RIP Nicole

Haley and I were walking around Fishtown / Kinsington this afternoon taking some photos when we stumbled across probably the oddest thing I've ever seen. We found a really beautiful abandoned building and while poking around the side of it Haley ran across an elaborate arrangement of stuffed animals.



She yelled for me to come up and take a look. I was so in awe. I was really excited at first... what a find! Who would do something like this? So weird.




Then as we were talking, trying to make sense of this it became obvious what we'd found. Haley caught on first, "Rest in Peace Nicole," I heard her say. Then as I backed up I saw what she was reading. I'd been standing on it... spraypainted on the ground.




We stayed there for probably 15 minutes, maybe more, taking pictures and just looking at it. The longer I looked and the closer I got to the toys the more sad I got. It's almost stupid to say, but all the toys looked so full of emotion. Their eyes were haunting. Its as if all of them were lamenting the, obviously untimely death of their former owner.



Even the postures of the stuffed toys seemed dramatic to me. They remind me of the depictions of Hell in renaissance paintings. This memorial is probably the strangest thing I've seen... definitely the strangest thing Haley and I have found together on our walks around the neighborhood that we love so much.