The mansion above is called “Glensheen.”  It sits on the shores of Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota.  Glensheen was the site of the most notorious murder in Minnesota, the brutal killing of my great aunt, Elisabeth Congdon.

The Congdon family was once the richest family in Minnesota.  In the 1890s, steel ruled.  Steel is made from iron.  Very few people knew that the iron ore in Minnesota was the best in the country.  Chester Congdon knew.  In a single decade, Chester went from flat-out poverty to a fortune worth $200 million.

It was the Gilded Age and Chester wanted to showcase his wealth.  He built Glensheen.  It is a thirty-nine room mansion built in the Jacobean style of an English country estate.  Glensheen was magnificent.

Into this opulence Chester’s daughter, Elisabeth, brought her adopted baby girl, Marjorie.  It is said that Marjorie was born a sociopath.  As she grew, she coveted her mother’s money and she allegedly manipulated her husband into murdering Elisabeth.  I must use the word “allegedly” as Marjorie was tried and acquitted of all charges.  Since then, there have been more accusations and arrests for murder but no convictions.  Glensheen may have produced one of the most brilliant female serial killers of all time.

Copyright © 2014 Antoinette Hart Wellman