The Loveland Castle (Chateau Laroche)

Built by and reputed to be haunted by Harry Delos Andrews, Chateau Laroche, or as it's better known to locals, the Loveland Castle, is modeled after a 16th century castle, with updates to include what were considered "modern" conveniences for the time it was built.

Chateau Laroche
Photo Credit: Rich Gabe

Harry Delos Andrews was born in New York in 1890. He developed an obsession over the course of his life with medieval history and knighthood. He joined the WWI efforts as a medic, as he was a conscientious objector. Most stories about him make the point that his objection specifically was to modern methods of warfare, so I found it important to mention that here as well.

At one of his duty stations he contracted meningitis, as did a large number of the others stationed there. He didn't fare well, was presumed dead, and sent to the morgue. A doctor in the morgue injected him with an experimental drug - adrenaline - and he woke. That doctor saved his life.

However, as a result of that situation, he had been declared dead. Six months later he had to be declared alive once again, but by then his fiance had married someone else. Andrews ended up a lifelong bachelor with no children.

Harry Andrews and Chateau Laroche
Photo Credit: The Loveland Castle

After he recovered and was found to be very much alive, Andrews was sent to Chateau de la Roche in France as a hospital administrator. It was there that he began his plan to build a castle when he returned to America.

When he left the army in the 1920s, Andrews moved to Ohio. Active in his church and the community, he organized a group for boys called the Knights of the Golden Trail. Similar to the boy scouts and an outgrowth of the Sunday School group he taught, they pledged to follow the Ten Commandments, and Andrews provided lots of solid advice about clean outdoor living - and camping trips.

At the time, the Cincinnati Business Courier, a local paper, was offering parcels of land in Loveland along the Little Miami River as a  gift to accompany a 6 month subscription. Several parents of the Knights had taken advantage of this offer, and they donated this land to the use of the Knights for their many camping trips. 

Over time, Andrews found that he and the Knights were camping enough that gear was being left behind in the woods, and he built two stone structures for them to use which would end up being the beginning of his castle.

Arial View, Loveland Castle
Photo Credit: WKRC Television

Construction began on the castle itself in 1929, when Andrews bought the land from the parents. He used rocks from the nearby Little Miami riverbed, bricks he formed himself using concrete he poured into milk cartons, and stones that were given to him as gifts by friends and visitors.

Andrews devoted his life to building the castle, carrying buckets of stones from the river to the construction site himself. He worked every weekend until he retired in 1955 and began working on the castle full time. 

As it was his home, he lived there as he built the castle, and until his death in 1981, when he was severely burned in a trash fire on the grounds and passed on as a result of his extensive injuries. When he died, he willed the castle to the Knights of the Golden Trail, who continue to maintain it. The Knights have extensively renovated and upgraded since Andrews' death.

Loveland Castle Arches
Photo Credit: r/OhioTraveler

MANIFESTATIONS

Obviously the majority of the incidents reported are attributed to the ghost of Harry Andrews himself. Objects go missing or get moved. A voice may be heard, or a figure seen wandering the garden or looking out from the battlements.

A female entity has been reported as walking across the river and sitting in the seats above the garage. She is believed to be the ghost of a moonshiner's wife who died nearby on the river when an explosion of their still caused a whiskey barrel to slam into her.

A Viking entity is also believed to haunt the castle, potentially attached to one of the swords on display. This entity has been seen by the north round part of the castle wearing a long dark cloak, a spiked helmet, and carrying a short, wide sword across his chest. He is thought to be the entity who rings the doorbell and knocks on the door.

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