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 CellarDweller
    
Location: Rochester, NY - South Wedge
Gender: Male
 |  |  |  | Kidd's Castle?
< on 3/6/2007 1:40 AM >
|  | | | I've been trying to find some information on a legendary old site from my hometown of Rochester, NY. Back in '94 or so, when i was a young shaver in high school, a friend of mine told me about an abandoned, and rather gutted mansion he visited with another friend. I believe he referred to it as Kidd's Castle, or perhaps Kid's Castle.
I recall him saying it was in either Penfield or perhaps Webster(though I'm not sure), and right by a YMCA. It had all the characteristics of a spooky mansion according to him; you had to get to it by going down a long, overgrown private lane; the inside was covered in Satanic graffiti; it had a decayed look, but had obviously been quite dapper in its heyday. According to his older friend accompanying him, there were tunnels in the basement, and satanic rituals were conducted there(though this almost certainly was the stuff of urban legend).
I had it built up in my imagination as some glorious haunted mansion dying to be explored, but as often happens when you're young, it faded from memory as something else grabs your attention(in that case, it was Mount Hope cemetery).
Anyone with info on this subject, please post and/or message me, as I'm dying to know more!
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EvilNick
  
Location: rochester new york
Gender: Male
It's only evil if they do it
| | | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 1 on 3/6/2007 1:52 AM >
| | | | You won't really find anything abandoned in penfield.
<SaraBellum> He's been super aggressive lately. He also peed on my bed and my mom's couch.
<seicer> damn :(
<EvilNick> SaraBellum: boyfriend problems? |
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nosignal
Location: Rochester NY
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 2 on 3/6/2007 4:10 AM >
| | | | Posted by EvilNick
You won't really find anything abandoned in penfield.
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There's one abandoned house that I know of...it has a Rochester mailing address but hey, still town of Penfield! hehe
The only place I can think of that (sorta) matches that description is this one -- long private drive, that's about it though. It was bulldozed around 2.5-3 years ago...they're building a new development on that and the adjacent lot at the moment.
Scroll around a bit on there and you can find the first house I mentioned too. 
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nhlurker
| | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 3 on 9/6/2007 11:59 PM >
| | | | I know what you are talking about. I was there back around 1992-1993. I want inside two times. It was located off of Bay Road in Webster behind a YMCA. What used to be the driveway out to it is now Kidd Castle Way. So it does make sense that the mansion would have been Kidd Castle.
It was definitely a spooky place! The building was pretty barren with just trash and beer cans scattered about. The approach was down an overgrown one lane trail that passed a carriage house on the right with like 4 stalls, and then the driveway ended like a cul-de-sac. From what I remember it was totally filled with graffiti and satanic artwork. I never had a flashlight, so I only went inside during the day. There were plenty of windows so it was easy to see except in the basement. I remember it was really dark down there that might be where your friend was talking about the tunnels. The only ritual we did in there was twisting up a fatty.
As I said I went inside two times about a year apart during the day and we were the only ones inside. I did go there prepared with flashlights one time at night. I was with 4 other people in my car. As we rounded the corner of the driveway we got the shit scared out of us by someone running out of the front door screaming and waving their arms. We just kept right on going back down the driveway as fast as we could. That was the last time I saw the mansion.
I went back there around 2002 and they were building the apartments and everything else. We were in a 4X4 truck so we went as far as we could go and we couldn’t find it and assumed it was gone.
I can imagine in its day that it must have been an amazing place. The landscape sloped down to Irondequoit Bay. When I was there it was totally overgrown with trees and shrubs, but back in the day it must have been an impressive view of the Bay.
I tried doing some research on it and I couldn’t find anything at all about it. I really wish I was smart enough to take some pictures back then!!!
I hope this helps jog some others memories about it. I would live to see some pictures of this amazing architecture
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CellarDweller
Location: Rochester, NY - South Wedge
Gender: Male
| | | | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 4 on 9/7/2007 8:24 PM >
| | | | You rock NHLurker! I've been mentioning this place to people for years and have gotten nothing but quizzical stares. I'm glad someone has been able to confirm this wasn't some figment of my imagination!
That's a wild story about the person running out of the house!
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CellarDweller
Location: Rochester, NY - South Wedge
Gender: Male
| | | | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 5 on 9/9/2007 11:39 PM >
| | | | I really would love to see some pics of this place. Any of you long-timers in the area have any?
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Kevix
| | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 6 on 2/2/2008 1:41 AM >
|  | | | Yes, I have been there too a bunch of times in both day and night and it was great. I heard that at some point it was donated by the occupants to the YMCA, who didn't do anything but let it sit there back in the woods. I first went there back around 1990 when I was a student at Penfield High School. Some kid on my bus was talking about one day it and showing me some pictures he had shot there for his photography class. I told a few of my friends about it, and some had heard about it but no one had had never been there. So a few friends and I drove up there after school one spring afternoon.
We were told that cops go up there sometimes, so we parked at the YMCA on Bay Street and walked up the driveway behind the parking lot. It was really creepy. There were some weird twisted trees lining the driveway which was falling apart. I think they were boysenberry trees or something. I'm pretty sure there was either an old overgrown tennis court or basketball court off to the side that I believe belonged to the house way back when. The driveway ran up to the front of the house. Like someone else wrote, there was a carriage house to the right as you looked at the house. The whole building (carriage house)had collapsed at some point. I don't remember if it was standing the first time I went there. I found out later that there was a tunnel that ran from the carriage house to the mansion.
The house itself was very big and creepy looking. It had 3 floors including a full attic. At some point there was a fire in the attic and about a third of the attic and roof was gutted from the flames. I don't know it that's why the people left or if it was started later by vandals.
A couple of friends and I ended up going to the house quite a few times over the years. We heard about satanic rituals but never witnessed any ourselves. There was tons of graffiti all over the house, some of it satanic in nature. Most of the walls were kicked in/smashed/graffitied. I remember in one of the upstairs bathrooms someone had smashed the medicine cabinet with an ax. You could tell by the cut in it that an ax was used. There was also a lot of red stuff splattered on the walls. Could have been blood. There was a trail in back of the house that led through the woods down to the bay. Every winter someone would board up the windows and doorways to keep people out, but they would always get ripped open
The basement was very creepy, and pitch black. It was huge and had a main hallway that ran the length of the house with rooms running off of it on both sides. I remember some basement rooms seemed to have crawl spaces the led behind the cinder block basement walls towards the back of the house. We never went back there because I was too chicken shit. I think maybe that's where the tunnels that people talked about may have been (which were not the same as the tunnel/hallway that led from the basement of the mansion to the basement of the carriage house.) The creepiest thing I remember is going down to the basement one night with my buddy Junior (with flash lights). It was after midnight on a weeknight in late November or early December, so we figured we were the only ones in the place. The house was completely still and dark and as we reached the bottom of the stairs we heard a very faint sound. We both froze and Junior whispered "Shhh" to me. We turned off our flash lights and held our breath, straining to hear what is was. Whatever it was, it was very faint and sounded like it was coming from the far end of the corridor, down at the other end of the house. It was like a steady wooshing type noise or something, very faint. Junior asked if I could hear it and I whispered back "Yeah...what the fuck IS that?" Of course Junior wanted to check it out, and I was about ready to shit myself. He convinced me to come with him, so we slowly crept down the corridor in the darkness. As we got closer it started to sound like water splashing onto pavement. About 25 feet from the end, I stopped and told Junior to go ahead and I would watch his back. At the end of the hallway was the where the furnace and water shutoff were. He got to the end and turned on his flash light and called me up there. I asked him what it was but he wouldn't tell me. When I got to the end he pointed towards what looked like a little closet type room. I poked my head in and saw that it was indeed running water. There was a spigot coming out of the basement wall, and someone had opened it. I couldn't figure out why the hell the house would still even have running water after being abandoned for so many years. It didn't make any sense. We were relieved that it was just water, but quite confused and creeped out. We left it running and left a bit later. We ended up going back in the middle of winter and the little room had all iced over on the floor and walls, and there was an icicle running out of the spigot down to the floor.
All the times I went there (around 10) I never brought a camera. I seem to remember someone bringing a camera or maybe even a camcorder out there one night. I don't talk to those guys anymore. I'm sure pictures exist somewhere. Someone should go to the Webster library and ask or get in touch with the town historian. Anyway, that's my story of Kidd's Castle. I hope someone has more. If so, someone email me at yahoo. My name there is kdoctober.
Oh I forgot to add that one night I drove down there and when I got to the house I was shocked to see that the entire house and been bulldozed to the ground. I was real pissed off and evem more sad about it. I felt like a friend just died. It sucked. Anyway the YMCA is till there and I'm not sure what's back there now, probably a parking lot or something. The street that runs back there is called Kidd's Castle Way (or Kidd Castle Way). Here's a pic I found on live search. The YMCA is in the lower right of the picture. None of those other buildings were there. The road running along the YMCA is where the old driveway was, but it's been redone. The house was right there at the end of the new road. Heres a pic I put on imageshack
http://img82.image...32/59509062ip7.jpg
[last edit 2/2/2008 9:02 PM by Kevix - edited 5 times]
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CellarDweller
Location: Rochester, NY - South Wedge
Gender: Male
| | | | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 7 on 2/4/2008 11:32 PM >
| | | | another awesome story about this fascinating location! Anyone out there have any pictures?
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Hemiman
| | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 8 on 6/10/2008 8:52 PM >
| | | | I know that house very well. It was built by the Kidd family in the late 30's. The architect was Bryant Flemming, (more famous for landscape). It was one of three Fleming homes in Rochester. The two others still stand.
I used to play there at the YMCA when I was a kid in the late 60's early 70's. Shamefull that the YMCA let it go to pot. Worse still, they sold it to some very shady developers who got rid of it by means of "demolition through neglect".
Last time I saw it was the early 90's about a week before it was demolished.
Sad, sad, sad........
I've been in touch with the Kidd family trying to get photos of the inside, (all of my photos are of the exterior). Most of the Kidd's photos were lost in a fire, but they're looking to send me copies of what remains.
I found the blueprints for that house and sent a copy to the Kidds.
That was an amazing house, I have great memories of exploring every square inch as a youth!
[last edit 6/10/2008 11:11 PM by Hemiman - edited 1 times]
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Kevix
| | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 9 on 6/11/2008 9:08 PM >
| | | | Nice post, Hemiman. Obviously you have a lot of info about the place. Tell us more, please Photos? Please post them. This place gnaws at my dreams sometimes... I'm sure we would all appreciate any more light you can shed and thanks for all your info thus far!
-K
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Debi
Location: Worcester County, MA
Gender: Female
| | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 10 on 6/12/2008 3:25 PM >
| | | |
Interesting thread; great stories. I too, would love to see any photos of this place.
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Hemiman
| | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 11 on 6/24/2008 2:32 AM >
| | | | I'd like to post some photos but they're way to small when I resize them. What's with the 100K limit? If anyone knows how I can post them any bigger, please let me know.
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CellarDweller
Location: Rochester, NY - South Wedge
Gender: Male
| | | | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 12 on 6/24/2008 11:24 PM >
| | | | Please do post those pics, I'm dying to see them, even if they're resized.
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Wiccan
  
Location: Hamilton Ontario
Gender: Female
| | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 13 on 6/24/2008 11:38 PM >
| | | | Posted by Hemiman
I'd like to post some photos but they're way to small when I resize them. What's with the 100K limit? If anyone knows how I can post them any bigger, please let me know.
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If you put them on photobucket or such and use the image tags,you could post them that way.
Interesting story,I'd love to see them too!
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Wiccan
Location: Hamilton Ontario
Gender: Female
| | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 15 on 6/27/2008 1:23 PM >
| | | | Looks awesome,thanks for sharing!
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PorkChopExpress
Location: Pled's Pig Farm, Virginia
Gender: Male
Stand Up Philosopher
| | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 16 on 6/27/2008 8:53 PM >
| | | | Absolutely incredible place!
"Deep in the human psyche there lies the need to believe in something fantastic, something powerful, something unknown."
"Touch what you cannot solve, and return to me. I'll give you hints, and I'll give you three..." Zork Nemesis "I eat asbestos and piss PCBs." |
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Kevix
| | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 17 on 7/2/2008 12:58 AM >
| | | | Oh my God, Hemiman! That's it! I'm speachless. It's beautiful. So nice to see it before it fell apart. Thank you so much. By all means, post more if you can.
-KD
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trent
I'm Trent! Get Bent!
Location: Drainwhale hunting
Gender: Male
Not on UER anymore.
| | | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 18 on 7/2/2008 1:11 AM >
| | | | Wow what an awesome place. I live off of Bay road too. That really sucks that place is gone now or I'd be going there tomorrow.
Nice thread all.
He who rules the underground, rules the city above.
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topwire
| | Re: Kidd's Castle?
<Reply # 19 on 7/19/2008 2:59 PM >
| | | | Very interesting thread. Thanks for the pictures, Hemiman.
I remember the house, but I was still young when it was demolished, and I never went inside. I used to go to daycare nearby, and would hear stories about it. I'd still be interested in seeing the blueprints, if that's possible.
My grandfather grew up on Bay Road, just north of this house. I have a map of his of Penfield from 1941 that shows the house, along with what must have been the carriage house to its right. The land was owned by J. Howard and Elizabeth L. Kidd.
I looked those names up on Google, hoping to learn more about the house, but came up short. All I found was an announcement in the New York Times that James Howard Kidd Jr. and Elizabeth Hamilton Lyon were married in 1922. Elizabeth was born in 1898, the first of the three daughters of Edmund Lyon, an investor and philanthropist for whom a park is named in East Rochester.
I did find a paragraphs about the house on an ancestry site, but it doesn't really reveal any more than what Hemiman said above:
"Nearby was Kidd's Castle, a large stone mansion with property that ran from Bay Road to the bay shore. The mansion was turned into a small YMCA where, in the mid 60's, teen dances were held on Saturday nights. Lots of fun was had there and kids from East Irondquoit and Webster would get together for dancing and pizza. In the 70's the Y developed the land and built a more extensive facility which still stands today."
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