Odd Fellows Home
Location: Liberty, Missouri
This mansion was built for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, founded in 1819, as a central hub for the organization in Missouri. The fraternal organization resembled the Masons, with the goals of promoting brotherhood, loyalty and community outreach. The IOOF was also known for “secret rituals,” many of which were performed in the Odd Fellows Home throughout the 19th century. That is, of course, when they weren’t taking care of the at-risk members of their community at their 200-plus-acre complex with a school, nursing home, hospital and orphanage. While the complex fell to disrepair (aside from one building that now holds a functioning winery), the Odd Fellows left a skeleton of one of their members—”George”—behind, which was said to be used in the strange initiation rituals. This is just one of the urban legends from every state.
Villa de Vecchi
Location: Cortenova, Italy
This beautiful mansion sits among the trees in the mountains of Cortenova, beside Lake Como. Known by many nicknames, including the “Red House,” “Ghost Mansion” and “Casa Delle Streghe” (The House of Witches), this mansion touts a tragic history. In the late 19th century, Count Felix De Vecchi commissioned architect Alessandro Sidoli to build this Baroque-style behemoth. Unfortunately for the Count, Sidoli died a year before the top-of-the-line villa was completed.
The Vecchi family spent very little time in the villa before tragedy struck: The Count’s wife was murdered and daughter kidnapped. After a number of search attempts, the Count himself succumbed to suicide. The house was passed around the Vecchi family for a few decades before falling to disrepair, nature intrusion and vandalism. Still, the mansion lives on in lore to this day. Along with rumors of occult activities and sacrifices, locals say the long-ago smashed piano still floats music outside the house and down the countryside. Here are more historic places that now sit abandoned.
Bannerman Castle
Location: Pollepel Island, New York
This castle doesn’t have a morbid history so much as a historically interesting one. According to Jane Bannerman, granddaughter-in-law of the builder, Frank Bannerman VI, the mansion was built on Pollepel Island in the Hudson River as a place to store arms for sale. A bit of folklore from the Indigenous tribes of the island survives, including the legend of naming the island after the story of a girl named Pell who was rescued and swept to safety on the island by her heroic sweetheart. The American Revolution saw the island and its surrounding waters outfitted with booby traps called “chevaux-de-frise“—translating to Frisian horses—to block British ships.
In 1900, once the Bannermans owned the island, they built the Scottish-style mansion (or armory!) and even allowed various charity groups to visit the beautiful island in the summer. Frank Bannerman’s wife maintained beautiful grounds on the island, some of which still exist even after a destructive fire in 1969. Today, The Bannerman Castle Trust works to restore the building, promote tourism and preserve the history of the island and structure. While this home doesn’t necessarily seem haunted, these abandoned churches will give you the spooky fix you’re searching for.
Los Feliz Mansion
Location: Los Angeles, California
The story goes that this abandoned mansion atop a hill was the home of Dr. Harold Perelson, his wife and his three children. As a respected doctor in the late 1950s, Perelson shocked the city and, to an extent, the world when he suddenly brutally murdered his wife with a ball-peen hammer in her sleep. After attempting the same cruel act with his young daughter, he ended his own life by drinking acid and taking tranquilizer pills. Many have speculated about his causes and the “hauntings” of the mansion thereafter, though it was purchased and sold multiple times over the following 60 years. What’s more spooky? Up until 2016, the owners let the house remain largely the same as it was in 1959—with the same dust-coated decor and same eerie emptiness. Don’t miss the spookiest abandoned place in every state.
Wyckoff Villa (Carleton Villa)
Location: Carleton Island, New York
Predictably, of course, the Wyckoff Villa (located on Carleton Island in the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York) is yet another example of a tragic story. What many call one of the first Gilded Age mansions along the Thousand Islands, the villa was commissioned by architect William H. Miller for William Wyckoff. A Remington typewriter magnate, Wyckoff lived in the home for only one day after its 1895 completion. Why? Well, unfortunately, Mr. Wyckoff suffered a heart attack that night on July 11, only a month after his wife, Ives Wyckoff, passed away. After 30 years in the family, the villa was sold to General Electric. Though originally planning to tear down the villa to construct a golf course and retreat in its place, GE eventually stripped the house of all useful (and necessary) parts and left it in disrepair. Still, if you’re interested, it’s back on the market! And if you’re really brave, you could stay in one of the most haunted hotels in America…
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Location: Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
Built in the late 19th century, Lynnewood Hall is a Neo-classical, Gilded Age mansion with a regrettable past. The unfathomably rich art collector and tycoon Peter A.B. Widener commissioned the 110-room mansion with 55 bedrooms from famous architect Horace Trumbauer. The lavish limestone mansion was built shortly after the death of Widener’s wife and filled with famous pieces and paintings (some by El Greco, Rembrandt and Donatello). Tragically, the eldest son, meant to inherit the property, was on the Titanic’s maiden voyage. That Widener son and his own son lost their lives, while his wife, Eleanor, survived on a lifeboat. Ironically, the Wideners were a large investor in the RMS Titanic. The younger son, Joseph, managed the property until his death in 1943, when the house was left unclaimed, abandoned and stripped of its valuable decor. Next, check out these equally spooky abandoned amusement parks.
Lennox Castle
Location: East Dunbartonshire, England
Just north of Glasgow, this mansion and castle were built sometime around the early 1840s. Initially, the castle was built for John Lennox Kincaid, of the familial line of the Earl of Lennox. In 1927, the castle was purchased by the Glasgow Corporation and converted into a “hospital for the mentally ill.” Buildings cropped up around the main castle structure to eventually hold more than 1,200 patients. Toward the middle of the century, however, fights, unrest and riots began to break out among the patients. One such fight in 1956 resulted in some of the male patients attacking the nursing staff and being locked inside a small hut. In 2002, the Lennox Castle Hospital was officially retired and all other buildings on the property were knocked down. In their stead, the Celtic Football Club attempted to make training facilities. Today, the abandoned castle has fallen to fire and nature and remains a beautiful, eerie ruin. If you like this, you’ll love these other abandoned hospitals.
