Photo: The Carleton Island Villa
This being Halloween weekend, it's only fitting to take a peek at America's creepiest, spookiest, hair-raising listings. At the top of the charts is theCarleton Villa on Carleton Island in the Thousand Islands archipelago of New York. Built in 1894 for William O. Wyckoff, whose massive fortune was derived from the Remington arms and typewriter company, Carleton Villa was once a grand home, used by the Wyckoff's for family gatherings. Today, after more than 60 years of neglect, the house stands nearly gutted by the elements, in need of a complete restoration. According to an architect who recently surveyed the site, the stone structure itself requires little work, but restoring the interiors to their Gilded Age glories would require as sizable fortune. Good thing this spooktastic villa, along with 6.9 acres of waterfront land, is priced at just $495K.
↑ This side of a haunted lunatic asylum, nothing quite curdles the blood quicker than an abandoned hospital, nevermind one that's tucked away down a rutted grass driveway on eleven densely wooded acres. The U.S. Marine Hospitalwas built by act of Congress in 1860 and sat just a couple doors down from General Ulysses Grant's home in Galena, Ill. Today, the decrepit structure retains much of the original details, like a magnificent cast iron staircase, and who knows how many spirits. The first $849K takes this perfect set for a horror movie.
↑ The really frightening thing about this run-down Boyd, Md. estate is the price tag, a whopping $1.25M. The 12-room Victorian mansion on this 9.3-acre property has a sagging porch, dusty attic, missing shutters, and 5,000-square-feet in need of restoration. Back in its heyday, Winderbourne was the home of a Civil War colonel and his sewing machine heiress wife, but today this potential money pit is banking on convenient access to Washington, D.C. thanks to a nearby train station.
↑ The McFadden Mansion in Canton, Pa. is remarkably well maintained, but that doesn't prevent it from looking something like the spooky Adams Family house. The grey-brown paint job and Gothic detailing isn't helping, but it's the taxidermy-laden interiors that really cause a fright. The location in remote northern Pennsylvania isn't helping to justify a $549K price, but ten bedrooms, almost 10,000-square-feet, and an 1880s vintage can't hurt.
↑ In most towns, this sort of dilapidated cottage would be termed a fixer upper, but in Jerome, Ariz.—"the world's largest ghost town"—shabby properties are the norm. That's because the town, once the fourth largest in Arizona, has seen a precipitous decline in population since the local mines closed. In 1929, the town was home to 15,000 miners. By 1950, fewer than 50 people lived in town. That might make this 1904 Craftsmen, listed for $190K, one of the nicest in town. At least until the ghosts of miners past start haunting the place.
· History [The Carleton Island Villa]
· Carleton Island, New York [Historic Properties]
· U.S. Marine Hospital [official site]
· Winderbourne [Historic Properties]
· Stick Style [Sayre Homes]
· 668 Verde Ave [Zillow]
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