"Imagination is more important than knowledge"

Today my Mom, Corie, Camdyn and I decided to go tour the Mystery Castle at the foothills of South Mountain. It was built by Boyce Luther Gulley. He started it in 1929, and finished it in 1944. Mr. Gulley moved to Az from Seattle, Wa. The reality of dying was thrust upon him and not wanting to live a life of quiet desperation, he came here for soul searching and creativity.
In his heart he always remembered happier moments with his little princess daughter MaryLou, they shared many happy moments on the shore building sandcastles in the sand. As the tide would always wash away her castle, she asked her Daddy to build her a real castle that would never wash away!!!!
So here in the Az desert, he built her a native stone castle: 18 rooms with 13 fireplaces, a bar, a chapel, a room in between he lovingly nicknamed purgatory and many other unique rooms filled with southwestern touches and filled with antiques!!! Alot of the decorations have a Princess theme to it!!!!
Here is Mary Lou Gulley today, she is in her 80's and still conducts some of the tours herself!!! Today, she just said to our group that it was a fun place to call home. She did not even know it existed until her father died and she was 19, she has lived in the castle ever since.

One of the bedrooms in the home, with a pillow that reads "Princess sleeps here"!!!
There was an antique horse drawn carriage in one of the curio cabinets!!!
What an interesting castle!!! Life Magazine in the 1940's gave it the name Mystery Castle!!!