Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Exploring - *Snowball Mansion*

I did a little exploring when at the River House and went to see the Snowball Mansion.  It is a long story but a friend has a friend who is a descendant of the Knight family and lived in this house as a very small child. The local rumor is the house is haunted.  It is also said it was owned by the Russian Mafia about 15 years ago.  Then owned by an English family and was more recently a Bed and Breakfast but that went out of business. It is empty at present and while I could get to the big iron gate at the property I could only see the top peak of the house through the foliage.



photo from internet

Here's some history.

Built  by John Snowball in 1877 at the cost of $15,000 this home was one of the most elegant of the pioneer estate houses in the area.  Snowball Mansion was a wedding present to his bride, Lucy Ann Knight, eldest daughter of William Knight, the founder of Knights Landing.

Shortly after moving in the couple had a baby girl who died. That was followed soon after by the death of Lucy Ann, said to have died of heartbreak.  This two-story, brick mansion remained in the family until 1944. It is rumored that the ghost of Lucy Knight Snowball walks the halls after dark. She is blamed for footsteps heard late at night and doorbells that ring at odd hours. Once, her mournful specter walked through a bedroom door and sat on the bed of a flabbergasted boarder (so it is said).

It was fun to find out a little local history and if the property is ever open I will return.

10 comments:

  1. Sounds good, but I'm not sure I would want to live there - let us know if you get to see the ghost! Hugs, Valerie

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  2. History can be so fascinating and you've proved that point again. The house reminds me of my elementary school which had much the same configuration. I think it would be comforting to have a ghost walking the halls, but I'm sure I wouldn't like one sitting on the edge of my bed. Thanks for sharing this gem with us.

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  3. I would love to tour that home! Hope you get to at some point.

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  4. Sounds interesting. Love hearing the history and lore behind those old houses.

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  5. Beautiful place, and I love the story. I wonder if there is a ghost there and if it will ever show up on one of those ghost hunting shows. Hugs-Erika

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  6. It looks like a prairie style house to me, and not nearly as elegant as the story suggests. If course, I am used to large mansions, so this one was not all that unique to me. However, I enjoyed the story of the ghost and can envision the poor woman walking the halls. It's just the kind of home I would love to buy. The internet photo looks good, but I wonder what it looks like today. Thanks for the bit of history and good fun.

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  7. It's such a beautiful house I'm surprised the Bed & Breakfast idea didn't work. Maybe the location wasn't well-suited, because I'd think the reputation as a haunted house -such a sad story- would help rather than hurt business.

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  8. Oh I hope you get to tour it one day. I love hearing all the history of places like that, too. I wondered about location, too--and it does look kind of barren around the house in the photo. If it had some landscaping and flowers and places for people to sit outside you'd think the history would attract visitors.

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  9. I had the opportunity to be part of a paranormal investigative team to investigate this house about 4-5 years ago.. I was the *fact finder* of the group. I found so much information on the Snowball family at the state library. I gave a picture of Lucy Snowball standing on the steps to the owners. The investigation was productive and fun. Its a beautiful place.

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  10. Greetings,

    Dan Featherstone here… My mom, Carmel Marie Cramer’s mom was Aldanita Ann Snowball, daughter of Milton Sterling Snowball, son of Judge John W. Snowball. I'd would love to come visit the Snowball mansion this Summer. We also have plans to visit Knight’s Ferry on the Stanislaus River where Dr. William H. Knight (My GGG Grandfather) established that town as well. We are planning our trip for mid-august. My hope is to contact the current Snowball Mansion owners for a brief visit. Anyone know who the owners are today?

    All the best,

    ~ Dan ~

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