Geolocating Jeremy Abbott’s “explore” of a “million dollar dream mansion”

In this “explore” video, actor Jeremy Abbott’s latest set is a large, rural house:

I found it. Here’s how.

An industrial facility is in the distant background:

At first, I thought it was roofs in a a housing development, which threw me off, causing me to review too many urban areas.

This high-tension-power-line pylon was in the background (the clock image is because it is a crop of the top-right of a paused video):

It substantiates that this property is adjacent to a high-tension-power-line clearing. Also, the model of pylon can be matched, as there are a few different types.

Due to the combination of shadows on the house and a background scene, it is apparent that the clearing generally runs on a latitudinal axis (east to west).

First, the clearing:

And the shadows, which generally will protrude to the east or west:

Another crucial clue is this HomePages, a Yellow Pages-like book, which is for the Mt. Juliet, Tennessee area, reinforced by the Busy Bee company and the Mount Juliet in the yellow banner near the top:

There were other clues pointing to the Mt. Juliet area, including a UPS address label. Even if Mt. Juliet is wrong, other clues place this in the vicinity of Nashville. But another clue sent us right back to Mt. Juliet: Tennessee Cheesecake boxes in the freezer. That company is in Lebanon, TN, just east of Mt. Juliet.

Remember the pylon? The U.S. Energy Information Administration has an All Energy Infrastructure and Resources explorer. It helps us see paths where these pylons are placed:

Through this, I can focus on areas by these power lines. Fortunately, only two of the lines near Mt. Juliet match the pylon type in the photo! This is one of the matches:

I landed on the property after not too much searching:

A constant with these “explorer” actors is they create a phony story based on something seen at the property. Yup, once again, phony baloney.

First, Jeremy claims that a doctor and his wife built this as a retirement home in 2014. The date is fake. Wilson County’s parcel details for this home reveal it was built in 2006. The current owners bought it in 2010. The current owners live a few miles away, and stuff clearly from them appears in the video.

The current owners appear to be living, and neither appears to be a medical doctor.

Second, the million-dollar value, embedded in the video’s title, is fake. Per the county records, the property’s post-construction sale, when the house was 4 years old, was for $430,000. At almost 4000 square feet, it is an impressively sized house, but it’s far from a million dollars!

Back to the original premise, did some doctor build this house but get diagnosed with terminal cancer, preventing him and his wife from moving in to an almost-completed, almost-fully-furnished house? Probably not. First, one of the current owners, while not a doctor, works in oncology, and some materials around the house are related to a specific oncology company or the oncology field. For example, Diatech was an oncology-related company in the area which later became Pierian Biosciences:

The cancer story is likely a fabrication derived from oncology-related materials in the house.

Still, it’s weird that such an apparently nice house, mostly furnished and mostly complete, appears to have been at the verge of occupation yet never occupied.

You might suspect some severe fault with the house that made it unoccupiable. That doesn’t seem likely: the dwelling remains assessed at $471,900, even in its decaying state.

My theory is someone built it in 2006, brought it to near completion and mostly furnished, then a mind was changed, and it was never occupied.

And that is probably true. Additional searches turns up an Eric M. Gruenberg, who used to live there. It appears he is who built the house, and it was foreclosed in 2009. My guess is that Eric ran out of money, occupied the house for about two years while trying to make money, but he couldn’t make it work and had to leave. The “this was almost occupied” patina is likely because Eric and his wife took essentials when them before they vacated.

It gets more interesting. Eric was trying to hustle income in 2006-2010 by knowingly improperly abating asbestos at a Liberty Fibers Plant. That didn’t work out! He pled guilty and was sentenced to 28 months in federal prison.

As is typical, this appears to be yet another phony story. Instead of some tragic, sympathetic tale of a dying doctor and his mourning wife, you likely have a profligate spender who drove himself into foreclosure, whose attempts to bail himself out resulted in criminal charges. As for why the current owners don’t occupy it? Maybe the property is more valuable to them for the agricultural uses? Maybe they intended to but changed their mind? Who knows.

What we do know is you spent an hour watching someone look at debris, junk, and knick-knacks, all because you thought they were part of a sympathetic narrative. Sorry, once again, you’ve been duped.

Fun fact: This property is on Tater Peeler Road. Yes, Tater Peeler Road! What’s with the name? According to Nick Beres, a local TV reporter:

Years ago, I’m told, this was a curvy, rough dirt road.
Farmers would load their potato harvest into the back of a pick-up for the trip to market.

It was such a bumpy ride — lots of jostling — that by the time they pulled into the market all their potatoes in the back were PEELED.

And thus, Tater Peeler Road.

Nick Beres (source)

Geolocating Jeremy Abbott’s explore of an “abandoned 1800s farmhouse”

In this video, Jeremy Abbott (Jeremy xPlores) visits an old house full of stuff:

I was once again able to geolocate it.

What helped was this label:

It describes a Scott Meyers at 50 Dickens Field Road. That checks out per Dun and Bradstreet.

While this does not correspond to an actual address, it narrows down the vicinity:

Maybe he’s also known at Coot Meyers?

A search on Scott’s company’s phone number turns up a property on Broad Street, a hair south of the western terminus of Dickens Field Road. That is owned by Sharon Joyce.

Well, glory be, Sharon turns up later in the video!

OK, so this is likely on one of her properties.

Using various references in the video, I narrowed it down to this building:

Now for today’s episode of uncovering the misinformation.

First, this is not abandoned. Rather, it’s an old home that is economically unviable to restore. It has new life as a storage facility.

Who’s storing stuff? Likely either the resident of the mobile home adjacent to this house or the house just south. Both are owned by the same person as this old house.

Second, this house is from 1914 per county tax records, not 1800s!

Finally, some commentary on the Confederate stuff: This crap is not uncommon in rural, southern homes. In more recent times, Confederate memorabilia is (correctly!) understood to usually be racist. But that understanding is due to an open, public discussion in which society is gradually coming to understand the Lost Cause of the Confederacy for what it is: a false narrative concocted to whitewash Confederates, who were simply traitors and bigots.

Years ago, Confederate crap was just something Southerners tended to have in their homes. It does not necessarily connote hardened, bigoted views. That this crap is still lying around in a storage building full of accumulated debris is not remarkable. It does not support Jeremy’s narrative.

While it is possible Jeremy spoke with Sharon or someone else, Jeremy’s well-trod pattern is to see something in a house and make up a phony narrative. Given this pattern, the narrative about the children finding new ways different than the parents is probably phony.

Yet again, a phony narrative dupes viewers into watching a lengthy run-through of worthless debris in an almost worthless building that is serving its last economic use.

Geolocating Carter Bank’s (BigBankz) and Steve Ronin’s explore of a phony “killer’s house”

For this episode, Carter Banks (BigBankz) explores an abandoned home in rural Long Valley, New Jersey:

Once again, we’re presented with a phony narrative. But that’s to be expected. How else do you sell walkthroughs of rotting, worthless debris left behind by deceased, elderly folks?

These explorers’ pattern shines again: An actor saw something in the house, concocted a phony narrative around the something, and dressed up a boring video with the phony narrative. In this case, the phony narrative concludes with a murder. The “something in the house” is a silly stain on an armchair.

Other parts of the phony narrative include a move to California–nope–and some super-successful equestrian career–nope. I have no idea where the California move came from, but pictures and other materials suggest the residents liked horses.

First, this property is not abandoned. The electricity is on! Aren’s rule of abandoned property: It’s not abandoned as long as someone is paying for electricity!

How I found the house:

One clue told me it’s in New Jersey. At 6:44, you see this photo:

That’s a First Hope Bank advertisement at an equestrian facility, so an equestrian facility near this bank is in play. That bank has three branches: Hope, NJ and two nearby cities.

While it helps us determine New Jersey, it is a red herring. At 15:20 is a better clue:

The top of that is hard to make out, but it is for a local yellow-pages publication covering Chester, NJ and I think Mendham, NJ.

Other hints include that the road is unstriped, which knocks out a ton of roads. Also, it’s in a somewhat forested area, so that provides an important clue.

Fortunately, Steve Ronin gave the crucial clue in his explore of the same place:

At 0:54 is a drone shot depicting a pastoral valley that may be nestled between two ridges:

Aha, a long valley!

Going back to Google Maps, the first place I see this is a bit west of Chester:

After a brief search, I saw the aerial fingerprint, in–you guessed it–Long Valley, NJ!

The property’s back story is plain. John Brahney and his wife, Dorothy, died in 2011. And that makes sense: the furnishings, knick-knacks, and leftovers are those you might expect of an elderly couple.

Their ashes are at Arlington Cemetery in Virgina:

These explorers shamelessly used the leftover debris of a veteran and his wife to concoct a phony narrative, that is salacious and violent, just to get views. But it’s what they do, and it’s their pattern.

You can find more info on the properties (both sides of the street) by going to https://mcweb1.co.morris.nj.us/MCTaxBoard/SearchTaxRecords.aspx and searching for these, using the Search by Block and Lot feature:

  • The property across the street, where the explorers’ car was parked: Block 51, lot 11
  • The proper that includes the explored house: Block 54, lot 50

Geolocating Carter Banks’s explore of a French “murder” chateau

For this episode, Carter Banks (BigBankz) explores an abandoned home in rural France:

The big reveal comes around 18:14:

On that, you can make out 37310 Che-something. A quick Google search resolves that to 37310 Chédigny. That’s a small area!

From the beginning of the video, it’s clear that the home is loosely surrounded by woods. I guessed the home is not in the city at the center of this area, I went clockwise around the edges of the area, eventually coming across this:

Google Maps shows the name La Touche associated with the home. Oh, that’s the line on the address label right above 37310 Chédigny! This is it!

Google searching reveals little significant about this mansion. It may have some mild historicity due to several postcards featuring it.

Per Chédigny 2020, It was probably built in 1872 by Edmond Delaporte. Edmond sold it to Robert Delaunay in 1919. (This is after Edmond’s death, so I am guessing this is a mortgage or sale record that reflects a sale from Edmond’s estate.) In 1926, it was sold to a Mr. Soluet. A Levillain family purchased it in 1962, and that family apparently still owns it. And that makes sense: A Jacques Levilain appears to own the home and the property and runs a poultry farm on it. Or maybe not? It appears he died in 2014 at 83. That may explain the assistive devices found around the house.

With a little Googling, I can find no evidence of a murder or African living there. While lack of evidence is not proof it did not happen, it makes it unlikely. And what makes these ideas even more unlikely are the easy ways to explain Carter’s theories.

The allegation of a murder seems to be concocted from a chair with a stain. It shows starting around 24:19:

You know, if you were murdered in that chair, the stain would be in a perfect oval pattern behind your head. Certainly gravity would not pull it down. (Sarcasm alert.)

The allegation about African millionaires might be because, of the many photographs of fair-skinned people found in the home, a handful were of dark-skinned people, including one family photo and a calendar.

The murder and African millionaire fit a pattern of phony narratives that Carter and his colleagues use to market these explorations. The real narrative is that the owner died in 2014, and this was possibly when the house’s use ended. Compounding things are that 90% of French chateauxes, which includes large manor houses like this, are not maintained properly. Also, this home was built well after the rationale for rural manor houses was already receding.

The appearance is the property’s current owner is permitting the house to gradually return itself to the land. The same practice is not uncommon in the rural USA.

Some details: Google Translate says that La Touche means The Key. Also, France has several La Touche homes or areas. This is the La Touche near Chédigny.

Geolocating Carter Banks’s and Jeremy Abbott’s explore of the Alabama “died on the couch” house

In two videos, Carter Banks (BigBankz) and Jeremy Abbott (Jeremy Xplores) do walkthroughs of an abandoned residence in Alabama. Here’s Carter’s explore:

And here’s Jeremy’s explore:

This one took more sleuthing.

First, Carter revealed a rough location with this, at 21:24:

This refers to Dr. Michele Saint Romain, who was abducted in 1991 near Birmingham, Alabama. Her body was not found until 1999. This semi-corroborates his allegation that the house’s last resident died in 1992.

It was difficult to hone in much more with Carter’s video, so I went to Jeremy’s video, where he gives an invaluable clue at 4:32:

This likely reveals the owner, Mrs. Ted Turner.

At 4:35, we see that her first name was likely Nellie:

The name didn’t help much. Also, the address threw me off.

First, Route 3, also known as Cherokee County Road 3, is east of Collinsville, but Lebanon is northwest of Collinsville, so that’s likely not it. Next, I found a Lebanon Road, a stretch of road west of Lebanon that doesn’t appear to go all the way to Lebanon. We still have an issue in that I lack a precise address for Nellie’s home. Going up and down the part of Lebanon Road in the 35961 ZIP code bears no fruit.

Back to the drawing board.

Other important clues are found in outside shots of the house:

  • There are other houses nearby.
  • When looking at it from the front, the roofline will be a bit different to accommodate the balcony, and the back right will have a partially collapsed carport.
  • You can hear the drone of a nearby highway, so it’s not far from Interstate 59.
  • You can hear vehicles going by, so it’s close to a road.
  • The road is viewable in some shots, and it has no striping.

OK, so it’s not on Lebanon Road, but we have some more info to track it down. Maybe Route 3 refers to some postal carrier route, not a road. And maybe Lebanon Road means some road that goes to Lebanon, not literally the road named Lebanon Road by the county? Also, given the proximity of other structures, I guess it could be on the outskirts of a small town.

And a particular building in the background of Jeremy’s video at 0:11 really helped. It had a distinctive chimney on the side:

I went back to Lebanon and reviewed some more. After crawling its streets on aerial view for a few minutes, I noticed a familiar roof shape:

Hmm, let’s look at the front:

Jackpot!

DeKalb County has tax history for this property going back to 1996. Interestingly, Lela Everett was the owner. She died in 2006 at 92. It’s likely that she is the person on the return address of the above envelope.

Why is the house in this shape? First, since Lela was born in 1914, she was almost certainly not Nellie’s daughter. Why would the property have gone to her, then? From what I can infer, Lela’s husband Glysco was born in DeKalb County, Alabama, so I assume there is some family or childhood connection.

I do not know the circumstances of Nellie’s death. I do know that Carter and Jeremy routinely buttress phony narratives with fake or grossly exaggerated claims. A claim in this video is that stains on a particular couch are fluids emitted by Nellie’s corpse before she was found one week later. Whether Nellie’s body emitted those fluids depends on morbid factors not revealed in the video. These could simply be garden-variety stains.

Is this house a time capsule? Of course not. As with virtually every house they visit, anything of value has already been removed, and the scene has changed considerably since the house was last occupied. What is left are worthless things, like used clothes, knick-knacks, or well-used furniture.

Nellie’s land is in use. Aerial photos make clear that it’s being used for agricultural purposes. Since the current owner lives several states away, it’s likely Nellie’s land is being leased out.

Given low land values in the countryside, it is often not worthwhile to renovate old homes. Once their economic life is done, it is not uncommon to let old houses rot away.

So instead of a mysterious abandonment and a time capsule, it’s likely this house is full of worthless junk and is intentionally being subjected to benign neglect.