If you want to discover one of the scariest haunted houses on Earth, look no further than the history of the Barton Mansion. On top of having a terrifying backstory, this real-life nightmare is one of the few places that’s offered up video proof of ghosts.
The accursed three-story Victorian home in Redlands, California allegedly plays host to Satanic rituals, eerie paranormal activity, and a demon that haunts the top floor. Everything about this place is absolutely terrifying, especially the footage of ghosts caught on film by teenagers in 2001.
Typically, the owner of a haunted property has to go out of their way to attract evil spirits into their building. This begs the question: what happened at the Barton Mansion to fill it with such a spooky presence?
On September 19, 2001, a group of teens ventured into Barton Manson in Redlands, California. The night before, they had broken into the basement, and discovered a creepy configuration of stones surrounding a piece of raw meat.
This time, the crew was dead set on exploring the second and third floors of the house. To document the expedition, they brought a camcorder with them into the mansion. Allegedly, the temperature began to rise as they ascended the steps, producing sweltering waves of heat.
For an agonizing 20 minutes, the video shows a first-person perspective of the mansion, taking the viewer around empty rooms and dilapidated halls. Then, in the blink of an eye, all hell breaks loose.
A bulbous shape resembling a body can be seen through the crack in a door. Before the group can investigate, they (and the camera) see a hulking, gray figure moving towards them from another room. It's only a quick shot, but the visual is terrifying. Needless to say, the kids got out of the mansion as fast as they could.
A Demon Might Live At The Top Of The Stairs
While plenty of paranormal activity goes on in Barton Mansion, the creepiest thing that has been sighted in the home has to be the demon who's said to reside at the top of the staircase.
Some people who have visited the home claim that they feel like they're being watched at all times while inside. Many paranormal investigators have said that the feeling comes from a demonic face that stalks through the house, watching people as they ascend the staircase.
However, when a group of Redlands teens broke into the mansion in 2001, they didn't just encounter a face, but rather a seven-foot-tall demon that was described as having "gray eyes, long ears, [and] pronounced facial features."
A Group Of Teens Found What Looked Like A Body Part
The first time a group of teens broke into the allegedly haunted Barton Mansion, they only made it as far as the basement. It was there that they uncovered what appeared to be the remnants of some unnamable ritual. According to the teens, they found "five rocks in a circular pattern" around what appeared to be a piece of meat.
When one of the amateur paranormal investigators turned the meat over with a stick, they realized that the cut wasn't copped from some deli. The teen, writing under the pseudonym "Paul," said, "As it was rolled over you could see veins on it that led me to believe it was some kind of bodily organ."
That was all they needed to see before hightailing it out of there.
The Land Was Possibly Stolen From Native Americans
Redlands, California sits about 60 miles away from Los Angeles in the Inland Empire. It's an unassuming town full of Victorian houses, but one of those lovely homes has a dark history.
In 1859, Dr. Ben Barton bought the future site of the mansion for a paltry sum of money. It's believed that the land was the site of a Native American burial ground, and that it carried a terrible curse. Barton bought the land anyway, laughing off the notion of a curse, and failing entirely to consider the feelings of the families whose beloved relatives may have been buried at the site.
To make matters worse, Barton supposedly used the dirt from his property to make bricks, that were then used to construct the house. That's right, he literally built his house out of cursed bricks on top of defiled land.
After his joyful participation in the exploitation of America's Native peoples, Dr. Barton was practically begging for a demonic presence to enter the home and ruin his life.
The Bad Luck Started Immediately
Shortly after Barton finished building the mansion, all the bad luck that locals claimed would befall the good doctor hit him like a ton of bricks made out of desecrated soil.
Local legend claims that his daughters died suddenly and mysteriously. There are no accounts of what exactly happened to them, but one thing is for sure: they died without warning. Before the family had time to properly grieve, Barton's wife passed away as well.
If Dr. Barton didn't believe his land was cursed before, he definitely did now.
Barton Lost His Mind After His Daughters Died
After losing everyone he held dear, Barton understandably lost his way. Forced to live alone in the house he constructed for his deceased loved ones, the doctor went a little mad in the years following his family's mysterious deaths.
According to local legend, Barton shut up the house and began practicing Pagan rituals and Satanism. He may have even been using the house to murder transients, their remains kept hidden in his basement. There's really no record of what he got into, but he couldn't have been doing anything good locked up in a mansion all by himself.
One of the more tragic theories posits that Dr. Barton may have been trying to summon the spirits of his family. If this is true, it would explain the dark creatures that are said to inhabit the house to this day.
