That feature doesn’t function anymore, so don’t get too hopeful if you’re thirsty on the tour. Then voila, a drink would be sent up to you. A fun feature of the wishing well is that you could drop a bucket attached to a rope and it would land exactly at the bar on the ground floor. Hanging out in the second-floor courtyard but too lazy to go downstairs for a drink? Well, you could wish for one. The home has a guest space called the Saguaro Room, a kitchen and a courtyard with a wishing well. Seating areas, desks and storage spaces follow the contours of the building and are built out of the walls or built from stone and other recycled materials like wagon wheels and old window panes. Gulley wasn’t an architect by profession, but his ingenuity can be seen in the very walls of the structure. One notable stone fireplace on the second floor keeps the living room warm as well as the master bedroom behind it. The Mystery Castle has 18 rooms and 13 fireplaces. With rooms on multiple levels and different types of decor in each room, it’s not difficult to see how the castle must have been a dream playground for a child, or an adult for that matter. More: Phoenix police department seeks info after Mystery Castle vandalized No two rooms look the same

The castle caught the attention of Life magazine and on Jan. 26, 1948, the popular national publication ran a story titled, 'Life visits a mystery castle: a young girl rules over the strange secrets of a fairy tale house built on the Arizona desert.'įrances died in 1970 Mary Lou continued to give tours to curious visitors from all over the world until she died in 2010.

Mystery house phoenix