Pythian Castle — Attraction in Springfield

The Gremlin Of Pythian Castle..

I went on a tour recently. I love this place so much and it was my 3rd tour there, so I was so excited to bring my mom as she needed to go do something fun because it is the anniversary of a death in the family so I wanted to take her to a place she has been wanting to go to to bring her spirits up. Also adding onto that I just got a promotion, so we were also there celebrating that.

Now that being said. the tour was... okay. Definitely not the best tour I went on there, but our tour guide was shy so we were okay with it. we understood. THEN. at the end of the night I had the absolute displeasure of encountering the gremlin of Pythian Castle..

At the end of the tour if you're (un)lucky enough to end in the "children's room" your tour guide will leave you up there for a bit to let you do your own thing and say goodbye to the ghosts. Well our tour guide did not inform us that they would be closing soon so we basically needed to rush out. Also failed to inform us that they closed and she was leaving to go sit in her car playing on her phone up by the front gate. That is when the unfortunate happened...

We were having fun up there not a worry in the world talking to ghosts trying to catch something. SOMETHING. but alas did not catch anything as usual because come to find out this place is nothing but a big phony. We were getting ready to leave but we stopped in the corner of the entrance to the upstairs area to look down a spooky chained off hallway while listening to a ghost story being told to us. I sat my phone on the ground while doing a voice recording in hopes I could catch something! Didn't catch a single ghost but I did catch the gremlin of pythian castle!! lucky me!

She came up stairs stating we scared her and they closed a little bit ago so we all need to leave. i said "oh i'm sorry" and picked up my phone off of the ground so we could promptly leave. In that very moment I look over and see her running FULL SPEED at me like something straight out of a horror movie yelling at me and about to attack me because she "believed I went into the chained off hallway" I, super terrified, said "no" super quick and left. COME TO FIND OUT SHES THE OWNER.

The next day I emailed her and informed her about the severe panic attack and mental breakdown I had because of her trying to attack me for accidentally staying after closing time (again wasnt only my group) and told her that she should talk with her employees to make sure they are trained properly and know what is to happen so this doesnt happen again and requested a sincere apology after apologizing multiple times for staying late as we didn't know because our tour guide didnt tell us or the rest of our group they were closing, and for scaring her into thinking we went into her personal area and if we arent allowed to take pictures of that hallway then I am also sincerely sorry but I was told it was okay by tour guides and have seen PLENTY of other people take pictures and videos over there. BUT Guess what I didn't receive! Instead I was given 4 paragraphs of excuses and her trying to gaslight me then in the 5th paragraph she said "I am sorry I caused your panic to trigger and i am sure you feel the same about triggering mine" and told me she will not be talking to any of her employees to make sure nothing like this happens again and that I am no longer welcome back. I told her I have no intentions of going back as I do not feel safe knowing any second this sad excuse of an owner could turn the corner and try to attack me yet again. Reminder there was a minimum of 10 people up there along with my little group yet I was the one almost attacked and was threatened for bending over to pick up my phone. Theres NO WAY shes not doing this out of her own pleasure considering she told me she isnt doing anything about it on the employee side and she does this OFTEN.

If you enjoy being attacked by a Gremlin who was just fed after midnight then I recommend this place.

Seriously though save your money. It's not worth the trauma...

We scheduled a photo shoot at the castle for our anniversary. When we arrived at the gate at the scheduled time there was no one there and we had to call to have someone meet us and let us in. The person who met us seemed to mumble angrily the entire time a bit like kreacher from the Harry Potter series. We ended up having an unexpected person join us, which to my understanding was a five dollar charge which we were happy to pay but seemed to make our host even more upset with her task of escorting us through a castle. After she let us in we waited outside briefly for her to join us, and after a minute or two we started taking photos in front of the building. After a few more minutes passed our host still had not joined us so given the fact that we had only paid for an hour we decided to go in and get started as the clock was ticking. We took a handful of photos on the inside first floor when when she finally joined us. She was critical of our choice to start on the bottom and informed us that most people start on the top floor because it's a more efficient use of time. We thought that made sense so we moved to follow her up the stairs and we were advised to finish up down there since we had already started. When we finished after a couple more photos we found her waiting on the stairs. It's important to note that we got a little dressed up for our anniversary and wrote new vows to each other which we had recited to each other earlier in a more private setting. Part of my wife's outfit was her veil which she had worn at our wedding a year before. When our host saw the veil she asked us what kind of photos we were there for. We said it was for our anniversary and she said that it looked like wedding photos. We explained that it was our anniversary but we do plan to get "remarried" every year. She asked if we got married there. We advised that we did not, we got married at a separate location a year before. She then followed it up by looking us up and down and saying we were "a little underdressed for a wedding, must be low budget." She said the website clearly says "no wedding photos." We tried to explain again that it was for our anniversary but she said she was confused and that she would have to ask us to leave, she also said "I guess I'll let you keep the photos you already took." She then went to her car and drove down to the gate and waited on us. We drove down and she specifically put her hand out to stop us leaving so she could inform us that she had to ask us to leave because we "lied about our purpose for being there." It felt to me that she just didn't want to put the effort in that day, no word of a refund full or partial. I'm not the type of person to leave a bad review because I know some days are off days and a poor review can hurt a business unnecessarily but her demeanor was rude, her behavior was unprofessional and the fact that she called my wife a liar is unacceptable. This level of bahavior is like nothing I have ever experienced from an adult running a business before. To say I was appalled at the disrespect my wife and I received over something as simple as a photo shoot would be to sell it short. I cannot in good faith recommend this place to anyone for photos, weddings, or any other gathering for...

My best friends have been waiting 2 years to get married due to covid. The grooms mother was nice enough to secure a spot at the Pythian so they could finally have their special day with a small group of vaccinated people. Everything about their day was special except the Pythian. I would never recommend anyone have their wedding here. They only give you an hour before the ceremony to get everything set up and decorated. I had to give up my time with the bride that I will never get back because I had to frantically run around setting everything up before the guests arrived. It was horrible. The day before we had a "rehearsal" and we asked the lady TWICE if we could bring champagne to have a toast after the ceremony. When I show up to hurriedly get everything set up, the owner rudely stopped me and said "YOU CAN'T HAVE THAT HERE! THEY DIDN'T PAY FOR IT!" Apparently you have to pay to have outside food and drink, which we were NEVER told. So I tossed her my card and had to pay $30 just so we could each have a small glass of champagne for a toast that lasted 5 minutes. That leads me to the worst part of the experience; the owner. She has some serious issues. We were never ever told at any point we couldn't go to certain rooms because we didn't pay for them. Some of the guests went downstairs where the doors were unlocked and no signs were posted to not enter. There were multiple signs throughout the facility that stated "employees only", but nothing posted on those doors. When the guests came back up the owner started SCREAMING at them in front of the other wedding guests. She made a HUGE scene, literally screamed and accused the guests of breaking into a locked room.... which did not happen. These were grown adults well into their 30's who would never do something like that. She made such a scene that it ruined the wedding and everyone left. We still had an hour left that we paid for. The owner was screaming, cussing, and being a down right banshee. She threatened to charge the bride and groom extra for entering said basement even though no one was told it was an extra charge and that they were not allowed to enter. Afterwards she stormed off and slammed a door where she stayed and had a hissy fit until everyone was gone. I stayed after to make sure everything was picked up so that she wouldn't charge the bride and groom for anything extra. She calmly came up to me and apologized but honestly, the damage was done. She seriously needs some psychological help and should not be the one dealing with guests. All in all, the wedding was saved after we left and finished everything elsewhere. I feel bad the grooms mom had to pay for this horrible experience. The only thing haunted at the Pythian is the soul of this...