Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #31 Lyndhurst

Lyndhurst at Tarrytown, New York

Lyndhurst is an amazing mansion that we are so fortunate to still have standing and open to the public. While there doesn't seem to be any well documented  wild stories of hauntings, ghosts or evil deeds at Lyndhurst, it is a house that seems built for them. It was this architectural image that made it a natural backdrop for the movies, House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows. Both movies were based upon the hit 1960s Gothic Soap opera, Dark Shadows. I have visited Lyndhurst for many years since I was child and photographed it numerous times. On one occasion in the 1980s while visiting other houses in the Hudson Valley area I stopped by to see it after a  recent snowstorm. In the 1980s I was experimenting with black & white film and shot a series of photographs at houses before and after my visit to Lyndhurst. In those days 36 images to a roll were all you got. After I got the film back I noticed on the photos that I took of Lyndhurst that there were some sort of imperfections? Almost like ice crystals and I was disappointed  because they were some nice views of the house and I felt they were ruined. I took them back to the film shop and asked what went wrong. The shop keeper said he had never seen anything like this and of kindly offered me a new roll of film. What puzzled me the most is why only at Lyndhurst? After my visit to Lyndhurst I went to the Vanderlip mansion called Beechwood, which has a rumored past of murders and odd happenings. Nothing strange appeared on those photos? Same day, same cold temperature, same lighting, etc. I have been to many old mansions over my lifetime  and visited some houses that many claim are haunted. I have never experienced anything odd at any of them or photographed any unexplained unusual. So these images below may be just a quirk of the camera, film or some other natural occurrence, but maybe not? 

Here are the images with the first one almost clear of any oddities.

Lyndhurst at Tarrytown: Photo Gary Lawrance

Lyndhurst at Tarrytown: Photo Gary Lawrance

Lyndhurst at Tarrytown: Photo Gary Lawrance

Lyndhurst at Tarrytown: Photo Gary Lawrance

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #30 Greystone

Greystone at Beverly Hills, photo: Library of Congress

Greystone

Greystone Wiki

Murder Suicide

The Greystone Murders
Greystone as Collinwood in Dark Shadows
Opening of Dark Shadows 1991

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #29 Seaview Terrace

Seaview Terrace at Newport

Seaview Terrace, the architectural history

Seaview Terrace Haunted
Dark Shadows
Collinwood

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #28 Winfield

Winfield, Glen Cove, Long Island

Haunted Winfield

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #27 Belcourt Castle

Belcourt Castle, Newport, Rhode Island

 

Belcourt Castle

Belcourt Castle

Belcourt Castle

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #26 Osgood Castle

Osgood Castle : Photo from Wiki

Osgood Castle

Redstone Castle

Haunted Past

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #25 Carlton Villa

Carlton Villa, Thousand Islands

 

Ghost of a Gilded Age

Carlton Villa

31 Days of Halloween

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #24 Beechwood

Beechwood at Briarcliff , New York : Photo Wiki

Beechwood
Beechwood

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #23 Beaulieu, Newport, Rhode Island

  

Beaulieu at Newport: Photo courtesy of Robert King

Beaulieu is an elegant villa from the very earliest days of Newport's golden era.

During its early years it was rented to the famous Mrs. Potter Palmer of Chicago.
Here is a little story of her accounts about unusual happenings while she stayed there.

Mrs. Potter Palmer, [in 1899] it is said always felt a shiver as she went through the big dark front hall, after the guests have gone. Every door opening out of it had to be locked at night, as well as every door that she passed on the way up to her sleeping room
For noises were heard at night light the rustle of silken shirts, as if the unbidden guest of the past were passing in and out the rooms and halls and opening and closing doors.
The climax came one night soon after the Grant wedding, when Butler White was putting out the lights on the lower floor.
In half darkness, he saw an apparition, in white ball costume, with a Spanish mantilla thrown over her heard, as if she had stepped from a heated ball rooms out upon the lawn and been suddenly chilled the night air and mist flowing in from the sea.
The figure in white glided in through the closed doors, swept past the terrified butler, with a silken rustle and passed up the broad staircase. The backward glance given as she ascended the stairs, while the mantilla fell from her heard, revealed a face of a dark Spanish beauty. That much Butler White saw, then fell prostrated on the hall floor.
Two footmen, hearing his fall, rushed up from the basement and picked up the butler. They said he looked like a dead man as he lay there with arms wide outstretched, hands clenched, and white, set face upturned with wide open, but apparently sightless eyes staring at the ceiling.
The next morning, when the butler had fully recovered his senses, he declared that nothing would induce him to stay another day in the house. He did stay the rest of the season. But ever after that when he was in the front hall two footman were always with him, either day or night, one stationed behind each of the two tall bay trees that flanked the entrance to the staircase.
(The Marlboro Democrat – 9-1-1904 - Bennettsville, S.C.

Historic story courtesy of Robert King 

Beaulieu

Haunted Beaulieu

Robert King is the author of 3 books on Gilded Age Mansions of which I have all of them and highly recommend them also.

The Vanderbilt Homes

Raising a Fallen Treasure

Fergusons Castle

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #22 The Mount

The Mount at Lenox, Massachussets

The Mount located in Lenox, Massachusetts was built for famed American Novelist, Edith Wharton.
Edith Wharton was born and lived in the Gilded Age and wrote often about it. She was also a great writer of ghost stories. The house today is open to the public as a museum house and gives ghosts tours. Please click on the following links to learn more about the sightings of the paranormal sometimes seen at The Mount.

The Mount

The Mount on Wiki

The Haunted Mount

The Ghost stories of Edith Wharton 

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #21 Blairsden

Blairsden at Peapack, New Jersey

Blairsden is a Magnificent mansion located near Peapack, new Jersey. Mansions seen to attract stories about themselves as being haunted and occupied by unhappy spirits. Here is a good story for those that like gruesome tales, but more than likely there is little truth to this one.

The Blairsden Murders

Bairsden History

Blairsden Furnished

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #20 Coindre Hall

 

Coindre Hall

 Coindre Hall

Coindre Hall Interiors 

Haunted Coindre Hall

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #19 The Bishop's Palace

The Bishop's Palace, Galveston, Texas

The Bishop's Palace

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #18 The Playhouse at Sunken Orchard

The Playhouse at Sunken Orchard

Sunken Orchard

The Woodward Murder 

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #17 Morgans' Island & Matinecock Point

Matinecock Point, the mansion of J.P. Morgan, Jr. at Glen Cove

Morgan's Island is located on the North Shore of Long Island's Gold Coast off of Glen Cove. The island was purchased by J. P. Morgan, Jr. in 1909 and then proceeded to build a grand Georgian mansion, stables, cottages and outbuildings. The house stood at the end of a long driveway and commanded a view of the Long Island Sound and was named Matinecock Point. J.P. Morgan, Jr. was the son of the famous Gilded Age banker, J.P. Morgan. J.P., Jr. married Jane Norton Grew and they had 5 children. Unfortunately one child named Alice died when she was very young of Typhoid Fever. The family used the island and it's mansion as their primary home and it stayed in the family until about 1943 when J.P. died. The estate went though various owners until it became a religious institution for the Sisters of St. John the Baptist. When the sisters lived there, windows and doors opened by themselves and footsteps were heard where no one was. Some some claimed to have seen the ghostly figure of a young girl appear and disappear. Many of them believed it was Alice, the daughter of J.P. In 1980 the mansion was sold off bit by bit and demolished by dynamite. The island is now covered with many single family homes and the site of the mansion makes up the backyards of three suburban modest homes.

Morgan Mansion sold bit by bit

J.P. Morgan, Jr.

The Ghost of Alice Morgan

Haunted Places: Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO Landings and other Supernatural Locations.

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age # 16 Thornewood

Thornewood Castle, Washington State Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age # 16

This beautiful elegant Tudor style mansion, located in Lakewood, Washington State was built in 1911 for Chester and Anna Thorne. The mansion was set upon 100 acres, with 37 of them developed into gardens. Today the house remains, but on much reduced acreage and is now run as an Inn. While the house welcomes guests, the original owners, the Thrones seem to carry on as if they never left it. Mr. Thorne died in 1927, but is said to be seen wandering through the house and his wife Anna, who died in 1959, can still be found in her dressing room, her reflection sometimes seen in the original mirror.

   Thornewood Castle

The Ghosts of Thornewood

Rose Red

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #15 Ventfort Hall

Ventfort Hall at Lenox, Massachussets

Ventfort Hall was built in 1893 and is located in Lenox, Massachusetts. The house has had a very varied history, with numerous owners and an amazing resurrection from almost demolition. While any house or building can be haunted, Ventfort Hall would be high on the list style wise. A red brick Jacobean mansion with dark Victorian interiors, the house is rumored  to  have its share of strange happenings and sights. A disembodied face supposedly drifts down the beautifully carved wooden staircase and their are whispered voices heard when the house is empty? Please follow the links to read more and decide for yourself if it is just active imaginations or the former occupants returning to their splendid home.

Ventfort Hall

Victoriana

Ghost Hunters

The Ghosts of Ventfort Hall

Newly found photo of the grand staircase of the Astor Mansion on Fifth Avenue

Grand Staircase of the Astor Mansion on Fifth Avenue, posted on Mansions of the Gilded Age.

On the Facebook group, Mansions of the Gilded Age, many of our members share amazing things that have been sitting in closets, in old books or dusty photo albums. Here is one case where a very rare photo of the staircase of the Astor mansion was found. I will post some more about this soon, but wanted to share this wonderful image.

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #14 Shadow Lawn

Shadow Lawn at Long Branch, New Jersey

Shadow Lawn Wiki

Big Old Houses

Haunted Shadow Lawn

Haunted Mansion of the Gilded Age #13 The Molly Brown House

The home of the Unsinkable Molly Brown at Denver, Colorado.

If one has ever seen the movie, "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", the story about a rags to riches woman,who is best remembered for her heroic acts and stamina while commandeering a lifeboat from the sinking Titanic and went to Denver to see her real home, you might be disappointed that it is not the towering grand Victorian as depicted in the movie. The actual house is in Denver, Colorado and is in the best neighborhood, but the homes are not the huge opulent mansions, one would find along Fifth Avenue in New York City. Molly Brown's house is quite small and if in a row of similar houses would not get much notice.

Fortunately her home and that of her husband, J.J. Brown, it has been saved from demolition and is now a museum house. The house as one might expect once being the home of a very energetic woman, is not always full of paying visitors. Staff members at the museum and others have reported strange unusual smells and sounds. Please click the following links to find out more about the ghostly sightings and the history of the fascinating house. 

Molly Brown Museum

The Haunting of the Molly Brown House

Denver's Haunted Houses

Mansions of the Gilded Age on Facebook & Twitter

Mansions of the Gilded Age on Facebook

Mansions of the Gilded Age also has a very large and active group on Facebook. Founded in 2011 the group now has over 11,000 members. The September 2013 issue of Architectural Digest had this to say, 
" Mansions of the Gilded Age is one of the liveliest design groups on Facebook, with members celebrating (and denigrating lavish examples of late-19th century and early-20th century domestic architecture". 
 
 So please join and share in the camaraderie about a subject so many are passionate about!

Mansions of the Gilded Age 

 Also on Twitter & Pinterest

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age #12 The Manor

The John Teele Pratt Mansion, The Manor at Glen Cove, New York.

The house that was simply known as, The Manor was built for John Teele Pratt and his family in 1909 by  notable architect, Charles A. Platt. Located at Glen Cove, Long Island, New York the home and estate are now a conference center, called, The Glen Cove Mansion.

The house also is notable for also having it's former owners as full time guests. Supposedly the ghosts of Mr. & Mrs, John T. Pratt have been seen by employees of the hotel as stated in this article in the Glen Cove Patch. I guess when you have a glorious home on earth, why leave?

Is the Glen Cove Mansion haunted!

The Glen Cove Mansion

John T. Pratt

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age # 11 Casa Loma

Casa Loma, Toronto, Canada.

Ghost Stories 
Ghost Trackers 
Castle of Spirits
Casa Loma

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age #10 The Pittcock Mansion & The Haunting of Sarah Hardy

The Pittcock Mansion

The Haunting of Sarah Hardy is another great old movie involving a creepy mansion and a wealthy heiress and her not so lovely husband. The film is primarily set in the real life 1914 Pittock mansion located in Portland, Oregon.

Pittcock Mansion

Pittcock Mansion

Click below for the movie

The Haunting of Sarah Hardy

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age #9 The Haunting

Ettington Park, The house used in the movie, The Haunting

The Haunting is probably one of the most terrifying stories about a house that is supposed to have been in the countryside outside of Boston, Massachusetts. The exteriors used a house in England called Ettington Park and the interiors were sets.

The Haunting

Ettington Park

Ettington Park

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age #8 Fergusons' Castle

Ferguson's Castle

Fergusons' Castle which was located at Huntington, Long Island, New York was a dream castle of the Armour Meat Packing Heiress, Juliana Ferguson. Please click the following links for much more on this fascinating lost treasure.

Old Long Island

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age #7 Whitehall

Whitehall, Palm Beach, Florida

Whitehall in Palm Beach, Florida, even in a town of impressive mansions, still remains the ultimate mansion. Built in 1902 by architects, Carrere & Hastings for millionaire Henry Flagler, the huge white mansion is supposedly haunted by Henry Flagler's third wife, Mary Lily. Please follow the links below to read the whole story and the history of Whitehall.

Whitehall

Whitehall

Whitehall

Whitehall

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age #6 Ochre Court

Ochre Court, Newport, Rhode Island

Ochre Court in Newport was one of the first European influenced cottages that achieved palace like scale. Built prior to the Cornelius Vanderbilt's cottage, The Breakers a few lots down the cliff walk, Ochre Court still remains one of the most impressive mansions in Newport. Fortunately still surviving as the main administration building for Salve Regina College, the house if one didn't know it was not a private residence anymore, one would think the front door would still be opened by the Butler. Designed by famed architect, Richard Morris Hunt in the French chateau style, it also can be a rather gloomy looking house. Many of the houses in Newport have ghost stories attached to them, and Ochre Court has it's, "Bloody Mary". In the book, "Haunted Newport" by Eleyne Austin Sharp, she writes that students of the college went to investigate a rumor that a ghostly figure of a woman with bloody wrists has been seen floating through the mansion?

Haunted Newport by Eleyne Austin Sharp

 

 

 

Ochre Court, Newport, Rhode Island

Ochre Court, Newport, Rhode Island

Ochre Court, Newport, Rhode Island

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age #5 The Winchester Mansion

The Winchester Mansion at San Jose, Califronia

One of the most mysterious mansions and stories of all time, is the Winchester mansion located at San Jose, California.  Sarah Winchester was the widow of William Wirt Winchester, of Winchester rifle fame. When he died Sarah moved to San Jose and started in 1884 to build a huge home with no intent of ever finishing. She was told through a  psychic medium that see must continuously add on to the house to escape the ghosts of the many victims her husbands gun killed.

See the links below for the full history.

Winchester Mansion
Winchester Mansion
Winchester Mansion

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age #4 The Croke-Patterson Mansion

Croke-Patterson Mansion, Denver, Colorado.

The Croke-Patterson mansion in Denver, Colorado was built in 1890 and from day one, it had eerie vibes. According to local legend, the day owner Mr. Thomas Croke moved in, he soon left, never to return. The magnificent but cursed mansion has had many owners and is still existing, now as a boutique hotel. Click on the links below for more.

Croke-Patterson Mansion

Croke-Patterson Mansion

Croke-Patterson Mansion

Croke-Patterson Mansion 
Croke-Patterson Mansion

Book: A Haunted History of Denver's Croke-Patterson Mansion 

A Haunted History of Denver's Croke-Patterson Mansion

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age & More #3 Wyndcliffe & Ghostly Ruins by Harry Skrdla

There is always something about ruined mansions and other buildings that seem to call to the passerby to visit them. Often dangerous and also illegal, the curious are still drawn to them. This is a fascinating book that takes a look at them. The cover photo is the Wyndcliffe mansion in Rhinebeck, New York. The house once viewed as an example of opulence and wealth was owned by Elizabeth Schermerhorn Jones, an aunt of Edith Wharton. It  was said to have inspired the phrase, "Keeping up with the Joneses". Unfortunately the house is hardly almost able to keep it's fragile walls standing.

Visit the Library of Congress for more photos and architectural drawings and plans.

Wyndcliffe
Keeping up with the Joneses
Ghostly Ruins by Harry Skrdla

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age & More #2

The Changeling on Amazon

"The Changeling", starring George C. Scott is one of my favorite haunted houses movies. I have often noticed in my choices for favorites, that they usually are not full of blood, gore or even with rotting corpses jumping out at the actors. The Changeling is somewhat based on an actual story from the Henry Treat Rogers mansion, Denver, Colorado. The movie version was filmed in various locations and the more opulent Gilded Age mansion in the movie was a set.

The Henry Treat Rogers Mansion.
The Changeling
Trailer
YouTube 
Amazon

Haunted Mansions of the Gilded Age & More #1

For the month of October I am going to try to find 31 mansions, mostly from the Gilded Age period, 1870-1930. These mansions will either be  haunted, said to be haunted or just look like they should be haunted. I will choose them from across America, but will also include some great ones from Europe and other countries.

The houses will be homes which are now gone, existing, private, museums, country clubs, schools, religious institutions, hotels, B&Bs and other places where one might not want to be alone in the dark of night.

Haunted houses depicted in books, movies and television shows with recommendations will be listed as well.

For anyone reading this who has a facebook account, please ask to join my group, Mansions of the Gilded Age. We have over 11,000 members now and it is a great place to discuss, comment, read or just look at the amazing contributions that our members have  posted for over 3 years. I am sure many of the members will include their favorite haunted mansions and experiences.

Whether there are real haunted mansions and ghosts or just buildings that give people the creeps, this is the time of year that they are hallowed. So in the spirit of Halloween, the mansions of  famous murders, suicides, unhappy romances, broken hearts, financial ruin, vanity and jilted maidens will follow for the next 31 days. Hope I don't run out! For all 31 haunted houses click HERE.

The Carson Mansion, Eureka, California

Mansion Number 1

The Carson Mansion at Eureka, California

The Carson mansion is not considered to be haunted but it or stylistic versions of it are often used on book covers and in illustrations, comics, tv shows and films, where a scary, creepy, looming, thunderstruck Victorian mansion is needed.

Some might remember it from, Tales from the Crypt.

The house fortunately is still existing and functions as the private Ingomar Club. Kept in pristine condition and with beautifully authentic interiors, it is a must see, if only from the street, when on the west coast.

Please go to the following links for more.
The Carson Mansion
The Ingomar Club