A haunted castle is up for sale in Maine. A good question might be: “What is a castle doing in Maine?” A better question might be: “Isn’t ‘haunted castle’ redundant?” Whatever the question, the answer is that it can be yours for only $2.5 million. At that price, the ghosts should at least pay rent or help with the cleaning.
At 7 Singles Road in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, sits the Beckett Castle. According to the real estate listing, the two-story residence has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a 3-story tower and 1,981 square feet of living space. In England, that would be called a garage or a shed, but Beckett Castle was built in 1874 as a summer cottage for Sylvester Beckett, a prominent lawyer, publisher and poet who lived and worked in Portland. Unlike most lawyers, Beckett was good with his hands and reportedly built the castle himself out of local gray fieldstone. Facing Casco Bay on the southern tip of Maine, it has a fabulous view ocean view and easy access to sailing, fishing and other water activities, and has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.
Sounds good so far, right? Check out the photos here.
The home was last sold in 1974 to Nancy Harvey, who paid $150,000 for what was then a fixer-upper castle. According to Mansion Global, she carried on the Beckett tradition and used is as her own summer home, completely renovating the insides, adding a first floor master bedroom, an outdoor rose garden and a carport so she could turn the carriage house (castle-speak for ‘garage’) into a guest cottage or artist’s studio. Sadly, Nancy passed away in 2016 and her family decided to put Beckett Castle up for sale.
Would you like the realtor’s number?
Before you make an offer, you may want to call one of the local ghost or paranormal groups to find out why Beckett Castle is known as one of the most haunted houses in Maine. According to local legends, the primary ghost is Sylvester Beckett himself, who may have been upset at the previous owner, Robert Lins, who neglected his beloved castle, failed pay the property taxes and ended up losing it to foreclosure. It’s said that he visits in the form of a radiant blue orb and is known to pull sheets off of the beds, open doors and knock paintings off of the walls. Lins said he once felt something lying on top of him and became so tired of the door from his bedroom to the tower opening and closing that he nailed it shut … only to find it open again with the nails pulled out.
The tower! What a perfect and predictable place for a ghost to reside. In fact, local historians say Beckett himself may have seen ghosts because he was known for holding seances in the castle.
Beckett Castle was originally listed for $3.3 million, so the price has dropped and it has been on and off the market a couple of times. If buyers are concerned about the ghost of Sylvester or perhaps the ones he saw, Harvey had said before she died that she never had any sightings and felt Beckett was happy with how she fixed the place up.
This might be a good time to make a low-ball offer … provided you can afford to pay the taxes, keep up with the maintenance … and don’t put anything in front of the door to the tower.
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