COUPLE SHIFTS TO A NEW HOUSE UNAWARE OF THE TRUTH HIDDEN UNDER THEIR BASEMENT

 

One of the biggest wish that each one of us has as we grow up is to have a house of ourselves, which we very enthusiastically state as our ‘dream house’. One of our life’s benchmark is to own a house, and as adults, we work hard each day to fulfill that dream and convert it into a reality.

As a couple, you work hard together, save as much as you can to have a place of your own where you can finally be. It is an amazing feeling to have the keys of your own house in your hands.

But what if all the money, the hard work, and all the emotions that you invest in this new ‘house of your dreams go away within a blink of an eye, soon after you’ve bought it and you experience the most traumatizing experience of your life?
Amanda and Ricky Badger faced a forever haunting experience in such a situation and haven’t been able to recover from it ever since.

The Couple

Amanda and Ricky Badger have been married for more than thirteen years. The two are deeply in love with each other and very supportive of each other. Both of them are very hard-working and have always worked arduously to fulfill all their wishes and desires by themselves.

A Dream

Buying a big and beautiful house together was also a wish, rather, a dream that both wanted to fulfill together for a very long time. The search started for the couple and it took them a lot of time to find the perfect place because they were looking for a forever kind of home where they could live permanently.

Children

Amanda and Ricky both love kids. Although the two do not have a child of their own, they enjoy each and every moment they spend with their niece and nephew. Both of them are young at heart and that is why even children enjoy spending time with the couple. 

Pets

It was not only children that Amanda and Ricky were fond of. They were very affectionate to pets as well. They always took special care of all the animals around them on the streets or at someone’s home. The couple was known in their neighborhood for the extreme kindness and generosity that they always showed. Then why would God make them suffer? 

Jade And Ella

The couple had a dog named Jade, who had passed away just a few weeks before the life-changing event was to occur in their lives. And now, they own a black cat whose name is Ella. They treat Ella like their own child and are very fond of her. 

The House

Amanda and Ricky finally found a house that felt like home to them. It was on Ferry Road in Milo, Maine. The house was on a peaceful, rural street and it seemed like a perfect set-up for the couple. They wanted nothing else in the house. 

Shifting

The Badgers shifted in the new house with their cat Ella, and found the place very satisfying. The month of August in 2018 proved to be very special for the couple when they found their dream home and also shifted in the same month. But August would also prove to be the life changing month for them.

10th August

On the morning of 10th of August, Amanda and Ricky shifted all their stuff to their newly bought house. It took them almost two weeks to settle everything since they wanted to decorate and set each corner very precisely and lovingly. 

House-Warming

When everything seemed settled, the couple invited friends and relatives for a house warming party. All the guests were extremely impressed by the purchase the new homeowners had made. The house seemed perfect, but it was all going to go in vain. 

Daily Routine

After the house warming party, Amanda and Ricky went on with the daily routines of their lives, without sensing any kind of trouble. They went to Bangor in the morning of August 24 to run some errands. It was a normal day like any other, until something awful happened. 

Nothing Unusual

When the couple had returned from Bangor, the house was just as they had left it. There was nothing unusual and therefore they had no suspicions. 

Dinner

Amanda and Ricky reached home a little late in the evening from Bangor, so they decided to have dinner on their way back home only. After dinner, they reached back home and just wanted to have a peaceful time with each other. 

Peace To Disaster

The expectation of a peaceful and relaxing night would soon turn into the most disastrous night the couple would ever witness, without having even the slightest idea of what was to come and change their lives forever. 

Jobs

Amanda works at Tradewind’s Market in Milo and Ricky works at LaBree’s Bakery in Old Town. They had worked hard each day so that they could save money to buy the house of their dreams. But they were unaware that the house that they had worked so vigorously for, would turn out to be the most tragic place for them. 

Suffering

The calamity that hit Amanda and Ricky in their new home was not just a one-day trauma. It left a mark on their lives forever. So much so, that the couple still suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and they don’t think they would ever be able to recover from it. 

Lasting Impact

Not many people know of the trauma that Amanda and Ricky suffer from. It is only their families that know of the haunting experience and the everlasting impact it has left on the unlucky couple. 

The Night

In the hope of spending a relaxing and peaceful night, Amanda and Ricky came back home and changed into comfortable clothes and switched on the television to relax on the couch and watch something entertaining together

Unnoticed

Before making herself comfortable on the couch, Amanda went to the basement to turn the gas tank on. She came back upstairs in the living room and finally took a relaxing breath as she sat on the couch, without knowing what was next. 

Unimaginable

What happened next was unimaginable. There was no reason that the couple would be in doubt about a mishap since everything seemed normal to both of them. But suddenly, at around 8:00 pm when the two were changing channels to decide what to watch, something happened… 

The Disaster

Without any prior sound or something unusual, when the couple was busy watching TV, the house exploded! There was a sudden thudding voice and everything was destroyed! What had exactly happened? The house seemed to have no problem at all. 

Morning Of 24th

When Amanda and Ricky had gone to Bangor, McKusick Petroleum was to come to their house behind them and install a regulator on a propane tank that would be used to fuel their gas stove. But that work was done properly and their was no note of warning from the workers either. 

After Explosion

After the whole place exploded, Amanda told, “I recall the feeling of flying through the air, seeing a ball of fire but not feeling hot, and waking up outside on the ground with something on top of me.” And where was Ricky? 

Lost Underneath

Amanda was stuck under the broken roof of the house the couple had just bought. Ricky on the other hand, crawled out of the debris somehow to find Amanda. He found her deep inside the rubble and removed debris from all over her and they both ran towards the road. 

Burning House

The couple, injured and stunned, stood on the road and stared at whatever was left of their dream home. There was hardly anything left of it. And just a few minutes ago, they were sitting so happily on the couch and nothing was there. 

Disturbed

The fire had gone off, and both Amanda and Ricky looked at what was left of their home. “It was just flat like a pancake,” Amanda said of the house. They could only hear the sound of smoke alarms going off. What had even happened? 

To The Hospital

Amanda and Ricky needed to call help, but their mobiles were also somewhere in the debris. They reached out to neighbors for help and soon the couple was taken to a hospital. Amanda was taken to Maine Medical Center for a checkup. 

Treatment

Amanda was treated for the burns on her arms and legs, and the lacerations for three days. Her husband was treated at Mayo Regional Hospital Dover-Foxcroft and was released on the same night. But the impact of the trauma was not just physical, it was much deeper.

Confused

The couple was trying to make sense of what all had happened when suddenly Amanda received a voicemail on her replaced cellphone. It was from McKusick Petroleum and it left the couple speechless when they heard it. 

The Voicemail

In the Voicemail, when all the damage was done, McKusick Petroleum warned the couple that there was “something going on in the house”. They had no explanation for this statement of theirs and it made no sense to Amanda and Ricky. 

Help

After the abrupt and careless voicemail that McKusick Petroleum had left for the couple, both Amanda and Ricky knew that they needed help. The petroleum firm had been careless and the cost of their carelessness could have been two lives. 

Revelation

The couple hired an attorney, Joseph Baldacci, and that is when they discovered what was the actual reason behind the explosion. The previous owners of the house had cut a propane line and never sealed it off afterwards. And nobody notified the couple of this.

Convincing Case

Both Amanda and Ricky knew that they had a very strong case against McKusick Petroleum who didn’t inform the couple about the cut in the line while installing the gas tank and put their lives at risk. But it was not going to be an easy task. 

Rough Patch

It was indeed a very rough patch for Amanda and Ricky because they had lost their beloved dog just a few weeks before this traumatic event and his ashes were also lost in the explosion now. There was nothing left of him. 

Memories Gone

It was not just the ashes that the couple had lost. Amanda had come to know of her birth family very recently and told, “I was adopted and I’d just recently found my birth family. I had letters from my birth mother in the house that are gone now.” 

Priceless Treasure Gone

The most precious thing that Amanda lost in the explosion were the handwritten letters that her birth mother had written for her and she had found them after knowing of her biological family. The explosion took away everything from her except the one thing.. 

Saved

Amanda was more than thankful to see that her cat Ella had been saved in the explosion. She said, “I thought…we’d find her body somewhere in the house. For them to find her and for her to be okay, that’s when I lost it.” 

All Lost

The Badgers lost everything from their house to the furniture that they had bought with so many efforts. There was nothing left and the loss was unbearable. A company’s carelessness resulted in the loss of a lifetime for a couple as generous as the Badgers. 

Case Won

The couple won the case against McKusick Petroleum and with the help of the attorney and received an amount of $550,000 from the petroleum company. Half of the money was spent on reimbursing the home owner’s insurance and the other half was spent on getting new stuff and treatments. 

Homeless

Amanda and Ricky became homeless soon after buying a house and they could not understand what to do. They had lost everything they owned. For almost a month, the couple lived at Amanda’s sister’s home until they could figure out what to do next. 

Rented House

The husband and wife had no other option now than to rent a house for themselves. They rented a home about 1.5 miles away from Ferry Road. And they both together say that their “intention is to stay here for the rest of [their] lives.”

Everlasting Effect

Though the company had given a certain amount of money in the form of reimbursement for what they had lost, both Amanda and Ricky still suffer because of the accident. They have installed an electronic stove in their new house and are still afraid of gas stoves and the nightmares continue.

 Better For Others

The couple still feels thankful that they hired an attorney to sought the case out because at least the company would not be this careless with someone else. Amanda says, “Hopefully this will make things safer with future customers. I wouldn’t want this to happen to anyone else.”