A 32-room Proctor mansion locals nicknamed 'Johnson's Folly,' now open for daily and paranormal tours
2970 West St, Proctor, VT 05765
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages (daytime tours); evening paranormal events skew older
Cost
$$
Admission charged for guided tours; paranormal and candlelight tours priced higher; see website
Access
Limited Access
Multi-story 19th-century mansion with staircases; grounds on a hillside estate
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1885 · Gilded Age estate in Vermont's marble belt · Early AM radio history (Herbert Lee Wilson) · Long-running historic-house tour operation
Wilson Castle was built in 1885 by Dr. John Johnson, a Vermont-born physician, and his English wife, on a 115-acre estate in Proctor in the marble belt of Rutland County. Construction took roughly eight years and ran to an enormous sum for the period. The 32-room house combines several nineteenth-century styles and was faced with English brick and French marble, with dozens of stained-glass windows, proscenium arches and two turrets.
The Johnsons' fortune did not last. After his wife's death and a string of financial troubles, Dr. Johnson could no longer cover the taxes and upkeep, the estate slipped out of the family's hands, and Proctor residents began calling the place 'Johnson's Folly.' The property changed ownership several times between the 1880s and the late 1930s.
In 1939 Herbert Lee Wilson, an early figure in AM radio engineering, bought the estate and set up a radio operation in the former stable. The Wilson family opened the mansion to the public in the early 1960s, and it has operated as a tour house ever since. Today the castle runs daytime guided tours during its season and markets evening paranormal and candlelight tours that lean on the building's haunted reputation. It remains one of the most-visited historic houses in the Rutland area.
Sources
The castle has built a steady paranormal reputation across newspaper features, tour reviews and investigator accounts. Visitors describe figures glimpsed on the stairs and in upper rooms, voices with no source, and the occasional sense of being watched while moving through the mansion's many chambers. A recurring story centers on the billiard room, where people report hearing the click of balls when no game is being played, sometimes paired with the smell of cigar smoke.
The castle leans into this reputation, offering seasonal paranormal and candlelight tours and inviting guests to ask guides for the stories. Coverage in regional newspapers has documented the haunted programming and the experiences guests describe, while paranormal groups have used the building for investigations. As with most tour-house hauntings, the accounts are anecdotal and the building's draw rests as much on its sheer Gilded Age strangeness as on any single confirmed event.
A guided walk through the 32-room mansion built in 1885 of English brick and imported marble, with stained glass, hand-painted ceilings and period furnishings. Guides cover the Johnson family who built it, the Wilson family who bought it in 1939, and, on request, the paranormal stories visitors ask about.
Seasonal after-dark tours led by castle staff, focused on the building's haunted reputation. The castle markets these as paranormal and candlelight experiences during its operating season.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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