Mystery Castle

Boyce Luther Gulley was recovering from Tuberculosis when he built a home for his wife and daughter. It sits on South Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona, where biting cold chases away sweltering mid-day heat. He died before his family moved in.

The home is filled with paintings, stuffed persons and lots of stone. Mr. Gully scattered throughout the fortress thirteen fireplaces, as well as evidence of his practicality and bodacious humor. The guardians of the underground vault (an armour without a knight, alligator, and alligator painted on the floor) protected its contents until, as stipulated in his will, the cell was opened on the proper date. Life magazine sent people to document the opening. (It was Life who named it Mystery Castle, because no one knew what to expect down there.) Included in the revealing were two $500 bills and gold nuggets.

I know some of these things because of the two guides and the designer-before-his-time's daughter, Mary Lou, told my group all about it. The daughter's room is over the kitchen, up a flight of rickety stone steps. She was a teen when Life did its feature on the castle. (I read that on the Life pages that adorned a wall of one of the rooms.) Her long-time friend stays with her and tells stories to the curious. An energetic man (his home is down the road) couldn't satisfy his fascination with the nooks and crannies, so he tells what he knows to groups like the one I was in, so he can stay and explore even more.

Scroll all the way to the bottom, then click on Mystery Castle icon to watch the slideshow. (No, you can't conrol it.) Enjoy!

aloha

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