Short Story to Internet Based Article – “There Will Come Soft Rains”

Last Standing House Burnt to Ash

Kenya Anand

On August 4, 2026, a supposed “animal-run” house in Allendale, California burnt down due to a stove drowned in cleaning solvent. The house could not be saved, as the “owners” tried to do so.

There have been many theories on this house that remain unsolvable. There are no current humans living in the house, but there had been many reports on people who had seen how spotless and dust-free the house had been; even years after the disappearance of the humans who had lived there.

Allendale and specifically the neighborhood where the house is located is known to be a ghost town, where the only people are reporters and journalists who fly in by helicopter occasionally. They have no other mode of transportation considering there had been no airports and the roads were damaged beyond repair. Below are many of the theories that have been rebirthed after the house had burnt down.

The Last Voice

A handful of journalists were in the area of Allendale on the morning of August 5, 2026. They were only able to see one wall left standing. The rest was an enormous pile of ash, wood, and metal.

While the journalists stood in shock, they heard a small voice from the mess. It supposedly repeated, “Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today is…”

Animal Theory

Many journalists from outside of the city had tried to get more information on the mysterious house. Some claimed to see animals of an unnatural colour cleaning the house. One reporter stated that there were small versions of, “yellow giraffes, blue lions, pink antelopes, lilac panthers.” Apparently, there were also mice who cleaned the house at multiple times during the day. This theory sounds ridiculous, though there is some evidence.

Animal Theory Evidence

The video below shows video evidence of small mice cleaning this house.

Vocalized Clock Theory

Travellers who went to Allendale, the fallen-apart ghost town, made claims that they heard voices coming from the house, disregarding the fact that no humans had been in that house for many years. People believe it may be a vocalized clock.

Some things that people claimed to hear include:

  • The time of day
  • Announcements to who lived there in the past; one reporter claimed to hear that, “today is Mr. Featherstone’s birthday.”
  • Poetry and rhymes
  • Orders and tasks

Mr. Featherstone was not a name found in any phone book or government documents, which further prompts this theory. Many wonder who Mr. Featherstone is, or if he used a different name to address himself as within the household.

Another name that the voice mentioned was Mrs. McClellan. She was found within government documents though it seems that she has no family. She also had no trace of when she disappeared and what had happened to her.

Any evidence of her existence from inside the house such as pictures, writing, and any of her belongings are all burnt to shreds other than a torn apart picture of a possible family. The only clear image in the photo was a red ball and a pair of hands below it that cut off at the wrist.

Vocalized Clock Theory Evidence

Below, there is a voice recording a journalist captured by listening just outside the walls of the house.


Analysis of Internet Based Article Above

The original short story, “There Will Come Soft Rains,” was a narrative piece of writing created by Ray Bradbury. I managed to turn this into expository, descriptive, and persuasive writing. I made it expository by turning it into an event and explaining what had happened and incorported facts like the date and location. I made it descriptive by adding loads of details on the event and extra details in conspiracy theories. I described what had happened and what was seen while using descriptive language. Lastly, I made it persuasive by incorporating the conspiracy theories and chunks of my own opinion as well. For example, I said that the animal theory sounded ridiculous. With all of these writing styles, I created an internet-based article. I did this by taking the tragedy from the story and turning it into an article heading. I also took other details from previous parts of the story and converting them into conspiracy theories in order to add more details to my article. Each of these articles had their own subheading to grab the reader’s attention. I also created some of my own ideas which did not interrupt the actual plot. An example of this is adding the idea of journalists and reporters who travel to this neighborhood for more information that theorists would enjoy. There were also many way that I effectively transformed a short story into a realistic internet-based article. I used the specific key parts of an internet-based article to help better present my information such as subheadings, a bullet-point list, and incorporating multimedia. The multimedia may be what I am most proud of because about half of the multimedia is original such as my own drawings and a voice recording that I created to replicate the voice of the voice-clock in the short story. While doing all of this, I learned how to be most effective while writing in this style. I also learned about the components of an internet-based article and what makes it different from other writing types. Overall, I believe I was able to successfully transition “There Will Come Soft Rains” into an internet based article.