Wilson Castle, Proctor: Vermont's Haunted Castle

Wilson Castle stands at the end of a long drive on West Proctor Road, a few miles outside Rutland, looking a little lost among Vermont’s farms and marble towns. It is a red brick mansion with two slate turrets, a curved Dutch gable, a copper balcony and an arched porte-cochere, set on 115 acres. Inside are 32 rooms on three floors, 19 proscenium arches, 84 stained glass windows and 13 fireplaces, crowded with the furniture and curiosities of the families who lived here.

Locals once called it Johnson’s Folly. Since 1939 it has belonged to the Wilson family, and since 1962 it has been open to visitors. In recent years it has become something else too: a magnet for paranormal investigators, YouTubers and overnight ghost hunters. Staff say Sarah Johnson, the first lady of the house, still appears in her bedroom, and visitors leave toys for a boy they call Elliot. This guide covers the real history, the ghost stories as they are told, and how to visit.

History of Wilson Castle

The castle began with a Vermont-born doctor, John Johnson, who had studied in London. There he met and married Sarah Robbins, an Englishwoman of some fortune who had been his patient. The couple came back to Vermont and in 1885 began building a house worthy of her money on a hillside outside Proctor. It took about seven and a half years and, by the castle’s own account, cost $1.3 million, a staggering sum at the time. English architects worked on the main house and its outbuildings, which mixed Dutch neo-Renaissance, Scottish baronial, Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles.

The Johnsons did not stay long. When Sarah’s money ran out, she was called back to England, the house and contents had to be sold, and neighbors began calling the place Johnson’s Folly. From the 1880s to the late 1930s the estate changed hands again and again; one account counts 16 owners. For a while it served as the administration building and dormitory of a beauty school.

In 1939 the radio engineer Herbert Lee Wilson bought the estate as a summer home and a base for another radio station. He built station WHWB in the old stable and did engineering work for WSYB in Rutland and WCAX in Burlington. During the Second World War he served in the Army Signal Corps, and he retired as a colonel in the 1950s. In 1962 he opened the castle to paying visitors. He died in 1981 at 82, and the estate passed to his daughter Blossom, then, after her death in 2010, to her daughter Denise Davine, who owns and runs it today.

The house is full of objects that tell its story: a chair the Wilsons say was a papal gift to the colonel, a carved Chinese chair, a bronze statue shown at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, an early portable piano, two organs and clothing worn by former occupants. Several secret compartments have turned up in the study shelves. A hidden passageway is rumored but has never been found; one writer has suggested the colonel invented it to give visitors something to talk about other than ghosts.

Keeping a house this size standing is expensive. Staff told WCAX in 2024 that tour and investigation income paid for a new roof, replacement windows and other repairs, and the Rutland Herald reported that the paranormal bookings funded roof and brick work. In 2025 the castle marked its 60th year of tours.

The ghosts of Wilson Castle

Sarah Johnson in the pink bedroom

The ghost people ask about most is Sarah Johnson, the Englishwoman whose fortune built the house and who had to leave it. Castle guide Andy Probst told the Community News Service in 2024 that her pink bedroom has had more reported activity than any other room since the 1970s, and that some visitors’ photographs seem to show a woman in the background. Staff told WCAX that she is said to appear in her old room.

Elliot, the boy in the ballroom

In a corner of the ballroom stands a small table covered in bouncy balls, toy cars, rubber ducks and notes. They are gifts for a spirit visitors call Elliot, said to be the son of an original owner. Probst says Elliot is believed to appear as a boy of six or seven, although, in a twist he freely admits, the real son died in his fifties and not in the house. Some visitors also report seeing the spirit of Sarah’s son.

The colonel and his radios

Others say Colonel Herbert Lee Wilson has never quite retired. Staff told WCAX that he seems to react when visitors talk about radio and communication, fitting for a man who spent his life building stations.

The attic and the portal

The attic was never finished, and it is staged with a child’s bed, a baby carriage, a wheelchair and a wicker body basket. Probst warns visitors about shadow figures peering through its doorways and says most guests have some kind of experience up there. Elsewhere is a closet he calls a revolving door between worlds, where guests report unease and ghost-hunting meters misbehave. The castle’s own site speaks of a portal and a vortex, one confirmed death on the property, several disappearances and rumors of bodies under the basement; none of that has been documented publicly beyond the castle’s own telling.

How the castle became famous

For decades the ghost stories were a sideline. That changed in 2021, when the YouTube channel Sam and Colby posted an overnight video from the castle that has drawn millions of views. Probst told the Rutland Herald that a few YouTubers “lit the wildfire”. Since then, Probst says, Ghost Hunters star Jason Hawes has visited; teams such as Portal Spirits Rising have filmed there, and overnight investigators book most weekends in season. The castle even pays return postage for buyers of its sale items who decide what they bought is haunted.

Where to look

• Sarah Johnson's pink bedroom: the most reported room since the 1970s.
• The attic: unfinished, staged rooms where guides warn of shadow figures in the doorways.
• The ballroom corner: Elliot’s table of toys and notes.
• The portal closet: where visitors feel uneasy and meters act up.
• The stable: where Colonel Wilson built radio station WHWB.

Visiting Wilson Castle

Wilson Castle is at 2970 West Proctor Road in Proctor, about 15 minutes west of Rutland. It opens from late May to late October and is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; it is closed for the winter until May 2027. Day tours walk through the main rooms with a guide, and in 2024 cost $19 for adults, $18 for seniors and $7.50 for children 6 to 12. Check the castle’s website before you go, because private events can change the hours.

If you want the ghosts, ask. Guides will tell the paranormal stories on a day tour, or leave them out if you are visiting with young children. For more, the castle runs paranormal tours and a monthly public ghost investigation, and whole-castle overnight bookings are available to private teams; call 802-345-4065 for dates and prices. Outside groups also host nights here. Are You Afraid of the Dark? Paranormal Events, for example, ran overnight investigations from about $135 a person in 2024, sometimes going until 4 a.m.

Rutland and the marble towns around it make a good base, and Vermont’s other famous haunts are within reach: the Equinox in Manchester is about an hour south, and the Marble Mansion Inn in Fair Haven is about half an hour west.

• Visiting Open late May to late October, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays; closed for winter until May 2027
• Tours Guided historical day tours, paranormal tours, monthly public ghost investigations and whole-castle bookings for private teams
• Tickets Day tours were $19 for adults, $18 for seniors and $7.50 for children 6 to 12 in 2024; call 802-345-4065 for paranormal pricing
• Ghost hunting Run by the castle and by visiting groups such as Are You Afraid of the Dark? Paranormal Events

Tips for your visit

• Ask your guide for the ghost stories: they are told on request, not by default.
• Book a public investigation or overnight if you want time in the attic after dark.
• Bring a small toy for Elliot’s table if you want to join the tradition.
• Go early or late in the season for quieter tours.
• Call ahead: private events and the winter closure change the hours.

More haunted places nearby

• The Equinox, Manchester: the resort where Mary Todd Lincoln is said to linger, about an hour south
• Golden Stage Inn, Proctorsville: a haunted 1788 stagecoach inn, about 45 minutes east
• Haunted hotels in Vermont: places to stay the night
• Haunted places in Vermont: Emily’s Bridge, the Bennington Triangle and more
• Haunted places in Vermont

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.

• Wilson Castle: official site
• Wilson Castle: History
• Wikipedia: Wilson Castle
• WCAX: Spooky tours hosted at haunted Wilson Castle (2024)
• The Charlotte News: The halls of Proctor's Wilson Castle are alive with paranormal investigators (2024)
• Rutland Herald: Social media breathes new life into haunted Wilson Castle
• The Municipal: The spirited story of Wilson Castle (2024)