Culbertson Mansion: The Second Empire Showpiece of New Albany

Reviewed by Josh N · Updated September 12, 2026 · How we verify

On a stretch of East Main Street in New Albany, the Culbertson Mansion still does what it was built to do in the 1860s: it announces money. Twenty thousand square feet of Second Empire ambition sits behind the fence in southern Indiana, and for a century and a half it has drawn people who want to see how the richest man in the state chose to live. More recently it has drawn a second kind of visitor, the sort who comes for the reports of a woman in Victorian dress moving through rooms she no longer occupies.

Quick Facts on the Culbertson Mansion

• Built: 1867 to 1869
• Built for: William S. Culbertson, once considered the wealthiest man in Indiana
• Style: Second Empire, roughly 20,000 square feet, 25 rooms
• Status: Indiana State Historic Site since 1974, operating as a museum
• Reported activity: apparitions, unexplained sounds, cold spots

The Dry Goods Fortune That Paid for 25 Rooms

William S. Culbertson made his money in dry goods, then did what successful merchants of his era did and spread it across banking and real estate. By the time the house went up between 1867 and 1869, he was reckoned the wealthiest man in Indiana, and the building reflects it without much restraint.

The mansion runs to about 20,000 square feet across 25 rooms. Inside, the finish work is the point: hand-painted ceilings, intricate plasterwork, and a rosewood staircase that remains the single most photographed thing in the building. It was also, for its moment, a modern house. Gas lighting and central heating were genuine luxuries in the 1860s, and Culbertson installed both. A visitor in 1870 would have found the place not merely beautiful but conspicuously advanced.

What Became of the House After 1892

Culbertson died in 1892, and the mansion entered the long middle period that swallows most houses of its size. It changed hands several times. Grand private residences are expensive to keep and difficult to sell, and the Culbertson Mansion spent decades without the fortune that had created it.

The rescue came in the late 1960s, when the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana stepped in. In 1974 the house was declared a State Historic Site, and restoration work since then has returned the interiors toward their original condition. That institutional history matters to anyone weighing the ghost stories: the building has been continuously occupied by staff, volunteers, restorers, and tour groups for half a century, which is exactly the kind of setting that generates a long record of odd experiences, whatever the cause.

Eliza, the Children, and the Cold Spots

None of what follows is verified. It is what people who spend time in the building say they have encountered, and the mansion has never claimed otherwise.

The most frequently reported apparition is a woman in Victorian dress, described as moving through the mansion’s halls. Local tradition identifies her as Eliza, Culbertson’s first wife. There is no evidence connecting the figure to her beyond the association itself, which is worth holding lightly; a Victorian house tends to produce Victorian ghosts in the retelling.

Alongside her, visitors and staff have described the sounds and impressions of children at play, which the same tradition attributes to Culbertson’s own. Beyond the apparitions, the reports fall into familiar categories: noises with no identified source, and sudden cold spots that turn up in various parts of the estate.

No concrete evidence has ever confirmed a haunting here. What the mansion offers instead is a durable body of anecdote layered over a well documented history, which is a fair description of most haunted houses worth the drive.

Visiting the Culbertson Mansion in New Albany

The mansion operates as a museum and runs regular tours of the restored interiors, which is the best way to see the staircase, the painted ceilings, and the plasterwork properly rather than in passing. Special events appear throughout the year, and the site leans into its reputation with haunted tours around Halloween.

Go for the architecture and the ghost stories arrive as a bonus, or go for the ghost stories and leave with an education in what a nineteenth century dry goods fortune could buy. Either way, check the official Culbertson Mansion website before you travel, since tour schedules and seasonal programs change.

Ghost Tours Nearby

Old Louisville Ghost Tour as Recommended by The New York Times @ 4th and Ormsby★ 4.7 (1,283)from $29Whispers on Whiskey Row: Murder, Crime, & Ghost Tour w/Cocktail★ 4.6 (220)from $65Old Louisville Ghost Tour as Recommended by The New York Times @ 4th and Ormsby★ 4.8 (202)from $29

Affiliate links: BeyondHaunted may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

More Haunted Mansions

James Allison MansionIndiana State HouseWhispers EstateHannah HouseWolf MansionKendall Manor