Sketched Oct. 20, 2010
Lynda Bazan’s three-story Victorian house in Georgetown looked like a dream home to me at first. But after the stories I heard, I don’t think I could sleep soundly in the 1903 Georgetown Castle.
According to the Friends of Georgetown History, the house is home to a healthy population of ghosts. There was the first owner, who took his life upstairs drinking carbolic acid. Then, the prostitute who may have been strangled by a magician when the residence was used as a brothel in the ’20s. And last, the baby who was supposedly murdered and buried under the back porch. “Whose baby was crying?” a guest once asked Bazan after a restless night.
“There seems to be a lot of banging noise, a lot of footsteps on the stairs, temperature changes…” said Bazan, who bought the Carleton Avenue property on a whim five years ago but has no regrets. Living here with her son and two teenage grandkids is a “dream situation.”
Bazan looks forward to wearing her Victorian dress on Halloween and greeting the hundreds of trick-or-treaters who stop by. “They’re pretty spooked,” she said. “I usually scream as I open the door.”
Most Read Local Stories
Walking tours
The “Georgetown Castle” is a highlight of Halloween walking tours organized by the Friends of Georgetown History. For more information visit their Facebook page of The Georgetown Haunted History Tour.