As a writer, I often take advantage of local historic sites, and since I like things dark and creepy, I never pass up a good ghost story.

One of my favorite places is the Culbertson Mansion in New Albany. The house was built in 1867 for William Culbertson, who was once the richest man in Indiana. The house has three stories with hand painted ceilings and walls, carved rosewood staircase, marble fireplaces and crystal chandeliers.

The mansion is open to the public for guided tours, and both visitors and curators have claimed to have seen a ghostly figure in the building. The legend is that the ghost of William Culbertson’s second wife haunts the house to protect her children from her husband’s third wife.

Rumors spread that the mansion was haunted and eventually the mansion’s carriage barn was turned into a haunted house during Halloween and people lined up to tour the building hoping to see a ghost for themselves.

The following is a story for the current “Literally a Haunted House” fundraiser, which raises the majority of the funds for interior restoration of the mansion.

In 1933, it was sold to Dr. Harold Webb, who moved in with his family. He established a home practice and began gaining a number of patients. Over time, several patients disappeared and his family began to notice strange noises and smells coming from the basement. In 1934, after a patient found the house locked at the time of his appointment and called the police, an investigation was carried out. Upon entering the house, the police found the entire family dead, each through torture. After further searching the house, it was discovered that the base had secret passageways where the doctor had kept missing patients and performed gruesome experiments on them. After cleaning, the building was locked up, but was eventually sold to the American Legion, who restored the building. When it finally reopened, visitors noted unusual electrical problems, missing items, and other unexplained occurrences. The carriage house now serves as a haunted house during Halloween with the proceeds going towards the restoration and upkeep of the estate’s mansion.

So how much of the story is true? William Culbertson was married three times and his first two wives left him a widower. He bequeathed the mansion to his third wife, who auctioned off the house and its contents in 1899 to a New Albany resident, John McDonald. Upon his death, the American Legion got it and made big changes.

After several different owners, the mansion was in danger of being demolished in the 1960s, but was purchased in 1964 by the Historic New Albany group. Halloween haunted house tours began in 1985 to raise funds for restoration.

There’s no mention of Harold Webb or the gruesome experiments, but that’s okay because it’s still a good scary story.