11 Once-Grand Abandoned Mansions That Sit Eerily Empty

Villa de Vecchi

Location: Cortenova, Italy

This mesmerizing abandoned mansion sits among the trees in the mountains of Cortenova, Italy, 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 de Vecchi family spent very little time in the villa before tragedy struck: The count’s wife was murdered and his daughter kidnapped. After a number of search attempts, the count himself succumbed to suicide. The house was passed around the de Vecchi family for a few decades before falling into disrepair and surrendering to vandalism and the intrusion of nature. Still, the abandoned 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 into the countryside.

Mínxíong Ghost House

Location: Mínxíong, Taiwan

Ranked as the spookiest haunted house in Taiwan in 2019, the Mínxíong Ghost House naturally lives up to its reputation. The stories surrounding this mansion run the gamut from affairs to suicide to simple relocation, but whatever you believe, this mansion definitely fits the creepy bill.

Built in 1929 by Liu Rongyu, this Baroque-revival-style mansion (sometimes called the Old Liu House) is hidden among overgrown greenery. One of the most popular tales states that a housemaid had an affair with the homeowner, leading to the wrath of his wife and the eventual death of the maid, who jumped down a nearby well. If the maid story wasn’t gruesome enough for you, here’s another: Allegedly, a soldier committed suicide in the home after hearing strange voices.

Regardless of whether these are true tales or urban legends, it’s safe to say the large mansion hides a wild history within its beautiful yet decaying walls.

Bannerman Castle

Location: Pollepel Island, New York

This abandoned New York 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—the original French term translates 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.

Chaonei No. 81

Location: Beijing, China

Built in the early 20th century, this mansion has a dark past. Constructed in the Baroque style by the Qing imperial family, this three-story mansion has been abandoned since 1949. The story goes that after the Nationalists’ defeat by the Communists, the Kuomintang official who owned the property abandoned his wife in the mansion. According to legend, she was so wracked with anguish and heartache that she hanged herself in the home. Some say her spirit still haunts the house, as explorers and local children alike dare to take a peek inside the once elegant and now decaying home.

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, whose family line traced back to the Earl of Lennox. In 1927, the castle was purchased by the Glasgow Corp. 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. In 1956, one such fight 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.

Odd Fellows Home

Location: Liberty, Missouri

This mansion was built for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), 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, which included a school, nursing home, hospital and orphanage. While the complex fell into disrepair (aside from one building that now holds a functioning winery), the Odd Fellows left behind a skeleton of one of their members—George—which was said to be used in the strange initiation rituals.

Lynnewood Hall

Location: Elkins Park, Pennsylvania

Built in the late 19th century, Lynnewood Hall is a Neoclassical, 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 the 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. He 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.

If you’d love to see the structure returned to its former glory, you’re in luck. The Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation aims to do just that. The organization has purchased the estate and is raising funds for the restoration of the grounds and buildings.

Dundas Castle

Location: Roscoe, New York

Sometimes called the Craig-E-Claire Castle, this mansion began as a small lodge structure built by Bradford Lee Gilbert around 1880. In 1915, new owner Ralph Wurts-Dundas decided to construct a more castle-like structure, though he passed away a year shy of its completion. His wife, Josephine, was shortly thereafter committed to a mental institution against her will, so she never lived in the finished castle either. Their daughter, Muriel, became the owner, but her due inheritance was said to be stripped and stolen from her by greedy castle caretakers. Sometime after, she was married and left the property to be sold a few times before landing in the hands of a local Masonic chapter.

Now, while still under Masonic ownership, the castle is abandoned and falling apart. Lore implies that the ghost of Josephine still haunts the structure.

Los Feliz Mansion

Location: Los Angeles

There’s a spooky place in every state, and California is no exception. On the state’s most-haunted list: the Los Feliz Mansion. As the story goes, 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 in her sleep with a ball-peen hammer. 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 motives and the “hauntings” of the mansion that followed, but no one really knows why the vicious murder happened.

Over the 60 years that followed, the mansion was sold multiple times. But here’s a creepy twist: Until 2016, the owners had let the house remain largely the same as it was in 1959—with the same dust-coated decor and eerie emptiness.

The Cape Romano Dome House

Location: Collier County, Florida

While today the Cape Romano Dome House is a popular spot for fishing and graffiti, it wasn’t always this way. Located just 300 feet offshore from Cape Romano Island, south of Marco Island in the Ten Thousand Islands of Collier County, Florida, this vacation home’s many structures were built relatively recently, in 1981. Retired oil producer Bob Lee wanted a self-sufficient, eco-friendly, relaxing abode for his family—complete with domes and troughs to collect rainwater for dishes and showers and concrete pylons beneath the structures to be lit on fire to heat the home. Erosion finally sabotaged the very sands it was built upon, and though it was purchased in 2001 to be refurbished, the costs of the project proved to be too high, leaving the building as a home to only wildlife and spooky stories.

Wyckoff Villa (Carleton Villa)

Location: Carleton Island, New York

Predictably, 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, he had a fatal heart attack the night he moved in, 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 mansion to construct a golf course and retreat in its place, GE eventually stripped the house of all useful parts and left it in disrepair. The creepy abandoned structure sat on the market for 12 years before selling again. While the place (which now goes by Carleton Villa) is still empty, its restoration is underway.

FAQs

What are abandoned mansions?

Abandoned mansions are large estates or luxurious homes that were once occupied but have since been left vacant. Many were built by wealthy families, but financial troubles, natural disasters or shifting lifestyles left them empty.

Why are abandoned mansions so fascinating?

They capture people’s imagination because they’re time capsules of history. With contents like crumbling staircases and forgotten furniture, these estates tell stories of wealth, decline and mystery.

Can you visit abandoned mansions?

It depends. Some abandoned mansions are privately owned or unsafe to enter, while others have been turned into museums or tourist attractions. Always check local laws before exploring.

Are abandoned mansions haunted?

Many people believe so. Their eerie silence, decaying interiors and tragic histories have inspired countless ghost stories, though the haunting is often more about atmosphere than actual spirits.

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Sources:

• Atlas Obscura: “Odd Fellows Home”
• The New York Times: “Dilapidated Mansion Has Had Many Occupants, Maybe Even a Ghost”
• Taiwan News: “Minxiong Ghost House ranked No. 1 scariest haunted house in Taiwan”
• Atlas Obscura: “Villa de Vecchi”
• Atlas Obscura: “Los Feliz Murder Mansion”
• Bannerman Castle: “Our Mission”
• Carleton Villa: “The Story of The Carleton Villa”
• Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation: “Our Plan for Lynnewood Hall”
• Love Property: “Lynnewood Hall: the abandoned mansion with a tragic Titanic connection”
• Atlas Obscura: “Craig-E-Clair Castle”
• Gazetteer for Scotland: “Lennox Castle”
• Atlas Obscura: “Cape Romano Dome House”