Teackle Mansion

A grand Neoclassical mansion built in 1802, haunted by the ghost of Elizabeth Teackle who walks the second-story windows at night in a long white dress.

Littleton Dennis Teackle, a prosperous merchant who traded local grain for Caribbean goods and served as president of the Bank of Somerset, began constructing this magnificent Neoclassical mansion in 1802. The 10,000-square-foot structure took seventeen years to complete, finally finished in 1819. Teackle had visited Scotland before building and modeled the five-part Federal manor after Scottish aristocratic estates he admired. His wife Elizabeth Upshur Teackle, whom he married in 1800, was integral to the home design — in letters to her sister, she called it "the house of her dreams." Elizabeth managed the estate operations including extensive gardens, outbuildings, a gatehouse, and household staff.

Tragedy and financial ruin would devastate the family. Elizabeth wrote to her sister in 1800 that Somerset was "the most unhealthy place I ever lived in," describing constant illness and death from bilious fever. Littleton embarked on entrepreneurial ventures — shipbuilding, Navy contracts, banking — most of which failed, putting the family at the mercy of creditors. By 1808, he sold Elizabeth's inherited Virginia property; by 1812, they temporarily lost title to their beloved mansion. Littleton died in 1850, and just two years later the estate was divided: the main block and south wing sold to Robert Dashiell, the north wing to Francis Barnes. Elizabeth, who died in 1836 after years of watching her dreams crumble, allegedly never left.

The ghost of Elizabeth Teackle is Princess Anne's most famous specter. Neighbors report seeing what appears to be a candle flame moving past second-floor windows at night. According to paranormal expert Mindie Burgoyne, "Sometimes she appears to be holding a candle or a flashlight because she's illuminated a little bit." The silhouette of a woman has been spotted standing motionless at the upper windows, gazing out over the town she once ruled as its most prominent resident.

One former tenant experienced Elizabeth directly. "He said he woke up in the middle of the night and a woman in a long white dress walked through his door and over to the window," Burgoyne recounts. "And he gathered his things and he left and he never came back." Police officers patrolling the neighborhood report similar encounters: "When they're patrolling sometimes they'll see what appears to be a figure in the window in that top second floor moving from left to right." Security alarms trigger constantly with no sign of intrusion.

Paranormal investigators have documented evidence at Teackle Mansion. Teams reported sudden temperature drops in specific sections, investigators felt an overwhelming spiritual presence, and all camera batteries inexplicably drained in the cold spots where Elizabeth is believed to linger. The mansion also harbors a secret — legends tell of tunnels running beneath the property to the nearby Manokin River, possibly connected to pre-Civil War activities.

George Alfred Townsend set his 1884 novel "The Entailed Hat" at Teackle Mansion, recognizing even then its atmospheric significance. Today the mansion serves as headquarters for the Somerset County Historical Society and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The Princess Anne Ghost Walk, which Mindie Burgoyne calls "our most disturbing tour," begins and ends at Teackle Mansion. As Burgoyne notes about Princess Anne: "It's home to wandering spirits of women who can't let go of the past." None embodies this more than Elizabeth Teackle, still pacing the halls of her dream home that financial ruin tore away.