![]() ![]() In the bedrooms, the closet doors were wired by Thomas Edison with switches that automatically turned the lights on when the doors were opened.In the Great Room, with 32-foot-high ceilings and massive beams made from whole trees, a stone from the Tower of London and a piece of the Blarney stone were set into the fireplace.A Tudor mantel in the library which came from an English manor once owned by Queen Victoria.Some of its interesting features include the following: It is described in its 1980 nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, as a reproduction of Forde Abbey, Dorset, near London, a mid-twelfth century monastery. That probably was the beginning of the idea for the 20,000 square foot Castle which Seely designed himself. ![]() With construction complete, Seely was left with massive quantities of unused smaller stones. Seely had insisted that only larger stones be used to minimize mortar joints. The upscale hotel was built using native granite rock from the surrounding mountains. Seely had overseen construction of the Grove Park Inn for his father-in-law. He gifted ten acres on the top of Sunset Mountain, called Overlook Park, to Seely to build a new home for Seely and Grove’s daughter. Grove was a patent medicine tycoon credited with transforming Asheville into the most popular resort city in the Southeast in the early 20th century. That initial owner was Fred Loring Seely, the son-in-law of Edwin Wiley Grove. The owner had a lot of unused stone on his hands in 1914 when construction on the Castle began. The idea for the Castle probably emerged from an inventory problem. And the existence of a mountaintop English fortress castle certainly meets the test of being unusual, unexpected, and generally unexplained. Its mysteries are evidence that rumors will fill gaps left by secrecy and the unusual. It has had to endure rumors of sheltering a pedophilia cult as well as being the center for Satanic rituals and human sacrifices in the mountains of North Carolina. Mystery has always surrounded Seely’s Castle, also called Overlook Castle and Castle in the Sky. ![]()
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