After a rapid search of the area we came up empty handed, but found several more cars with broken windows, and glass from past break ins. After doing both tours with my family of 4 we returned to the parking lot to find our rental car window busted out, and half our luggage was stolen. The tour itself was halfway decent to be honest, but the ending was a disaster. But you can stand outside the house - which is the most interesting part of it - for free, and save your $40 for anything else. Ths exterior of the building is admittedly impressive, and the gardens are nice. Our guide tried his hardest to make it interesting for us, but it was an impossible task. If you come expecting something spooky, you are going to be severely disappointed. Either one of those things would be fine, but to mention it occasionally just feels like a lame attempt to make walking round someone's house seem less pointless. There's a bit of "legend says that." stuff thrown in occasionally to suggest that the owner of the house was into the occult, but it's neither properly explored or theatrically dramatised. We are repeatedly told about this 13 motif, like it's going to become interesting if they keep pointing it out. Also, I think it's really worth being clear that the only "mysteries" you'll encounter are a few cupboard doors that open onto brick walls, a couple of staircases that don't lead anywhere, and the fact that a few things in the house (windows, lightbulbs, etc) are in sets of 13. It is an old house that isn't particularly interesting other than for a few quirky details, and yet we are inexplicably subjected to a walking tour lasting over an hour in which ths guide points out fireplaces, tiny steps (oh my God, so many tiny steps, each set of which is presented like we've never seen a smaller-than-average step before) and portraits, and charged $40 for the privilege. But it really shocked me that this was a recommended attraction. I've been to a great many tourist attractions of all sorts, and I tend to enjoy most all of them. I like high-brow and low-brow stuff equally. I like history, and art, and spectacle, and storytelling.
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