Was there even a house there in 1986? The price difference would make a lot of sense if you're comparing an empty lot to a fully improved one that used to be in the middle of nowhere and is now surrounded by a fully developed neighborhood.
Depends on the effort your willing to go to... if you walk down to town hall with at least $10 in your wallet, your likely to walk away with record duplicates to answer the question definitively...
Possibly also a house in a resource town that's gone boom bust boom. Some of those had people dropping keys and walking away from mortgages when all the jobs dried up, then things get crazy when a new mine etc opens and there's high-paid labor all looking for a place to live