In 1909, businessman Chester Congdon constructed an impressive red brick structure along the shores of Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota. He was a Lawyer, politician, and Investor in many endeavors, including the railroad. He and his wife, Clara, lived a very happy life with their large family of four sons and three daughters.
Glensheen, now owned and operated by the University of Minnesota Duluth, is a fascinating destination if you are a first-timer to Minnesota! It is rich in history to the north shore area and a must-see if you like a good murder story.
Elisabeth Congden, Clara and Chester’s youngest daughter, never married. You would say she was probably a bit of an independent woman. As the last living member of the Congdon family, she inherited the estate. She adopted two daughters, Marjorie and Jennifer, to raise on her own.
Marjorie was a bit of a wild child. She was even labeled “troubled” and “sociopath” during a stay at a clinic in Kansas as a teenager. Unfortunately, Elisabeth, fearing the publicity, did nothing about it. As Marjorie grew up, she married and had seven children. Her first husband divorced her after twenty years of marriage. She was suspected of setting fire to her first house but was never convicted. Marjorie then married Roger Caldwell in 1976. At this point, They were desperate for money and swimming in debt.
On June 26, 1977, Roger Caldwell got on a plane to Minneapolis from Denver, where they lived at the time, and drove to Duluth with a rental car, smothered Elisabeth Congdon in her sleep with a satin pillow. As he was leaving, he ran into the nurse, Velma Pietila, who he then bludgeoned on the stairway with a brass candlestick.
Roger took Velma’s car to the airport and flew back to Denver. There was evidence recovered in his hotel room of foul play, plus when he returned from Duluth, Marjorie tried to poison him and get him out of the picture, too!
He survived the poisoning and was handed over to the Duluth police on July 7, 1977. The crazy part about this is Marjorie was tried and acquitted of the crime! Unfortunately, in the 1970s, criminal investigations were not as they are today.
Here is another eerie story. Another death occurred on the same day, but way before the Congdons even lived on the land.
In 1880, Urs and Elizabeth Tischer bought farmland in the same spot where the Congdon Masion resides today. Their son, John, got a license for a big beer garden event to welcome people to the farm on June 27th, 1880.
As the event got more intoxicatingly rowdy, a fight broke out between St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Official James Brennan and another man. As Brennan’s brother, Edward, tried to break up the fight, another man, Herman Oppel, became involved, striking Edward behind the ear with a loaded cane—a walking stick with a head made of lead. Brennan collapsed, and three minutes later, he died. How ironic that it was the same date as Elisabeth and Velma’s deaths 97 years earlier.
It is rumored that Glensheen's attic is haunted. Some guests and workers have reported seeing “shadowy” figures and feeling cold chills sometimes run through them. I have been to Glensheen Mansion many times over the years, and I have felt deep sadness come over me in certain rooms in the house. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were haunted.
I wouldn’t visit just for that reason, though. I would visit because of the beauty and history of this magnificent family. They gave a lot to their community through various organizations and traveled the world, which is evident in how the house was designed and decorated.
One of the best rooms on the tour is the breakfast room. It is made out of green tile. The windows are designed with acorns and oak tree stain glass. It is simply gorgeous.
The carriage house, with its white subway tiles everywhere and 5-panel doors, is simply classy. It brings you back to a simpler time.
As you walk the grounds, you imagine the lives of the early 1900s and what they were like: no electronics, a slower pace, and not knowing every moment of every catastrophe in the world.
How nice that would be. The simplicity of that quiet must have been the joy they had just being together, all those siblings in this house. They played billiards and listened to someone play the piano for entertainment. They read books and sat by the creek. They listened to the waves of the lake crash. They were content with life.
Whether there are ghosts or not, it’s a great place to visit. They have specialty tours: a Flashlight Tour (October), a Candlelight Christmas Tour, a Nooks and Cranies Tour, a Servants Tour, a Grounds Tour, a Kayak Tour, and a Full Mansion Tour. I highly recommend trying them all if you haven’t and live in the area. You won’t be disappointed, and you’ll see different things every time!
Until our Next Adventure,
Lizzie ❤️