C Cleveland

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Every town has it's own urban legends and in honor of Halloween, I'm going to tell you about one of ours.

This is the road that leads you to Squire's Castle.



Fergus B. Squire was born in Exeter, England in 1850 and came to America at the age of 10. He began as an office boy for an oil company and later realized the American dream by owning and operating his own refinery. By 1885, he had joined Standard Oil of Ohio with Frank Rockefeller, the brother of John D. Rockefeller.



Squire had originally planned for a large country home to be built on 525 acres. This "castle" was only intended to be a gatekeeper's cottage.

The legend has it that Mrs. Squire didn't care for the country. Mr. Squire was busy drawing up the plans for his magnificent castle and, against his wife's wishes, began spending more and more time on the isolated estate.

Mrs. Squire worried constantly about being away from the city and the loneliness of being forced to spend every summer at the cottage. In all of her worry and agitation, she developed insomnia and began walking about the house at night, carrying a small, red lantern to light her way.

One fateful night, Mrs. Squire wandered into the trophy room of the house, a place that she usually avoided. No one really knows what happened, but it's been surmised that Mrs. Squire became frightened of something in the room, or perhaps even the mounted animals peering at her in the dim light.

Regardless, she began screaming in terror over something and in her haste, she tripped and broke her neck. She was discovered dead a short time later.

Squire was distraught and blamed himself for his wife's death. He abandoned the plans for the house and went back to the city, never returning to the cottage again.

People who knew of his plans to build the grand summer home started calling the cottage "Squire's Castle".

Her ghost is believed to still wander the castle at night and people have reported seeing her red lantern and hearing her screams. In 1925, the Cleveland Metroparks purchased the property and removed the windows, flooring and any other items that might be attractive to thieves.













On this day, the only ghost I saw was Adolph Hitler.

29 comments

  1. Mine Got in himmel! Zat is zo funny.

    You are cracking me up, Chrissy.

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  2. Hmmm, maybe she was murdered and covered up as a "trip and fall".

    Looks like Hitler is there to solve the crime.

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  3. LOVE the post! That castle is awesome and I love the story behind it! Did you salute Heir Hitler? Happy Halloween!

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  4. @The Fat Man,
    Glad I could make you laugh!

    @Matty,
    I know! That's my thought.

    @Brndoutw8ress,
    It's really cool, isn't it? No salutes from me. Happy Halloween!

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  5. Thanks for sharing this, Chrissy! I had no idea this place existed. It reminds me a little of the Belvedere Castle in Central Park.
    (Wonder if they rent it out for weddings or other spooky events...)

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  6. Great photos! The story rocked. Hitler's ghost, now that was funny!

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  7. Beautiful castle photos. That is Hitler.

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  8. This was great! Love the castle pics! Especially the last one with Hitler!! You got me laughing! Thanks! Cheers!! Happy Halloween!!

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  9. lol @"On this day, the only ghost I saw was Adolph Hitler."
    Well, at least they can be sure nobody's gonna try and rob the house. There's nothing left to steal!
    Great post as usual

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  10. I love the castle!!
    I lived in a haunted house once but it wasn't a castle
    even my ghosts are poor ;)

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  11. Chrissy, I peed a little when I seen "Hitler". You are a hoot! Cool castle/cottage.

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  12. I was surprised by the photo of Hitler.

    I thought he dressed better than that.

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  13. That was a great post. It had beauty, history, horror, and Hitler. Good call on taking that guys photo. He DOES look just like Hitler. His hair looks so greasy. Ew!

    Beautiful house/castle/cottage.

    Hope you and Bernie have a GREAT HALLOWEEN!

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  14. You'd think by now she'd want to get out of the house for a while.

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  15. What a creepy place! No wonder Adolf is hanging out there!

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  16. I almost DIED when I saw that last shot of Adolph!!

    OMG...that was HYSTERICAL!!!

    Hey, I really enjoyed this post, Chrissy. I enjoy hearing about stuff like this. Philly is filled with many ghost hauntings. I took a ghost tour once and had a blast.

    Even though this castle is haunted...it's beautiful!

    Happy Halloween to you and Bern!!!

    Boo!

    X

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  17. Hey Chrissy, these places look innocuous by daylight but are probably quite spooky after dark. I must camp out at one of these "haunted" places one night. They do it on TV but end up faking stuff to keep the viewers interested. Blair Witch? Blah Witch! Indigo

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  18. I don't know if I'd have Hitler investigate the woman's death. I'm pretty sure I know who he's going to blame.

    I always love seeing castles in the US!

    There's a similar one on one of the rivers here in Louisiana that I'd love to go and visit one day. They started building it in 1962, and they're still in the process of completing it today.

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  19. very interesting story, great photos and more scary that Hitler wasn't just a costume...

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  20. @Cynica Sarcastamos,
    I'm not sure if they rent it out for wedding but check out how cool/spooky these are.
    http://capturelifephoto.blogspot.com/2007/12/squires-castle.html

    @adrienzgirl,
    Thanks! Yes, he was just a bonus.

    @Secretia,
    I know, I'm tellin' ya, that's him.

    @KaLynn,
    Glad you liked them.

    @CatLadyLarew,
    You're welcome. It was fun to go visit again. I haven't been there since high school!

    @Fierce,
    True. They even removed the second floor!

    @Dianne,
    If I was a ghost, I would only haunt mansions.

    @Mark Price,
    Me, too! I did a double take and then had to pretend I was taking a picture of the trees behind him.

    @Christopher Zimmerman,
    I think his wife dresses him.

    @Theresa,
    Isn't he dead on? So to speak.

    I did a double take when I saw him. I think I spent more time staring at him than the castle.

    @Beau Horner,
    LOL! You would think...

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  21. @wandamarie,
    I know! And he just walked up the hill veerryy slooowwllyy.

    @Ron,
    I half expected him to not show up on my camera like a ghost.

    I bet you guys do have lots of haunted places. Ghosts of mobsters gone by...

    @Indigo Wrath,
    Wouldn't that be cool? My sister and I wanted to sign up for this overnight at the Mansfield Reformatory but it's booked out a year!

    No wonder neither one of us is married.

    @Judge Fudge,
    Are they still working on that castle by you or did they start and just never stop? Cool stuff.

    @Stacie's Madness,
    Yes, very cool indeed!

    @Teri and the cats of Furrydance,
    Thanks. Sorry Hitler scared you. :-(

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  22. But...why did they have to remove anything valuable? Is it just open to the public free of charge?

    Poor lady that just wanted to be back in the city....probably saw some animals doing something naughty and couldn't stand it....

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  23. Fantastic photos and interesting Urban Legend. And OMG... you found Hitler! LMAO!

    Thanks for sharing!
    ~Penny

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  24. What an interesting story! I love this kind of thing and your pictures are great. Do you know if the castle is available to be toured? Thanks for sharing!

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  25. @Kathryn
    The grounds were sold to the city so it now sits in a public park. Yep, free of charge.

    You're such a dirty girl

    @Picture Imperfect,
    Isn't he dead on? So to speak...

    @Natalyn Giverson,
    Thanks! It's actually open to the public, free of charge.

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  26. This is such a great story, and your photos are quite nice.

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  27. @Ann Martin Photography,
    Thanks for stopping by, Ann. Glad you enjoyed this!

    ReplyDelete

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