- 22 hours ago
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00:00:22What's your light, though?
00:00:28How long do you think this has been empty?
00:00:31Two and a half years.
00:00:33How do you know?
00:00:35Date on the calendar.
00:00:43Wouldn't you say it's about an inch and three-eighths wide?
00:00:46Yeah.
00:00:47That's what I need.
00:00:51I am a big snake.
00:00:53I like reading about snakes.
00:00:59Why don't you keep pushing in, it'll work.
00:01:03Yummy!
00:01:04These cookies sure taste good.
00:01:10I'll empty this out and put it in the kitchen.
00:01:12Mama left the snoot up.
00:01:18I know that's a foundation wall of the building, so it's actually got a full solo with a skinny
00:01:25passageway.
00:01:26Looks like one of my underground wall of the way.
00:01:30Okay, let's do the next building.
00:01:59Let's do it.
00:02:21Look how fancy windows were.
00:02:25You know how many panes of glass they were?
00:02:28They were a thousand.
00:02:29You know how big they were?
00:02:31Let's do it.
00:02:54What's in there?
00:02:56It's my tools and camera and red rag.
00:03:02You know what red rag's for?
00:03:05Big loads?
00:03:06Right.
00:03:14Now I'll go all the places a car cannot go.
00:03:30When I'm driving I'm looking for tunnels, rubber beds, caves.
00:03:37Now I have to look back at your house, mate.
00:03:42Cricks.
00:03:45Good balance.
00:03:46I always did this I guess.
00:03:55I ain't got over though.
00:03:57Looking for old lanes, growed up in trees and bushes.
00:04:01Most of the time I find a house, if not a house, I saw with nothing on it.
00:04:11Watch it, see what happens to it.
00:04:15I know when it's gone in and out, no path available, no driveway available.
00:04:21Then go and walk around real good.
00:04:25Don't say the stuff that rots away.
00:04:28Don't need to leave it behind.
00:04:31That's unusual.
00:04:34Lift up by a lid.
00:04:37Except for a man or a woman.
00:04:39That's amazing.
00:04:42Sometimes you never know what to see.
00:04:45Oh, good find.
00:04:48Lego blocks.
00:04:50Some of them are a terrible mess.
00:04:54Take your time, dig to a barn, you'll find good things.
00:04:58What about the stormwater too?
00:04:59That was a good stormwater.
00:05:02I've probably seen 700 to 800-pound houses.
00:05:07People shouldn't be as wasteful.
00:05:10They really don't make sense because they've got to buy over again.
00:05:15There is another door in there, but there's no way to carry two of them.
00:05:21I hold most stuff on my bike.
00:05:26Up to a cast-down bathtub.
00:05:31It's just like a fat rider behind me.
00:06:05I don't live in a red brick house now.
00:06:07It's Mom's house.
00:06:11I built a house in the back.
00:06:17That's where I live now.
00:06:24I built a lot of buildings behind Mom's house.
00:06:32I have 25 buildings and 23 solos.
00:06:44I've been building back here since 1965.
00:07:02I don't use nails, no more than nothing.
00:07:12I don't use nails, no more than nothing.
00:07:16That's the first time I saw it.
00:07:19There's a wall actually out dirty?
00:07:21Well, I would think so, but that's the first time it showed up like that.
00:07:26I noticed that.
00:07:27So, yeah, every room it needs washed.
00:07:31But what was hanging up there?
00:07:33We used to have a picture.
00:07:35Not that high.
00:07:36Oh, not that high.
00:07:39I've never seen that before.
00:07:43I did either till now.
00:07:47No, that's not it.
00:07:51It wasn't there yesterday.
00:07:53I know.
00:07:56Why is it showing up now?
00:08:03This doesn't have anything to do with it?
00:08:06Yeah.
00:08:08Yeah.
00:08:08Uh-oh.
00:08:09It's reflecting off of one of Art's vehicles.
00:08:12I see.
00:08:14And he's working on a car.
00:08:17Yeah, it's a white car.
00:08:20My name is Marielle Heist.
00:08:23How old are you now?
00:08:2539, isn't it?
00:08:2990.
00:08:30I have to think how old I am.
00:08:3490 is right.
00:08:36Ronald is my oldest son.
00:08:39Go on, fill out.
00:08:40Can't get that W.
00:08:42I couldn't either.
00:08:42It's too high.
00:08:43Ron was born in 1950, May 7th.
00:08:49And he was just a normal baby.
00:08:52He used to be talking.
00:08:55You know, mama, dad, dad, different words.
00:09:00And all at once, he stopped.
00:09:08He just seemed unemotional.
00:09:11He just didn't connect with a lot of people.
00:09:15We felt bad, sad, you know,
00:09:18because he just didn't seem to take to anybody,
00:09:23even his own parents.
00:09:25He just ignored us.
00:09:29But we knew right from the start,
00:09:31he liked to build things.
00:09:34When he was three,
00:09:36anything to do with building,
00:09:37he would do.
00:09:40Usually it was just blocks and things like that.
00:09:44Even cardboard boxes.
00:09:48That's the only thing that made him happy.
00:09:50Anything to do with building.
00:09:55But when we got out here,
00:09:58it must have been 1965,
00:10:00he found his way.
00:10:06How far underground are we?
00:10:08Right here is 20 feet.
00:10:10How long did it take you to dig?
00:10:12Six weeks.
00:10:13March 1st to April 16th.
00:10:17They say mole map.
00:10:19Why?
00:10:20I don't know.
00:10:22Someone's always digging.
00:10:28Any nails in these boards?
00:10:30Nothing is nailed.
00:10:33You got coal out of here?
00:10:34Oh yeah.
00:10:35Lots of it.
00:10:36That's coal.
00:10:37Number nine.
00:10:49What'd I do?
00:10:51Oh.
00:10:52Something's loose though.
00:10:55Tighten up barbly a little bit.
00:10:57That's what it was.
00:11:04This bulb will light the cell up.
00:11:07Whoa.
00:11:09So from age 15 to 16 you built this whole house?
00:11:12Yeah.
00:11:14By yourself?
00:11:15Yeah.
00:11:16Nobody helped you?
00:11:17No.
00:11:19How'd you know how to build it?
00:11:22By being in other old houses.
00:11:27Did your dad buy blocks for you?
00:11:29Yeah.
00:11:31May 7th.
00:11:36You didn't put a level on that?
00:11:38No.
00:11:40Never?
00:11:41No.
00:11:41Never.
00:11:42How'd you level it?
00:11:43My eyes.
00:11:46Pretty much right on, huh?
00:11:48Yeah.
00:11:49And mom said my eyes are no good.
00:11:51That's crazy.
00:11:51I can't believe you never put a level on this wall.
00:11:54See, there's no mortar, no cracks.
00:11:57And how long's this been here?
00:11:591966.
00:12:02How do you do that?
00:12:03How do you make it last that long?
00:12:05The weight of the house is holding it.
00:12:09We dig down to hit water.
00:12:12Water lays level.
00:12:14Level of water in the footer.
00:12:17It stacks up, stays on its own.
00:12:21But weight aren't, you can backfill in.
00:12:39Shake the wall lines.
00:12:42Hard as camp.
00:12:43The house weighs 146 tons.
00:12:46That's why this don't move.
00:12:53My wife doesn't particularly like to go back to Ron's place.
00:12:58Too claustrophobic.
00:13:00This topic is not something that she really likes to talk about because she feels that I got to handle
00:13:06most of the burden from the standpoint of not other people are stepping up and doing their part.
00:13:15But I'm the closest son to Butler.
00:13:20It's somewhat easier for me to address these things than others.
00:13:31My name's Tim Heist.
00:13:32I am Ron's younger brother.
00:13:35Ron is 12 years older than me.
00:13:38You know how to open these, right?
00:13:40Scissors.
00:13:41No, just tear up at the top corner.
00:13:45Dump it on in.
00:13:50We shared a bedroom that actually was divided.
00:13:54And Ron had one half.
00:13:56My twin brother and I had the other half.
00:13:59Ron used to do things and he'd blame it on Jim and I.
00:14:03We'd tell our mother that, you know, we didn't do this, but why does dad, you know, believe him versus
00:14:10us?
00:14:11And, you know, her thing was, you know, Ron, he's just different.
00:14:22He is very protective of Ron, he is very supportive of Ron, and that was his top priority.
00:14:33It was always, Ron can't do any harm.
00:14:37Our dad was always there to, you know, help him out.
00:14:41He sold cars for a living.
00:14:43He always worked a lot of hours.
00:14:45It was sometimes very difficult for the rest of us because it took a lot more to get our dad's
00:14:52attention,
00:14:53or let alone try to get his time.
00:15:00Especially when we got to be teenagers, we went on our own and, you know,
00:15:06we didn't necessarily try to compete for that time.
00:15:12I know when we were young, we used to think about the relationship that we'd have with our father as
00:15:18adults.
00:15:21It never worked out that way.
00:15:29Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this day.
00:15:32We give you thanks for your blessing upon each of us, Lord.
00:15:34We ask this in Christ our Lord, amen.
00:15:36Amen.
00:15:37Amen.
00:15:37And God be with you guys.
00:15:45Take a little bit of everything, okay?
00:15:50Here's applesauce, homemade.
00:15:52Tim, did you know that the kids went with Ron on a boat ride?
00:15:56What type of boat?
00:15:57That white box.
00:15:59Oh my goodness.
00:16:00Which white box?
00:16:02That she was in.
00:16:04Jeez.
00:16:06It's a carrier for the top of the vehicle.
00:16:11Those carriers that strap together, you put them on top of the vehicle.
00:16:15He takes them apart and you get two boats out of it.
00:16:18Two what out of it?
00:16:19Two boats.
00:16:20And I don't leak.
00:16:21That surprises me.
00:16:22I've been in boats before of yours where I just sunk.
00:16:27No one really talked about Ron's situation or went to the extent of my parents sitting down with us and
00:16:34saying,
00:16:34look, this is how it is.
00:16:36Everything was more hush hush.
00:16:40My dad did what he thought was right.
00:16:43Why else would my parents let Ron do what they did?
00:16:47Because they knew what made them happy.
00:16:51It's your first child and then they realize, well, something's not right here.
00:16:58They called him mentally challenged.
00:17:02Mentally challenged.
00:17:04He just wasn't talking.
00:17:06Then he didn't tell people how smart he was.
00:17:10They just put that diagnosis on him.
00:17:13My mom and dad weren't able to question anything about that.
00:17:17And to me that didn't make sense.
00:17:19He's so capable of doing so many things.
00:17:23Ron's creativity is amazing.
00:17:28Amazing.
00:17:31You know that one?
00:17:35Bright purple, lime green, bright orange, bright blue, hot pink.
00:17:41Everything's that cold.
00:17:42That's the way I like it.
00:18:03Don't know anyone else that has this?
00:18:07No, I don't.
00:18:08You don't.
00:18:09Do you?
00:18:11No.
00:18:16The fact that he can go to someone's house, be in there just for a little bit, leave, go home,
00:18:22and draw a floor plan with windows and the way the doors swing is just something else.
00:18:28I saw a movie.
00:18:30Rain Man.
00:18:32I'm like, wow.
00:18:33That's Ron.
00:18:34That's my brother.
00:18:36He's so precise.
00:18:37That was always something I picked up on growing up with him was the numbers.
00:18:42What time do you tell people to call you?
00:18:435.05 to 6.06.
00:18:47Why that time?
00:18:48That's the time I'm eating.
00:18:50Exact number of this.
00:18:51Exact time that he comes up.
00:18:53You know, and if you stray from it, he didn't like it.
00:18:55No one ever said anything about autism, but I'd have to watch that movie, so that's truly Ron.
00:19:02Explain this to me.
00:19:03Well, it tells you how warm the day was, how cold it was at night, how warm my house was,
00:19:10how many inches the creek had in.
00:19:13Yesterday was eight.
00:19:16I don't have the seven in here yet, but that's what it would have been.
00:19:20But I can go back to years and tell what day I worked on the house, what day I painted
00:19:26the wall.
00:19:28Right here.
00:19:30Paint things orange in solo.
00:19:33Well, that's what I did last night.
00:19:36I must have started in maybe 60.
00:19:38One jewelry box per month.
00:19:42This, this here game.
00:19:47That's, that's how I keep everything scheduled.
00:19:53Mum says my bookkeeping ain't no good.
00:19:57I don't know about that.
00:20:00It can be bowing holes in some ways.
00:20:03I don't know too many people to write down everything they've done every day for the last 40 years.
00:20:09That's pretty good.
00:20:10It's pretty good bookkeeping.
00:20:11Oh, I think it is?
00:20:12Yeah.
00:20:13See what it says.
00:20:18The older my parents got to be, they just didn't, you know, they didn't have the control over him.
00:20:24And it's to that point where he was accustomed to doing what he was going to do.
00:20:29And what's Ron doing?
00:20:32Gowing up some wood.
00:20:34What are you going to do with it?
00:20:35I'm going to take it to a porch.
00:20:38Which porch?
00:20:39Front porch.
00:20:41Bad stuff.
00:20:43Yeah.
00:20:43Ron can be nice in his own way, but yet his number one priority is himself.
00:20:48And he would manipulate, lie, tell stories, and everything else to get it his way.
00:20:57You're going something.
00:21:00Tell me where it is.
00:21:02Take this stuff up to a porch.
00:21:05Try to keep track of where he was, forget that.
00:21:10Every morning it's the same routine.
00:21:12Expect him up here about 9.30.
00:21:16Take one hour to eat.
00:21:18Then he takes off and I don't see him until supper time.
00:21:23He's always doing something.
00:21:27Where was that big old bridge you had me on that was all burned up and I said I can't
00:21:31walk by this bridge no more.
00:21:33Right there.
00:21:34There it is.
00:21:35No, right here.
00:21:37Okay, zoom in right on that trussle.
00:21:39My uncle is Ron's brother.
00:21:42My mother's sister married his brother.
00:21:45That's the age I was when I first met Ron.
00:21:48Every time we would be at a family gathering, we'd sit there and talk.
00:21:53That's another place where Ron tried to kill me.
00:21:56Okay, right now.
00:21:58This thing is literally 100 feet in the air.
00:22:00No.
00:22:01From the creek.
00:22:02165.
00:22:03He wanted to drive the car across it until we realized there was a big hole in the middle of
00:22:06it.
00:22:07Well, a hole went down when I drove across.
00:22:10He'd tell me stories about all the stuff he built.
00:22:14Unless you see it, you almost can't believe it.
00:22:18First time I'd seen his house, I went through there and he had a maze.
00:22:26Ninety-six feet.
00:22:28Four stories high.
00:22:30Passageways are 16 wide.
00:22:32Twenty-seven high.
00:22:34And you have to go over 400 balls on the fourth floor.
00:22:38Cannonballs.
00:22:39Bowling balls.
00:22:41Buncher balls.
00:22:42K-balls.
00:22:43Mush balls.
00:22:44Baseballs.
00:22:45Golf balls.
00:22:46Tennis balls.
00:22:49There's dead ends and it's pitch black in there.
00:22:52And it took me 45 minutes.
00:23:00That was easy to do.
00:23:03He would ask for cinder blocks for his Christmas list or his birthday list.
00:23:07Then he started building the main house and it built from there.
00:23:12He wanted more so he built another building and then he connected it with tunnels.
00:23:18He would dig basements underneath and then connect basement to basement by tunnel.
00:23:40Ronald built everything by hand.
00:23:43He does not have big machinery.
00:23:45He does not have a workforce that does these things for him.
00:23:49He does it all himself.
00:23:50And some of those buildings he didn't build.
00:23:52He would literally find an abandoned building and like it and take it home with him.
00:23:58How'd you get this here?
00:24:00Black bed truck.
00:24:01One piece.
00:24:03Minus a chimney and a smokestack.
00:24:07And the bell towel.
00:24:13Everywhere I go I tell everyone about him.
00:24:17And I've drugged probably hundreds of people through his house.
00:24:21I'm going to keep going.
00:24:24I'm going to keep going.
00:24:25Are they panicked already?
00:24:26This is cool.
00:24:30Know him?
00:24:31No, I don't.
00:24:32Who's that?
00:24:33Oh, look.
00:24:34Glenn Colbert.
00:24:36I don't.
00:24:37He's my cousin.
00:24:38Oh, really?
00:24:39Mm-hmm.
00:24:40Ron, do you know Dale Frye?
00:24:42Oh, yeah, I know.
00:24:42That's my cousin.
00:24:44Oh, it is.
00:24:44Yeah.
00:24:45And his brothers Chris and Matt.
00:24:48Mm-hmm.
00:24:48Those are all my cousins.
00:24:50Hmm.
00:24:50Oh, gosh, I can't wait to tell my mom.
00:24:52That's cool.
00:24:54Dale used to live right across the railroad tracks.
00:24:56I don't know where Dale lives now.
00:24:58I don't know where I am living.
00:25:00When you see him, tell him, give me a call.
00:25:02Okay, I will.
00:25:03Around 6 o'clock, 5.30, some window.
00:25:07I'll definitely tell him.
00:25:08What are they signing?
00:25:11The cardboard for a number of how many is in here in one year?
00:25:15Usually 380.
00:25:17How many?
00:25:18380.
00:25:19380 what?
00:25:20People.
00:25:21Per year?
00:25:22Yeah.
00:25:23When did you get these made?
00:25:26Last year.
00:25:27What's up with the plunger?
00:25:29I collect them.
00:25:31See them?
00:25:31You collect them?
00:25:33Oh, my gosh.
00:25:35440.
00:25:35One from each place or clean off or job did.
00:25:40Then I put the dates on.
00:25:42Why do you take the plunger?
00:25:45That's one thing that's always left behind.
00:25:49The foreclosures in this area are ridiculously high.
00:25:54Butler has really been hard hit.
00:25:58You can just drive through town any given day
00:26:00and see a for sale sign that says foreclosure at the top.
00:26:05Years ago, it was a beautiful town.
00:26:09People had great jobs.
00:26:12There was a coal mine.
00:26:14There was Pullman Standard.
00:26:17But when Pullman Standard went out, it was like a ghost town.
00:26:21I mean, that's where everybody worked in this area.
00:26:25And half the houses went empty.
00:26:27Just within an hour and a half drive, there's whole abandoned towns.
00:26:44There's all these abandoned factories.
00:26:49And that's where Ron gets all the stuff.
00:26:53Some of the places he has taken me to, you just hear them bells ringing and angels singing.
00:27:00I found a 1938 Wolitzer jukebox that was rare that's now in the Wolitzer Museum in Houston, Texas.
00:27:08We found a whole abandoned bar.
00:27:10We had antique bar lights, pool tables.
00:27:14And a really neat thing that we found was memorabilia from the farmhouse that was in the original Night of
00:27:20the Living Dead.
00:27:23A lot of the good that has happened in Ron's life is because of Chuck Heist, his dad.
00:27:28I said, Chuck, why did you let him do this?
00:27:30He said, well, he didn't speak until he was nine or ten.
00:27:33And when we started letting him build, he opened up.
00:27:38Do I get in our picture, Ron?
00:27:40You're already on our sweatshirts.
00:27:42Yeah.
00:27:42Okay, come on.
00:27:44His house, his adventures, that is his connection with everybody.
00:27:50He loves being the mole man.
00:27:53Chuck just gave him that free reign to do what he wanted to do.
00:27:56I can smell paint down here.
00:27:59But Chuck, unfortunately, within the last year, he passed away.
00:28:10He fell over in the bedroom.
00:28:13We couldn't wake him up.
00:28:17I said, Ron, maybe we can put him back on the bed.
00:28:20We just couldn't lift him up to put him back on the bed.
00:28:24And I said, I'm going to call the ambulance.
00:28:29The ambulance came.
00:28:32Two or three weeks later, he was gone.
00:28:37I miss Chuck a lot.
00:28:40Yep, I'm still sleeping in that chair every night.
00:28:44Ever since he passed away, I've been sleeping in that chair.
00:28:49I said, I can't sleep in the bedroom.
00:28:51It just seems different.
00:28:59A big change, yeah.
00:29:02I know.
00:29:03I really miss him.
00:29:05I miss my car man.
00:29:16You could tell just from the absence of my dad that there's a huge void in his life.
00:29:23I really thought he might get really upset over it and have a reaction.
00:29:38He wouldn't talk to me.
00:29:39I've been friends with him for most of my life.
00:29:44When I was at the funeral, Ron pretended like he didn't even know who I was.
00:29:48Somebody asked where I was at.
00:29:49He said, I don't know that name.
00:29:50He had let his hair grow real long.
00:29:54It was down past his shoulders, looked disheveled.
00:29:58And then he just started building constantly.
00:30:02Part of the glue that holds Ron together came apart.
00:30:09I miss him when it comes to something old.
00:30:13He always knew it.
00:30:15As long as I had this place to keep me busy.
00:30:20See, I really know it too much in.
00:30:25You know, I'm used to being by myself.
00:30:31His mind was good.
00:30:33That's one thing.
00:30:35New things he would forget about.
00:30:37Good memory.
00:30:52Does he give any more thought about the future here?
00:30:55You know, do we keep the house?
00:30:56Don't we keep the house?
00:30:58Not really.
00:30:59Not really.
00:31:00All that stuff takes money.
00:31:04Right?
00:31:05Yeah.
00:31:06Since my dad passed away, I inherited a huge challenge.
00:31:11How do we deal with the house?
00:31:13How do we deal with the property?
00:31:14How do we deal with Ron?
00:31:16You can't depend that life is always going to be the same from day to day, Ron.
00:31:22So far it's been.
00:31:23But if something happened, what happens then?
00:31:26I mean, you never know what's going to happen tomorrow.
00:31:33When our mother passes away, the situation is going to totally change.
00:31:40What are you waiting on?
00:31:43The day to come?
00:31:45That would be ten more years.
00:31:49We hope.
00:31:50We hope.
00:31:51But if I don't do anything, then we're at risk of losing everything down the road.
00:31:58And I don't want that to happen.
00:32:03His routine, his environment, that's his safety zone.
00:32:09To see that taken away from him is not something I want to see.
00:32:14But I fear that that's exactly what's going to happen.
00:32:18I'm hoping not.
00:32:19I'm hoping that something can be figured out.
00:32:22He thinks he's going to stay there, period.
00:32:26I did it.
00:32:28I definitely would love to get my mom out of that house.
00:32:31Number one, I think she feels very much a burden on herself that she has to take care of Ron.
00:32:40I wish he would cook.
00:32:42That would be better yet.
00:32:44You're a better cook.
00:32:47It'd probably hurt him to move and do whatever.
00:32:50It's a big deal.
00:32:52You want to be able to tell mom that we have an answer.
00:32:56And we don't.
00:32:58If I could just find someone to live with me, that's the only thing we're having trouble with.
00:33:10I don't know the answer for that yet.
00:33:16He doesn't have a way of saying, well, how do I afford this?
00:33:20You know, does someone else have to pay for this the rest of his life?
00:33:23I mean, that's something we aren't prepared to do.
00:33:27To see Ron pulled out of that place, I think, would kill him.
00:33:33Plain and simple, I just don't think he'd want to live anymore.
00:33:56Why you got a Cincinnati Reds jacket?
00:33:58Because I'm a Cincinnati Reds fan.
00:34:00You told me that before, but I just don't get why.
00:34:04Well, this was my team when I was a kid.
00:34:07Did you grow up in Cincinnati?
00:34:08No.
00:34:20A lady that my wife works with's husband is French.
00:34:23And they've gone on some of those excursions and things.
00:34:26And I got a quote done from my porch here.
00:34:28I just didn't like the number.
00:34:29My wife was talking about it at work, and the lady she works with said,
00:34:33Hey, why don't you see if Ron would be interested?
00:34:35And so he came over and basically wants to do it all himself and everything.
00:34:38It's pretty amazing because he's going to have this thing tore up in no time.
00:34:43You impressed me a lot with just how you can look at something and say,
00:34:47this is how many feet long by whatever.
00:34:49I can tell it's an 8-inch door from a 32.
00:34:53That's right.
00:34:53Do you use this lumber?
00:34:55Do you have to store it or what?
00:34:57Oh, I'll use this 1-inch stuff for roof sheeting.
00:35:00This is good for a rafter, yep.
00:35:03Then the Tongroove forings, I'll use it back at my dam.
00:35:06What are you doing with a dam?
00:35:08We go boat ride and swimming now.
00:35:10Oh, yeah?
00:35:1250 by 9600.
00:35:14Are we ever married, dude?
00:35:15No.
00:35:16What's going on?
00:35:18Mom still cooks you.
00:35:19Mom!
00:35:20You gotta be kidding me.
00:35:21No, she's 90.
00:35:27When are you gonna play?
00:35:28I'll play blue.
00:35:30Okay.
00:35:33Okay.
00:35:34I better put a pillow on there.
00:35:47Hey, come on now, fix that.
00:35:52I want to see if you're awake.
00:35:54I'm awake.
00:35:57See, Mom's will be 91 February.
00:36:02No change yet.
00:36:05Hey, that's a blue one.
00:36:07Oh.
00:36:08Where was that?
00:36:09Right there.
00:36:12No.
00:36:13Ooh, ooh, ooh.
00:36:14Look at that.
00:36:15Go three in.
00:36:18Ron says I'll live to be 100, so I don't have to worry.
00:36:28No, you goofed me up.
00:36:31How does it feel on your side?
00:36:35We are going to have a therapist meet, Ron.
00:36:40Ron's never been officially diagnosed with autism.
00:36:45He has to be diagnosed in order to get the help that he needs.
00:36:49Hopefully with that diagnosis, we'll have a better direction of where we need to go.
00:36:55I would like to learn a lot more about Ron.
00:36:58And half of how we answer questions is through testing, and that's what Dr. Gaskell's doing.
00:37:03We're going to be doing all kinds of different activities, okay?
00:37:08And there's not always a right answer.
00:37:11We just need you to let me know what you think the answer is, okay?
00:37:16We give the individual something to do, and we try to learn about them through watching them solve problems.
00:37:23Mm-hmm.
00:37:23And so, you know, they're given opportunities to initiate and respond to conversations.
00:37:28And then it gives us an algorithm for scoring those behavior observations.
00:37:33Now we have a book here.
00:37:34And what's different about this book than books that you might read is it only has a few words.
00:37:39So we're actually going to tell the story from pictures.
00:37:42So I'm going to start so that you get an idea of how to do it.
00:37:46And then I'm going to let you tell me the story for a while, and then I'm going to finish
00:37:49the story.
00:37:50So Tuesday evening around 8, there was a turtle sitting on a log, and the sun came down, and the
00:37:55moon came up, and the turtle looked up, and all of a sudden he saw these frogs floating all over
00:38:00the sky.
00:38:01Now I'm going to let you tell me the story, and then I'll finish at the very end.
00:38:06You can just tell me whatever story you want.
00:38:09There's no right answers to any of this.
00:38:12Our frogs don't fly.
00:38:14They don't, I know.
00:38:16Part of understanding this is understanding concrete versus abstract cognitive skills.
00:38:22And individuals with autism actually aren't so great at the abstract and the pretend.
00:38:27They're just much more concrete, black and white thinking.
00:38:29Yeah, so you're going to have to suspend disbelief.
00:38:32You're going to have to pretend this is like a fiction story here.
00:38:40Okay, so tell me what, make up a story that doesn't really happen, but is in the book.
00:38:47What's happening on this page?
00:38:49He's eating bread.
00:38:51Mm-hmm.
00:38:52It just looks like plain bread.
00:38:57Everybody describes him as creative, but yet when asked to pretend, to make believe, he actually wasn't able to do
00:39:06it.
00:39:07So what's happening on this page?
00:39:09That one don't belong up there, that one don't belong up there.
00:39:12So they're flying, they're having fun.
00:39:14Yeah.
00:39:14They don't belong there, but that's okay.
00:39:16Frogs don't fly.
00:39:18Okay, I'll finish up for you.
00:39:20Next Tuesday, something new was flying in the sky, but it was not a frog, they were pigs.
00:39:26Pigs don't fly.
00:39:30A lot of things she just wants to do what he wants to do.
00:39:34Yeah.
00:39:35And otherwise she just isn't interested.
00:39:37Like, I said, why don't we go to a movie?
00:39:40I don't want to go to the movie.
00:39:42But when there's something about building houses or finding the way to go someplace, he can do any of that.
00:39:51Yeah.
00:39:52He's really good.
00:39:53In fact, he could build a house.
00:39:56He could put electric in a house.
00:39:59That's how good he is in that.
00:40:01And are you going to go back there?
00:40:04I would like to if he wants to invite me.
00:40:07I mean, he's great with numbers and weights and measures and mechanics and his skill set.
00:40:14Because he's really fixated on those narrow interests and has learned as much as he can about that.
00:40:21Wow, you're really quick.
00:40:24That was a little bit slow, I thought.
00:40:28People of his generation commonly did not get support.
00:40:31And I think there are many ways that his situation could not have turned out as positive as it did.
00:40:38Some of those people are in group homes.
00:40:42And he's still not out of the woods.
00:40:45Have you thought about the next 10 years?
00:40:48Like, your plans, your hopes, your dreams.
00:40:50What would you like to see happen?
00:40:52What would you like to do?
00:40:54Stay here.
00:40:56Pretty much be walking back though.
00:40:59So pretty much what you've been doing.
00:41:01Anything else you'd like to do that you haven't done?
00:41:06Pretty much the same.
00:41:09Most people have felt sad at some point.
00:41:11What makes you feel sad?
00:41:14I would have to go somewhere else.
00:41:17Yeah.
00:41:19Instead of where you live now?
00:41:20Mm-hmm.
00:41:22And how does it feel when you're sad?
00:41:27If you had to describe it.
00:41:31Try to think of something else.
00:41:33Yeah.
00:41:33Get real, but...
00:41:36But for Ron, his autism also contributes some pretty amazing qualities that many people are drawn to.
00:41:43I have actually never seen a collection so large as Ron's.
00:41:50And it's positive in a sense that people find it interesting.
00:41:53Do you know what that thing is?
00:41:56Oh, it's a train signal light.
00:41:58No.
00:41:59I want it to be an astronaut helmet, but I know that's not right either.
00:42:02I think this allows him to have connections outside of his family that he wouldn't naturally have because he's not
00:42:08going out there and seeking them.
00:42:10You've got to do what the record says, right?
00:42:12Yeah.
00:42:13What is that?
00:42:14We've got to get out of this place.
00:42:20They seem okay.
00:42:21At least they don't smoke.
00:42:24That's why I hate the folks.
00:42:26You're up there.
00:42:35The gas line up and come into a town.
00:42:38You had a white house, a red one, Spring House.
00:42:43You say town, you mean abandoned?
00:42:46Yeah.
00:42:47Okay.
00:42:47That's a lot of adventure.
00:42:49Well, you say we get crackin'.
00:42:51My name's Sean Burke. I live in Pennsylvania, and I work in a steel mill.
00:42:57Ronald said to me, Sean, there's a place I want you to see,
00:43:00and it's in the woods, and it's called Robbinsville.
00:43:04Village of nine houses.
00:43:06He said, it's this whole town that just was consumed by the woods.
00:43:12And I said, now this I gotta see.
00:43:15It's all in the back. It's not those houses, or it never was.
00:43:18Ronald knows I can't help myself, and any time there's an adventure to be had,
00:43:23he always ropes me into it.
00:43:25It's a pretty neat little area down in there.
00:43:28Oh, yeah.
00:43:28There must have been some coal mining down here.
00:43:31Oh, it was a coal mine. You'll be able to see it.
00:43:34He knows every little nook and cranny of western Pennsylvania.
00:43:39Cut the front end back towards that big tree over here.
00:43:49Now this is, what are we driving on here?
00:43:52A driveway for the house.
00:43:54This is a driveway?
00:43:55Yeah.
00:43:56We're going through quad trails, down hillsides.
00:43:59We're in the middle of nowhere.
00:44:05You don't know where you are.
00:44:07You don't know if you're going to find something.
00:44:10You have no idea.
00:44:12Whenever he tells you a story or what to expect,
00:44:16he's telling you the truth in his mind.
00:44:22His perception of reality and your own
00:44:25sometimes are two different things.
00:44:31We come to this valley where three creeks meet.
00:44:39Up the creek valley he goes.
00:44:46We get to the top.
00:44:50And sure enough, just like he said,
00:45:00It was a little village that was consumed by the wolves.
00:45:15All these houses.
00:45:23Grand old houses.
00:45:24A huge, huge barn.
00:45:29And you're thinking,
00:45:30What happened here?
00:45:36Why did they leave this?
00:45:43Man, they built this.
00:45:44They built this thing.
00:45:45This is all wormy chestnut.
00:45:47That's outrageous.
00:45:48Yeah.
00:45:52That's a lot of money and boards here.
00:45:54Yeah.
00:45:55That's why I've been wanting to show us to.
00:46:11That make any sense what that needs?
00:46:14Five, six, fourteen.
00:46:15Yeah, but I ain't putting a line between.
00:46:19It's also not the sixth.
00:46:21Well, I know how I can change that real quick.
00:46:24Mm-hmm.
00:46:30No, no, it was a sixth.
00:46:33All right.
00:46:40He knows his scars.
00:46:42Well, your dad has what?
00:46:43What's your dad?
00:46:44He had a 1924 Model T,
00:46:491928 Model A.
00:46:51Almost sounds like the ones at Piney.
00:46:55The illustrious Piney Mansion.
00:47:00No Model T up there.
00:47:02It's a Model A.
00:47:0231 Model A up there.
00:47:04Nice.
00:47:0529 Model A.
00:47:07No Model T's, though.
00:47:08It's just kind of this myth of a place.
00:47:14It's hard to get to it.
00:47:16Maybe it's getting worse.
00:47:19Too many young trees.
00:47:2250-room mansion.
00:47:25It's all finished yet.
00:47:27Nothing's empty.
00:47:28Eight-stalled rods with ten vehicles parked in.
00:47:32Royce-Royce,
00:47:34Doosanbough,
00:47:35Model A,
00:47:37Kaiser,
00:47:39Lamb Jeep,
00:47:40and an MDMO cycle.
00:47:48Anybody that's familiar with cars knows what a Doosanberg is.
00:47:52It's the creme de la creme of American classic cars.
00:47:56It would be worth a ton of money.
00:47:58Just a supercharger off the Doosanberg's engine would be worth five figures at least.
00:48:03Is it easy to find?
00:48:05No.
00:48:07He has the license plates from all the cars in his place.
00:48:11But I have never met anybody that's been there aside from Ron.
00:48:18Where's this from?
00:48:20Piney.
00:48:21How'd you get it out?
00:48:23Carried out, put it in a Jeep.
00:48:26Here's the corner of China color.
00:48:27That's from Piney?
00:48:28Yeah, I got both of them.
00:48:31That's from Piney.
00:48:32Here's the nightstand from the bedroom.
00:48:35And here's the chest of drawers.
00:48:38Well, this came from up there.
00:48:40There's a telephone.
00:48:42Teapot.
00:48:45And that was up there, too.
00:48:47So is there anything left?
00:48:50Yes.
00:48:51Two or three boxcar loads.
00:48:54It's all finished yet.
00:48:56Nothing's empty.
00:48:57Where does Piney rank in the houses you found?
00:49:01I'd say next to the best.
00:49:05I found ones that are easy to get to.
00:49:07Piney's downhill a little bit.
00:49:09It's hard to get to it.
00:49:11But that one's got more stuff in it than any of it.
00:49:13Oh, yeah.
00:49:14It's big.
00:49:15How'd you find Piney?
00:49:16I did the looking until it found the driveway.
00:49:21And how long ago was that?
00:49:242004, March.
00:49:26What happened to the driveway?
00:49:29Not sure.
00:49:32One thing we never did yet is walk that driveway back.
00:49:37If it's there, we have to find it.
00:49:43In going through the diagnostic criteria for autism,
00:49:45it's very clear he's on the spectrum.
00:49:48That is what's contributing to that rigidity
00:49:50that's been so difficult for you guys as a family.
00:49:53Sometimes we can help them to become more flexible,
00:49:55but he is not flexible.
00:49:57I often said to my parents
00:49:59that if they would hold him accountable,
00:50:01it would make him more functional.
00:50:03It's hard not to feel frustrated with your parents
00:50:07because part of you is like,
00:50:08why didn't they get help?
00:50:09But to be honest, your mom did try to get help,
00:50:11and then they didn't know what else to do,
00:50:14and so then they just sort of stopped reaching out.
00:50:17So in a sense, it was a systemic problem, I think.
00:50:23So the big question is,
00:50:26does he stay there or not if your mother's not there?
00:50:29Right.
00:50:31People of his generation,
00:50:32if you ask where are they now,
00:50:34some of them are just living in group homes.
00:50:36That's one of the solutions.
00:50:38However, do we really want to take him out of that environment?
00:50:41That's really not something that we want to do
00:50:43unless it actually came down to his safety
00:50:46or medical condition.
00:50:48It would dictate that.
00:50:49My concern, honestly, isn't for his safety there
00:50:52because I feel like it's actually fairly safe for him.
00:50:55But my concern is of a liability.
00:50:58Oh, yes.
00:50:58He's not necessarily in danger,
00:51:00but he's not noticing other people's safety,
00:51:02and he's dragging people through who might get hurt
00:51:03and who then might actually sue.
00:51:05Yes.
00:51:06The attorneys visited the place,
00:51:08looked it over,
00:51:09and Basie said,
00:51:10someone could sue you and you could lose everything.
00:51:13Yeah.
00:51:13I'm not sure what his monetary needs will be,
00:51:16but if we wait to the point
00:51:18where everyone feels like there's an emergency situation,
00:51:21it might actually be a little bit difficult
00:51:22in order to get him what he needs.
00:51:24So the best time to start moving forward
00:51:27in terms of exploring supports would be now.
00:51:31We do want the best for him,
00:51:33but we all have our own lives
00:51:35and we all have our own families.
00:51:37So trying to continually focus on Ron,
00:51:41it's a huge challenge,
00:51:42and there's no easy out.
00:51:45We know we're not going to get his cooperation.
00:51:49We're going to have to force it.
00:51:56I live up by you.
00:51:58Oh, you do?
00:51:59I live up in Shikor.
00:52:00I know Shikor real well.
00:52:03As soon as I see you walking down,
00:52:05I know he wants to go through something.
00:52:08Yeah.
00:52:09I just hate to see something like this destroyed.
00:52:15Just really nice wood in the old days.
00:52:18Oh, yeah.
00:52:19I know.
00:52:19All right, take a look.
00:52:241950 house?
00:52:26I don't know what it was.
00:52:27The guy's been dead for 25 years.
00:52:29Oh, I own.
00:52:40Today, I'm reaching out
00:52:42to an autism expert at Yale.
00:52:45I'm really hoping that he has some ideas.
00:52:47Maybe he can even give us more options
00:52:49than what we are aware of currently.
00:52:52Given his age, there's fairly few options for the kids that were seen by doctors in the 50s
00:53:00and 60s.
00:53:01Autism existed as a diagnosis, but there were no experts in it, really.
00:53:06Just a couple of people who originally described it.
00:53:08And no one knew what to do with those kids.
00:53:11And so, by and large, they ended up institutionalized, even if they were fairly intelligent.
00:53:16So, it was really brave to not institutionalized.
00:53:25You're out of time.
00:53:26My boss is going to deal with me.
00:53:29Start tearing down.
00:53:31This is the end you'll do first.
00:53:34Yeah, right there.
00:53:35Right where the machine is.
00:53:36They'll come right through that wall.
00:53:53I mean, in your opinion, if he is to be taken out of that environment, what do you foresee happening
00:53:58to him?
00:53:59I think it's predictable that he would have problems adjusting because he can take any 60-year-old person,
00:54:06take all their favorite things away and put them in somewhere.
00:54:09They're going to lash out.
00:54:10And then you compound that with autism where you have emotion regulation problems.
00:54:16And, yeah, it's pretty cruel to do that to somebody.
00:54:21Yeah, we discussed that quite a bit.
00:54:23I mean, I'm really scared of what's going to happen.
00:54:31There is nothing I can think of other than trying to keep him in there that's going to be beneficial
00:54:37to him.
00:54:38I just cannot see a positive outcome unless he's allowed to stay in that environment.
00:54:45My biggest fear is that he'll act out outside of an institution and then end up in a legal system.
00:54:51That's the only group that won't refuse to take him.
00:54:55Right.
00:54:55That's definitely not the right place for Ronald.
00:54:58Like, once that happens once, it's just a revolving door.
00:55:04I appreciate you coming on here.
00:55:06Yeah, I wish I could be of more help.
00:55:08It's a tough, tough situation.
00:55:11Take care.
00:55:17I don't know, I'm kind of depressed now after talking to him, because what options do we have here?
00:55:23I don't like to see it go down.
00:55:27If they wanted somebody to come in and look after Ron, state funding does not exist for that.
00:55:33Like he said, he's going to end up in prison.
00:55:40I work at Butler Memorial Hospital, their behavioral health program.
00:55:45I see people from group homes all the time, they'll come in with scabies, malnourished.
00:55:50Prison would be better than some of these places.
00:55:55I've seen neglected people that have bed sores down to their bone.
00:56:01It's just unbelievable.
00:56:05There's some nice boards.
00:56:08Two, three, good ones.
00:56:12I don't see another option.
00:56:13I mean, we have to find a way to keep him in there.
00:56:15It's just, I, what, what else is there?
00:56:45Why do you have all the clocks back there?
00:56:48These clocks.
00:56:49I collect them.
00:56:53Any reason why you set them up like that?
00:56:56Well, display them all.
00:56:59Are all the clocks on time?
00:57:01No.
00:57:02I, I, I have them all running at the same time, though.
00:57:09But, I do it every night, too much time.
00:57:12You know who these guys are?
00:57:14Did you watch them?
00:57:15Bonnie and Clyde?
00:57:16Oh, you know it, then.
00:57:18Yeah, seen that movie?
00:57:19Yeah, I watched that movie.
00:57:21Indiana Jones, you ever seen that?
00:57:22No.
00:57:23You know who Steven Spielberg is?
00:57:24No.
00:57:25You know who Harrison Ford is?
00:57:27No.
00:57:28How about Brad Pitt?
00:57:32No, Herbert.
00:57:33You know who Michael Jordan is?
00:57:35No.
00:57:35LeBron James?
00:57:37No.
00:57:38Seinfeld?
00:57:39No.
00:57:41Titanic?
00:57:42Oh, yeah.
00:57:42I have that right here in the drawer.
00:57:44That movie?
00:57:45Yeah.
00:57:46Oh, okay.
00:57:49Housebar Glide.
00:57:51G-L-I-D-E.
00:57:56That looks right.
00:58:00I usually know when I see it, if it's right or not.
00:58:05I'm not the best spell on some things, but I can spell Cucamonga, though.
00:58:14The neighbors here have known me.
00:58:17This place has been here 50 years.
00:58:24Everything's right here I need to keep me here.
00:58:35I don't need anything.
00:58:37I don't need anything.
00:58:42So you try to write all the songs of one group down?
00:58:45Yeah, all ones I like.
00:58:48So you don't forget them?
00:58:50No, I remember them.
00:58:53Why do you write about them?
00:58:55Just like to have them around.
00:58:57They're the good ones.
00:59:11When Amanda did her evaluation, she determined Ron is autistic.
00:59:16Did you or Dad ever talk about Ron's future?
00:59:19No, we just seemed to go along with what was going on at that time, going to special ed.
00:59:26I remember telling Dad what I thought he didn't want to hear any of it.
00:59:31Yeah, that's it.
00:59:32He didn't agree with those.
00:59:35We should have even thought about it after he graduated from high school.
00:59:39Yes.
00:59:40But Ron did try to get jobs a couple different places.
00:59:45Yeah.
00:59:45But every time he lasted about one month, and that was it.
00:59:50You know, if something had to be done tomorrow, it would be basically relocating.
00:59:54You mean to live somewhere else?
00:59:56You almost have to rule out the house being one of the options.
00:59:59Would he go?
01:00:00Would he want?
01:00:01We used to talk about, you know, this house and the land and how much effort it took to maintain
01:00:07it.
01:00:08And you're always trying to have to do something, fix something, repair it.
01:00:13You know, that was Dad talking about that, let alone having Ron to try to do any of that stuff.
01:00:20I mean, unfortunately, he created his own worst nightmare back there.
01:00:26No, you're not kidding.
01:00:27He just keeps on building and building.
01:00:30What he has back there is a huge safety issue to begin with.
01:00:35That's true.
01:00:36Do you want him to stay in that?
01:00:39He's built structures that really doesn't allow anyone really to live there.
01:00:45Years ago, my dad allowed him to run his own wire back to his house.
01:00:49That way he could have electricity.
01:00:51He builds more and more structures.
01:00:54He runs more and more wiring through it.
01:00:57And he tries to heat all those places in the winter.
01:01:00The power bill has been over $1,000 a month.
01:01:03And in fact, he has burned out the meters because he draws more than what the meter's capabilities are or
01:01:12capacity is.
01:01:13What do you call this?
01:01:15I call a tree.
01:01:18So we know there's a lot of safety issues there.
01:01:21You know, not only is it putting his place at risk, but it's also putting the main house at risk.
01:01:26The filth, the safety, the health, all those things he's going to put in jeopardy because he doesn't have any
01:01:33desire to change it.
01:01:36She won't know it's under, though.
01:01:39You know it's not good for him long-term-wise, but on the other hand, you know that's the environment
01:01:45that he has that comfort level.
01:01:49There are resources out there that can help, but he doesn't have to learn how to deal with the changes
01:01:59that he can't say no to.
01:02:01How much resistance he creates, you know, does he go into hiding and that type of thing.
01:02:06That's a whole other issue.
01:02:09But you can't let his personal desire block something that is better for him long-term-wise.
01:02:17But yet his friends just love coming to visit him.
01:02:22Yeah, but, you know, they think, oh, this is fun and this is a great environment you've got, Ron.
01:02:26But that's frustrating because there's people that are going to have to make a commitment to make it work.
01:02:32So far, I don't think any of his friends has signed up to make that commitment.
01:02:40Any one of us could move into that house, but I've got four kids, you know, I've got a full
01:02:45-time job.
01:02:46I'm like you. I've got kids. I don't have the time all the time.
01:02:51Right. And it's hard to deal with.
01:02:53I had thought having somebody move in to Mary's place would be perfect to just kind of look after Ron,
01:02:59do what they did.
01:03:00Yeah, cook them meals.
01:03:01Keep an eye on them.
01:03:02I think that's a great idea.
01:03:04But you're going to have to have the finances to back it.
01:03:07Obviously, if he lives 35 more years, you're talking a lot of money.
01:03:11Yeah.
01:03:11What I'd like to see happen is some finances set up.
01:03:15So whoever moves in there is going to be able to financially cover it.
01:03:23What did Tim say the plan is?
01:03:26I don't think I have enough money to keep it going.
01:03:30I don't see how it's going to work.
01:03:35I've got a house pretty much the way I want.
01:03:38Now it's impossible to move.
01:03:40I mean, near a freight train.
01:03:48Women don't get the money to keep things right.
01:03:52They don't stop.
01:04:17I would say a million dollars plus.
01:04:19Even if it's not a Duesenberg, if the cars are in the shape that he says they're in.
01:04:23Well, he has plates that were last registered like in the 50s for all these supposed vehicles in his place.
01:04:29He showed me these plates, and they look like they're in good condition.
01:04:34It's very convincing.
01:04:36He said these cars are in beautiful shape.
01:04:38He said it looks like you could just get in them and drive them away.
01:04:40This is my one possible theory.
01:04:43You know, whenever you cross that bridge across the Clarion River,
01:04:47there's a camp or some sort of a residence that the driveway has been completely consumed by grass.
01:04:55And if you look on your maps, you'll see two buildings beside each other,
01:04:59and then if you look on the woods line beside it,
01:05:02you'll see two buildings that are roughly the same size,
01:05:05but they're half consumed by the woods.
01:05:07But they're down in the valley.
01:05:09It fits the description.
01:05:11It's in the same location as Ronald's original map,
01:05:14and you just come around that hillside, and you come down into the valley,
01:05:17and you're still in the woods, but you're coming right into the backside of these two buildings.
01:05:22And I wonder if that's what he was doing.
01:05:25You know, there's little oil well roads up on that hillside,
01:05:29and one of them tapers down, and you can see it taper down through the woods,
01:05:33and it leads right in behind those two buildings on the edge of that woods.
01:05:37And that's my theory is what he's talking about is right there.
01:05:42And the only way to find out for sure,
01:05:44you camo up, and you go in, and you circle around,
01:05:48and you go and see for yourself to see if it's there.
01:06:00Hi, Joyce.
01:06:02I have my entourage with me.
01:06:04Hi, I'm Joyce Cunningham.
01:06:06I'm the administrator here.
01:06:07Good to meet you.
01:06:08This is our main dining area.
01:06:10This is where we do a lot of our activities and things also.
01:06:14We're actually going to have a country kitchen here
01:06:17where we'll be serving their meals and everything right out of there.
01:06:19The other day, we started making stuffed apple cookies.
01:06:23They turned it into little mini pies.
01:06:27I love doing things like that.
01:06:30All right.
01:06:32We can take you up this way.
01:06:37So where did we park when we came up here the last time?
01:06:41Right here.
01:06:41Right here.
01:06:43Yep.
01:06:45The Piney Mansion is a place that we've spent a small fortune,
01:06:50countless hours trying to find.
01:06:53One time, he took us through a tunnel
01:06:56that had probably caved in 50 years ago.
01:07:01There's a giant mound of rubble.
01:07:03And Ronald said, this isn't good.
01:07:06Climbing over rocks in this tunnel,
01:07:08and there's stuff falling above us, you know.
01:07:10I'm thinking to myself, this is absolutely crazy.
01:07:13What am I doing in here?
01:07:16We exit the tunnel, and I'm like,
01:07:19glad that's over.
01:07:20And now we're staring at a 300-yard-long
01:07:23abandoned train bridge.
01:07:26It's just railroad ties on rusty ironwork
01:07:31300 feet off the Clarion River.
01:07:35And I make two steps on there,
01:07:38and I'm looking at treetops.
01:07:40They're sidestepping across this thing.
01:07:42And I said, Ron, there better be something good
01:07:45on the other side.
01:07:47We start walking, and we get halfway across
01:07:50until we're looking at a gap in the ties
01:07:52down 300 feet.
01:07:57He walked over, and he walked on that steel beam,
01:08:00got back on the railroad ties,
01:08:02and then kept on walking.
01:08:05So we crossed the bridge.
01:08:08And when we got there, we found nothing.
01:08:20Okay, see that place on the left, Sean?
01:08:22Where the grass is along the road.
01:08:24Oh, right there.
01:08:24Now, all right, down the road.
01:08:30All righty.
01:08:35If he would choose to have a private room,
01:08:38he would have a bed, a dresser, a nightstand,
01:08:41a wardrobe, and then if he's in a private room,
01:08:43he has his own bath.
01:08:44Bath fit.
01:08:44It's a private room.
01:08:45Yeah.
01:08:46Yeah.
01:08:46Okay.
01:08:47And there's no shower.
01:08:48We have two shower rooms, one on each end of the hall.
01:08:51The TVs are included in the room, which is nice.
01:08:55And I've come up here three or four times with him.
01:08:58Yeah.
01:08:58And each time, you know, we'd go in a different way.
01:09:01You would think that you can't miss it.
01:09:04Well, you can.
01:09:06The woods is so dense.
01:09:07The pine trees are so dense.
01:09:09Right here is where we go up this little ridge.
01:09:14You could be walking through the pine forest
01:09:16and fall right off the face of this thing
01:09:18and not even realize it.
01:09:21Holy Christ.
01:09:22It's a little tricky.
01:09:27We're in trouble.
01:09:37Didn't find it this past summer.
01:09:39If you'd be away from it, couldn't see it.
01:09:44We've actually found houses where the brush was so thick
01:09:48that you're standing on a porch
01:09:49before you know there's a house there.
01:09:51And that's how thick it is at Piney Mansion.
01:09:59Now, how about he gets here and, you know,
01:10:02like a week later, boom, he wants to leave.
01:10:04How do you deal with that?
01:10:06Because that's one of our biggest concerns.
01:10:08He is very used to getting his own way.
01:10:11This would be a big change for him.
01:10:13Okay.
01:10:15Each home's going to have rules.
01:10:17And he'll have to follow them.
01:10:19Some people, they can't do that, though.
01:10:21If he decides not to follow the rules,
01:10:24the home can give him a 30-day notice.
01:10:28You guys ready?
01:10:30I think we wore Mike out.
01:10:33I'm probably just going to sit here for a half an hour
01:10:35until I can feel my shins.
01:10:36Ron says we ain't even halfway there yet.
01:10:38You're going to miss that, uh...
01:10:40Duesenberg.
01:10:41I ain't carrying it back.
01:10:42Well, if you start having a heart attack,
01:10:44call my phone.
01:10:45We'll come back for you.
01:10:46I don't think we can get a helicopter in there yet.
01:10:49I kind of feel bad leaving him there.
01:10:57We have more men here than women
01:11:00by about a 2-to-1 ratio.
01:11:02Our average age is 59,
01:11:05and all of our residents
01:11:06carry a mental health diagnosis.
01:11:08Okay.
01:11:09That's the primary reason they're here.
01:11:11Everyone here has lived on their own,
01:11:14and we're unsuccessful at something,
01:11:17whether it be bathing, dressing,
01:11:20medication management,
01:11:21you know, all of those things.
01:11:36This is hard.
01:11:37Oh, brother.
01:11:38Mike will have the best part right here.
01:11:41I better check on him,
01:11:42make sure he's still alive.
01:11:44He might not have no signal.
01:11:50That's a good one.
01:11:53No service.
01:11:54If we tried to call 911,
01:11:56we'd be in trouble.
01:11:58Did you hear that?
01:11:59I did.
01:12:03Those voices sound like they came from
01:12:06right over there on the hill.
01:12:08I would say.
01:12:12We better keep quiet.
01:12:15Oh, yeah.
01:12:15Especially down the hill.
01:12:19I've got that eerie feeling
01:12:20of being in someone's crosshair.
01:12:22That's what's going to happen.
01:12:24I told my wife that this morning.
01:12:28I hope you see the top of my head come off.
01:12:31You just hit the ground.
01:12:34And this building here,
01:12:35we have bedroom, bathroom, bedroom, bedroom.
01:12:39We have four guys that are living here now.
01:12:42This is one of those buildings.
01:12:43The guys that are in here
01:12:44aren't just, like, um, dug in.
01:12:46Not a lot of turnover.
01:12:49Hey, Jim, how are you?
01:12:50Hi.
01:12:51I was a dentist this morning.
01:12:52Yeah.
01:12:53No.
01:12:54No.
01:12:55Okay.
01:12:58This almost looks like a driveway.
01:13:06Can you hear that?
01:13:08What?
01:13:09I hope.
01:13:10Fuck four swine.
01:13:11We've got to be getting close.
01:13:14I got a good feeling about this road.
01:13:17It's steep.
01:13:18Plenty steep?
01:13:20In the back.
01:13:23You guys see that structure up there?
01:13:26What the hell is that?
01:13:30We have found something.
01:13:36I really wasn't sure if we were moving forward
01:13:38or what was happening, so...
01:13:41We, you know,
01:13:43we're going to say,
01:13:43hey, Ron could stay where he's at,
01:13:45but is it really the right thing to do?
01:13:47I mean, just from a standpoint,
01:13:50the older home needs a lot of maintenance and repair,
01:13:53and it's like, he's not,
01:13:54he doesn't want to do any of that.
01:13:55Right.
01:13:57You know, so it's like, you know,
01:13:59are we really just prolonging something
01:14:03that we should do...
01:14:04Right.
01:14:05...up front?
01:14:05Okay.
01:14:08Uh...
01:14:37What is this?
01:14:39I know.
01:14:40I know.
01:15:00It's kind of a workshop with a quad in there.
01:15:07This is probably a campsite, I would imagine.
01:15:09A campsite.
01:15:10The cabins are pretty clean.
01:15:12Yeah.
01:15:12I don't think anybody's been here recently, but they're definitely watched and maintained.
01:15:17Yeah.
01:15:17Well, it's sitting up there.
01:15:20Do you think he's spooked because of those voices?
01:15:22Yeah.
01:15:22Let me collect Ronald, and we'll figure out.
01:15:25I twisted my ankle.
01:15:26I don't think I'd go back through the woods.
01:15:28What about Mike?
01:15:30He probably already found his way back.
01:15:36The buzzard's looking for us.
01:15:43Boy, does this suck.
01:15:47I was really hoping to find it today.
01:15:51Just like Ron said it was.
01:16:01But being that we have been on every other inch of this entire area, this is the only spot that
01:16:08we haven't been in.
01:16:09This is it.
01:16:11No Piney Mansion.
01:16:13No Piney Mansion.
01:16:17Now somebody's going to have to lend us a million bucks.
01:16:21Oh no.
01:16:24Do you think it could be somewhere else that Ron's just confused?
01:16:27I don't know.
01:16:28I just don't know.
01:16:30I don't think Ron would make it up.
01:16:34But it's not here.
01:16:43I hope it is still out there.
01:16:45I really do.
01:16:47It's that one story that never goes away.
01:16:51As long as he holds on to it, then I'm going to too.
01:16:56It's got to be somewhere else.
01:16:57Has to be.
01:16:58We've been everywhere.
01:17:00You sure it's in this plot of land?
01:17:05When the warm weather comes, we'll go back again.
01:17:09It's 2-11.
01:17:11Let's get rolling.
01:17:12Yeah, let's head back up.
01:17:16We gave it a shot, Ron.
01:17:18I'm going to say we go on IA and head east and keep looking over here until we see an
01:17:23eight-star garage in the big house.
01:17:25Then we'll get all berries.
01:17:27We're going to do that.
01:17:29Then I'll see what you say of getting over those to buy roads.
01:17:34Now, over those.
01:17:36Piney Mansion, I wouldn't like to take them down back to, but I was telling Mom,
01:17:42I said, he can't do that.
01:17:45Not his age walking that far.
01:17:51Would he have loved those cars?
01:17:53Oh, yes.
01:17:55He would have been up the whole day as he made it.
01:18:00I did take Dad back to Robbinsville.
01:18:10He really talked about that.
01:18:13He enjoyed that.
01:18:24He played with me on hisубb for a long time, and he was going to live with the absolutes of
01:18:25theٍseason,
01:18:32Don't know them.
01:18:33He was looking down.
01:18:33The other day he did not notice, I was looking down.
01:18:33It felt like this night.
01:18:35He was going to live with him.
01:18:36He was asking that when he came down.
01:18:37He was looking down to him, and he was thinking,
01:18:50Gotcha.
01:18:53I'll go like a snake.
01:18:59I understand the challenge that my parents had
01:19:03throughout their life dealing with Ron.
01:19:07They did what they had to do.
01:19:10Once my mother passes away,
01:19:12I don't expect that we'll be able to support him there
01:19:16beyond five years.
01:19:22So I am making the final decision to say
01:19:25you have to move.
01:19:27You have to transition to a different environment.
01:19:31I hate the idea of him being pulled out of that place.
01:19:36But I don't have the power to stop.
01:19:46I can't imagine going into a group home
01:19:48to hang out with Ron.
01:19:54He's probably going to be withdrawn.
01:19:55He's not going to talk.
01:19:59And if he does talk, what's he going to talk about?
01:20:03Memories?
01:20:05Because that's all he'll have at that point.
01:20:08I wish I could give Mom a solid plan.
01:20:12She wants to know he's going to be okay.
01:20:16Take one day at a time and hope for the best.
01:20:20That's what I always say.
01:20:25There's no happy ending.
01:20:29No.
01:20:30It is what it is.
01:20:41Ronald is a survivor.
01:20:43He can't not be a survivor.
01:20:45He'll find a way.
01:20:50What stories would I tell people?
01:20:53I wouldn't have them.
01:20:58He's literally one of God's masterpieces.
01:21:02Why would you want him to conform
01:21:05when it's his non-conformity
01:21:07that makes him who he is?
01:21:10Now, could you have done that
01:21:11where Reg will shovel out quick?
01:21:13Click.
01:21:29Click.
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