Built By The Devil, America’s Most Haunted House
There is an old mansion in Pittsburgh, America that have been forgotten. A location lost to history, but the stories that originated from the events that took place in Congelier Mansion will never die.
When you think of the most haunted houses around the world, instantly certain places spring to mind like ; The Amytivalle Horror House, or the Exorcist House maybe the Enfield Poltergeist house in the UK. That’s all because of the storm of media attention these places have attracted over the years. With their own movies, documentaries etc…. The former residents are practically celebrities . But what happens to the locations that have terrified resident after resident, terrified them to a point that they refused to remember. This is Congelier Mansion and this is one of the most brutally haunted locations on the planet.
The Congelier Origin
Congelier Mansion was built on 1129 Ridge Ave during the 1960’s, in Pittsburgh’s Northside. Charles Congelier was the man who built his dream mansion, he lived there with his wife Lyda and their maid Essie. Charles has made his fortune as a direct result of the Civil War and settled in Pittsburgh, which at the time was a booming industrial industry, ” happy families ” did not last long…
Lyda found her husband in bed with Essie the maid. She calmly walked to the kitchen picked up two knives, went back into the bedroom and slaughtered her unfaithful husband and his lover. She was found three days later sitting in an armchair in the parlor with her husband’s severed head on her lap.
Industrial Pittsburgh in the 1800’s.
Dr. Adolph C, Brunrichter
After the murders the house lay abandoned for many years. The neighbors, however, called the police a lot of times during those years, because they thought they saw or heard vagrants moving around in the house, the police never found anyone there and the house would still be locked.
In 1892 the house was purchased by a railroad company, who had planned to turn it into housing for their staff. That was short lived. After several workers refused to stay because of strange noises and seeing something in the house, the company put it up for sale and it lay, once again abandoned until the 1900’s.
Then the mad Doctor, Adolph C Brunrichter bought the house. He was known for being strange and elusive, he rarely left his home. The house remained resolute and silent, nobody knew what he was up to, or if she was just a quiet man..
On August 12th, 1901 the neighbors called the police after they heard a women’s scream and saw the lights flickering in the house. The police arrived to find the decapitated corpse of a young lady, and the doctor had vanished…
But that was nothing compared to what the police found next. They discovered a hidden laboratory in the basement with even more body parts and even more human heads. Turns out he was trying to keep the severed heads alive…
The doctor disappeared, for over 30 years. Then a strange man in New york was drunk and he claimed to have conducted strange experiments in Pittsburgh. Police actually released him and deemed him drunk, but harmless. He was never heard from again…
A Place for Ghosts
Throughout the mansion’s evil rise, which only seemed to increase with each new tenant, the house became a kind of home for ghosts. It became quite famous in the local area for ghost busting enthusiasts, even Thomas Edison had investigated the building at one point.The investigators or daring visitors all had strange accounts in the house, but they agreed on one thing more than any other, this house is home to something evil…
It lay dormant again for many years until it as finally purchased by the Equitable Gas Company, to be converted, once again in living quarters for their workers. The house by this period, however, was a completely different animal. Workers reported the usual activity, such as ; the bumps and bangs, strange voices, inexplicable lights, etc… It was kind of liveable until two builders were found dead in the basement…
The company moved the men out of the building quickly and stayed in the area until November 1927, when a gas explosion killed 27 people and injured over 500. The house itself was wiped out. The police never found any signs of harm on the bodies of the two men found in the basement, like they just dropped dead, also, there was no cause found for the explosion…
Ever since the house was demolished, people have been reported strange and disturbing events in the surround homes and area. Some even went as far to say and they had seen or been visited by the devil himself, which earned this location of the nickname of ” The House The Devil Built”.