Comments on: Glensheen Mansion

By: Jenni

Jenni — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:03:56 +0000

i know that the mansion is haunted its just for those skeptics they will never feel the precense because their minds are already closed off to even the possibility of it. I was about 10 when i was there and i could feel someone watching me the entire time we were on the tour. I wasnt scared or freaked out but just a weird feeling of someone watching you but no one is there. then in the part of the garden tour i looked up and saw someone looking outside and no one was up there and with in a few seconds it was gone and you could see the curtains move and the windows were closed and no air conditioners on…and what i was; was not a trasperent vision it was as if there was really someone there. I know there wasnt but it was excititng to experince

By: logan

logan — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:33:46 +0000

great house everybody should visit it. its not haunted

By: Vicki G

Vicki G — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:15:01 +0000

I’m a docent at the mansion.

There is a picture which can give the appearance of movement. The artist painted his daughter and her eyes “follow” you. No matter where you are, they are looking at you, and they move as you move. THIS IS NOT HAUNTED, but is a very good technique employed by the artist. I can’t tell you how many people mutter to themselves, “This picture is haunted.” It’s not.

I try during my tours to make the house not gloomy. However, almost all homes built in the early 1900s are gloomy because the lighting just isn’t very good. In fact, the home originally had gas and electric lighting (like the James J Hill home in the Twin Cities), and often the gas lights were brighter. I know that is true of the Hill House, but I don’t know about Glensheen. I do know that at night, with all the lights on, it’s still dark. To me, it isn’t because of the sad history of the Congdon family (and there were many good things that happened there as well!), but it’s more about the actual placement of the lights. When the house was built, there weren’t outlets in the wall to put more lamps, so the only lights were the ones either on the walls or in the ceiling.

Anyway, I urge people to visit Glensheen for its beauty and authenticity. You really won’t find many old mansions which are almost totally as they were in their prime. The house wasn’t used for anything but being a house, so we didn’t have to try to restore it by putting things in it to match what we thought was there. It’s all still there from the early days! During the winter, sometimes you can call ahead and they will try to arrange a private tour with a docent (like me!). Those are really fun!

By: jw

jw — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:02:31 +0000

ok i went there over the summer and i am 100% positive i saw a picture haning on the wall waving up and down as everyone was standing still. i was not the only person who caught this as a girl was pointing at it.

By: Brandy Rose

Brandy Rose — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:55:12 +0000

I know this is going to sound crazy. I volunteered at the mansion for a few summers while going to school. I was in the middle of sweeping a doorway when out of the corner of my eye I swear a saw the nurse tilt (i said c o ck and it took it as profanity) her head at me. I was too afraid to look or say something I just stopped, went into shock and walked forward. To this day I wonder if I really would have seen her if I had turned my head. I was just too freaked out to do so then. Other people there would brag about stories of encounters that I had never believed and always made sarcastic remarks about.

By: Brandy Rose

Brandy Rose — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:53:33 +0000

I know this is going to sound crazy. I volunteered at the mansion for a few summers while going to school. I was in the middle of sweeping a doorway when out of the corner of my eye I swear a saw the nurse **** her head at me. I was too afraid to look or say something I just stopped, went into shock and walked forward. To this day I wonder if I really would have seen her if I had turned my head. I was just too freaked out to do so then. Other people there would brag about stories of encounters that I had never believed and always made sarcastic remarks about.

By: Dee

Dee — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:12:31 +0000

Yes they DO talk about it – all you have to do is ASK THEM

By: Dee

Dee — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:11:22 +0000

YES they can and DO talk about the murders if anybody asks them!

By: Jared M

Jared M — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:28:39 +0000

I visited the Glensheen mansion when I was younger with my family one year that my dad ran the Grandma’s marathon. I don’t remember how I found out about the murders, I feel like there was a video playing in the basement on a TV that talked about it, but I think this would have been back when they weren’t allowed to talk about the murders. It was a very interesting place, but I had a strange feeling the whole time I was there. Everything seemed so gloomy and abandoned. I was happy to be seeing such a beautiful and historical residence, but at the same time I was overcome with a feeling of sadness that I will never forget. Nothing paranormal has ever happened to me, at least that I couldn’t think of an explanation for, but I do believe in ghosts and I believe that the mansion is haunted.

By: Jen

Jen — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:41:30 +0000

I was there with my family and I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary unless you mean extraordinary arcitecture and decorating. The grounds are so unbelievably lush an beautiful in season. This is a tour worth taking without a doubt!
I believe that we all get to be at rest when we die. Because of my faith I know I will not be here when I die, and I think you have to choose that. If we believe in the supernatural things that God can do and that there is a supernatural enemy who tries to copy all the things God does, I think we are foolish to dismiss all ideas that this is not a mystical place.
Joyful, sad, fearful and embarassing things happen in all families. It’s not out of my realm of belief that there is residual “happenings” in a place where a real family lived. The Congden family endured the loss of a child to scarlett fever together, the pre-mature death of Chester Congden in 1916 (how lonely his wife must have been), children always off to private boarding schools, the loss of siblings as they took in their orphaned newphew, and then top that off with a horrible double murder of their daughter in the house they took 5 years to plan. These are all stressful things to endure, unfortunate things that could be in the history of any family in Minnesota.
Tragedy always leaves a footprint. However, I hope that the things people say they have encountered at Minnesota’s premiere Mansion are not the ghosts of these lovely people, descendants of a brilliant entrapreneur and his wife, people who deserve some supernatural rest. Perhaps it’s some sort of stomach flu or indigestion accopanied by a drafty house. Or maybe not…