinks financial hardship brought the family down, but she can't confirm anything.
我问盖尔是否认为经济困难导致了家庭的崩溃，但她无法证实任何事情。
About 1940-something, they build a bypass so that the main Route 25 did not go through town anymore.
大约 1940 年左右，他们修建了一条旁路，这样 25 号公路主线就不再穿过城镇了。
And then the town began to die out.
然后这个小镇开始消亡。
There was no reason to come to town.
没有理由进城。
And then the stores lost business.
然后商店就失去了生意。
And they began to close up one by one.
然后他们开始一一靠近。
I have no idea whether that's what hit that family, but there may be somebody around who knows.
我不知道这是否是影响那个家庭的原因，但周围可能有人知道。
Carol Chase was the fire chief in Freedom about the time the house was burned.
房子被烧毁时，卡罗尔·蔡斯是自由镇的消防队长。
I find him sitting on his porch on a road outside of town.
我发现他坐在城外一条路上的门廊上。
He's 92 years old and hard of hearing, but he does remember the fire.
他已经 92 岁了，听力不好，但他确实记得那场火灾。
We just lit it with a match, newspaper and a match.
我们只是用火柴、报纸和火柴点燃它。
Was the house empty, or was it full of stuff?
房子是空的，还是堆满了东西？
Nobody lived there.
没有人住在那里。
Adam Beckman Why did you start a fire?
亚当·贝克曼 你为什么生火？
Well, they wanted it burned.
好吧，他们希望它被烧毁。
Adam Beckman Who wanted it burned?
亚当·贝克曼 谁想要烧毁它？
The people who owned it.
拥有它的人。
That's about all I know about Freedom.
这就是我对自由的全部了解。
People mind their own business.
人们管好自己的事。
He looks away from me as he says this, and I take the hint.
当他说这句话的时候，他的目光从我身上移开，我明白了这一点。
Later that day, I learned he's related to the Nasons by marriage.
那天晚些时候，我得知他与内森家族有姻亲关系。
In fact, he Samantha's grandfather.
事实上，他是萨曼莎的祖父。
I spend some time worrying over why he never mentioned this.
我花了一些时间担心他为什么从未提到过这一点。
That afternoon, I go to a junk shop on the outskirts of town, discarded appliances, clothing, and a surprising number of old family photos.
那天下午，我去了城郊的一家旧货店，里面有废弃的电器、衣服，还有数量惊人的家庭旧照片。
The owner, John Woodard, salvages most of this stuff from traumatic moments in people's lives, a divorce or a death, or when they move from a house to a retirement home.
店主约翰·伍德德 (John Woodard) 是从人们生活中的创伤时刻、离婚或死亡，或者从房子搬到养老院时抢救出来的大部分东西。
As it turns out, back in the mid '70s he got a call about the Nason house.
事实证明，早在 70 年代中期，他就接到了有关内森住宅的电话。
They were getting ready to knock down that house.
他们正准备推倒那座房子。
And a guy called me up.
然后一个人给我打电话。
And he said, gee, you ought to come over.
他说，哎呀，你应该过来。
He said, there's boxes and boxes of old whiskey bottles with paper labels and all this stuff in there.
他说，里面有一箱又一箱的旧威士忌酒瓶，上面贴着纸标签，还有所有这些东西。
I got 10 or 12 boxes.
我有10或12盒。
I've sold them over the years.
这些年来我已经把它们卖掉了。
Do you remember if there's anything in here that you got from the house, the Nason house?
你还记得这里有什么东西是你从内森的房子里得到的吗？
If I still got some that have labels.
如果我还有一些带有标签的话。
One more spot.
又一个名额。
Let's check down here.
我们往下看一下吧。
John walks me out past aisles of discarded family possessions to a barn filled with hundreds of bottles.
约翰带我穿过废弃家庭物品的过道，来到一个装满数百个瓶子的谷仓。
Yeah, see, something like this.
是的，看，类似这样的事情。
Pickwick Ale bottle, probably from about 1920, in the '20s.
匹克威克啤酒瓶，可能来自 1920 年左右，二十世纪 20 年代。
I'd taken a Pickwick Ale bottle opener from the Nason house and used it all through college.
我从内森家里拿了一个匹克威克啤酒开瓶器，并在整个大学期间使用它。
It was the one relic I'd kept for myself when I packed up the Nason stuff.
这是我在收拾内森的东西时为自己保留的一件遗物。
Do you remember where in the house you found that?
你还记得你在房子的什么地方发现的吗？
These were upstairs.
这些是楼上的。
They were upstairs in some boxes.
他们在楼上的一些盒子里。
Of course, the roof had fallen in on part of it, if you remember.
当然，如果你还记得的话，屋顶已经塌陷了。
And the upstairs was-- it was one of those you said, is it really worth taking a chance getting those boxes down from upstairs?
楼上的——就是你说的那些，真的值得冒险把那些盒子从楼上拿下来吗？
But we did.
但我们做到了。
John hands it to me.
约翰把它递给我。
It's got the same veneer of rust on it that everything in the Nason house had.
它的表面和内森家里的所有东西一样都生锈了。
This is $5.
这是 5 美元。
Adam Beckman He gives it to me for free, for my project, he says.
Adam Beckman 他说，他为我的项目免费提供给我。
I'm supposed to meet Samantha, my internet Nason contact, at the B&B at 1 o'clock.
我预计下午 1 点在 B&B 与我的 Nason 网络联系人 Samantha 会面。
And she shows up 15 minutes early.
她提前15分钟出现。
A red pickup truck tears into the lot in a cloud of dust, and a tough looking woman in a flower print dress gets out and slams the door.
一辆红色皮卡车在尘土飞扬中冲进停车场，一名穿着花卉印花连衣裙、看上去很坚强的女人下了车，关上车门。
Samantha's young, in her 20s.
萨曼莎很年轻，才 20 多岁。
She's made up, hair tied back in a bow, but her demeanor is all tomboy.
她化了妆，头发在脑后扎成蝴蝶结，但她的举止却完全是假小子。
Well, I talked to the family yesterday, to actually Allen Nason.
好吧，我昨天和家人谈过，实际上是艾伦·内森。
He's the one that I'm closest to out of the whole family.
他是我们一家人中最亲近的一个。
We talk, and it's like we've been living in parallel worlds.
我们聊天，就好像我们一直生活在平行世界里。
Samantha's been looking for clues about the family's history for 10 years.
十年来，萨曼莎一直在寻找有关家族历史的线索。
She tells me she's been scouring graveyards and reading through public records, trying to construct a family tree.
她告诉我，她一直在搜寻墓地并阅读公共记录，试图构建一个家谱。
She began her search when she heard rumors that she had Native American ancestry.
当她听到有关她有美洲原住民血统的传言时，她开始寻找。
She decided to find out if she did to get financial aid for college.
她决定查明自己是否能获得大学经济援助。
Before long, she'd figured out her grandfather was, in fact, an illegitimate child of Ernest Nason, one of Bertha and Jesse's kids, although her grandfather was not the person in that letter my mom had remembered all these years.
不久之后，她发现她的祖父实际上是伯莎和杰西的孩子之一欧内斯特·内森的私生子，尽管她的祖父并不是我妈妈多年来记得的那封信中的那个人。
And they have a lot of hard feelings in the family as it is.
他们在家庭中也有很多不愉快的感觉。
Samantha's family, hearing what she was uncovering, wasn't too keen on her research project and didn't cooperate.
萨曼莎的家人听到她的发现后，对她的研究项目不太热衷，也没有合作。
It was like, go to hell away.
就像是，滚蛋吧。
I don't want to talk to you about this.
我不想和你谈论这个。
It's none of your business.
这不关你的事。
Well, it is.
嗯，确实如此。
It's my heritage.
这是我的遗产。
It's my history.
这是我的历史。
I left my box of stuff from the Nason house upstairs in the Ooh, La, La Room.
我把内森家的一箱东西留在楼上的“哦，啦，啦”房间里。
I wanted to give it to someone in the family, but I wanted to be sure it would go to someone who'd care.
我想把它送给家里的某个人，但我想确保它会送给关心的人。
As we talk, it becomes clear to me how much it would mean to Samantha.
当我们交谈时，我逐渐清楚这对萨曼莎来说意味着什么。
So I bring it down and put it on the floor in front of her.
所以我把它拿下来放在她面前的地板上。
Wow.
哇。
How do I get this open?
我该如何打开这个？
Adam Beckman It opens on the-- like that.
亚当·贝克曼（Adam Beckman） 就这样开始。
Oh, neat.
哦，整洁。
Oh my goodness.
天哪。
You even got papers.
你甚至还有论文。
Oh, wow.
哦，哇。
Yeah, that was probably one of the first things we found when we went in the house.
是的，这可能是我们进屋后发现的第一件事。
Oh my goodness.
天哪。
Ain't that neat?
那不是很整洁吗？
I can't believe this.
我简直不敢相信这一点。
This is unbelievable.
这太令人难以置信了。
You have no idea what you've done.
你不知道自己做了什么。
She opens an envelope with her great-great-grandmother's name handwritten on it.
她打开一个信封，上面手写着她曾曾祖母的名字。
She handles it incredibly gently.
她处理起来非常温和。
I watch as she lets the contents fall into her hands.
我看着她把里面的东西落到她手里。
It's a bunch of tiny recipes cut out from a newspaper.
这是一堆从报纸上剪下来的小食谱。
Oh my god.
天哪。
And you know what?
你知道吗？
I never even knew them.
我什至从来不认识他们。
Oh, my.
哦，我的。
That's so cool.
太酷了。
Oh, my goodness.
哦，天哪。
I hope they appreciate it as much.
我希望他们也同样欣赏它。
I really do.
我真的这么做。
It's actually a blessing that you had gone into that house during that time period.
在那段时间你能进入那所房子实际上是一件幸事。
Because once it fell in, everything was scooped up, thrown in a dump truck, and taken to the dump.
因为一旦掉进去，所有的东西都会被铲起来，扔进自卸车里，然后运到垃圾场。
And all the memories, everything that they left behind that should have been divvied up so that it could've been passed down, was all lost.
而所有的记忆，所有他们留下的，本应被分割以传承下来的东西，都消失了。
So it actually was a good thing that you were a nosy little boy.
所以你是一个爱管闲事的小男孩实际上是一件好事。
[LAUGHING]
[笑]
Adam Beckman Samantha didn't know much about why the Nason house had been abandoned, but she told me a man named David Buzzwell, who lives across the street from where it once stood, might have some answers.
亚当·贝克曼·萨曼莎不太清楚为什么内森的房子被废弃，但她告诉我，一个名叫大卫·巴兹韦尔的男人可能会找到一些答案，他住在它曾经所在的街对面。
On the way up to his house, I noticed a sign.
在去他家的路上，我注意到一个标志。
"Trespassers will be shot.
“闯入者将被枪杀。
Survivors will be shot twice." David's sitting on his front porch with his friend Mabel Davis.
幸存者将被枪杀两次。”大卫和他的朋友梅布尔·戴维斯坐在前廊上。
How does it happen you want to know about the Nasons?
您想了解内森一家的事是怎么发生的？
When I was a little boy, when I was about 11 years old, I was in a summer camp here.
当我还是个小男孩的时候，大约11岁的时候，我在这里参加过一个夏令营。
Once we get talking, I realized the trespassing sign is David's idea of a joke.
当我们开始交谈时，我意识到侵入标志是大卫的一个笑话。
It's Sunday afternoon, and they're drinking Mudslides.
这是周日下午，他们正在喝泥石流。
Do you remember that house?
你还记得那个房子吗？
Of course I do, honey.
我当然愿意，亲爱的。
Been in it many times.
去过很多次了。
Oh, really?
哦，真的吗？
When the Nasons were living there?
纳森一家何时住在那里？
Yeah, Mr. and Mrs. Nason were living there.
是的，内森先生和夫人就住在那里。
And I can see Mrs. Nason now taking out a can of biscuits.
我看到内森夫人正在拿出一罐饼干。
Honest to god, I bet that pan was that big.
老实说，我敢打赌那个平底锅有那么大。
Mabel's arms are spread wide as she says this.
梅布尔说这句话时张开双臂。
The image is pure Norman Rockwell.
该图像是纯粹的诺曼·洛克威尔。
And frankly, it's a relief.
坦率地说，这是一种解脱。
Well, they were wonderful people, really.
嗯，他们真的是很棒的人。
How would you say about Jess?
你觉得杰西怎么样？
All of his kids worked and worked hard.
他所有的孩子都工作并且努力工作。
Both Mabel and David knew the Nasons and had been in their house.
梅布尔和大卫都认识内森一家，也曾在他们家里住过。
But David, like me, had only been inside after it was abandoned.
但大卫和我一样，只是在它被遗弃后才进去的。
Oh, it was full of treasures, old parlor sets, Morris chairs, advertising cans.
哦，里面装满了宝藏，旧客厅布景、莫里斯椅子、广告罐。
The place was just packed with stuff like that.
这个地方到处都是这样的东西。
They were pack rats, anyway.
无论如何，他们都是一群老鼠。
They collected everything, everything.
他们收集了一切，一切。
Why would they just-- why would they just leave all that?
他们为什么要——为什么他们要离开这一切？
I would think the grandkids would want to--
我想孙子们会想要——
Didn't worry about it.
并不担心。
Adam Beckman Didn't care about her?
亚当·贝克曼 不关心她吗？
You know young people are.
你知道年轻人都是这样。
They don't care about old things today.
他们今天不关心旧事。
Dave and Mabel tell me that Bertha died in 1968 and Jesse soon after in '69.
Dave 和 Mabel 告诉我 Bertha 于 1968 年去世，Jesse 也于 69 年去世。
And then things fell apart in the Nason family.
然后内森家族的事情就分崩离析了。
When Jess died, one of the children was in charge.
杰西去世后，其中一个孩子负责负责。
He was made the executor.
他被任命为执行者。
Mabel Davis He was the executor, yes, of the estate.
梅布尔·戴维斯（Mabel Davis），是的，他是遗产的执行人。
And there were some that were very, very put out.
有些人非常非常沮丧。
They had to sign off and give him the authority to dispose of it.
他们必须签字并授权他处置它。
And some of them were not doing.
其中一些人并没有这样做。
And some would not do it.
有些人不会这样做。
David Buzzwell No. That is correct.
大卫·巴兹韦尔 不，这是正确的。
It's a terrible thing to say, but as they died off one by one by one it made it easier, but it wasn't even settled when this person who was in charge settled the estate.
说起来很糟糕，不过随着他们一一死去，事情就变得容易多了，但到了这个负责人处理遗产的时候，事情还没有解决。
He had died, and still it was left.
他已经死了，但它仍然存在。
And then the widow was paying the taxes all these years.
然后寡妇这些年一直在纳税。
And she said, well, I'm not going to continue to pay them.
她说，好吧，我不会继续付钱给他们。
Let them go.
让他们走吧。
I mean, I think there were one or two of the family left.
我的意思是，我认为家里还剩下一两个人。
And they didn't want to pay them.
他们不想付钱给他们。
No. David Buzzwell So she said, to heck with it.
不，大卫·巴兹威尔 她说，管它呢。
I'm not going to.
我不会。
So the town took it for taxes.
于是镇里就把它收了税。
I finally went to the town.
我终于进城了。
And I said, that's a fire hazard.
我说，那有火灾危险。
I built a new house here.
我在这里盖了一座新房子。
People over there are poring around.
那边的人们正在四处张望。
I said they could step on a nail, a glass, a wire, and sue.
我说他们可以踩到钉子、玻璃、电线，然后起诉。
It's not posted.
没有发布。
So I said it ought to be burned.
所以我说应该把它烧掉。
I was at my daughter's.
我当时在我女儿家。
And I was in her kitchen the day they were burning that.
他们烧那个的那天我在她的厨房里。
We could see the flames and everything.
我们可以看到火焰和一切。
Oh, yeah, I remembered.
哦，是的，我想起来了。
I remember the fire department coming and burning it.
我记得消防队来了并烧毁了它。
Yeah.
是的。
David Buzzwell I had communicated with Mr. Thompson.
大卫·巴兹韦尔 我曾与汤普森先生沟通过。
He said to me at the time, will you arrange with the fire department to burn it at a practice session?
他当时对我说，你会安排消防部门在训练时把它烧掉吗？
And I will give them $1,000 donation, which he did.
我会给他们 1000 美元的捐款，他也这么做了。
And I said, thank god, because it was an eyesore.
我说，谢天谢地，因为它实在是碍眼。
And people were in and out of it all the time.
人们一直进进出出。
Was it still full of stuff when it burned?
烧起来的时候里面还装满了东西吗？
Now the Nasons also had a store in Effingham Falls.
现在，内森家族还在埃芬汉福尔斯开设了一家商店。
There was an old--
有一个老——
Oh, yes, they certainly did.
哦，是的，他们确实做到了。
Jess and Bertha had the store right--
杰西和伯莎拥有这家商店的权利——
It wasn't Effingham Falls.
这不是埃芬汉瀑布。
Mabel Davis No, it was still Freedom.
梅布尔·戴维斯 不，这仍然是自由。
Freedom.
自由。
Adam Beckman What do you remember about the store?
Adam Beckman 关于这家商店，您还记得什么？
Well, I know it did quite a business.
嗯，我知道它做了一笔不小的生意。
It sold a lot of beer.
卖了很多啤酒。
And they had candy.
他们有糖果。
Mabel Davis Oh, yes.
梅布尔·戴维斯 哦，是的。
There was a glass showcase.
有一个玻璃陈列柜。
Mabel Davis And they had groceries.
梅布尔·戴维斯 他们有杂货。
They had groceries.
他们有杂货。
And that store was just packed with everything.
那家商店里挤满了一切。
You could hardly get through.
你很难通过。
Well, that's how Jess was.
嗯，杰西就是这样。
David Buzzwell Yeah.
大卫·巴兹韦尔 是的。
Jess was like that, he just had a lot of stuff?
杰斯就是这样，他只是有很多东西？
They both died.
他们都死了。
And none of the kids wanted to run it.
没有一个孩子愿意经营它。
Why would a family leave all their things, these precious things, not of value, but of great emotional value?
为什么一个家庭会留下他们所有的东西，这些珍贵的东西，虽然没有价值，但却具有巨大的情感价值？
Yeah.
是的。
Mabel Davis I've never really thought of it, but it seems rather tragic in a way.
梅布尔·戴维斯（Mabel Davis）：我从来没有真正想过这一点，但从某种程度上来说，这似乎相当悲惨。
I mean, that was a large family.
我的意思是，那是一个大家庭。
I mean, how well do you know people?
我的意思是，你对人了解多少？
How many of them were interested in knowing?
他们中有多少人有兴趣知道？
And so the house and the store were abandoned because the kids didn't care.
所以房子和商店都被遗弃了，因为孩子们不在乎。
In some ways, this was bleaker than anything I'd imagined back when I was 11.
从某些方面来说，这比我 11 岁时想象的还要黯淡。
I'd assumed a murder, or an illness, or an accident caused the Nasons to leave all these things behind, something out of the family's control.
我以为是谋杀、疾病或事故导致内森一家把所有这些东西抛在了脑后，这是家庭无法控制的。
But in fact, it was the opposite.
但事实上，情况恰恰相反。
The family made it happen.
家人让这件事发生了。
They didn't care about the stuff, or they just didn't care to remember.
他们不关心这些东西，或者他们只是不关心记住。
Too bad they weren't here to tell you.
可惜他们没来告诉你。
They were characters, weren't they?
他们是人物，不是吗？
Yeah.
是的。
David Buzzwell Nice people, but they were a breed that's hard to find.
大卫·巴兹韦尔（David Buzzwell） 人很好，但他们是很难找到的品种。
Yeah, that's right.
是的，没错。
They made everything do.
他们让一切都做好了。
Yeah.
是的。
But didn't everybody then?
但当时大家不都是这样吗？
Those were the good old days--
那是过去的美好时光——
Yeah, no kidding.
是的，不是开玩笑。
Mabel Davis --when we had everything but money.
梅布尔·戴维斯——当时我们除了钱什么都有。
Yes, I guess so.
是的，我想是的。
Mabel Davis You better believe you did.
梅布尔·戴维斯 你最好相信你做到了。
Well, of course you would, and a place for a pony.
嗯，你当然愿意，还有一个可以养小马的地方。
Members of the Nason family who declined to be interviewed on tape confirmed the story Mabel and Dave told me.
拒绝接受录音采访的内森家族成员证实了梅布尔和戴夫告诉我的故事。
Jesse and Bertha Nason lived in the house until 1946.
杰西·内森 (Jesse Nason) 和伯莎·内森 (Bertha Nason) 一直住在这所房子里，直到 1946 年。
That's when they opened a store near Effingham Falls and moved to the apartment above the store.
就在那时，他们在埃芬汉瀑布附近开了一家商店，并搬到了商店楼上的公寓。
They took what they needed and left the rest in the old house, using it as storage and keeping open the possibility that they'd move back someday.
他们拿走了他们需要的东西，把剩下的留在老房子里，用它作为储藏室，并保留着有一天他们搬回来的可能性。
When Jesse and Bertha died, the fight over the estate began.
杰西和伯莎去世后，遗产争夺战开始了。
Immediately their kids-- there were nine of them-- locked up the store until it could be resolved.
他们的孩子——总共有九个人——立即封锁了商店，直到事情得到解决。
The house stayed pretty much as it was.
房子几乎保持原样。
After 11 years, the fight was settled.
11年后，这场争斗终于尘埃落定。
The property was auctioned, the money was split, and the buildings were razed to the ground.
财产被拍卖，钱被分割，建筑物被夷为平地。
I asked an elder Nason why they didn't clear out the precious things in the house.
我问内森老人，为什么他们不把家里的贵重物品清理掉。
And she said, what precious things?
她说，什么珍贵的东西？
It was full of crap.
里面全是废话。
And I mean crap.
我的意思是废话。
As for the woman in the letter that my mother was never able to forget, no one knew anything about her or her baby.
至于信中那个让我母亲永远无法忘记的女人，没有人知道她和她孩子的情况。
David and Mabel told me this just figures in a little town like Freedom.
大卫和梅布尔告诉我，这只是在像自由这样的小镇上才会发生的事情。
Are you kidding, honey?
你在开玩笑吗，亲爱的？
David Buzzwell It's a "Peyton Place."
大卫·巴兹韦尔 这是一个“佩顿广场”。
Yeah.
是的。
There's nothing different.
没有什么不同。
There are all of these little--
还有所有这些小东西——
No. David Buzzwell --skeletons in the closet and bedroom affairs.
不，大卫·巴兹韦尔——壁橱和卧室事务中的骷髅。
Yeah.
是的。
Things would happen like in any typical, old town.
事情会像任何典型的老城区一样发生。
Right?
正确的？
Yeah.
是的。
It's all by gossip.
都是八卦惹的祸。
Mabel Davis It's all--
梅布尔·戴维斯 这一切——
In retrospect, I know it was a little much, my obsession with the Nasons as a kid.
回想起来，我知道我小时候对内森一家的痴迷有点过分了。
I found this stuff in their house precious, so I assumed they would too.
我发现他们家里的这些东西很珍贵，所以我想他们也会的。
But of course, the relics in their house weren't about my life.
当然，他们房子里的文物与我的生活无关。
They carried no memories, good or bad.
他们没有任何记忆，无论好坏。
It's possible that for the Nasons, they were reminders of an inheritance dispute or other disputes that they'd just as soon forget.
对于纳森一家来说，它们可能让他们想起了继承纠纷或其他他们很快就会忘记的纠纷。
When I was talking to my friend David about the Nason house, he told me this story.
当我和我的朋友大卫谈论内森之家时，他给我讲了这个故事。
His wife's father had recently and suddenly died and left behind a house that no one in the family wants.
他岳父最近突然去世，留下了一栋家里没人想要的房子。
So David and his wife, Susan, now find themselves involved in figuring out what to do with it.
因此，大卫和他的妻子苏珊现在发现自己正在考虑如何处理它。
I feel like it's on the cusp of being abandoned.
我感觉它正处于被抛弃的边缘。
No one's living there.
没有人住在那里。
It's ripe for being vandalized.
被破坏的时机已经成熟。
And what do you do with a house like that?
你用这样的房子做什么呢？
And now, it's strange.
而现在，很奇怪。
I mean, it's tied up in this weird world of legal probate where you can't really do anything with the property.
我的意思是，它与这个奇怪的遗嘱认证世界紧密相连，你不能真正对财产做任何事情。
You just kind of have to maintain it until some future court date.
您只需将其保留到未来的法庭日期即可。
The property's become a ball and chain.
财产已经变成了一个球和链。
And Susan said an interesting thing, was, gosh, I wish that house would just burn down.
苏珊说了一件有趣的事情，天哪，我希望那房子能被烧毁。
And I thinking, gosh, well, why would you wish the house to be burned down?
我想，天啊，好吧，你为什么希望房子被烧毁呢？
It's partly-- there's a lot of memories tied up in the house and emotions tied up between her and her dad, symbolized by the house.
部分原因是——房子里有很多回忆，她和她父亲之间也有很多情感，这些都以房子为象征。
But something about it seemed relevant.
但有些事情似乎是相关的。
I wanted to show Samantha the spot where the house had once stood.
我想带萨曼莎看看房子曾经所在的地方。
So in the early evening, we walked through town and onto Loon Lake Road.
因此，傍晚时分，我们步行穿过城镇，走上卢恩湖路。
We crashed through the bushes for a while, hoping that we could find the old foundation or something.
我们在灌木丛中冲了一会儿，希望能找到旧的地基什么的。
But there wasn't a trace.
但没有任何踪迹。
In fact, the very land where I remember the house was gone.
事实上，我记得房子所在的那块土地已经消失了。
The soil had been hauled away weeks before by bulldozers constructing part of the new Freedom Elementary School.
几周前，用于建造新自由小学一部分的推土机已将土壤铲走。
Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty sure it was right in this flat spot.
是的，我的意思是，我很确定它就在这个平坦的地方。
This is all new.
这都是新的。
Think it's through there.
认为它就在那里。
Later, when I was packing to leave town, I found a small scrap of paper on the floor that had fallen out of the box of Nason stuff.
后来，当我收拾行李准备离开小镇时，我在地板上发现了一张从内森东西盒子里掉下来的小纸片。
There wasn't any writing on it, but I actually hesitated at the trash can.
上面没有任何文字，但我实际上在垃圾桶前犹豫了。
It's not that I missed my box of clues.
这并不是说我错过了我的线索箱。
I'd felt relief handing them over to Samantha.
把它们交给萨曼莎我感到如释重负。
In fact, I actually felt lighter.
事实上，我确实感觉轻松了。
But I was glad to have a remnant, however small, of the Nasons.
但我很高兴能拥有内森家族的残余，无论数量多么少。
So I took the scrap in my bag.
于是我把废品收进了包里。
Adam Beckman.
亚当·贝克曼.
In the years since we first broadcast this story, Adam worked as the cinematographer and co-director for our television show.
自从我们第一次播出这个故事以来，亚当一直担任我们电视节目的摄影师和联合导演。
It's streaming many places online.
它在许多地方在线播放。
Three of the people that Adam interviewed for this story have died since it first aired, Gail Holmgren Bickford, one of the Freedom locals, Carol Chase, the former fire chief, and Mabel Davis, the woman that Adam talked to on a friend's front porch.
亚当为这个故事采访的三人自节目首次播出以来已经去世，他们是自由当地人之一盖尔·霍姆格伦·比克福德、前消防队长卡罗尔·蔡斯和亚当在朋友前廊交谈的女人梅布尔·戴维斯。
[MUSIC - "AMONG MY SOUVENIRS" BY THE CAROLINERS]
[音乐 - CAROLINERS 的《我的纪念品》]
Credits Ira Glass Our program was produced today by Wendy Dorr and myself with Alex Blumberg, Jonathan Goldstein, and Starlee Kine.
图片来源 Ira Glass 今天我们的节目由温迪·多尔 (Wendy Dorr) 和我本人以及亚历克斯·布隆伯格 (Alex Blumberg)、乔纳森·戈德斯坦 (Jonathan Goldstein) 和斯塔莉·凯恩 (Starlee Kine) 制作。
Senior producer for today's show is Julie Snyder.
今天节目的高级制片人是朱莉·斯奈德。
Additional production help on the rerun from Aviva DeKornfeld, Jarrett Floyd, Katherine Rae Mondo, Stowe Nelson, and Matt Tierney.
Aviva DeKornfeld、Jarrett Floyd、Katherine Rae Mondo、Stowe Nelson 和 Matt Tierney 为重播提供了额外的制作帮助。
Special thanks today to Carol Ford, Madeline Eldridge, Ron Beckman, and Jason Bittner.
今天特别感谢卡罗尔·福特、马德琳·埃尔德里奇、罗恩·贝克曼和杰森·比特纳。
Our website, thisamericanlife.org, where you can stream our archive of over 650 episodes for absolutely free.
我们的网站 thisamericanlife.org，您可以在其中完全免费地观看我们的 650 多集档案。
Or you can download as many episodes as you want for extra convenient listening with the This American Life app.
或者，您可以使用 This American Life 应用程序下载任意数量的剧集，以便更加方便地收听。
This American Life is delivered to public radio stations by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.
《美国生活》由公共广播电台 PRX 向公共广播电台播出。
Thanks as always to our program's co-founder, Mr. Torey Malatia, who is fascinating.
一如既往地感谢我们项目的联合创始人 Torey Malatia 先生，他非常迷人。
He describes one of his typical weekends this way.
他这样描述了他典型的周末之一。
A teenage daughter returns late from a dance with a rose.
一个十几岁的女儿在与玫瑰跳舞后很晚才回来。
She pins it to the mirror and hangs her dress in the closet.
她把它钉在镜子上，然后把衣服挂在衣柜里。
And then something horrible happens.
然后可怕的事情发生了。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Back next week with more stories of This American Life.
下周我们将带来更多《美国生活》的故事。
This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.
《This American Life》与 WBEZ Chicago 合作制作，并由 PRX 公共广播电台传送到各电台。