The Ghosts of Biltmore Estate

I took my kids on a road trip for spring break, and our itinerary took us to Asheville, NC. Asheville is where George Vanderbilt established his home - an incredible mansion with 250 rooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. I've heard that the Biltmore Estate house was known to be haunted. Since I was in the area, I figured it would be a good opportunity to find out for myself. Almost immediately upon entering the building, my scalp started tingling. My guides told me to go to a room that had a painting of a horse. I wouldn't find a portrait of a horse in any of the rooms that were open to visitation, but I did find several resident ghosts.

You can imagine the residual energy in a place that is 130 years old. Every room was steeped in the history of the former owners, visitors, guests, and servants. I had to block out the residual energy so I could focus on determining where the active ghosts were located. The first ghost I encountered was a servant in one of the halls, but he didn't really want to talk. I can imagine how the ghosts feel with thousands of visitors in their home on a daily basis. The next ghost was far more talkative. I found her in the library. Originally she was hiding out behind the piano, but once she recognized that she could talk to me, she came right up to the velvet barricade that keeps visitors from wandering too far in the room. She told me her name was Mary Jones. Now I've spoken with enough ghosts to know that I don't always (in fact rarely) get real names from these people. For whatever reason, ghosts like to use pseudonyms. As you can imagine, this makes it extremely hard to validate stories. Mary was a nurse to children that resided at Biltmore. I asked her what she was doing in the library. She said the owner would let her hang out in the library when she wasn't on duty. She told me she liked to read by the window, especially on rainy days. Mary told me that her father worked for the Vanderbilts. Interestingly, people believe the library is haunted by George Vanderbilt. If he was there I didn't sense him. 

The tour of the house includes a trip into the basement. I immediately got the vibe of multiple people as I hit the staircase. Walking down the stone corridor, it was hard to ignore the memories that were emanating from the walls. The basement of the house has the servants' quarters, multiple kitchens, and a dining room. As soon as I walked into the servant's dining room, I got vertigo. I took a moment to steady myself and saw why I was so swirly. Four people were hanging out there. I got very little info from them. One ghost spoke up. He said his name was John and he called himself the 'main servant.' He said he worked at the estate for 40 years. The only other message I got from him was that Biltmore was their home, and they weren't going anywhere. Peering down the corridors that were blocked off, I felt the presence of several other ghosts peeking around the corners. Who knows how many other ghosts are hanging about the residence. I imagine that most of the tour areas are vacated whilst the visitors are making their way through the building. 

Bonus: the vibe of the indoor swimming pool

The tour wound through the basement and into the indoor swimming pool room. As soon as I entered I said to my son, "someone died in here." Having read about the supposed hauntings in the Biltmore prior to our visit, he knew exactly what that I was talking about. He replied to me,  "yes, a little boy." After spending a few more minutes in the room, I got the feeling that he wasn't a member of the family. He was the son of a guest. The story told about this pool is that the event I was picking up on happened during one of the many parties that occurred in the residence.

There are several websites that discuss the hauntings at Biltmore. Feel free to check them out!