These eerie photos show the abandoned fairy-tale castle deep in the forests of New York – and once owned by a family plagued by madness.
Pictures show the overgrown Dundas Castle in Roscoe, New York, slowly being swallowed in to the woodland and the hand-crafted doors and windows falling to bits.
The crumbling mansion, also known as Craig-E-Clair, started life as a summer lodge built by Bradford Lee Gilbert in the early 1880s. After Gilbert passed away in 1911, the land and lodge was purchased by Ralph Wurts-Dundas in 1915.
Eerie photos show an abandoned fairy-tale castle deep in the forests of New York – and once owned by a family plagued by insanity
Pictures show the overgrown Dundas Castle in Roscoe, New York, slowly being swallowed in to the woodland and the hand-crafted doors and windows falling to bits
The crumbling mansion, also known as Craig-E-Clair, started life as a summer lodge built by Bradford Lee Gilbert in the early 1880s
After Gilbert passed away in 1911, the land and lodge was purchased by Ralph Wurts-Dundas who began construction of the castle soon after
Dundas began construction of the castle soon after, but died in 1921 when the estate was in its final stages of construction.
Then in 1922, just a year after Dundas’s death, his wife Josephine, was committed to a sanatorium, without ever having lived in the castle.
After her commitment to an institute, the couple’s only child Muriel Harmer Wurts-Dundas, inherited the fortune that her mother had only just received.
Abandoned: Dundas began construction of the castle but died in 1921 when the estate was in its final stages of construction
In 1922, just a year after Dundas’s death, his wife Josephine, was committed to a sanatorium, without ever having lived in the castle
The castle’s interior is slowly crumbling away and pictures show rotting doors and peeling paint in the building’s interior
Empty: It is thought that despite having been built by the Dundas family, no-one ever lived in the building
However, Muriel also developed mental health issues and soon had a large portion of her fortune taken from her by the castle care-takers who were acting as her guardians.
When her mental stability was questioned she too was soon committed, just as her mother had been.
This meant that none of the Dundas family ever spent time in Dundas Castle. The tragedy sparked many myths.
There were rumours that the mother Josephine liked to ride her horse through the local town, tossing gifts to children – and that when she became too unstable, she was locked in the castle and kept in one of its rooms.
Trees and undergrowth have started to take over the building in Roscoe, New York. The site dates back more than a hundred years
Vandals have covered many of the walls of the buildings interior with graffiti while paint is rapidly peeling off the walls
Forgotten: Eerie pictures show one of the abandoned bathrooms with mould and dirt building up on the tiled floor
These stories are supported by visitors to the mansion claiming that some of the rooms had fingernail scratches on the inside of the door from Josephine’s efforts to escape.
However there is little evidence to support this or indeed that anyone ever actually lived in the enigmatic keep.
After the family’s demise it was used for short-term endeavours. For a time, it was used as a summer camp for children, before being purchased by the area’s Masonic chapter as a retreat.
The mansion had been fitted out with fireplaces and radiators but was abandoned and is slowly crumbling in a New York forest
Unloved: Graffiti now covers the walls of the abandoned building, which can be found in the forests of New York
Pictures show one of the upper floor bedrooms of the mansion. It is thought that no-one ever ended up living at the home
A bath, sink, toilet and radiator are all that remain of this tiled bathroom. The castle was built for a family during the 1920s
