Phantasmal Crime

Glensheen Mansion is reportedly the most visited historic home in the state of Minnesota. The stately home originally sat on 22 acres of lakefront property in Duluth and was built by the Congdon Family. The brick facade and rising chimneys communicate a welcoming spirit, but the truth is that this mansion was the setting of a heinous double murder leaving the Congdon's daughter Elizabeth dead, as well as her nurse. The story is a narrative of insanity, greed and murder. And now that story continues with legends of hauntings on the property. Spirits are at unrest. Chester A. Congdon was born on June 12, 1853, in Rochester, New York. He attended Syracuse University and achieved his Bachelor of Arts before studying law and being admitted to the bar. While at Syracuse, he met Clara Bannister. He could not find work in New York, so he left Clara for Wisconsin where he had accepted a teaching position. He was there for a year before moving to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1879 an

President Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary were not the only people sitting in their box at the Ford's Theater to watch the production of "Our American Cousin" on the evening that the President was assassinated. Major Henry Rathbone and his fiance, Clara Harris, were also sitting in the box and played witness to the whole horrible scene. Clara's satin dress was splattered with blood. The Major never  recovered from the horrific event and it may have led him to do a horrible thing later. That event and the assassination have all left behind an energy, part of which has spawned tales of ghosts and a haunted satin dress. Henry Reed Rathbone was born in Albany, New York on July 1, 1837 to Jared and Pauline Rathbone. Jared was a wealthy merchant and Albany's mayor. He died shortly after Henry was born. Pauline now had four children to raise on her own, but Jared had left her and the children with a sizable sum of money. She later met Ira Harris, who was a United State