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Seasonally inappropriate? Maybe. But who doesn’t love a haunted house?
In this episode of the Patron Podcast, we’ll explore the haunted house in American media and the homes that have inspired its image, from spooky Colonials with ties to the Salem Witch Trials, to the Second Empire Victorians that would gain a ghostly reputation in the mid-20th century.
Below, you’ll find images of homes (both real and fictional) referenced in the episode.
Our theme song is “Arabesque No. 1” by Claude Debussy (public domain).
Judge Jonathan Corwin’s home in Salem, Massachusetts. Popularly known as the Witch House (due to Corwin’s role as a judge during the Salem Witch Trials), it was built from 1645-1665 by Nathaniel Davenport, commander of the fort on Castle Island in Boston. Judge Corwin purchased the home from Davenport in 1675. Via Buildings of New England.
The House of the Seven Gables (Turner-Ingersoll mansion) in Salem, Massachusetts. The home belonged to a cousin of Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlett Letter (1850) and great-great-grandson of Judge John Hathorne. Judge Hathorne served as a judge during the Salem Witch Trials, and Nathaniel Hawthorne was so eager to distance himself from that lineage that he added a “w” to his last name. Ironically, the Puritans were a frequent subject in his novels. The Turner-Ingersoll mansion itself served as inspiration for his Gothic novel, The House of the Seven Gables (1851). Via the Salem Witch Museum.
The Claremont House in Rome, Georgia. The Claremont House is a real home that was used as a filming location for Season 4 of Stranger Things, in which it was called the Creel House. The home is an excellent example of a Second Empire Victorian. Via Toles, Temple & Wright, Inc.
“Boiling Oil” by Charles Addams. Originally published in the December 21, 1946 issue of the New Yorker. The Addams Family reside in a delightfully spooky, Second Empire Victorian.
