I have toured the mansion twice. I asked our tour guide a question about the murders, all she said was: “We dont talk about that.” The grounds, stables, and what use to be the boat house (it burned down) are free to walk around. The guided tour of the house has an admission fee. I have not taken the tour including the 3rd floor.
The tour guides speak mostly of the architecture, and the Congdon family history. It is a step into the past, and I recommend visiting.

We visited Duluth several weeks ago and took the extended tour of Glensheen. It is a beautiful, well designed and thought out house. It felt warm and welcoming, not a bit creepy. When the tour was finished, my teenage son asked the tour guides about ghosts. They told him a couple stories, but nothing that couldn’t be explained by the fact that it is an old house. It was a wonderful tour and an amazing house.

Since I was a teenager, I’ve visited the Glensheen on a yearly basis. It’s one of my favorite places to visit while in Duluth. Each time we visit Elizabeth’s room (where she was killed), I get a sense of something not being right about the room. It is just a sense; I can’t explain it to anyone but the room does not feel right to me. I would tell my family or friends that the room doesn’t “feel right” or something happened in the room, and they always brush me off. Each time after the tour, my friends and/or family and I would walk the grounds. I could always pin point which window was the window to Elizabeth’s room because I was drawn to it despite wanting to look at the house as a whole.

It wasn’t until I was in my late 20’s that someone had told me about the murder and that’s when I inquired if it had something to do with that particular room. My friend didn’t know and my curiousity got the best of me. I purchased the books written on the Glensheen and the murders, and was absolutely floored when I discovered Elizabeth was murdered in the same room that I feel the sense. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, perhaps not. I’ve always been a skeptic, but this house has something drawing me to it every year – especially that room.

I’m now in my late 30’s and still enjoy visiting the Glensheen every year. I truly miss the old tours when the guides used to dress up as characters of the past. But the house has so much history and captivating beauty that I’m drawn to it every year. Perhaps it’s haunted, perhaps not. As a skeptic I can say there is definitely some kind of presence present.

i went to this mansion with my mom, sister, and dad today. and i beleive in gohsts 100% but i didn’t see anything or encounter anything odd in this mansion, but i wish i would have. my mom said she did… but it wasn’t even in the mansion where she did. so who knows maybe it is haunted maybe its not.

I went to Glensheen today after a weekend stay in Two Harbors. I have been to the Winchester Mansion in San Jose (which, even though I am a skeptic, am pretty sure THAT place is haunted), and Glensheen is just a big beautiful mansion that has been well preserved. There are no ghosts. I took the extended tour and our tour guide also said nothing about the murders, but I did purchase a book to read more about them. As far as I am concerned, I think people make psych themselves out before visiting. There’s nothing and no one there.

I am not sure what to think about ghosts, etc., but I will say this…A few years ago my sister went there and while she was in the mansion, she started to show her husband the way to the “crick” where the kids used to play…she led the way and there was indeed a creek nearby! She also would point the way to other visitors to the various rooms in the mansion. Scary? No, but when you learn that she had NEVER been in this mansion or read anything about it, everyone found it just a bit scary that she knew her way around a place she had never been before!

I have been to glensheen sence I was really little, and I have not yet seen anything myself however last september when I was there I went with 3 of my friends two of which did not know about the murders and when we reached the staircase she started getting freaked out and even moreso in elizabeths room. The tour guide we had did talk about the murders later also and I have never heard them do so before.

My family and I visited the Glensheen this week. I had heard it was really cool, but had never heard a word about the murders. I walked into Elisabeth’s room and actually said aloud, “WOOO!! Something is going on in this room.” My kids (7, 9, 11 and 13 years old) asked me what…I said I didn’t know…but something was wierd about that room. Twords the end of the tour, one of the guys on our tour asked about the murders…I had heard NOTHING before that…that was wierd…of course, the tour guide told us that she was not able to tell us anything about it…but at the end of the tour, my kids and I saw the tour guide sitting on a bench and asked her to tell us about it. She was very vague, but told us that Elisebeth and her maid were murdered by her daughter…she said very little. Today when I got home, I was so intrigued that I had to check online…very wierd that I had no knowledge of the murder at all, yet really felt some presence in Elisabeth’s room…yep…there is something going on in that room.

First of all, I just visited Glensheen for the expanded/extended tour on Thursday, July 41st, 2008. I say this because I have recent experience there. This was my 3rd visit.

Just to help verify some things said here, there are three books on the murders that occurred here. The one I am currently reading is “Will to Murder” by Gail Feichtinger with John DeSanto (prosecutor) and Gary Waller (Detective). The other book I have on the muders is “Secret of the Congdon Mansion” by Joe Kimball. My sister has read “Glensheen’s Daughter” which we discussed at length. All have good points, but “Will to Murder” is my favorite.

The first tour I went on many years ago the tour guide was not able to mention or talk about the murders. The second tour I went on was called the “Living History” tour. It was send in the year 1915 and you could only ask questions that would pertain to that era because the guides were in character. This was a great way for them to avoid the murder questions. This tour I just took was great. We had a very well informed guide who knew a heck of a lot about every family member. She mentioned the murders and when I asked her at what point they were allowed to discuss them, she said within the past 2 years. She knew a little about them but did have the name of the murderer incorrect as she named Wally Hagen, who was infact, Marjorie’s third husband.
For the record, Marjorie was named after her Aunt Marjorie, which tends to confuse some people as to the generation that is being discussed.
I will admit that when I first went to the home on tour, I had a very erie feeling in Elisabeths final bedroom, where she was murdered. Again for the record, the bedroom that she grew up in is across the hall and that is where the nurse stayed overnight.

My problem with my own experience is that I knew where the murders had occurred from the first time I went there, so my experience could have been “self induced” by my own thoughts.

I have visited a lot of other places that are well known for being haunted. Most notably The Whalley House in San Diego and The Alamo. I can honestly say that the experiences I had at those places are far different than at Glensheen. I felt that Glensheen was a beautiful, peaceful place. If we go by the theory that a person who is taken before their time in a violent way haunts a place, Velma, the nurse, had actually retired from being a nurse for Miss Congdon and had only come back to cover for another nurse who could not work the overnight. I would doubt her spirit would be tied there since she was enjoying her retirement with her husband. Miss Congdon had about 3 or 4 places that she lived over the years. One is Wisconsin that was a farm place she went to on weekends, one in Yakima, WA and one in AZ. So, she could just as easily haunt one of those places that she loved as well as Glensheen.

I won’t disregard anyones personal experience since I have had my own at various locations, but I am not sure that the overwhelming evidence shows that Glensheen is haunted and until they do some further investigating there, it still remains as such.

Also, the doll in Elisabeth’s room is like 100 years old or something like that. That might explain why she looks creepy and so on.

Gotta say some of you people are gross. I have taken this tour 5 times. It is probably the most beautiful home/museum I have seen. The guides are great also. I took my daughter for the first time when she was 5 and again when she was 9. She remembered details I forgot after being there 2 or 3 times. That tells me the guides are awesome. Scary?, no educational?, absolutely. I too could only feel an emptiness surrounded by people. Felt like a museum. Exactly what it is now supposed to be.

My hysband & I toured Glensheen for the first time last Wednesday. We were both fascinated by the architecture, design and apportionments, some way ahead of the time of construction. Neither of us knew of the murders prior to our visit. Having experience with ghosts, spirits and haunted houses myself I have to say there was nothing in Glensheen remotely ethereal. The weather was very warm and there were no icy drafts anywhere in the mansion – not the basement, the first floor, the second floor, the third floor or the attic. We spent considerable time in Elisabeth’s room and no dolls eyes followed us around. No lady in black or white met me in the bathroom. A lot of power of suggestion I’m thinking. I’d be more apt to believe the eerie postings if the majority of them had been written by those with no knowledge of the murders prior to their tours.

The more I read on here, the funnier and more disturbing it gets.
To the person who said she was Elizabeth Congdon…would help if you spelled her name right…lol. Whatever!
Also, just a note of my own opinion. Just because one person hasn’t had any experiences there, and someone else has, doesn’t mean we should totally discount the person with the experience. As a paranormal hobbiest, I think that when you totally discount an experience, it is a diservice to the person who genuinely believes that they felt or saw something. Like I said in my post, I felt something myself, but I won’t go by that solely since I did know about the murders before I got there. I wouldn’t want to sway someone based only on my mind and what I may have tricked myself into believing.

I am sure this was mentioned before also, but Roger Caldwell was an alcoholic but he committed suicide, didn’t die of alcoholism from what I have read.

I am going to continue reading…lots of ground to cover. Thanks for the intelligent reads and the laughs too.

Ricky Porter & Lianna & all of the other guides whose names I don’t recall, thanks for sharing some insights as tour guides. I really appreciated hearing what you had to say.

james r gillespie, if you have stories, spill them already. We are listening.

To all of the two year olds that think that taking a “dump” is hysterical, meet my 8 year old son. He thinks that kind of thing is funny too, but he doesn’t go on message boards and write about.

I do not mean any disrespect to anyone on here who is in fact, a member of the family, but lets take a look at that. To the woman who says she is related to “Elizabeth”, again, her name is Elisabeth and so I am guessing you would know her real name if you were related. To the others…Jenna & Jackie…why is your last name Congdon if you claim that Elisabeth was your great-grandma? She only had two daughters and the one, Marjorie had seven children named “Leroy” as their last name and Jennifer had children with the same name as their Father which I won’t mention here, but if you read the books, you will find out. Seems bogus, I hope not.
Lots of good info. here and some seriously messed up statements too.

Judy,
I am not sure how you can honestly read all of the books written on the subject and then say that Marjorie had nothing to do with it. She may have been aquitted, but I don’t really think she was innocent. The woman has been somehow involved in the dealths of at least 4 people by my count. I found that odd since I haven’t ever been suspected in anyone’s death at all. I don’t think it is mere coincidence. Her first husband was lucky just to unload her when he did. She basically has contributed nothing to society what-so-ever. I don’t exactly give a dang what the defense attorney’s think of her, it’s their job to make her look innocent, right?

I went to the glensheen mansion with my new husband for our honeymoon and had VERY wierd eerie feelings while there, we had taken some pictures on the outside of the mansion later that day right after they had closed the tours for the day and we were shocked when we had gotten our pictures back. in the carriage house there was a man sitting in the carrage but there was nobody there when we took the pictures. and in one of the windows in the front of the house there was a man in there as well you could see it plain as day (and there was no one in the house or window when the picture was taken mind you) but the gentleman had black pants black suspenders and a white shirt-very creepy..

My girlfriend and I toured Glensheen on August 2, 2008. Our guide, Sasha was excellent; thorough and knowledgeable. The estate is definitely worth the tour for its wonderful history and architecture alone. At no time did we see any eerie spirits or experience cold spots as others have reported.

However, upon entering one bedroom I remarked aloud that the room “creeped me out.” Asked why, I couldn’t put my finger on it. “I don’t know,” I remember saying, “but that little porcelain doll sitting next to the bed ain’t helpin’.” Still, there was something to that feeling. I felt an eerie connection to history as I stood in that room. Only as we exited the room did Sasha reveal that is was indeed the room in which Elizabeth was murdered. Goosebumps? To say the least!

I have no doubt there is something other-worldly at Glensheen. To me it was as tangible as the hand-carved woodwork and as real as the antique furnishings.

For a comment area that is supposed to be strong on grammar etc. I have to say that the USA is definitely losing the battle to educate its people. (Note the use of ‘its’ without the apostrophe in this case.)Even folk who purport to be University professors commit and repeat the most basic and often appalling errors. That’s the really scary thing about many of these posts…..the mansion itself sounds wonderfully benign by comparison, and I certainly now want to find out more about the strange woman who seems to have been behind the greed-murders; there must be somebody out there who at the very least knows how to spell the relevant names correctly!I apologise in advance to those whose posts are properly written; it’s just that you’re frighteningly few and far between.

Kristin–you sound like a fantastic and well-educated person (so do many of you!). I’m a docent at Glensheen and I really hope all of you can be on one of my expanded tours sometime. I try to get into the “feel” of the family–what it was like back then and what they were like back then. I also try to dig up little-known facts or tidbits about the era and/or the family. Nothing gory, nothing notorious, nothing nasty–just fun stuff which makes the family more real. I love Glensheen which is why I volunteer there. Hope to see you all sometime!

Vicki

when i went to visit i knew i saw something up the stairs when i was the only one looking up it and the rest of the group walked along… i thought it was just me…, it was closed off so no one could walk up
wierd

omg dat is so scary

I just visited Glensheen about two weeks ago. We had a very knowledgable guide, Brian, who carefully explained every aspect of the beautiful old house. I knew about the murders before we came to the mansion but it did not worry me. Personally, I experienced no cold-spots, eerie sensations, goosebumps or saw spirits of any kind. I dont really believe any of this exists. I was just overly fascinated with the beauty of the house and the fantastic archetecture and design involved. For those of you who said your tourguide mentioned the murder, you must be lying. The staff at Glensheen is strictly prohibited to talk about the murders at all. They do this simply because they want the home to be known as a beautiful, historical place, not one that is haunted. I don’t think that Clara and Chester Congdon would have wanted this for their beautiful home. After the tour, I read one of the books in the giftshop and discovered more about the murder (like the room where Elisabeth was killed and where the nurse was found dead) but strangely, it didn’t bother me at all. I don’t believe in ghosts and I think that even IF Glensheen was haunted, Elisabeth and the nurse would be happy ghosts. Elisabeth grew up in this home that was filled with love and family values. I hope to return to Glensheen because I love the beautiful aspects of the mansion. Actually, it is my dream to get married there…(: