The Berry Murder Mansion I believe was built in the late 1800s since its a very large historical home which to this day a lot of its architectural features are no longer built today in DeLand. The mansion has at least 6 bathrooms, 3 kitchens, a small basement which is rare in Florida houses, two dining rooms, and a series of many bedrooms. All the doors are made out of mahogany wood, the floors are made out of wood, including a book shelf which is built into the wall made out of Oak. In the center of the home is a fire place it also has an upper terrace and porch which surrounds the front of it. I at least counted at least 8 large bedrooms. There is also a secret stairwell made all out of wood with the old fashioned flowered wallpaper. This leads me to believe that at one time that parts of the house were all connected but with renovations it was turned into three separate apartments. Also about 30's behind the mansion is a cottage with a garage attached. The cottage also has a kitchen, bedroom, and  living room as well. One can become quite taken looking at this mansion sitting far back from the road overgrown with many old trees which quietly watched this residents history come and go.

I have explored every inch of this mansion and found it to be so amazing the thoughts of ghost walking the halls are not so far fetched as this is quite a foreboding home with a lot of rooms and places to explore. I have visited the outside of the mansion during the day quite a few times and even went inside the cottage one afternoon just to do a safety check on a full investigation for a future return. Although the mansion is not really called the Berry Murder Mansion I named it this to protect it from vandals and people who might try to abuse such a magnificent  home. There is very little signs of vandalism here which is unusual. The only thing that stands out is the fact that probably years ago some homeless or people parties here. As there is a few mattresses, a giant hole in the wall,  a broken glass kitchen cabinet, broken pieces of furniture and lots of left over beer bottles The mirror above the mantle is also broke but other then that some parts of the house are like brand new such as the shining wood railings which twirl around on the main stairwell.  

I called the mansion the Berry Murder Mansion for another reason. I found two ID Tags from 2003 inside the house. I still think that its strange that a man left his work tags sitting out for everybody to see. Perhaps he was the previous owner it is hard to say. As far as murder goes I feel something really bad happened here at one time. There is a sad feeling surrounding the property and at night this place can be deadly frightening to most of the norm who pass it since the entire house at night sits without any light making it barely peak through the darkness. When walking around the property there is crime scene tape up. A lot of its ripped, worn and old. The signs posted on the property state unsafe house which at this point I am trying to figure out how its unsafe when the inside is very sturdy and very well taken care of.  I do not even think the floors creaked and all the ceilings were in tact except one that had a small water leak. But we must try and keep in mind something did happen here and perhaps over time I will be able to piece together the clues. Of course crime scene tape does not always mean a murder could mean a narcotics bust but chances are for the house to be left abandoned as it has been some crime perhaps occurred here years ago sending residents fleeing. 

Are there ghost here? Very mildly let yes since all my visits were in the day or evening hours our second investigation I do hope will be late at night in the future. Which probably the activity will triple in intensity. I mean like most old houses most likely people died here and perhaps someone to own a house of this size had to be prominent here in DeLand. But faces in the windows, a few strong orbs, and even a moving cold spot gave us a feel on our first investigation we were not alone. The house is very gloomy I mean one moment you will walk into a bedroom  with an old wood baby crib the next into a kitchen with dozens of beer bottles. 

For weeks I wanted to take a team of investigators here for our first trip and so many volunteered to share this part of history with me but everybody either canceled out on me or backed down so our first trip here was just my son and myself. I mean if a 7yr. old can investigate this house there was no excuse for others not to assist me. So perhaps this investigation was about setting the tone or an example to others who act cowardly when it comes to such investigations. James  take on it was the same as mine a very peaceful house. But the problem is with that is that due to the size of it like any haunted house it will require us to revisit again and follow up on the paranormal activity which we hope at that time we will have a much larger team to help us out. I believe that the future of this historical mansion rest in the hands of the city. As like most abandoned houses in the area some get demolished others get restored but no matter which happens the Berry Murder Mansion has many mysteries surround it.

© By

Rick-AngelOfThyNight

**Note~ Badges on couch have been blurred for security purposes.**

Update: The berry mansion is complete restored with new siding, paint, flooring, and windows. I believe that it was purchased and will serve to be a law office of some kind. So our second investigation was cut short due to this; but in all due honesty we were very fortunate enough to have gotten to visit such a place before restoration efforts.