Mystery Castle - Phoenix

Friday woke up to a clear chilly morning, only about 37 F. Had the heater turned on low at 1:30 am as I could feel the "air on my nose was cold". lol Still feeling the effects somewhat of my "stomach bug" but do not feel as sluggish so we went on another adventure today to the Mystery Castle which is actually part of the South Mountain Regional Park. It was closed when we toured the park a couple of days ago.  What a fabulous place. For $10/person you have a 45 minute tour and history lesson of the place. It did not open until 11 am so we had a late start this morning.

Ray took this picture a few days ago when we toured South Mountain Regional Park.

Unlocking the strange secrets of Arizona’s 'Mystery Castle'

By Grant Olsen, KSL.com Contributor  |  Posted Jan 24th, 2013 @ 9:58am

PHOENIX — The city of Phoenix, Ariz., is home to a bizarre mansion with a history of secrets and heartache. Dubbed the "Mystery Castle," it took nearly 20 years to complete and was dedicated to a girl named Mary Lou Gulley. Here is the strange, yet true, story of one of the most unique places in the West.

Born in 1923, Mary Lou spent her early childhood in Seattle with her parents, Boyce and Frances. Mr. Gulley often took Mary Lou to Alki Beach, where they loved to build sandcastles. Mary Lou always cried when the waves came in and washed the castles away, and her father would comfort her by telling her that she was his princess and he would one day build her a castle big enough to live in.

The family’s loving home was shattered when Mr. Gulley abruptly deserted his wife and young daughter in 1927. He refused to tell them where he was going or when he would return.

"It broke my heart that he left us," Mary Lou expressed in her memoirs.

Over the next 18 years, Mary Lou received occasional letters from her father, but he never sent for his family and the mystery of his whereabouts persisted. Then a telegram arrived in 1945 with the news that Mr. Gulley had died in Phoenix. Soon afterward, Mary Lou and her mother received a personal letter written by Mr. Gulley just before he passed away.

In the letter, he explained that he’d left them because he’d been diagnosed with tuberculosis and told he only had six months to live. Afraid that he might infect his family, and also dreading the prospect of making them watch him struggle through a miserable death, he’d kept the illness a secret and departed for Arizona, hoping the arid climate would ease his suffering.

"Dearest Mary Lou: Can you forgive me?” he pleaded in the letter.

While the letter shed light on Mr. Gulley’s departure, it also presented the grieving family with another mystery. Mary Lou learned that her father had left her a desert mansion he’d spent the past 15 years building.

She and her mother immediately traveled to Phoenix, anxious to learn more about the project that consumed Mr. Gulley’s life. As their car pulled up to the imposing structure with parapets, balconies and turrets, Mary Lou suddenly realized that her father had fulfilled his promise by building her a castle to live in. The massive home contained 18 rooms with 13 fireplaces, a chapel and a dungeon.

Mr. Gulley left instructions that the castle was theirs to keep on the condition that they obeyed one peculiar request. In the basement, between the chapel and the dungeon, was a room Mr. Gulley called “Purgatory.” On the floor of that room was a trapdoor, which Mary Lou’s father forbade her to open until Jan. 1, 1948. Though confused by the secrecy surrounding the trapdoor, she honored his wishes.

As Mary Lou explored the twisted hallways of the 8,000-square foot castle, she began to learn more about what an epic undertaking it had been for her father. When Mr. Gulley arrived in Phoenix, he made his home in an old railway car and began planning the castle on a 40-acre plot of land.

With little money for building supplies, he roamed the valley with his mule looking for odds and ends that could be used in the construction. Many items came from the local dump. Others were found at swap meets. Old glass dishes were used for windows. The floor of one room was made with discarded blackboards from a schoolhouse. Other parts of the castle featured auto parts, wagon wheels, telephone poles and train rails.

Mr. Gulley was an enterprising man and the recycled elements of the castle were occasionally juxtaposed with valuable items, such as original furniture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Portions of the walls even included Native American petroglyphs chipped from cliff faces. This hodgepodge of components was held together by mortar with a unique ingredient: goat’s milk.

While waiting for the day when she could open the forbidden trapdoor, Mary Lou discovered plenty of other surprises left by Mr. Gulley. On one occasion, she removed a loose stone in the wall and hundreds of coins poured out. In other hidden spots she found necklaces, cash, gold nuggets, gems and personal notes from her father.

Mrs. Gulley contacted Life magazine and told editors about the family’s castle, with its mysterious trapdoor in the Purgatory room. A crew was sent to interview them and document the opening of the trapdoor on the appointed day. Everyone involved wondered what might be inside. Treasure? A secret chamber? A corpse?

With her mother and the Life magazine crew anxiously looking on, Mary Lou opened the trapdoor on Jan. 1, 1948. Gaping below her in the darkness was a 9-foot pit. Mary Lou bravely descended into the pit and found gold, cash, letters from her father and a photograph taken of him just prior to his death. Carefully sifting through the items, Mary Lou noticed a small piece of paper. It was a valentine she’d made for her father when she was a young girl.

Life magazine published their article about the Gulley family on Jan. 26, 1945, with this rather wordy title: “Life Visits a Mystery Castle: A young girl rules over the strange secrets of a fairy-tale dream house built on the Arizona desert.” With this headline, the name “Mystery Castle” was born.

Following the notoriety brought on by the article, Mary Lou and her mother began offering tours of their home. Curiosity seekers came from near and far, and Mary Lou willingly presented the castle’s quirks and shared stories of its murky past.

Frances Gulley passed away in 1970 and Mary Lou continued living in the castle and sharing stories with visitors. She felt it was her legacy and she never wanted to be separated from it.

After several decades in the Mystery Castle, Mary Lou passed away in 2010. Like her father before her, she took many secrets to the grave. What strange discoveries did she make in the castle and keep to herself? Did she suspect that the castle still held undiscovered treasures hidden by her father? Had she hidden any items of her own?

Mary Lou’s obituary, which identifies her as the “resident princess and proprietress of the Mystery Castle,” is a striking representation of how thoroughly the castle captivated her life. After providing a summary of how her ailing father constructed the dream home for his daughter, it announced that before her death, Mary Lou had created the Mystery Castle Historical Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that would “ensure the Castle and the spirits of her father, mother … and the other keepers of the Castle would live on.”

The final line of Mary Lou’s obituary is an invitation to anyone who has ever wanted to come face-to-face with mystery: “The Castle remains open to the public so that all may explore the wonders that lie behind its magical doors.”

We arrived at 11 am and waited for the tour to start. Within 10 minutes we were escorted up the stairs to the patio. Another couple joined us. While we were on the tour more people showed up and were included where we were... might have been a little confusing for the newcomers but we were sure interested in what the tour guide was telling us. As more people showed up however it was harder for Ray to have a clear view to take his pictures. From the patio you had a fantastic view of downtown Phoenix. The have a lot of memorabilia from Mary Lou's life including antique pieces given to her by the first Governor of Arizona, and other memorabilia from various movie stars way back when, such as John Wayne.

The castle peaking out amongst the creosote bushes.

Coming up the path to the castle.

The stairs leading up to the start of the tour.

Petroglyphs that Boyce chopped out of the mountain.

More petroglyphs

Looking back towards where we started.

Looking up towards Mary Lou's personal quarters that is closed to the public.

The patio entrance to the main living area's of the castle with Mary Lou's apartment on top.

There are inlaid snakes everywhere as they are a symbol of good luck and good fortune.

This well is actually a "dumb waiter" that leads downstairs to the tavern ... so you could call down for a drink and save yourselve a long flight of stairs if someone was down there.

From the patio we entered the livingroom. Below is a picture of Boyce Gully who built the castle for his daughter Mary Lou.

Everywhere you look are nooks and crannies filled with stuff. A lot of Spanish and Native American memorabilia to inspire good luck.

Our tour guide describing the history of the castle. Almost every room and object in the castle had a tale. 

A lamp made from Saguaro ribs.

The wine cabinet.

A closer look at the wine cabinet reveals that it was made with empty tequila bottles and the lamp is a leg so it probably came from a brothel.

"This was the room that started it all: the main living room. Atop one of the fireplaces, a large portrait of Mary Lou welcomes you into the room. This fireplace was the first piece of the castle that was built and Boyce continued the home from here. Lining the bottom of the fireplace sits many pet rocks. But these rocks aren’t just any pet rocks, they are shaped and painted by Mary Lou’s friend to resemble actual animals. Their realistic features definitely took me by surprise.

The last of my favorite items sits on a shelf in the corner of the room: the architecture books Boyce used to learn how to build the castle. These were fascinating to me because the words in those books helped Boyce create this masterpiece. And I thought it was lovely that they didn’t sit in a protective case but instead remain on the bottom of a bookshelf amongst the rest of Mary Lou’s belongings." 

This was an excerpt from an article by Emily Huddleston in June 2015 in the "Arizona Experience" magazine.

This couch on the left is where Mary Lou sat during the tours of her home interacting with the visitors up until her death in 2010. This also shows off her pet rock display in front of the fireplace.

A door to the back of the house. The steps to the left is another entrance into the "builder's bedroom".

Mary Lou obviously love cats ... they are everywhere with the odd dog thrown in.

Next it was off to the Builder's Bedroom ... her dad's. The bed and the antique dresser were gifts to Boyce from the Governor at that time.

The couch below was taken from a brothel in Jerome AZ when it closed down.

Back into the main living area we explored the dining room. The dishes in the china cabinet were
Woman Suffrage Memorabilia from the time where women we going after the vote and their husbands had to eat off of these dishes as a reminder daily.

She had a whole set of these dises.

Next up was the kitchen which had been somewhat moderized from when her Dad lived there by getting a refridgerator and a working stove and sink.

The original double sink where you would have to go 7 miles to the river to get water for the house before indoor plumbing. The stairwell was for inside access to Mary Lou's private quarters. The upgrades she did there was minimal apparently, only a satellite TV, air conditioner and small fridge.

 This is the study that is adjacent to the kitchen.

The original oven for Boyce.

The original stove.

These windows were taken from a train station so she would have a great view of downtown Phoenix.

Another door to the patio from the study.

 Back out onto the main patio and across from the living room are the steps up to the upper patio and the "Jean Room" and stairs up to the "Mother-in-law" room. No pictures are allowed in this section.  Apparently Mary Lou did not tell anyone why she called it that. Mary Lou was married later in life for nine years only. I guess being a spinster lady for so long it was hard to compromise or maybe it did have something to do with her mother-in-law??? Her husband died a year earlier than she did. Originally her father built this area as Mary Lou's playhouse with a top area. Since Mary Lou was an adult before she actually saw this castle she made the lower room into the caretaker's accomodation. This room is now called the Jean Room and has lots of personal stories about Mary Lou posted on the walls and lots of old Jeans.

Here is another excerpt from the story that Emma Huddleston did from Mary Lou's memoirs.

I knew he had little money because when I look around I can tell he used anything and everything to put this castle together. I ran my hands against walls made of stones and river rocks. I saw old railroad ties and discarded metals. I peered through windows made of old glass dishes. I noticed wagon wheels, train rails and telephone poles as I ran up the front steps. He must have loved distorted bricks, they were called clinkers in my father’s day, the rejects from the kiln. I found these all over the place. 

From this upper deck you also get a great view of "Lion Head Rock".  Which only looks like the name implies from the house.

Stairs to the Mother-in-law's room

Back down the main stairs to the bottom, we went to the right to view the guest quarters which are directly below Mary Lou's private bedroom. Inside the 2 level room is the remains of a Saguaro Cactus that was living at the time of the build and Boyce did not want to move it so he built around it.

Her original dog house.

Another present from an Arizona Govenor to Mary Lou.

The saguaro he built the room around.

This is one of the original "pull out" beds. Notice the rails that you pull it out onto when you have guests.

Back out in the sunshine we strolled over to where we started and entered the lower level under the Caretaker and Mother-in-law rooms and the main patio. These rooms were the Tavern and Chapel. The space in between the rooms is called Purgatory for a joke.

A large painting of the Castle and a picture of her dad, Boyce Gulley.

These baskets would have been used to haul water to the castle.

He made 2 sizes of benches for his friends ...  one for the tall folk and one for the short folk and of course Mary Lou made cushions out of used jeans.

We carried on to the end of the room and entered the Tavern. This room is lit up with the light coming through the glass blocks cemented into the upper patio. Also the "dumb waiter" wishing well from the patio above comes down into a back corner.

A bed for your friends if they drank too much to make it home.

Back into Purgatory we carried on through to the Chapel where they held weddings up until the early 90's.

More snakes for good look

Another excerpt from Emily Huddleston's article:

Almost every room and object in the castle had a tale. The chapel contained my favorite group of stories. Mary Lou frequently held weddings in her home and the last wedding took place about 17 years ago. Tucked away in a corner of the room, is a shelf covered from top to bottom in shoes. Mary Lou asked that each bride leave one of their shoes on the shelf after they were married: “If the bride leaves a shoe, forever will the groom be true.” And now a little piece of each bride will forever be remembered in the home. Also in the chapel sits a frighteningly old organ that was purchased in Tombstone, Arizona. The previous owner of the organ was known as the Chocolate Widow. This woman married several times and all of her husbands were mine workers. When the Chocolate Widow eventually became tired of one of her husbands she would bake them a chocolate cake, lace it with cyanide and that would be that. Back then it wasn’t uncommon for miners to be exposed to that type of poison in the mines and die, so no one thought much of the deaths. She would collect each of her husband’s fortune, give a portion of it to the church and the people of the church saw her as a very kind and giving woman. Mary Lou was fascinated by this tale and bought the organ for herself.

Some brides left both shoes for extra luck.

 After viewing the Chapel it was time for the end of the tour. We went back out through Purgatory to hear the tale of the trapdoor where  Mary Lou found gold, cash and letters from her father.

What a great day. Loved this tour and would do it again. There was so much to see and I am sure we missed a lot.

After the tour we went to Red Lobster on the way back home to have fresh Mayne Lobster... yumm. Ray wanted to honour his mom with having this dish again.  Mom always loved to take us out for dinner and one year demanded we go for dinner on her, even though we were in the US.  We ended up at the Red Lobster in Yuma with the whole "dinner club" crew from Nanaimo!!  Ray had lobster then as well. When I cracked open my lobster I hit Ray with the juice and when he cracked open his claws he pasted me, the table and the back of the booth and wall. OMG what a mess. Our waitress  had fished the lobster out of the live tank and she got all wet as well. She said the mess was very common. lol We gave her a bit extra of a tip.

When we arrived back home it was time to play with Freya for the rest of the afternoon which made her very happy with us throwing her ball. Every day since we arrived, there have been fighter jets from the Luke AFB fly overhead between 3:30 and 4:30 pm every afternoon.

See the two dots just above the dish?

There they are

Saturday, we decided to stay home and pack up our solar stuff and it was baking day for me. Tomorrow we head back to Lost Dutchman for 10 days and as it is only 1 1/2 hours away so there is no hurry to leave in the morning for check-in.

We have had a good time chillin here at Buckeye Hills Regional Park with some touring thrown in.