Castle with a grisly past: Eerie photos show an abandoned fairy-tale mansion deep in the forests of New York once owned by a family plagued by madness

Pictures show the overgrown Dundas Castle in Roscoe, New York, slowly being swallowed in to the woodland
Crumbling mansion, also known as Craig-E-Clair, started life as a summer lodge built by in the early 1880s
Land then purchased by Ralph Wurts-Dundas whose wife and daughter were later committed to a sanatorium

These eerie photos show the abandoned fairy-tale castle deep in the forests of New York - and once owned by a family plagued by madness.

Pictures show the overgrown Dundas Castle in Roscoe, New York, slowly being swallowed in to the woodland and the hand-crafted doors and windows falling to bits.

The crumbling mansion, also known as Craig-E-Clair, started life as a summer lodge built by Bradford Lee Gilbert in the early 1880s. After Gilbert passed away in 1911, the land and lodge was purchased by Ralph Wurts-Dundas in 1915.

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Eerie photos show an abandoned fairy-tale castle deep in the forests of New York - and once owned by a family plagued by insanity

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Pictures show the overgrown Dundas Castle in Roscoe, New York, slowly being swallowed in to the woodland and the hand-crafted doors and windows falling to bits

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The crumbling mansion, also known as Craig-E-Clair, started life as a summer lodge built by Bradford Lee Gilbert in the early 1880s

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After Gilbert passed away in 1911, the land and lodge was purchased by Ralph Wurts-Dundas who began construction of the castle soon after

Dundas began construction of the castle soon after, but died in 1921 when the estate was in its final stages of construction.

Then in 1922, just a year after Dundas's death, his wife Josephine, was committed to a sanatorium, without ever having lived in the castle.

After her commitment to an institute, the couple's only child Muriel Harmer Wurts-Dundas, inherited the fortune that her mother had only just received.

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Abandoned: Dundas began construction of the castle but died in 1921 when the estate was in its final stages of construction

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In 1922, just a year after Dundas's death, his wife Josephine, was committed to a sanatorium, without ever having lived in the castle

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The castle's interior is slowly crumbling away and pictures show rotting doors and peeling paint in the building's interior

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Empty: It is thought that despite having been built by the Dundas family, no-one ever lived in the building

However, Muriel also developed mental health issues and soon had a large portion of her fortune taken from her by the castle care-takers who were acting as her guardians.

When her mental stability was questioned she too was soon committed, just as her mother had been.

This meant that none of the Dundas family ever spent time in Dundas Castle. The tragedy sparked many myths.

There were rumours that the mother Josephine liked to ride her horse through the local town, tossing gifts to children - and that when she became too unstable, she was locked in the castle and kept in one of its rooms.

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Trees and undergrowth have started to take over the building in Roscoe, New York. The site dates back more than a hundred years

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Vandals have covered many of the walls of the buildings interior with graffiti while paint is rapidly peeling off the walls

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Forgotten: Eerie pictures show one of the abandoned bathrooms with mould and dirt building up on the tiled floor

These stories are supported by visitors to the mansion claiming that some of the rooms had fingernail scratches on the inside of the door from Josephine's efforts to escape.

However there is little evidence to support this or indeed that anyone ever actually lived in the enigmatic keep.

After the family's demise it was used for short-term endeavours. For a time, it was used as a summer camp for children, before being purchased by the area's Masonic chapter as a retreat.