As a child, I hated being alone in the basement. I
feared lurking goblins, which lay in wait for the
chance to follow me upstairs and escape into the
everyday world. Only being seen by an adult would
frighten them back downstairs, so I would race up
to find my mother or dad to break the spell. And I
NEVER went down there alone.

Many years later, the fire would start in the basement.
I don't believe in premonitions, but I do believe in irony.
So those must have been some pretty ironic goblins.