For years, whenever I'd see a seriously creepy and cool old house, I'd post it to Facebook and say something like: "Gothic retirement home and artist colony! Who's with me?" The idea of living in a haunted fixer-upper has always appealed to me, but it's something I would never actually do. A group house? The horrors!
But, it's a lovely fantasy. Well-known macabre artist and baker, Christine McConnell (and her husband and their cats and dog) couldn't resist. Online, they found an amazing Italianate mansion built in 1873 in central New York and bought it sight unseen. In this video, Christine chronicles the family's cross-country move and their first moments in the house.
On her Patreon page, Christine gives a room-by-room tour of the house and it is jaw-dropping. It's filled with antique trunks, cabinets, dressers, and wardrobes that still have clothes, photos, letters, and other belongings in them from the original owners.
The basement of the house is as creepy as you might imagine. And Christine has plans. As she remarks in one basement room: "There is space in here for a cauldron or a small child-sized oven."
Christine was the creator and star of wonderful short-lived Netflix Gothic cooking and crafting show, The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell. She now has a YouTube channel, From the Mind of Christine McConnell, and a Patreon page where she shares exclusive crafting content.
Here's an episode of From the Mind of Christine McConnell, a tutorial on oil painting. She paints an image in preparation for a Patreon crafting class on making Victorian funeral fans.
