Caretaking a Ghostly Castle

This time of year tends to make some people think of ghosts and haunted houses so I thought this would be a good time to share the tale of one of our subscribers who is the caretaker of a ghostly castle.

Castles tend to lend themselves to creative imaginings and the Givens Castle in Chicago is no exception. Jim Bell, the resident caretaker of Givens Castle is the only living occupant of the building. The last caretaker, God rests his soul, dropped dead while waxing the floor, and he was only in his early 30’s. A fact, Jim states, that no one told him until well after he had moved in to the third floor. One caretaker claims to have heard creaking steps and sometimes boisterous voices. The ghost stories, best as Jim can tell, originated with the caretakers - who else would be poking around the Castle’s dungeon trying to find a breaker switch late on a cold stormy night?

In exchange for ten hours a week of labor around the Castle, Jim gets the entire top floor apartment with its three towers and flat gravel patio rooftop. That’s over 1,400 square feet of living space, two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, bathroom, great hall and towers – plus two rooms of storage. “I believe in leaving a place better than I found it,” states Jim, referring to the new wood flooring and recent painting that he completed. “I researched historic and environmentally friendly paints, and found a place that makes natural pigment paints used by artists and those doing architectural restoration. Besides his restoration of the third floor, Jim has witnessed the complete overhaul of the roof, tuckpointing of the towers and walls, and the refitting of the numerous antique windows. All these renovations have occurred since he started working for the church. The last time such massive work took place was in the 1980’s when the Beverly Unitarian Church (http://www.buc.org/ ), the current owner of the Castle restored the interior to its original 19th century splendor.

The Castle now boasts original woodwork and stained glass, with period lighting and décor. There were originally fifteen beautifully furnished rooms decorated with Victorian accents. These include castle turrets, art glass, natural oak woodwork, elaborate tapestries, stained glass windows, elegant chandeliers, copper gaslights, and ceramic tiled fireplaces. A winding, carved oak staircase descends into the sanctuary space. One stained glass window, located on the second floor, bears the motto "Dum Spiro Spero," "While I live I hope".