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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mark" data-source="post: 158075" data-attributes="member: 5">Missed the show, so I'll have to catch it the next time around.  It does remind of a few things... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />While visiting a friend in the MA area, I had the chance to go to the House of Seven Gables.  Here's a Tourist Site description..."One of the most fascinating of Salem's many attractions, one worth making the trip for alone, is the House of Seven Gables, New England's oldest mansion. Built in 1668 for John Turner III, a sea captain, it provides an extraordinary link to Colonial times. After 100 years in the Turner family, it was acquired by the Ingersoll family, relatives of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Walking through its interesting configuration of rooms, up a secret passage to an attic, you can imagine how it inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne, when he would visit his cousin Susan Ingersoll, in the 1800s. Hawthorne, who changed the spelling of his name out of shame for his great grandfather, Jonathan Hathorne, the hanging judge of the Witch Trials, used the house as a link to that time. The guided tour is very engaging, and the mansion is phenomenal. (In October, the book is reenacted and there are candlelight tours.)"While I was there I walked through the secret passage and tried to sneak a photo, though it didn't turn out.Another bizarre attraction that is rumored to have "secret passages" in Wisconsin is <a href="http://www.thehouseontherock.com/the_attraction.htm" target="_blank">"The Hose on the Rock"</a>  I visited there when I was much younger and was fascinated by this sprawling example of architecture.  "Designed and built by Alex Jordan of Madison, WI, the House is an architectural marvel perched on a 60-foot chimney of rock. Begun in the early 1940's, it overlooks the breathtaking panorama of the  Wyoming Valley. The 14 - room House, which is sculpted atop Deer Shelter Rock, is the original structure of what is now an extraordinary complex of  rooms, streets, buildings and gardens covering over 200 acres. A 375-foot ramp through treetops takes visitors to the entrance of the House where a bell  gallery, waterfalls, massive fireplaces and walls of rock can be seen. Furnishings include Oriental art, stained glass lamps, bronze statuary and a three-story bookcase filled with rare books. The 14th room was added in 1985 and proves to be the most spectacular, the INFINITY  ROOM. This unique room with walls of glass, projects out 218 feet over the Wyoming Valley. A glass cocktail table provides visitors with a breathtaking view of the forest floor  156 feet below. With 3264 windows there's no doubt about it, there truly is no other room like it in the world!"There are also a few turn of the century (1901 approx) mansions on Grand Ave in Waukegan, one of which I've been told was owned by Vincient Price's mother and another by Peter Lorre.  One of these buldings was purchased, while in rather run down condition, by a friend of mine who renovated the rambling structure.  He was taking the huge place and dividing it into about eight, oddly configured and very eclectic apartments.  When it was about half-way to where he wished it to finally be, it was also about the time I was looking for my first home away from my family.  Several secret nooks, and a full hidden room, were discovered during that reconstruction...and a few new ones were added to the lower part of the mansion where my buddy has maintained his own home.  Very fun to see all of that as the old ones were found and the new ones were built.</blockquote>

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