[SarahandSam]

There's a spot in my front yard where the grass never grows, and my husband just walked in and pointed out that apparently, the snow over that spot is melting. As in the rest of the yard is 2' deep now and that one spot has about 6". We've lived here for about 3 years, and I never really paid attention to the fact that apparently Something lies beneath my yard.

Body? Sewer? Brownfield? The maw of Hell? Eddie Griswold's shitter?

(We do live in the city, incidentally...)

[Judysmom]

Jimmy Hoffa????

[jenm]

Jimmy Hoffa????

This would be my guess!

[SarahandSam]

He has to be somewhere...

[Over the Hill]

I have tried three times to reply to this?

My guess is an abandoned septic drainfield. Some cities convert from septic to sewer, leaving the drainfield in place.

[Kestrel]

A septic tank! Dig a hole there when the ground thaws - we want to know. But it could be a zombie...

[Beentheredonethat]

Well, I do like the zombie answer, but it has to be something that is giving off heat and contaminants.

As gross as it is, I would imagine something septic--poop makes heat and poisons (as I well know from a female dog who pees on the lawn and kills the grass.)

[cowboymom]

Septic tank or old well casing.

[Bluey]

Or a leak in a pipe, could even be your septic line leaking there.

[glfprncs]

Usually, though, the grass grows thicker and greener around the septic tank.

[MistyBlue]

Something to do with septic most likely...methane melts snow. I'd have it checked...either the cap is loose or there's a cracked pipe.

[mswillie]

I'll go with septic tank. Could be someone dumped something very noxious down the drain at some point.

[alterhorse]

A forgotten bomb shelter from the 1960's.

[Calvincrowe]

An alien pod! Pulsing, hot, ready to hatch! Run, run away!!!

[Frank B]

Abandoned septic tank. The ground above ours is the last area to be covered by snow and the first to melt. The grass is also thinner there and turns brown quicker during dry spells. Sometimes cities will connect to existing sewer lines at the most convenient point, which in your case is apparently beyond the tank and all your sewage still flows through it.

[Calvincrowe]

Well, pooh on those who keep suggesting a poo-filled solution! I think it is a volcanic vent to the super volcano that is growing under Western NY. Either that or the entrance to Middle Earth-be careful if you find a lovely gold ring there....

[SarahandSam]

I think I would prefer zombies, corpses, and the entrance to Moria to any sort of sewage... ugh. I remember that's where the "for sale" sign was when we bought the place, and I just thought the brown patch that summer was from the sign somehow. So I guess it's in the same condition it's been in for a couple of years... I'm scared to call on anyone to look at it, in case the city makes me pay to dig up my yard and revamp a century-old sewer... at least they'd probably cover the cost of disinterring a body or two.

Bomb shelter would be pretty awesome, but I ain't sticking a shovel in the ground now...

[CVPeg]

You're not near the Love Canal are you?!?

[SarahandSam]

Nah, that's a few miles away, CVPeg...

Incidentally, fun story: I grew up in a trailer park in Niagara Falls that, I found out later, was actually on an old brownfield. Which perhaps explains the large concrete cylinders we used to find out in the fields behind the park, and the beautiful green twisty rock I thought was jade (my dad told me to throw it back and to not touch rocks in the wild anymore).

[Rallycairn]

Ooh, SarahandSame, have you seen the brilliant tv series Wonderfalls? If so, what did you think?