Woodstone Mansion (also Woodstone Estate and Woodstone Manor) is a countryside estate that Sam and Jay inherit from her great aunt Sophia Woodstone. It is haunted by several ghosts who have died on its grounds over the centuries. In the Pilot, Sam says that the house has been in the family for the last six generations.
History[]
The site of Woodstone Estate has been inhabited since the 1000s at least.
Thorfinn was the first known Viking who lived on property, after the rest of his Viking crew deserted him. He died of a lightning strike in 1007 C.E, as such, Thor discovered he could manipulate electricity at Woodstone Mansion once it was invented. From 1000 to 1500 C.E., Thor lived as ghost on the land. Thor's son, Bjorn, came looking for him during this time. Bjorn ultimately died just a few hundred yards away, where the Farnsby family eventually made their home.
Over the centuries it was occupied by a Lenape camp.[2] A Lenape storyteller named Sasappis lived on the property in the early 1500s. During Sasappis' life, a Lenape woman named Shiki lived in the area. A tree on the property also had historical significance to Sasappis, although it was cut down in modern times. When Sasappis was alive in the 1500s, he would mark the tree whenever Shiki talked to him. Following Sasappis' death, he and Thor were the only known spirits on the property.
During the Revolutionary War era, several soldiers joined the property. Nigel Chessum, a British soldier, became a ghost on the property after Isaac Higgintoot, an American soldier, accidentally shot him with a musket he had outfitted with a spyglass for more extended range. Isaac was using the musket's scope to gaze at Nigel when he sneezed and pulled the trigger by accident.
A few weeks later, after negotiating the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga, Isaac died of dysentery and joined Nigel, Sasappis, and Thor as a ghost on the property. Two other British soldiers, Jenkins and Baxter, perished from the war on the property and joined the group during this time. The British soldiers, Nigel, Baxter, and Jenkins, settled in a shed on the property.
During New York Cholera Epidemic of 1832 many people died of cholera on the property. The cholera ghosts were all people that were infected with cholera and placed in a pest house on the site Woodstone Mansion was later built on. They were told that they would stay here to be treated only for to be locked inside and trapped. They either starved, died of the illness, suffocated, or a combination of the three and became ghosts trapped in the basement. Later pest house was burned with them inside. Right after they died, they either were buried in a cemetery or disposed in a waste pond due to being in a pest house. They haunted the land and subsequent settlements alongside Sass, Thorfinn, and Isaac due to them being older ghosts until Woodstone Mansion was eventually constructed directly over their cholera pit.
The Woodstone family bought the property in the 1830s. The mansion itself was built in the 1850s at the latest. Hetty Woodstone (1850[3]-1895[4]) lived in it when she was a child.[5] She was given ownership of the house by her father, Samuel Woodstone, after her marriage to her cousin Elias Woodstone sometime after 1875.[3] The Woodstones were robber barons who owned textile mills and factories and exploited their workers.
Woodstone was wired for electricity in 1883. A workman was shocked and accidentally possessed by the ghost of Isaac Higgintoot, requiring an exorcism to separate them again.[6] It was also one of the first houses in the state to have a telephone.[7]
In this time, the house hosted several parties and one spectacular séance where the electric lights flickered and the house was covered in "the stench of death" (caused by Thorfinn and Isaac messing with the guests).[8]
In 1895, Elias disappeared while facing legal action for employing child labor, and Hetty, fearing the loss of the house and her fortune, committed suicide so their son Thomas Woodstone could inherit them.[4] Hetty's claim that she built the house[9] could mean that it was reformed or expanded under her ownership.
Thomas hosted a New Year's Eve party in the house in 1928, attended among others by gangster and bootlegger Al Capone and jazz singer Alberta Haynes. Alberta was murdered in the property but her death was mistaken for a heart attack.[10]
A band of hippies wandered into the property in 1968, causing one of them, Flower, to be killed when she tried to hug a bear under the influence of mushrooms.[11] The scoutmaster Pete Martino used the property until he was accidentally killed while teaching archery by one of his disciples in 1985.[12]
The last death at Woodstone before the beginning of the series happened in 2000 when stockbroker Trevor Lefkowitz overdosed at a party held there by a descendant of Thomas Woodstone, David Woodstone. Instead of helping Trevor, David and his friends threw Trevor's body in the pond and never reported the incident.[13]
The house was owned by then by David's mother, Sophie Woodstone, who would keep it until her own death in 2021. Because David died before his mother, the house was inherited by her great-niece Samantha Arondekar.[14] By this point several elements of the house were outdated or in need of repair, likely as a result of Sophie's old age and frailness.
Property[]
Mansion[]
There is a separate laundry room as shown in Alberta's Podcast that is on the second floor.
In the Pilot, there is a library that Sam and Jay walk through.
From the episode The Family Business, it is noted that Sam and Jay only have four rooms available for guests. In the pilot it is noted that there's only 9 bedrooms total. Only three are reserved for the ghosts. One of the rooms is called "The Maple Suite" and another is called the "Pine Suite." One of the rooms has mold, a draft, and a leak.
There is a passageway from a powder room to a vault as seen in The Vault. The vault is made of material that ghosts cannot walk through.
The basement has the hot water heater and likely various plumbing equipment. It is located not far from the being underneath the front door.
The room with the TV has gaming systems and is on the second floor. The wall to the left is an outside wall as noted by Isaac in Hello, Brother.
There's a ballroom, which was first mentioned in Halloween 4: The Witch. It is later seen in A Star Is Dead and it has a stage in it.
Grounds[]
Outside the house there is a fountain near where Thorfinn's body rot and was naturally buried over the years, as seen in Viking Funeral.
There is a boathouse near the pond, where Sam found an old canoe for Thor's funeral in Viking Funeral.
There was a gazebo near the lake that was later burned down by the ghosts in the episode Halloween. When Hetty was alive there was swans in the lake and giraffes wandering the property.
There's a shed on the property where some Revolutionary War ghosts live, they are first seen in the episode D&D.
In the backyard the targets that Pete set up for archery practice is still there, just grown over and breaking down as shown in Pete's Wife.
There is a giant tree at the edge of their property that it partly on their neighbors, June and Ally's, land as seen in The Tree. It's been there since at least the time Sasappis was alive. Hetty talks about how she would spend time underneath the tree, including getting married there.
There's an old well on the other side of the property according to Hetty in Ghost Father of the Bride.
A barn stands on the property as seen in Woodstone's Hottest Couple. It later gets turned into a restaurant by Jay and Mark.
There's an outhouse on the property that Hetty had the help use as mentioned in The Heir.
The back of the property has a rock deck, stairs, and some tables and chairs, as seen in Dumb Deaths.
Businesses[]
Woodstone B&B[]
The first guest to stay in the B&B was Todd Pearlman when he stays in the episode Alberta's Fan. He gives them five hundred dollars to stay the night. Their first guests, Josh and Leann, leave to stay at the Farnsby's temporary B&B before coming back to Woodstone, they leave when the floor caves in as shown in Farnsby & B. The first official guests are shown in Spies.
Sam and Jay serve complimentary cocktails to their guests as shown in Spies.
They use the vault as a speakeasy and host a wine tasting event in the episode The Liquor License.
The entire computer system is rehauled and stops accepting bookings when they hit capacity. There's also a camera installed near the front desk as shown in The Perfect Assistant. The B&B has a website now which presumably has pictures of the mansion on it in Ghostwriter.
Sam and Jay host their first successful wedding at Woodstone, for free just to get pictures for their website showing they are available for weddings as well in Ghost Father of the Bride. Jay offers his services to DJ their wedding as well. Their first unsuccessful attempt at helping host a wedding was in The Vault.
Sam also starts a Woodstone B&B rewards program in Ghost Father of the Bride with various levels to redeem. As a rewards member Jay Arondekar personally delivers fresh towels in Hello, Brother.
In Hello, Brother part of their menu includes bone in ribeye steak which is one of the most expensive things on their menu.
Mahesh[]
Inhabitants[]
Livings[]
Ghosts[]
- Thorfinn
- Sasappis
- Patience (briefly, underground)
- Revolutionary War Ghosts:
- Isaac
- The Cholera Ghosts:
- Elias Woodstone (formerly, descended to Hell)
- Hetty Woodstone
- Alberta
- Crash
- Flower
- Pete
- Stephanie
- Trevor
- Sophie Woodstone (briefly, ascended to Heaven)
- Carol Martino
- Chris
- Louella (formerly, ascended to Heaven)
- Flat Maria (formerly, ascended to Heaven)
Staff[]
- Freddie (from The Perfect Assistant to Ghost Hunter)
- Molly
- An butler mentioned by Hetty in Viking Funeral
- There was a doorman who worked in the mansion for about a week in the '30s before he got caught stealing silverware.
- Helen, the washer woman who didn't say much according to Hetty in Alberta's Podcast.
- Gerald, a valet that eventually went to prison (because Elias framed him for a crime).
- Reginald, a butler to the Woodstones seen in 1895.[15]
- Marion, a maid to the Woodstones seen in 1895.[15]
Gallery[]
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Trivia[]
- The house was inspired by the Baker Mansion, a 19th-century structure built on a hill in Altoona were Joe Port grow up. The Baker Mansion was originally owned by Hetty and Elias Baker, hence why they named the characters "Hetty" and "Elias" for the series, though they did not base the characters on them.
- Its equivalent is Button House (UK), followed by Donnerhall House (DE) and Mérudeaux Castle (FR).
- The mansion is the only known place in the Ghosts franchise with a vault that ghosts can't go into.
- The Revolutionary War ghosts come up to the main house once every year or so with some dispute or complaint, as noted in D&D.
- The local parish nearby is St. Annie's, according to Margaret Farnsby in the episode Dinner Party.
- The hot water heater didn't work prior to when Jay and Sam moved in Hello!.
- There are cast iron pipes that need to be replaced in Thorapy.
- Hetty did not know about the passageway or the vault in the episode The Vault.
- Every year, a group of kids comes to vandalize the property on Halloween, as shown in Halloween. This does not seem to be an issue anymore as seen in Halloween 2: The Ghost of Hetty's Past.
- The mansion did have termites in the episode Farnsby & B, which delays the opening of the B&B.
- Rat poison was mentioned to be kept in the basement at some point in Whodunnit.
- According to Carol Martino, her podiatrist is located near the mansion.
- There's a willow on the property in Patience.
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Exterior shots of Woodstone Mansion is Château Valmont, which is located in 660 Côte Angèle, Montebello, Québec, Canada. Between the pilot and the following episodes, Woodstone Mansion was not filmed at the same location. The pilot was filmed in Los Angeles in December 2020 at 380 South San Rafael Avenue, Pasadena, California, USA. Then, shooting was relocated to Montréal when the series was ordered in May 2021.
- ↑ The Tree
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 He Sees Dead People
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Holes Are Bad
- ↑ Alberta's Fan
- ↑ Possession
- ↑ The Family Business
- ↑ Halloween 2: The Ghost of Hetty's Past
- ↑ Dinner Party
- ↑ Whodunnit
- ↑ Hello!
- ↑ Dumb Deaths
- ↑ Trevor's Body
- ↑ Pilot
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Holes Are Bad