Magic and Mystery

Tonight we attended the last of four shows that the RV Resort puts on for the residents.  We bought the 4-show package and have really enjoyed the impersonators singing the Jersey Boys and Beatles songs.  This show was the Magic of Manilow (Barry) and we knew a few songs.  I didn't realize how many songs he wrote and sang.  Anyone that can sing and write can perform "magic" in my opinion.  

This morning we met long-time friends, Lynn and Kathy, at the Mystery Castle in Phoenix (photos on my Facebook account as I only had my cell phone).  Here's where I felt the magic of this place.  Here's some info about the place before I go further.



 It was built in the 1930s by Boyce Luther Gulley for his daughter Mary Lou Gulley. After learning he had tuberculosis, Gulley moved from Seattle to the Phoenix area and began building the house from found or inexpensive materials. Boyce Gulley died in 1945, and Mary Lou and her mother were notified by attorney that they had inherited the property. Shortly after, the mother and daughter moved in.

Said to be held together by a combination of mortar, cement, calcium, and goat milk, the sprawling 18-room, three story castle is built from a wide range of materials — stone, adobe, automobile parts, salvaged rail tracks from a mine, telephone poles, etc. It features a chapel, cantina, and a dungeon. Parts of the castle remain unfinished, and electricity and plumbing weren't added until 1992. As the housing boom progressed in Phoenix, new development encroached close to the castle and its grounds, making it far less isolated.

It took Mr. Gulley 15 years to built the castle, at that time he was estranged from his wife and daughter due to tuberculosis and who knows why...pride?  He left his family suddenly and didn't tell them where he was and didn't answer their letters.  Weird, eccentric...what a mystery of a man! 

Regardless, his house was magical place of nooks and crannies, levels and features.  I saw some petroglyphs that he absconded.  Precious rocks in the walls, that added to to the beauty of the rustic features.  There was a Saguaro cactus that he built a guest room around and now that it's died, it's been made into a Christmas "tree."  I think a person would have to visit this place many times to see all the unique, quirky, funky things about this Mystery Castle.  I guess that's why I felt magic in this place.  It was a house built for a little girl (his daughter) who believed in magic.  I guess I'm a little girl at heart, too!