Green Castle Mystery As written by James S. Allen
The Green Castle has been associated with hauntings, the drowning of several little girls, and a bazaar suicide. Let’s take a look at some of those events. In doing research for the Urban Westenberger, American Dreamer book, two different grown men now admitted to hiding at the vacant Green Castle when they were teenagers.
These young boys would scare curious onlookers that were intrigued or setup by the boys with various tales. There actually was a drowning but not on the property. During the flood of 1870 one of the Noah Kite daughters fell into the rushing waters when their skiff hit something, she was found the next day at the base of a tree several miles downstream, near the Green Castle. There was a suicide up in the north east bedroom by a young lad named James Henry Bell. I have written about him before. The stories have it that one night James came home from visiting friends in Luray, and went to his room and shot himself, much to his mother’s dismay. His mother was Rachel Keyser Bell, the widow of John Wesley Bell who was murdered in 1842 by two of his slaves a few miles down the river at their home. One omitted fact is that James committed suicide two years after his mother passed in 1864. James lived a lone at the time.
Deep dive into the Green Castle:
George Keyser built his new home (Green Castle) fairly close to his first log home. I believe that house was built in or around 1836. Some put it at 1850 and other say 1840. I say 1836 because a brick dated 1836 was found at the front of the house where the walls had given way. Also the brick pattern used to lay the bricks fits that time slot. One last clue was found in Harry Strickler’s book on Page County noted that: George was to oversee the road from Green Castle Hill to Sulphur Spring where his father lived. That was in 1840. The new home was made of brick, which like many homes at that time was built with bricks made on the property. This house was three stories tall and built against the top of a hill. From the front only two stories were visible, with the basement having two entries. The house was square with two chimneys on the exterior of each side. I mention that because I have not seen that very often. Also like many old homes in Page County you can tell where the kitchen is by the oversized chimney. This house had a hip roof with shingles at first, then later the tin roof was added. There were twelve rooms in all, each of them with a fireplace. Three of the four exterior sides had a porch with plain beams. The rear of the house faced east towards the river and had full-length porch on the 2nd level. The railing were plain pine boards and the support post were made of cedar. The front of the house faced the mountains, and it had a small covered porch that was centered on the front of the house. Lastly there was a side porch that ran down to the hillside. To be honest the only thing that stood out of this was the cornice work at the top of the wall where it meets the roof, as it was made of brick instead of wood.
The inside of the house had pine wood floors and four panel doors. The wainescoting was made from paneling. The trim up the stairs was plain as was the banister. The hallways ran end to end straight through the house. This was common for a square house. I tell you all of this because I see no resemblance to a castle whatsoever, unless of course you look through the eyes of a young child, or perhaps coming down the river the dual chimneys gave it that appearance. I see a square brick federal house of substantial size with dueling chimneys.
George Keyser owned a lot of land and there were crops on this land. George had a fairly large number of slaves to help him work the land. The slaves had housing behind the main house along with other out buildings. The castle itself was surrounded by a large yard with lots of green grass, trees and shrubs. Between the yard and river was a field of corn. On the southside of the house was a small road that ran down from the main road, and across the ford of the river.
Georges closest neighbors would have been the Joseph Bumgardner family who lived up above him, easily within walking distance. John Ruffner built across the river and just south of Georges farm. They were close enough to shout across the river with one another.
When the river was at normal height one could walk across.
George and wife Esther Hershberger Keyser are buried in the Keyser Bell Cemetery, which is within walking distance from the house.
The Keyser’s had four children
1811 Rachel Keyser Bell Keyser Bell Cemetery
1813 Anna Keyser Koontz – I did not research further
1815 John Keyser I did not research further
1826 Issac Keyser I did not research further
Esther Hershberger Keyser died in 1846, her inscription read:
Sacred To the Memory of Esther Keyser Who Departed This Life March 29 1846
after a long Confinement on the Bed of affliction for Eight years
with a Cancer on her Breast which she fought with great Fortitude and left this World at the age of 55 years 1 month 13 days
This tomb stone is Erected by her affectionate husband George Keyser, who did not remarry.
If we look at it all together we might find cause for a young lad with so much promise to end his own life early. James Henry Bell lost his father at age 2 to a brutal murder. He lost his grandmother at age six to a long grueling bout of breast cancer. In 1859 he lost his grandfather whom he had lived with for seventeen years. Just two years later the Civil War begins and he is captured early on. He is in a Union prison for several years before being released during a prisoner swap. Not long after he returns to his regiment his mother falls deathly ill. James Bell lost his mother in Jan of 1864 at fifty-three years old. While he survives the war and returns to the Green Castle, he is alone. Two years later he ends his life with his service pistol up in his bedroom. The stains in the floor remained until the house fell in decay. James Bell without a doubt saw things in prison. Back out on the battlefield he saw and did even more. While we will never know why he pulled the trigger, we do know, his last seven years were shrouded in death.
It appears that the Green Castle never belonged to James Bell once his mother passed, which seems odd. I am still looking for both Rachels and James’s last Will and testament. While doing the research I found that the Green Castle and property remained in George Keysers name until 1872, when RH Russell took over the rights. Mr Russell passed the property onto another immediately but as of yet I couldn’t say to who. The historic old maps show a Bell residing in the house both in 1862 and 1875. The 1885 map has it listed with J C Hanen. In the 1870 flood the little girl washed up to a tree on the Hanen farm. I am not certain how long they had the property as I could not find them in the deed book. Jennie Kirkoff in her book listed it as the R H Russell Farm and later the Hanen farm, until Rumsey Sedwick took ownership in 1917.
The library of Virginia back in 1936 paints a different picture.
The Green Castle property has remained in the Sedwick family ever since 1917. I was told during a tour of the property that the Sedwick’s were kin with the Keysers. How about that.
Not surprisingly they were kin to the Bumgardners who lived a few fields over as well as the Ruffner’s by marriage.
So whatever happened to the Green Castle itself? Strangely its all but gone. I knew it was in decline and that the roof and fallen in, but I was not prepared to see nothing. I mean after all the house had thick brick walls. As we approached to where the front door should have been we were met by rows of Daffodils, In the description back in 1936, there were flowers leading to the front door. We passed the flowers and entered into thick underbrush and trees. I saw nothing but a mound of growth, but if you looked really close you could make out part of a brick here or there covered in moss. We climbed onto the little mounds and looked down into what must have been the cellar at one time. There were multiple fallen trees in the hole with vines and you name it everywhere. The cellar was to the front of the house when built, so it was the deepest in the ground. It was built with limestone walls. To the left of the hole, I could see what looked to be a wall completely covered with vines and leaves. It was about 3ft tall and 15 or so feet long. That was it. This huge brick house and its porches were gone. I just don’t get it, I see abandoned wooden homes all over this county that have been sitting there for decades, but not this one. I have posted images of complete old homes totally covered by nature but they are still intact. Perhaps this is one the true mystery. How did a brick house that was sitting out in a yard in 1963 completely intact get swallowed up?
Photos taken in 1963 for The Old Homes in Page County book, enhanced and colorized by James Allen. The upper left room was that of James Bell. If you look real close and let your eyes play tricks on you, you can see the silhouette of a man in the broken glass. The Sedwick’s family told me the that stain was still on the boards until the house fell. The house itself was about 46ft x 46 ft square.
Seen above: the rear of the house with full second story porch. There were two entrances to the cellar, one entered the dining room and the other the kitchen. Behind these two rooms was the actual cellar. All of the basement floors were said to have been made of brick. In 1935 the far side of the lower level under the porch was enclosed by glass, and made into a sun room.
I am not sure what happened to that.
Sadly, this huge old historic house was never fitted with plumbing or electric. It is unknown how it missed getting electric during the electrification act in the early 1930s. As we walked and drove the property one could not find a more beautiful spot to build a house. Looking from the front porch you would have been able to see the Massanutten Mountain in both directions as far as the eye could see. Sitting on the back porch the river was in plain view, beyond that the Blue Ridge Mountains running north and south. I suppose it just wasn’t meant to be.
