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Leaning barn on Ind. 45 sparks curiosity [Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind.](Herald-Times (Bloomington, IN) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 13--When the barn near Melton's Country Store began leaning, people began talking. The knotted wood and rusty nails of the old barn, now more recognizably a shack, nearly crouch beside the busy Ind. 45 roadside less than a mile from Walmart and under the comfortable shade of a few trees. But it hasn't caved yet. Sue Dillman took photos of the barn Aug. 10 with her digital camera, then she took bets. "Tell me when you think it'll fall," she prompted workers on Dillman Farm, which she and her husband own just six-tenths of a mile from where the barn leans. Dillman last month predicted Sept. 15 -- two days from now. Someone guessed Christmas. Another worker said the first heavy snowfall this winter will surely cause the feeble barn to collapse. What's helping to hold up the barn are dozens of wooden apple crates, stacked to the ceiling in sturdy groups of three, and some junk wood inside. Dillman cranes her neck every time she passes the barn on her way into town. It used to be a nice old barn, she said, "now it's got all those apple crates holding it up." Dozens of motorists have stopped at the barn to snap photos, and theories began last summer about why the barn, about 60 years old, had begun to lean. Enter the barn's owner, John Melton, who turns 93 on Wednesday. If Dillman's hunch is right, the barn will fall on Melton's birthday this year. He has used the barn since 1946; it used to be twice the size when it stood in his front yard, but the Meltons moved half the building west of the house near the road in the early 1950s. The inside has seen cattle, a couple horses, hay, tools -- and now, the apple crates. Melton says trees, which he would cut down himself when he was more active, have grown around the building and are nearly pushing it over. The back side is completely gone, and the barn door has come open from the pressure. "When it gets tired enough, it's just going to drop," Melton said. That might require something as little as a gust of wind, he speculated, "but maybe it'll outlast me." To see more of the Herald-Times or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/. Copyright (c) 2010, Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544) |