the Careys are looking for proof of the damage done to the house and photos such as these might help. An example might be a stained glass window that is no longer in as good a condition as in these photos.
I don't know if any of my photos actually show areas/things that have since been damaged. But I'll check when I get a chance.
It's a shame that the Careys and/or their lawyer didn't think to put something like a compensation for damages clause in their lease agreement contract with Salve. But live and learn...
I think it used to be boarded up (Greg's linked article has been around for some time) as the first time we had access to the tower room I remember being unable to get inside. There was a small slit in the door (or whatever) and we tried to peer inside but couldn't see too much. This creeped us out a bit and our imaginations filled the tower room with all sorts of horrors!
And maybe at one time the entrance to the tower room was boarded up, but if so, it hasn't been like for quite some time. I remember being in that part of the house on at least two occasions that were at least a few years before that Web site was put up. The first time the door to the room was padlocked, but a lot of the stuff inside (ladders, folding tables, folding chairs, etc.) was visible through the slit in the door that you refer to - though the slit was about a half an inch wide that day. But a few years later I was there when some workmen were doing some repairs to some of the third floor's rooms, and the door was wide open. That's when I got a good look around. Though there wasn't much to see (except those ladders, folding tables, folding chairs, etc.). Nothing even worth taking any photos of.
I remember the person there in charge of the mansion for the college said students claim to hear strange noises coming from the room.
Perhaps it was just things settling (like the ladders, folding tables, folding chairs, etc).
And if there was anything to those stories about the room being haunted, maybe they held an exorcism before they remodled because I doubt Salve would have stuck students in a room that was potentially unsafe for them to stay in. Although, maybe that's the room they put the troublemakers to get rid of them.
That being said, though, there are definitely strange sounds in the house. Back in August of '99 I was there completely alone for quite a few hours (it's a long story not worth going into) and I heard what sounded like furniture being moved around or something being dragged along the floor in the hall above and around the foyer. As he was leaving the building for the day, the head of Salve's music department specifically told me that I was going to be the only person left there and that no students would be moving in yet (so I was to make sure that I locked the door if I decided to leave - I was waiting for some friends to arrive). Curiosity got the better of me, so I went up to the second floor to look around and even called out a few times - but no one was there - and there wasn't a sound from anywhere in the house while I was up there. So, I went back downstairs. Who knows what had been going on?
While we haven't discussed going down to the basement, we are possibly going to explore the three attics!
Hmmm - that might be interesting. It would be really interesting if there were still things stored up there from the time that the house was the Bradley's private residence. Unfortunately back in the '40s their daughter had to sell off everything at auction to pay back taxes - but maybe something remains. Let's just hope the only things up there aren't desks and black boards from when the house has been used as a school.