HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Late-1890s Romanesque Revival mansion built for Ambassador Edwin Holland Terrell, who died at the property in 1910; now a bed-and-breakfast where guests report apparitions, cold spots, and unexplained sounds.
950 E Grayson St, San Antonio, TX 78208
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Overnight B&B rates; check the venue website for current room pricing.
Access
Limited Access
Multi-story Victorian mansion with original staircases; not ADA-accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1894 · Ambassador Edwin Holland Terrell Residence · Romanesque Revival Architecture · San Antonio Historic Landmark · U.S. Minister to Belgium (1889–1893)
Edwin Holland Terrell built his Grayson Street mansion in the late 1890s after returning from his appointment as U.S. Minister to Belgium, a post he held from 1889 to 1893 under President Benjamin Harrison. Terrell was a prominent San Antonio attorney and political figure, and the Romanesque Revival structure he commissioned reflected his standing. The building's distinctive architectural character — heavy stone, arched windows, and a tower element — set it apart from the residential fabric of the surrounding neighborhood.
Terrell died at the property in 1910. The circumstances of his death, as documented in local historical and paranormal accounts, involved a self-inflicted wound. Ghost City Tours and the San Antonio Current describe the death in the context of serious illness, noting Terrell had contracted syphilis. He survived the wound briefly before dying at the property. The staircase and master bedroom where these events occurred remain features of the structure.
Following Terrell's death, the mansion passed through several owners. During World War II, the building was subdivided into multiple apartment units — a common fate for large residential properties during the housing pressure of the 1940s. Local accounts describe a domestic killing during the apartment era involving a returning soldier, though the details and corroboration of this incident are limited to regional paranormal documentation rather than independently verifiable records.
The property was eventually consolidated and restored, and it now operates as Terrell Castle Bed and Breakfast, one of San Antonio's historic lodging options. It is included in ghost-tour itineraries and regional paranormal travel guides.
Sources
Terrell Castle's paranormal reputation draws on two distinct historical events: the death of Ambassador Edwin Holland Terrell at the property in 1910, and — according to local accounts that lack independent documentation — a domestic killing during the building's apartment-era use in the 1940s.
The more consistently reported phenomena center on the staircase and the rooms associated with Terrell's occupancy. Guests describe apparitions in period dress observed on or near the main staircase, cold spots that settle without explanation in the former master bedroom, and sounds — footsteps, rustling, indistinct voices — that have no verifiable source in an otherwise quiet building.
Ghost City Tours, which includes Terrell Castle in its San Antonio itinerary, has compiled accounts from multiple guests over years of operation. The apparition most often described is a male figure in late-nineteenth-century dress, which guides and investigators attribute to Terrell. The San Antonio Current included the property in its survey of the city's most active paranormal sites, corroborating the pattern of reported experiences without endorsing the supernatural interpretation.
The apartment-era killing — said to involve a returning WWII soldier and a domestic dispute — is mentioned in regional paranormal accounts as a potential source of additional unrest in the building. This incident appears only in paranormal documentation and has not been corroborated in San Antonio newspaper archives or public records available through standard research channels; it is presented here as local tradition rather than verified history.
Notable Entities
Terrell Castle operates as a bed-and-breakfast with rooms in the original 1890s Romanesque Revival structure. The building's documented history of violent deaths and its decades as a subdivided apartment complex have generated persistent paranormal reports from guests, particularly near the main staircase and former master bedroom.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Fernandina Beach, FL
The Williams House was completed in 1856 by a wealthy Boston banker and purchased that same year by Marcellus A. Williams, a North Carolina-born merchant who became a prominent Fernandina Beach figure. The mansion was designed by New York architect Robert Sands Schuyler, who stipulated the gingerbread veranda design would never be duplicated. Jefferson Davis visited during the Civil War, and Williams later used the property as an Underground Railroad safe house, hiding freedom-seekers in a concealed room near the dining room.
Monticello, IL
Allerton Mansion is a 40-room Georgian Revival country house completed in 1900 on the central Illinois prairie. Designed by Philadelphia architect John Borie for Robert Allerton, heir to a Chicago banking and stockyard fortune, the 5,500-acre estate was deeded to the University of Illinois in 1946 and now operates as a public park and retreat center.
Sacramento, CA
Vizcaya Sacramento occupies the former Driver mansion, a Queen Anne-period white colonial-revival house with Victorian tower and columned entrance built circa 1899 in Midtown Sacramento for attorney Philip Driver. The property operates today as a full-service wedding and event venue with an eight-room bed and breakfast, with the mansion and adjoining pavilion.