Just What Is It That Makes Yesterday's Weapons Manufacturers So Different, So Appealing?

One of my favorite places to go on walks to from my job is the old Winchester Arms Plant in New Haven.   I've done some UrbEx glancing around the perimeter in the past and the place was nasty with broken glass, bullet holes,  smashed-up rusty factory machinery and thus pretty difficult to navigate.   Connecticut used to be rife with guns and there's still some remnants of the hunter/woodsman culture loitering around the perimeter of bourgeoisie affluence that colors most its suburbs, even post-Sandy Hook.   However, the factories all moved out of town at a gradual pace.  Whereas if they had been pushed out, idiots everywhere would have cried "but, jobs!", their slow death is hardly remarked upon in CT's steady economy.  Winchester closed its doors in 2006 and the Marlin Firearms in my town of North Haven finally ceased all operations a year or two back.  No complaints from me.  Any time a weapons manufacturer closes up shop, I'm a happy camper.  I'm glad to slam the door in its CEO's pristine face on the way out.

When William Wirt Winchester died in 1881, his widow Sarah Winchester, inherited the company and a $20 million fortune.  Winchester had something of a pesky conscience and believed she was being followed by spirits that she couldn't explain. A trip to a medium invoking her late husband revealed to her that these were apparently the ghosts of people who'd been killed by Winchester rifles and that she needed to move West to build a home to house them, which she did. 

Every time I pass by the Winchester, I half expect to see these same ghosts roaming the place.  Bad weather and work load have prevented me from visiting the premises for some time, but today I noticed something far stranger.  The front of the building has been converted into a series of luxury condos.  Even more peculiar is the sidewalk on the way down the entrance, which implores ongoers to try these luxury homes via slick billboards hanging underneath smashed windows, rotting concrete, and rusty metal fixtures.  One sign, in particular, which reads "Move in Now" in Carpenter-esque bold font, almost seems like an inverted message to the working class homes across the street with their dilapidated fences and second-hand automobiles; "Move Out Now".

Hard to decide which part of the facade  is more ominous.