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A house divided cannot stand, but a house alone is doomed to fall.

Stare in through these empty windows.

These lifeless eyes shine no more.

Walk along these barren halls, silence calls to shut the door.

This house is dying, sealed away, fading, buried, where it will stay. Look upon its gravestone

and you will see the crack that spells their eulogy.

In this story, the bonds that link a family name tie the noose around their fame and set in motion,

the fall of the house of Usher.

Thank you. The House of Usher. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe, adapted by Jake Weber, 2021.

It was a dreary day in October when I drove out to Usher's property outside Richmond.

The mansion was once one of those Grand Virginia estates, but now it was neglected and dilapidated.

As I came up the long driveway, a wave of melancholy washed over me.

It was as if the house had the blues and anyone who came here was going to get the blues as well.

Not only was the house run down, the land had also been neglected.

Overgrown hedges, patches of grass where there once were lush lawns,

where there had once been vitality and verdancy, there were now sagging trees in a dried-up lake.

It was dispiriting.

More than dispiriting.

It was depressing.

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