In 1968, the German Socialist Party sold the property to the Romano family, and it wasn’t long before the new tenants encountered the old mansion’s dark energy. The Romanos heard ghostly footsteps, organ music, and disembodied voices. On the very day they moved in, the children claimed to have seen a young girl crying upstairs. Soon thereafter, the family reportedly consulted a Catholic priest in an effort to get an exorcism. While the priest declined to perform a religious cleansing, he warned them that there was a “bad presence” in the house and that they should get out.

With such a grisly past, it’s no wonder that many believe Leap Castle is swarming with ghosts. One of the castle’s eerier spirits is known as the Elemental, a mysterious figure with a decomposing face and a putrid stench. Mildred Darby, who married into the Darby clan in the late-1800s, came face to face with the Elemental numerous times while living at Leap. A gothic horror writer who often featured the castle in her work, Mrs. Darby was also fascinated by the occult. She conducted multiple séances in the castle’s corridors, and some believe that her communications with the other side is what awoke the Elemental.