Haunted Joslyn Castle, Omaha: The Ghosts of Lynhurst

Joslyn Castle stands on a rise in Omaha’s Gold Coast, a four-story Scottish Baronial mansion of pale Kansas limestone with turrets, stained glass and a porte-cochere. When George and Sarah Joslyn built it, the land was open prairie west of town; the city grew up around them. They called the house Lynhurst. Everyone else called it the castle.

It is one of the best known haunted places in Nebraska. Staff and visitors talk about voices from the upper floors, music when no one is playing, and a woman in white on the main staircase, and paranormal teams have been investigating here for years. The castle’s own Trust is happy to tell the stories, and now and then sells tickets to evenings that end with an investigation. This guide covers the history, the ghosts, where people report them and how to visit.

History of Joslyn Castle

George Joslyn grew up a farmer’s son in Vermont and made his fortune in Omaha with the Western Newspaper Union, which sold pre-printed pages to small-town papers across the West. In 1893 he and Sarah bought the Sutphen farm, five acres west of the city, and began landscaping it. In 1903 they moved into the house they had built there, designed by local architect John McDonald in the Scottish Baronial Revival style and finished in less than a year at a cost reported at between $250,000 and $275,000.

Inside are a reception hall, music room, ballroom and library, with Scottish thistles carved into the woodwork and light fixtures, and the basement once held a bowling alley. A music room addition followed in 1906. Landscape architect Jens Jensen designed the grounds and, in 1913, an interior conservatory. That same year the Easter Sunday tornado tore through Omaha and wrecked the greenhouse and much of the grounds, but the castle itself came through.

The Joslyns were among Omaha’s great givers. Sarah helped found the city’s Board of Charities, and after George’s death in 1916 her gift made the Joslyn Art Museum possible. She lived on in the castle until she died in 1940 at the age of 88. The couple had adopted a daughter, Violet, who married and had children of her own.

After Sarah’s death the castle passed into public hands. From 1944 it was the administrative headquarters of Omaha Public Schools, which added an office annex in 1958 using walls from the old greenhouses. In 1989 the schools moved out and the State of Nebraska took over, restoring rooms toward their original look; from 1996 it housed the Joslyn Castle Institute for Sustainable Communities. In December 2010 the state sold the castle to the Joslyn Castle Trust, a private nonprofit created to care for it, which runs it today for tours, events and rentals.

The castle has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972 and became an Omaha landmark in 1979. It has not been anyone’s home since Sarah died.

The ghosts of Joslyn Castle

The woman on the stairs

The best known story is of a woman in a white dress seen on, or floating down, the main staircase. Ghost sites name her as Sarah Joslyn, who lived in the house for 37 years and died there in 1940, but nobody can say for sure. Visit Omaha repeats a docent’s story of a photograph that seemed to show a woman in blue, a reminder that the castle’s own staff tell these stories too.

Voices and music

Staff have long talked about hearing voices from the upper floors when no one is up there, and music when the music room is empty. These are the most common reports and the hardest to pin down: a big stone house with a busy events calendar is full of sounds.

"Get out"

In 2014 FOX 42 filmed Brian Kent of Paracon Investigations, who said he had investigated the castle countless times. He described a strange humming, a recorded voice saying “get out,” and a dark mass behind a cameraman that his team could not reproduce by staging a shadow. During filming a K-II meter went off. Kent said the castle shows activity but is not dangerous, and that he looks for logical explanations first. The station quoted no castle staff.

George, Sarah and Violet

Ghost sites that follow the castle say investigators believe the family are still here: George as the dark mass and the male voice said to dislike investigators, Sarah on the stairs, and Violet, said to have been seen by a psychic medium in her old room, looking unhappy. These are interpretations by investigators, not records, and we have found nothing to support them beyond their own accounts.

Where to look

• The main staircase: where the woman in white is reported.
• The upper floors: where staff say they hear voices when the floors are empty.
• The music room: the 1906 addition, linked to stories of music with no player.
• The basement: once the bowling alley, open only on Unlocked tours, and a favorite of investigators.
• The carriage house: where the castle’s paranormal evenings begin with talks before the investigation.

Visiting Joslyn Castle

The castle is open only for guided tours, which run on set days each month, last about an hour and cover three floors; check the calendar on the castle website, as times change through the year. Now and then the Trust runs Unlocked tours that take in all four floors, including the basement, which is the only way to see it. In November and December the castle is decorated for Christmas and hosts a historic home tour and boutique. Atlas Obscura puts tours at around $10, but check current prices when you book.

For ghost stories, watch the calendar in the fall. In October 2025 the castle hosted Highly Spirited in the Midwest, an evening of talks on dark Omaha history (including George Joslyn’s legal brush with the serial killer H. H. Holmes) followed by an hour-long investigation inside the castle. The grounds, with Jensen’s landscaping, are open to the public by day for free.

• Visiting Interior by guided tour only; the grounds are open by day
• Tours Public tours on set days each month (see the castle calendar), about an hour, three floors; occasional Unlocked tours include the basement
• Ghost hunting Occasional ticketed evenings such as Highly Spirited in the Midwest end with an hour-long investigation; no private ghost hunts

Tips for your visit

• Book an Unlocked tour if you want to see the basement; regular tours do not go down there.
• Look for the Scottish thistles carved into the woodwork and light fixtures.
• Watch the castle calendar in September and October for ticketed paranormal evenings, which can sell out.
• Walk the grounds at dusk for the best view of the turrets.
• Pair your visit with Prospect Hill Cemetery, about two miles north, where Omaha’s best-documented ghost was reported in 1874.

More haunted places nearby

• Prospect Hill Cemetery: Omaha’s oldest cemetery and its 1874 Woman in White
• Hummel Park: the city’s most legend-haunted park, in the Ponca Hills
• The Squirrel Cage Jail: Council Bluffs’ 1885 rotary jail, across the river
• Haunted places in Nebraska
• Haunted places in Omaha

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• Wikipedia: Joslyn Castle
• History Nebraska: Marker Monday, George and Sarah Joslyn Home
• Oh My! Omaha: The fascinating history of Joslyn Castle
• Visit Omaha: Haunted Omaha, spooky spots for a chilling Halloween
• FOX 42 KPTM: Haunted or hoax? Joslyn Castle spirits cause a stir (2014)
• Joslyn Castle: Highly Spirited in the Midwest
• Atlas Obscura: Joslyn Castle
• Haunted Houses: Joslyn Castle, Omaha