Riddle House
Photo taken from condonewsonline.com
Riddle House is located in West Palm Beach, Florida. This house is an old historic Victorian, and was built in 1905. It seems as though this house is unique in the fact that it doesn’t like men. Any males that visit the house have had ghostly activity performed on them that often turns into a physical nature. Steve Carr is a local carpenter in the West Palm Beach area who was working on the house. One day, the lid from an iron pot lifted three feet in the air, flung across the room and hit Steve in the head. Following this, Steve will never go back in the house again.
Since the attack on Steve Carr, no male visitors are allowed to go into the attic of the house. The reason why there is such a high activity of paranormal occurrences here is because it is believed that a man hung himself at the location. The image of the man is often seen in the north or west attic windows to other people that can see. Witness Jack Rodriguez claimed that he saw the image of the head and torso of a man in a black suit with a noose tied around his neck, peering down to him.
This man in black is believed to be that of a former boarder who hung himself in the attic. Before the title Riddle House was given to the structure in 1920, it was called the Gate Keeper’s Cottage. This was because it functioned as a funeral parlor and management for the Woodlawn Cemetery that is across the street. It was built on land owned by Joseph Jefferson, whom was one of the most famous actors of his time. Karl Riddle then became the first city manager and superintendent of Public Works, then following this he adopted the house as his home.
Moving into the 1980s, Riddle House served as the female dormitory for Palm Beach Atlantic College. However, it was abandoned due to disrepair, and the city threatened to demolish it. To settle the matter, the house was donated to John Riddle, who was the nephew of Karl. It was then split up into three sections and moved to Yesteryear Village. The diary of Karl Riddle tells the story of the death of a man on the property, but gives no concrete details.
Unexplained incidents started to occur almost immediately after it was moved. All sorts of investigators including psychologists, parapsychologists, and paranormal investigators have been to the attic. Many experiences with these professionals ensued. These experiences include revealing of orbs, temperature increases, and spirit energy. The most astounding result of the research was communicating with the dead spirit that haunts the attic. The spirit allegedly said that he took the fall for a crime that he didn’t commit.
(Source: Belanger, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. 2005.)
I was watching Riddle House on Ghost Adventures, and I think I might have served in the Air Force as a firefighter with Steve Carr back in 1980 in Galena, Alaska. Is there anyway you could query him for me, about this?
He’s a hard man to get a hold of. To be honest, I don’t know where you could possibly contact him. You should try looking at some social networking sites online. With the Internet nowadays, its easy to find anyone with a little computer skill.
I was watching Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel and wanted to know if its possible to visit the Riddle House???
thank you very much
Don’t know Frank, I haven’t investigated the place. You should try to see if they have a website or any contact information and give them a call.
Hi, just wanted to let you know my grandparents lived in this house for years while my grandfather was the sexton for the cemetary. I used to stay with them in the summer. I think moving the house really upset the spirits, we never had any trouble from them. The hall closet had several urns of remains kept in it at any given time. The front poarch was screened in and my grandmother kept a porch swing and about 10-12 rockers. not one was ever set to rocking by spirits. I have also been up in the attic a bunch of times with my grandmother without any problems except the heat was unbearable during the summer. There was a back porch with a half bath, kitchen, dining room, hall, parlor with fireplace on the first floor. Upstairs were 3/4 bedrooms and a bathroom. The stairway was the best and had a great banister to slide down which my brothers and I did quite often. I am going to visit the house in May 2010.
@frank
yes it is possible to visit this house
I saw this episode…I was scared when Aaron, got scared and when he screamed..I jumped. It scared the life out of me!
Great story, I have never heard of this one before tonight. Spent last night looking around the lemp mansion and brewery. Sad to say I didn’t see any ghost.
i have visited this house and i’m a male that is very sensative to paranormal activity, and there was no activity what so ever here, i even went with a friend who is a medium and he had no sense of a sprit(s) there,,disappointing
My last name is riddle and I would love to come and see this house .and talk to some of the people that have seen stuff there so if you know any thing let me know please thank you all
I watched a program about this house but is it real and did sum one really hang themselves I can’t say that I’m a believer of ghosts or what not but I was pretty scared out of my nut so some one right back and let me no if its TRUE about that house and what happend in it
That was great, these three all ways find the best spots to check out.