Abandoned for well over a decade, the Winderbourne Mansion in Boyds, Maryland is a decaying reminder of a tragic past.  Once belonging to the wealthy Totten family, things quickly took a turn as their children died.  Is this property cursed?

 

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Sources:

6 Jun 1915, 14—Evening Star at Newspapers.com. (n.d.). World Collection. Retrieved February 8, 2021, from 00:16 97821625"> http://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/332078312/?terms=%22Winderbourne%22%2BNOT%2BKennels&pqsid=x3NN_YD5pyhW_nx6SDusZg:1063000:16 97821625

 

7 Nov 1901, Page 15—Evening Star at Newspapers.com. (n.d.). World Collection. Retrieved February 8, 2021, from 00:33 2569778"> http://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/207674218/?terms=%22Edith%2BTotten%22&pqsid=x3NN_YD5pyhW_nx6SDusZg:489000:33 2569778

 

17 Nov 1927, 1—The Times Dispatch at Newspapers.com. (n.d.). World Collection. Retrieved February 8, 2021, from 00:17 40180449"> http://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/615380246/?terms=Dr.%2BEdith%2BTotten&pqsid=x3NN_YD5pyhW_nx6SDusZg:12000:17 40180449

 

22 Mar 1908, 6—Evening Star at Newspapers.com. (n.d.). World Collection. Retrieved February 9, 2021, from 00:18 58908365"> http://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/330817925/?terms=%22edith%2Btotten%22&pqsid=9JF4FvyGyHeayxOjkNzP5g:84000:18 58908365

 

1880 United States Federal Census—AncestryLibrary.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2021, from 05:67 42?tid=&pid=&queryId=77426bcee4ef96704997c9b6b70ace89&_phsrc=eBA275&_phstart=successSource"> https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/35148805:67 42?tid=&pid=&queryId=77426bcee4ef96704997c9b6b70ace89&_phsrc=eBA275&_phstart=successSource

 

1900 United States Federal Census—AncestryLibrary.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2021, from 57:76 02?tid=&pid=&queryId=77426bcee4ef96704997c9b6b70ace89&_phsrc=eBA275&_phstart=successSource"> https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/33891257:76 02?tid=&pid=&queryId=77426bcee4ef96704997c9b6b70ace89&_phsrc=eBA275&_phstart=successSource

 

Alice Crosby Totten (1869-1884)—Find A Grave... (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2021, from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38919506/alice-crosby-totten

 

Coleman, Peg, et al. (1978). Winderbourne ACHS Summary Form. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/016000/016900/016957/pdf/msa_se5_16957.pdf

 

Document | America’s Historical Newspapers | Readex. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2021, from https://infoweb-newsbank-com.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/apps/readex/doc?p=EANX&sort=YMD_date%3AA&fld-base-0=alltext&val-base-0=%22alice%20crosby%20totten%22&val-database-0=&fld-database-0=database&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=&docref=image/v2%3A11BE946A9536E73A%40EANX-11C7E39797D27AF0%402409458-11C7E397DEA90B78%402-11C7E3988129E5B8%40Mortuary%2BNotice&firsthit=yes

 

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Elias Howe | American inventor. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved February 8, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elias-Howe

 

http://www.facebook.com/johnfranciskelly. (n.d.). For sale: The faded grandeur of the Winderbourne mansion. Washington Post. Retrieved February 7, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/for-sale-the-faded-grandeur-of-the-winderbourne-mansion/2016/04/18/2138eeda-0568-11e6-a12f-ea5aed7958dc_story.html

 

The Strange, Fascinating History of This Abandoned Mansion Gave Me Goosebumps. (2016, November 30). Definition.Org. https://definition.org/strange-fascinating-history-abandoned-mansion-gave-goosebumps/

 

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TRANSCRIPT: 

Hello and welcome back to your regularly scheduled Crimes and Witch-Demeanors programming; I’m your host – Joshua Spellman!  Last week we took a small detour and discussed the Deuel House, the site of one of my personal paranormal experiences and switched meandered around history with no clear direction.  However, while this week we are covering yet another haunted Victorian, a Queen-Anne to be precise, it has a much more unified and chilling history and yet again, somehow it circles back to me…I knew the name sounded familiar.  However, as we have found out with most ghost stories on this podcast – the information that is perpetuated in the modern day is not often truthful or accurate.

This week we are headed to Boyds, Maryland to investigate the Winderbourne Mansion.  Now, I am saying Winderbourne because that’s what everyone says and it sounds enchanting and like something from a Neil Gaman novel…but through my research I have my suspicions it’s actually supposed to be pronounced Winder-bourne…even if it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue or make any phonetical sense whatsoever.  You’ll have to let me know what you think.  This legend is interesting, and I thought it had to be true since one of my sources is a government source but – spoiler – I don’t think it is.  This mansion has seen its fair share of tragedy and has been left abandoned for well over a decade.  It was on the real estate market for probably just as long, but now it seems it is no longer for sale, so its future is uncertain, as is its past.  Join me now to learn the alleged history of our Windy…or Windy…mansion.

 

Winderbourne Mansion was built in 1884 at the behest of Enoch and Mary Totten.  The Tottens lived in Washington DC but wished for a summer home to escape the hustle, bustle, and stifling heat of the city.  The couple decided on a plot of land near Little Seneca Creek, where the B&O railroad line gently curved around the property on two sides.  Access to the parcel of land was from Clopper Road, which the Tottens also purchased.  Eventually, the railroad expanded from a single track to a double track and needed to cut off the road.  The Tottens and the railroad came to a compromise, each paying half the cost of a bridge that went over the track and the railroad agreed to maintain the bridge in perpetuity.

Enoch Totten did well for himself, as he was a prominent lawyer in DC and was a Civil War Veteran…he even managed to survive being shot four times at the Battle of Spotslyvania Court House…in fact, one of these shots may have been his own fault as a projectile bounced off of his sabre and hit his right hand.  Regardless of this strange mishap and his career as a lawyer – the capital for the construction of Winderbourne mansion came from his wife, Mary.

Mary was the daughter of a Wisconsin senator named Timothy Howe who was the cousin and heir to the massive fortune of Elias Howe, the inventor of the Bobbin-Winder.  This device is what inevitably inspired the name of Winderbourne.

When Winderbourne was completed it was painted a pale pink with dark rose trim and shutters of a deep plum – a vibrant contrast to its current pallid, moss-covered facade.  It’s architecture was unique, sporting a trian