The building was built in 1887 by William Warden, a winter resident with a family of 16. The family members lived in
the castle until 1925. During the next 16 years it sat vacant except for the vagrants that lived there. In 1941
Norton Baskin and his wife Marjorie Kinnan Rawlins bought the castle and turned it into a fashionable hotel called
Castle Warden hotel. In 1950 it became the first permanent Ripley’s believe it or not! ® Museum. Much of Mr. Ripley’s
never before seen by the public personal collection was put on display here. Unfortunately Mr. Ripley passed away
before he could see his dream of this museum come true.
The most notable story about the castle is the story of the fire.
In April of 1944 a fire broke out but was contained to the 3rd and 4th floor. 2 women, Betty Richeson and Ruth Pickering
both perished in the fire. The didn’t die from the fire but of smoke inhalation from the deadly fumes. The cause of
the fire is still debatable to this day. It may have been a dropped cigarette or it could have been intentionally
started to cover up a double murder. Supposedly there were no suspects and are no records to lead to any conclusion.
- 11:00pm-6:00am
- Scott, Sprout, Lori, Toni, Tom, Craig also guests Ralf, Todd and Andrea
*
Additional history of haunting of the building is located on the pages of our past investigations at Ripley's
Click
HERE
to view the report of haunted history.
Following is reported activity since our last visit
*
Employee Colleen, said that one night in March, several things
happened in the gift shop. In the front corner next to the door a book hit a
woman in the eye which caused it to become red and swollen. In the same a while later another book fell off the shelf onto the floor.
*
In the gift shop there are 2 cash registers. One of the registers popped open by itself while customers
were waiting inline.
*
Recently in the Ripley’s lobby, near closing time, the manager Roberta heard a woman’s crying or moaning voice
faintly behind her. Later that evening, while a ticket seller was tallying her money drawer, she told Roberta how
she had a “weird thing” happen to her earlier in the day. It seems she had heard what she thought was a woman
whimpering or crying in the lobby, but no one was anywhere to be seen. She said it happened twice.
*
Roberta had also been doing her regular rounds of the building shortly after her own experience with the
whimpering woman when she saw a strange light in the right rear of the Theater Room. Roberta said she at first
thought the humidifier in the room had shorted or sparked, but said the light was more hazy than a spark or
flash. She said it rose slowly before disappearing, but couldn’t fully describe it, except that it was almost
like a strange reflection of moonlight. PRGT note: there are no windows and no outside light can
penetrate this room.
*
Ralf (ghost tour manager) said. "The evening the Space Shuttle was about to launch, I
was going to go up on the roof of the building to get a really good look. Upon stepping into the 4th floor
“Penthouse” room (which I had never been in until that moment) in order to access the roof, I felt a sudden
“heavy” feeling just in front of the stairs to the roof. My thoughts were totally focused on the impending
launch and whether the cloud cover had cleared, but the feeling of doom and despair was instant when I stepped
in that area. And it suddenly occurred to me that this was the room where Ruth Pickering had been found dead
on that April day of 1944.
