A Ghost of a Castle: The Haunting of Miss Mason’s School

High atop the ridge to the east of the village of Tarrytown, sat the dramatic Castle Ericstan. Today it is lost from the landscape, but once it had been a proud if not foreboding figure looming over the town from it’s perch. In about 1855, Merchant John J. Herrick commissioned the famous 19th century architect Alexander Jackson Davis to build him a grand residence in a region burgeoning with wealthy secondary country houses. Davis had already designed and completed Paulding Manor (what is now Lyndhurst) not far down the road, and was known for his striking architectural vision in the gothic revival style. Herrick was a respected businessman and he too wanted his own stately manor home.

Upon completion in 1859, Herrick and his family did not spend long in his dreamy castle, he faced financial ruin and died suddenly and unexpectedly. The castle was subsequently sold to another, and then another, more owners facing tragedy and ruin. With the end of the 19th century and changing times, the castle, straight out of a storybook, found itself in the hands of Cassity Eliza “Cassie” Mason in 1895, who turned it into Miss Mason’s Finishing School for Girls.

Miss Mason’s Castle School, or the Castle School as it was known locally, was draped in moss and vines, featured towers and turrets, and proudly proclaimed it’s gothic and romantic roots perfectly from the hilltop like a great sleeping dragon. The students lived a magical experience there, with winding corridors, vaulted ceilings, twisting staircases, and secret spaces. It would be easy to allow one’s imagination to runaway with itself, to imagine those who had once lived there before, their soft footfalls on the floors, the whisper of their clothes and perfume in doorways, and the tinkle of laugher in a dark and empty room. Imagination would become reality though and with the school still in its infancy, the ghosts were born and the castle awakened.

It was reported in July of 1896, that spooky happenings were taking place at the castle school. There was a initial telling of a “lost room” as described by a housemaid, who stumbled into a dusty and unfamiliar corridor and further into a dark room with a strange atmosphere she did not recognize. Realizing that she was not in the right place, she fled calling for help, the sound of a heavy wooden door slamming and echoing behind her. Once help was found, the party was unable to locate the mysterious room and ever since, it became a game for others to try and find it again.

It seems that the ghosts would appear to the school staff and students during the quieter parts of the season, making themselves and the castle and it’s secrets known when the small movements could be noticed more readily. One winter, students and staff staying over during the holiday break were startled by a loud crash. Investigating the noise brought them to the western room, where part of a seemingly solid wall had broken aside to reveal a secret passageway.

Undaunted and full of curiosity, the group gathered up lanterns, hatchets, and adorned themselves in the appropriate costumes, and entered the passage. Once inside, through the cobwebs and shadows, they found a ladder leading up to a room in one of the towers, that no one had known how to enter. It was decided that one of the resident ghosts had either decided to expose the entrance to the inhabitants or had broken out having been tired of being trapped in the closed off tower room.

A more traditional ghostly encounter also took place in the cold, stark, winter months during the holiday break. Two lone teachers staying over were sitting in a parlor, lost in thought and their teacups when they heard the familiar sounds of a horse drawn carriage arriving to the castle up the drive. Excited to the prospect of unexpected visitors, they clamored to the door to greet their guests, hearing the creaking of the wheels, the crush of gravel, and the snort and jangle of the horse team. Throwing open the door, they were met with an empty Porte cochere and silence.

The presence of such a building as the Castle School would undoubtedly illicit the tales of phantoms and spooks in residence there. While the spooks drawn to the school, its tutors and pupils, reveal that a spirited energy lives on, it feels more ingrained in the very beams of the structure, and the stone of its walls, taking on the characteristics and hauntings of its medieval inspirations. Perhaps there are no singular ghosts in the castle, as the castle is itself the ghost.