Kips Castle our opener investigation and first one in the state of NJ. I read about this place it fascinated me whether I could get in or just visit the site its amazing how many tales are told about the place. The castle sitting on 11 acres atop of Watchung Mountain some say you can see NYC from the top of it. It was to foggy so we could barely see the town below. The castle has 6 fireplaces, over 9000 square feet, and a 5,000 square foot carriage house. So the mansion is extremely large with its 30 rooms and was built in the later 1800s by Frederick Kip some say 1902 to be more precise. With its Rhineland Architecture one could sit back and envision someone in an antique car heading to the castle from Manhattan as a storm is brewing it just is that sort of place. Big castle on a hill spooky as hell and full of urban legends.

Also the castle is not to far from the large condominium of former Senator and New York Knick lives Bill Bradley.  Over the years many different sorts of people lived within the castle hippies, cultist. squatters, wealthy individuals. But the one person that stands out most was when a cult moved in around the 1970s and early 1980s when the leader named Bhagwan Shri Rahneesh took control of it. Rumor has it had a house near the castle and a storefront business near this home. It almost seemed like they chose the castle cause of its seclusion.

The cultist wore bright red and orange clothing often looking like hippies of course that was common during that time period. Their were rumors of sex orgies and other strange things occurring on the castle grounds. Its hard to say most people who visited it during that time were often chased off by the cult.  Around that time he had 85 Rolls Royce's some of them graced the castles property. Eventually the cult moved onto Oregon along with his followers.

The sprinkled homegrown salmonella bacterial on supermarket produce, door handles, and restaurant Salad bars. Around 751 people become ill and were done to keep voters home during the local election in which a cult member was running for county judgeship. The prosecution of the leaders led to the breakup of the cult. Rahneesh was charged with immigration fraud as his cult tried to take control of the town of Antelope which they failed so he tried to hide up in NC where he was caught and brought back to Oregon for a deportation trial. Info is here...: http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/narratives/subtopic.cfm?subtopic_ID=414

I chose this place because it has alot of stories from other explorers about pentagrams on its floors, blood found, Haunting's, and other strange finds. The castle supposedly has  secret stairwells leading to a secret rooms  from what I heard. So it has a reputation for holding secrets from within.  Rumor has it that some of the secrets within have been sealed or removed. I also heard that a coffin is buried in a wall within one of the fireplaces which I also found odd. 

If you want to get into a more in depth history Frederic E. Kip was a wealthy textile manufacturer and inventor. The castle was built on the rugged ridge of First Mountain or what others called Watchung for his family. Its turrets, two foot thick stone walls and escutcheons reflected the family's European heritage. NYC was only 12 miles to east and most of northern Jersey could be viewed from the castles location. 

In 1926 Kip sold his castle after his wife died he lost his will to fix up the castle. The castle did change hands a few times after till the Indian Guru cult leader purchased it.  Recently the Schwartz Tobia  purchased the mansion and now uses it for offices. It appears the renovation is not complete. Some of the land around the castle might be the home of some new condos being built. 

The stone gates, serpentine drives, gardens and retaining walls along the ridge give it that Norman Castle replica feeling. The castle made out of sandstone and local trap rock has a large stone veranda, roof supported by round sandstone pillars, interior old English quarter sawn oak woodwork, tall stained glass windows and a master bedroom with eight large windows facing towards NYC. 

During the revolutionary War George Washington and his Continental Army used this site as a look out to observe British troops so once again their is more to the site then just the castle itself. 

It was a wonderful first investigation even during the day the place has some level of intensity. I could hear a drill going on inside so it was obvious that work is still being done inside since over the years the inside of the castle suffered numerous amounts of vandalism and strange ritual abuse.

© By

Lord Rick