What Made Victorian Homes a Haunted Icon?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ต.ค. 2022
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When you think of a haunted house, what comes to mind? If you are over the age of 30 I would be willing to bet that you pictured an old Victorian Era Mansion. Today we are exploring why Victorian era mansions are associated with ghosts in this special Halloween episode.
In countless horror movies and TV shows we have seen this theme played out time and time again: A person visits an old house only to discover that it is haunted by ghosts of generations past. But why don’t we usually see this plot playout in newer homes? Surely terrible things have happened in homes that are less than 100 years old, right? To better understand the answer to this question, lets go back in time to the Victorian Era.
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Paranormal Activity Poster is owned by Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks
The Innocents and The Legend of Hell House stills are owned by 20th Century Fox
Ghost Hunters owned by MTV, SYFY
Addams Family by Charles Addams
Video by Pavel Danilyuk
Video by N E
Video by Temel
Video by Florian Delee
Creative Commons 2.0(creativecommons.org/licenses/...) Photos from: Bill Badzo, Billy Wilson, Jimmy Emerson,
CC3.0(creativecommons.org/licenses/...) Photos from: Julien Duguay, Riverview Homes, Inc, Noroton, Victor Grigas,
Music by Epidemic Sounds
We live in a 2k sgft country Victorian in the rolling hills of TN for the last 34 years and have never felt anything but welcome and at home! 😊
I'm sure all the haunts feel welcome and at home as well.
Meanwhile, I lived in the urban North, in an apartment in a perfectly "modern" structure that it turns out local organized crime probably built,
i during the 20s, as a modestly sized speakeasy/brothel,
and it absolutely had an issue.
I eventually was so unnerved that I went to the local library, and was awkwardly trying to ask the reference librarian about finding out more about my house without saying too much and looking like a total flake,
when he gestured for me to follow him, walked between shelves and discreetly asked, "is it a haunting issue? Don't be embarrassed, there's a lot of that here. "
I didn't know whether to feel relieved or much more freaked out, lol.
There's no words to describe how jealous I am you get to live in a place like that.
I love old houses , Victorian , antebellum , Queen Anne , pretty much anything up to the 1940's . The tall ceilings , double and triple hung windows , wood floors , large porches and basements or crawl spaces . It seems like after WW2 the houses became cookie cutter and ugly and cheap looking with ugly aluminium windows and low ceilings and very little (if any) personality and charm , just square, squat boxes with a house number so you could differentiate it from all the other boxes lined up on the street .
Those old houses that survive were the homes of the wealthy or upper class. They survive because they were the best and worth preserving. The vast majority of people lived in cramped and undesirable homes, often in apartment style homes. The cookie cutter movement allowed people who could not own homes before to actually have some space of their own. They were cheap, but at least it was yours and you had a bit of green ground to go with it.
Tell me about it. I love second empire style Victorian houses.
This is a wonderful explanation!
I think Spiritualism being so popular in the Victorian and Edwardian eras also contributed to the trend of seeing the houses as spooky. Those weird, abandoned homes were also more likely to have been the site of seances and little "ghost hunting" parties, with the affluent playing croquet or badminton on the back lawn, dining well, and then having a professional medium over to try to find out where old Uncle Henry left his will.
While it's not new (98 years old), the Ennis House by Frank Lloyd Wright was used for the original House on Haunted Hill with Vincent Price. It was only 25 years old when the movie was made in 1959. I find many Victorian homes to be beautiful, but I have to admit that my taste tends to run to even older styles: Georgian and Greek revival. Fun video for the season.
Below the Ennis House in Los Feliz is the Murder House that a doctor killed his wife and tried to kill oldest daughter. I believe it happed the same year as House on Haunted Hill was being filmed.
That Ennis House was really creepy in the movie. I agree. The house in the Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy was part movie set and part CGI and it looks like Greek revival to me. So that would be another movie that doesn't use a Victorian house.
That's right, it was a Frank Loyd Wright. WOW! Not too many people know this.
@@agbobier2657 Vincent Price once commented that this house was chosen just to prove that you didn't need an old Victorian to be scary.
Ain't that the truth!
I think most old houses have a ghost or two. But, newer houses do as well. Thank you. Great video.
for almost as long as I can remember I loved the Addams', and the Munster's houses, to say nothing of the Bates house when I got older . . .
If I had ever had a beautiful Victorian home, I know I would never want to leave it and would haunt the living daylights out of anyone who didn’t care for it!! 😃 👻👻
So many of these large old Victorians ended up housing just one person. The old widow looking out from the dark, lifeless windows has been used quite a lot in Horror as well. I wonder if that’s where it’s idea started.
Another winner, Ken! I love old, grand, mysterious houses. It's not a ghost story but the terrifying 1946 movie "The Spiral Staircase" starring Dorothy McGuire mostly takes place in a Victorian house at night. This movie deals with what we now call a serial killer and is remarkable for its accuracy in a time when little was known about such criminals and their behavior. If anything "The Spiral Staircase" is even more frightening and disturbing now than when first released. I also like the Crain mansion's Victorian interiors from "The Haunting" along with those of the Bramford apartment building in "Rosemary's Baby", based on the Dakota building in New York.
I love that movie as well. I've watched it many times!
Definitely my favorite style. Would love to live in one. My Mom was born in 1928 and I got it from her.
I always liked the Victorian homes. I always thought they were beautiful. Of course though, if I had to live there, I'd like indoor plumbing and electricity. I think just any house or building that looks abandoned and not taken care for a long time can have a "haunted" feel to it. Doesn't matter what the building's architectural motif is.
Nowadays I feel like abandoned schools or hospitals are way more haunted than an old Mansion full of broken dreams and ruined antique's
Abandoned mansions just make me sad I can't even watch exploring videos anymore cus theyll explore some abandoned palace left to rot in the jungle meanwhile most of us live in some shitbag house made in the 90s that's mostly drywall and plastic and concrete
Have you seen "Burnt Offerings"? It involves a rather worn out Neo-classic mansion that become rejuvenated and has an all star line up of actors. The cast includes Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Bette Davis, Eileen Heckart and Burgess Meredith.
I saw that show when it first came out and again about a year ago. Great show!
Another good movie with a Victorian house set is 'The Ghost and Mr. Chicken' with Don Knotts. The opening shots of the house I think are the Psycho house redressed, but the interior sets are all Victorian. A great Halloween movie.
I have a Victorian home built in 1902. I love it. I love it so much that when I die I'm going to come back and haunt it forever and eva. 🖤
I have always assumed that the image of a haunted house was based on perspective. I.E. People in the Victorian Era saw a "Colonial" house as the stereotypical "haunted house". I grew up in an old part of the city so while not a lot of mansions, but Second Empire and Italianate were the norm, Anything built after 1905 was unusual and anything after 1920 was "new". (Me and my brother's bedrooms were under (inside of?!?) a Mansard roof on the third floor. Even my current house is from the 70s...the 1870s. The newest house I ever lived in was my last place, a modern suburban tract house...from 1927! So old houses never gave me the "creeps" regardless of 60 years of Hollywood telling me that they should. LOL.
I’m 41, and Victorian era homes are my favorite! My dream is to own one! Great video, thanks!
I think Hollywoods use of Victorians has a lot to do with the rejection of the style but also how a lot of them have very odd floor plans that allow for hidden books and crannies. I would love to know more about the chateau you pictured in this at 33 seconds and the ruins at 1:39. Nice work, Ken!
New architecture does not have enough character to be haunted.
We had a huge old Victorian house in our neighborhood. An elderly spinster woman lived there , the last of the line of many generations. She had let the house go down hill, though she had an old handyman there. We kids would stare through the wrought iron fence at dusk to see if we could get a glimpse of her in a window. If the handyman saw us, he would jangle chains and make scary noises! We would run in absolute terror!
Years later, when she had died and I was a teenager, my big brother and I went to the estate sale they held. It was a bit spooky but so interesting! I bought some little things-that I still have-but most of all I got to put my fears away…
Alas, that huge old house was demolished and the hill it was on flattened. All the old trees were cut down, then several rows of housing were built for the elderly. I still drive by and often wonder what happened to that colossal fence…but not a spooky thing remains…..
Your story brings up an interesting point about how houses rated in families because nowhere near as many people moved away and moved around like they do now.
@@betteurbain7911 I know. I live in New England, USA and people would stay in their homes for generations. All that’s changed now. I remember the shock of seeing the empty space left after that old house was torn down…but that was truly the era of “tear it down “. We all felt hopeless. At least now someone fights for them.
Sadly, we live in such a throw-away society…which, IMO, has been forced upon us by manufacturers making it cheaper, in cost and stability, to buy new rather than repair the old. I don’t think the United States will ever become old…😢
Fantastic vid! The only deviation I would add to the Hollywood norm would be the love, glorification and renewal of the old second empire mansion in the movie It's A Wonderful Life.
Great video... love Victorian architecture
Victorian houses are my favorite design. I would love to live on the coast in a historical victorian home. In my head the house would look like Hilda and Zelda's house in the show Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
This was an absolutely brilliant idea for a video. Happy Halloween!
Thank you! Happy Halloween! 🎃🦇👻
Correction: The Ennis house was 35 years old in 1959. My mistake.
I think if you click on the three vertical black dots to the right of your original comment, you can edit your original comment.
@@111Phoenix777 Thanks!! I didn't know that.
Yup, you are exactly right! People were going away from these beautiful homes. Like you said movies now being filmed in newer homes, I loved the background story of Poltergeist. Where the new homes were being built over cemeteries. I have had some spooky experiences in a new home, when I lived in Oklahoma. But, I will take a beautiful Victorian any day.
One day, a friend pointed out to me that I live in (a house that looked just like) the Amityville Horror house and I resolved at that moment never to watch that movie. Ever. Mum still lives there and I'm over several times a week. Nothing chilling about it at all. I did watch Poltergeist when I was a kid and I don't watch TV now that I'm grown.
Thanks for this video!..For me it wouldn’t be just any Victorian home. Growing up watching American horror cinema and tv series, I always immediately associate old and dilapidated Second Empire and Queen Anne houses with haunted dwellings.
So sad to see the rundown homes.
Congratulations on 100,000 subscribers 😊
This is such a good and thought provoking commentary of what makes a structure appear scary
If Victorian buildings are #1 for hauntings gothic castles, ruined monasteries and other surviving structures from the Gothic period of architecture must surely be #2. When I think of scary places they more readily come to mind than Victorian homes and hotels.
True. He did mention the Gothic Revival style of Victorian architecture. Tho knit depends on geography because the United States is part of the New World that doesn’t have architecture that is as old as that in other countries.
I absolutely love the Victorian era one of my favorite times in history I love the style of how people dressed and did things but most of all the architecture used in their houses has to fascinate mr the most and always will I hope to see a real historical Victorian mansion maybe even get a tour of it and get to know all the history and facts surrounding it so cool and I do love haunted mansions also which it would be cool to see one of those too but I probably wouldn’t be open to living in one great video and narration as always! 😊👍🏻
It seems that any building of any size if there have been many different people living there or if there has been one tragic event or more, in the building, it's more likely to be haunted.
The Miramont Castle in Manitou Springs is very haunted. I went there several times, had a paranormal experience every time.
The Rosemount Victorian in Pueblo, Colorado has many friendly spirits that haunt it.
Iolani Palace, Honolulu, Hawai'i is haunted by former members of the Ali'i. They communicated with me every time I visited.
When I was looking for a place to live, in Texas, I chose the home I'm currently living in. Although some tragedy's have happened, here, there are no restless or even friendly former residents that haunt the house. Although they have passed on, I still get mail for them from Publishers Clearing House!
Wow Ken. You put a lot of time into this one . Well done. Thank you
I've assumed for a while it was the fact that so many of those huge homes of the Victorian era had fallen into disrepair during the depression and and just looked creepy.
Haunted houses fascinate me, I'd love to come across a haunted old mansion!!! Thanks for sharing this interesting video!!! 🎃
Great video. Even though 21 Chester Place was not a Second Empire, which is my favorite, it certainly was still a strikingly unique and beautiful house. It also had quite an interesting history in its 79 years of existence. You can read the complete House History at 21 Chester Place "The mystery behind the real Addams Family house."
People have no idea how many are gone.. just gone.. all that priceless wood.. they were the most beautiful homes ever made
If you look at the Backrooms they are based on the outdated office environment from before 20 years ago with souless cubicles. The offices that are built today are made to look more holistic and be places you'd want to be in. This video explains the phenomenon.
👻🦇🎃 Happy Halloween, This House 👹🕷️🕸️
Another great video Ken, thank you!
Hi Ken, I'm a big fan of your channel and I somehow missed this video. We love old houses and our home is a beautiful 1885 Victorian empire style home in a historic town in Delaware. It is full of light and good vibes! We appreciate everything from the original windows, molding, stained glass, and sunroom to the spectacular chandeliers( there are 7!)
Great job of researching and summarizing the history behind the Victorian haunted houses with excellent visual examples. I loved it! Thank you!
I used to work a century old hotel and sometimes work graveyard. As everybody would claim they’ve seen and felt presence of ghosts, I never really felt or have seen any! So now I just bought an over a hundred year old home in a historic district, still can’t feel or have seen any ghost. I have decided to just start imagining it to complete the vibe.
I just saw the Burkhart Mansion in Cincinnati is in the process of being torn down. I've seen it on one of those explorer programs. I don't know if you ever covered it. Always sad to see a grand home demolished.
My favorite Victorian style is second empire.❤️
I was so distressed by a video showing the beautiful houses on millionaires row in NYC that were destroyed to be replaced by metal and glass boxes. My hope is that someday those monstrosities will be replaced by something beautiful.
Love your show. Can you cover some of the best Colonial Architecture? I just love the simplified elegance in colonial buildings and would love to see the structures that define the Eastern seaboard. Thank you for bringing history to life.
I’ve been in old Victorian homes that were haunted, as well as some built in the last 50 years. I personally believe that some traumas leave marks, energy. Others have spirits that seem to be aware. And then there are the malevolent hauntings. The one like that that I experienced was in a house built in the 50’s. In short, lol, it isn’t the houses at all, but what happens inside them.
People probably don't often think that even if a house is brand-new, that doesn't mean no one else ever lived or died there before--any ghosts could be thousands of years old.
Wham I was a child, I loved dolls. Now, children are afraid of them
When I see a victorian house (especially a queen Anne) I simply fall in love and want it for myself!!
I really enjoy your content. There is a mansion in Kansas City, MO called the R.A. Long mansion. He was a lumber baron. It's now part of the Kansas City museum system. It could be an interesting story. Keep up the good work.
Great work today. Love the socioeconomic theme
I live on a town on the Ohio River & the Main Street is a collection of gorgeous Victorians. The wealthiest man in the state in the late 1800s built a beautiful home here & it’s been restored as a state historic site.
Victorians were also super into the occult, so that helps.
Very informative. Thanks
Excellent analysis.
Great video for spooky Halloween 👻 fun! I just love Victorian homes don’t seem spooky to me but I haven’t lived in one, yet. Keep up the fantastic tours Ken. Love them!👀🧛♂️🧟♀️🌬⛓🪓💀😵💫
Surprised you didn’t get into Edward Hopper - I always felt like his “house by the railroad” painting kind of started it all, and probably partially inspired Addams.
Ha ha, the black cats, I love it! Thanks, Ken!
1:10 Whoa! Not everyday I see "b roll" / stock footage of the courthouse from the small town where I was born. This angle is from Bingham Ave, with the first addition on the left and original building on the right.
Victorian gravestones had a gothic arch reminiscent of the arched windows of Victorian mansions.
I love Victorian houses!! Always wanted the Addams family house
Herbie! Lol
I went to the Rensselaer Russell House Museum when I was a kid and remember they said some little girl fell in the well and that house always freaked me out
Now Victorian homes get a bad name. Not fair. That design was discontinued in 1915.
I would take a victorian ( with plumbing and electricity) any day over clean lines and open concept! I actually despise the open concept that is so popular today!
Something else... *death happened in all homes* ...all the time. For thousands of years, it was a natural part of one's life, to die at home. Funerals happened in homes. All homes saw death, all except...the more recent homes of the 1900s due to the introduction of retirement homes, nursing homes, hospices, extended care wards in hospitals, and funeral homes. Our society is unused to death being so close to home. So nowadays we disconnect death from our homes...but any old building is very much associated with those who lived there...and died there.
Colorful license by pulp authors using the histories, intrigues and fatalities from the Victorian backdrop is a real contributing element to the stigma. 🎩
They looked so beautiful and they could comeback in style if treated right and i love them
Victorians loved rich, saturated colours in their wallpapers, upholstery, and draperies; black and white photos from late in the era don't do them justice. They were largely made with vegetable dyes that would fade quickly in sunlight, which would also rot silks. Deep porches helped to protect the rich interior fabrics and provide shade to keep the spaces cool in summer. While the houses of the ultra wealthy are really over the top, those of the upper middles classes and the merely rich made sense architecturally and complemented the taste in interior design of the time.
Love your videos and watch each one-so much great info! Just curious which part of the country you’re from-I notice your pronunciation of mansion is roughly “myënsion” which is similar to what I hear in Ohio. Thanks for all you do ✨🎃
The buildings are so beautiful that ghosts do not want to go to heaven
Fun little video. I would love to be able to afford to buy (and restore/renovate) an old Queen Anne or other Victorian home. I've always found them fascinating and steeped in history. Must have my electricity and good plumbing, though.
What's the name of that first house?
You skipped over the house in Dark Shadows, but I guess you already did a video on that one.
The house from the original TV series is located in Newport, RI. The one used in the House of Dark Shadows film is Lyndhurst in New York.
@@diannelavoie5385 weren’t there two houses in each show? Old Collinwood and new?
Very interesting👻👻🎃🎃🦇☠️
I think it is the idea of out dated houses. I think Victorian homes are beautiful, but then I love everything old and historical.
What made them into spooky haunted houses was the movie Psyco in the early 1960s.
Interesting, I never realized it was somehow shamed in these movies intentionally and that it has something to do with the sharp contrast of new modern architecture, which took place at that time. I thought it just came randomly and beacuse the overall feeling of those big houses where you can easily hide, while that modern architecture is so minimalistic and pure that you view it too tabular, with light rooms and no place to hide. So from the psychological point of view, it really makes that scary character, mainly when the building is abandoned.
Can't get enough of the
classic haunted house
or haunted castle
Happy Halloween all👻
I'm just dumbfounded that during my school years, I thought history was boring, it's totally interesting as it unfolds revealing something to amaze me endlessly,?
Love Yr VIDEOS, But Too Short 🧡🇨🇦🧡
Always loved victorian homes with the wrap around porches , as for hauntings and ghosts only silly people believe in that , now leprechauns and fairies they exist :)
Our house was built in 1953 and it's very haunted we see the girls up and down don't matter time for day
Where are those first two houses?
They are absolutely gorgeous.
It has been a dream of mine since I was a child to buy and restore a Victorian or Federalist style home.
20 years ago I lived in a small house that was built in 1843 and I know it was haunted.
It's my dream to live in a Victorian era home.
Where is the green house with the green door? Any info on it?
The green home is in our home city of St. Louis, Missouri. It is in the Soulard neighborhood and was built in 1876.
@@ThisHouse Very beautiful.
I'm interested in historic preservation as well. Maybe you could do an episode on properties for sale.
Yes many houses have devish hauntings and I have experianced it😬
I live in one and unfortunately no, I don’t believe it’s haunted 😢
Same thoughts I'm 16 & I just love the old designs & architectural designs 🤧🤧
If the land that the homes were built on were unmarked cemeteries, or from real life muderer scenes, then the homes are haunted
I'm a Victorian house and it is haunted but I like it and I don't like modern houses that's why I bought a Victorian house
Do one on Benicia CA its got war history.. especially the twins Jefferson street Mansion but not the Jefferson one, we work there..
I-nteresting generational change! So maybe Gen Z and younger don't see the Victorians as those who are older
My opinion on this subject is first of all I would love to live in a home like the Addams Family
Second I don't like to use the word haunted but I reather say old homes from that time could very much be full of spiritual activity but some may not be
Victorian spiritualists!
Who knows 🤔
"Ghosts" are merely demons. Know this and act accordingly!