A Painted Lady with a Dark Past
If you drive west from downtown West Palm Beach and cut across Southern Boulevard you will come across a tall, boxy house with a wraparound porch, soft pastel paint, and a feeling that doesn’t match its cheerful colors. The Riddle House now located in Yesteryear Village, a museum of Florida structures meant to preserve the area’s pioneer past. Locals call it one of the most haunted homes in Palm Beach County, and even skeptics tend to agree there’s something off about its energy. You can’t talk about the early history of West Palm Beach without mentioning the Riddle House.
From Cemetery Gatekeeper’s Cottage to City Manager’s Home
The story begins in 1905, when the house was originally built near Woodlawn Cemetery. Back then, it wasn’t called the Riddle House at all because it was known as the Gatekeeper’s Cottage. The small but stately home was constructed using leftover lumber from Henry Flagler’s grand hotels, the same wood that framed Palm Beach’s Gilded Age opulence.
The Gatekeeper’s Cottage was the residence of the cemetery caretaker, not the most desireable job in early 1900s Florida.For years, funerals passed by the home’s front door, and its parlor became a place of mourning. A place that tending to the deceased, comforting grieving families and occationally holding bodies before burial were most likely.
Locals whispered that the spirits of the newly buried never left. Doors opened by themselves. Footsteps creaked overhead. At night, the wind howled through the nearby gravestones, and flickering lamplight was seen in windows long after the caretaker had gone to bed.
By the 1920s, the cottage changed hands and became the property of Karl Riddle, West Palm Beach’s first city manager and a public-works superintendent. He and his family lived in the home for several years, and though they brought new life to the place by repainting, renovating, and hosting guests, the odd occurrences never stopped.
The Suicide in the Attic
The narrative most frequently associated with the haunting of the mansion is around one of Riddle’s workers, a guy supposedly named Joseph, though some accounts refer to him as “the caretaker” or just “the attic man.” According to a local tradition, Joseph’s dire financial circumstances drove him to despair. He committed suicide in the Riddle House’s attic. The Riddle family was shaken by the events, and it also seemed to solidify the house’s curse.
From that point forward, laborers refused to enter the attic. Later owners stated that tools flew out of their hands, footsteps echoed overhead when the attic was sealed, and unseen forces yanked on their clothing. Even after the Riddles relocated, the mansion maintained its renown. People passing the graveyard at night claimed to see a man’s shadow pacing behind the upper window, long after the house had been abandoned.
The College Years and a New Chapter
In the 1970s, the Riddle House was no longer a family home. It was converted into an art school before being used to house Palm Beach Atlantic College students. Though it briefly flourished as a creative hotspot, students soon began spreading stories of otherworldly encounters.
One art student stated that every night around 2:00 a.m., a window on the second story opened by itself, even though it was fastened shut. Another person experienced paintbrushes being hurled across the room by unseen hands. Maintenance employees refused to work upstairs alone
By the late 1980s, the authorities had condemned the property for demolition. However, in an exceptional gesture of preservation, the Palm Beach County Fairgrounds and Yesteryear Village volunteers chose to relocate the Riddle House rather than demolish it.
The house was meticulously disassembled, relocated, and reassembled piece by piece, a painstaking operation that took months. Even during reconstruction, volunteers reported unusual incidents and mishaps. Tools disappeared and reappeared. The ladders dropped without notice. One worker claimed to have seen a man in old-fashioned garb peering at him from a second-story window, despite the fact that the upper level had yet to be reattached.
A Home That Wouldn’t Stay Quiet
Following its relocation, the Riddle House was restored to its 1920s appearance, replete with period furniture, lace curtains, and pictures of Karl Riddle’s family. It became one of Yesteryear Village’s most popular exhibitions, as well as one of its most feared.
Employees began keeping track of strange events:
- Objects moving on their own: Chairs shifting positions overnight, display items relocated.
- Phantom voices: Male whispers caught on tape during tours, often saying “Get out.”
- Temperature drops: Visitors reporting icy cold spots on the staircase.
- Unseen touches: Guests feeling a hand brush their shoulder when no one was behind them.
Even participants who did not believe in the paranormal began to agree that something was happening that they couldn’t explain. Some refused to work in the house alone. One long-time tour guide reported wandering through the parlor after it closed. She stated she noticed the rocking chair move slightly, as if someone had just stood up. As she turned to leave, a man’s voice whispered her name.
Television Fame and Paranormal Investigations
The Riddle House’s reputation spread quickly beyond Florida. Paranormal teams began visiting the site regularly, using recording equipment and motion sensors to document activity.
It gained national attention when it appeared on “Ghost Adventures” in the late 2000s. The episode showed investigators capturing EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena) of male voices, seeing shadows dart across the attic, and witnessing doors slam without explanation. At one point, a heavy light fixture swung violently as if shoved.
While skeptics dismissed some of the footage as overdramatized, visitors who had their own experiences found validation in seeing the Riddle House on screen. Since then, it’s become a staple of Florida’s haunted tourism trail, joining the ranks of St. Augustine Lighthouse, Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp, and the May-Stringer House in Brooksville as one of the state’s most active sites.
Theories on Why It Might Be Haunted
Those who investigate hauntings frequently mention many variables that make a site “more permanent” for spirits: traumatic experiences, unfortunate deaths, and relocation. The Riddle House ticks all three boxes.
Emotional Trauma: Grief has been embedded in its walls from its inception as a funeral house and cemetery gatekeeper’s cottage more than a century ago.- Tragic Deaths: While the suicide in the attic is frequently cited as the key event, some believe that several souls linger from the cemetery’s early days.
- Relocation: The house was actually uprooted, dismantled, and rebuilt. Some paranormal researchers believe that moving a “charged” building might upset hidden energies, making them more active.
According to believers, this explains why activity increased after the house was moved.
The Spirits Said to Linger
Accounts vary, but visitors and investigators often describe three main entities:
- Joseph, the Attic Man: Believed to be the suicide victim, Joseph is said to be angry with men who enter the attic but protective toward women. Male visitors have reported being scratched or shoved, while female guests often feel only sadness.
- The Mourner: A female spirit occasionally glimpsed in the parlor or near the staircase. Some speculate she’s a former widow from the house’s funeral parlor days, eternally searching for her husband’s casket.
- The Caretaker: A shadowy figure spotted on the porch or near windows. Witnesses describe him as wearing old work clothes, sometimes carrying what looks like a lantern.
A Living Museum with Unquiet Guests
Today, the Riddle House is a highlight of Yesteryear Village’s historic collection. During the day, it feels almost inviting, with sunlight streaming through lace curtains, school groups meandering through the chambers, and guides telling stories of pioneer life.
But after nightfall, the energy shifts. The tour staff who shut up the house claim they believe someone is observing from the upper window. Paranormal groups that have stayed overnight frequently cut sessions short. One group recalled installing a motion sensor near the attic stairs, only to have it trigger repeatedly as their cameras captured a weak male voice mumbling, “Leave it.”
Others have caught temperature readings that drop 20 degrees within seconds or heard footsteps pacing between rooms when everyone was accounted for. Even in broad daylight, sensitive visitors claim to feel a heaviness in their chest.
What The Riddle House Teaches Us
Aside from ghost stories, the Riddle House offers a lesson in preservation, memory, and how locations evoke emotion. It reminds us that history is more than just textbooks; it’s in the creak of the floorboards, the shadows on the wall, and the aroma of old pine and candle wax that remains long after the lights are turned off. Maybe that is why this mansion continues to draw visitors. It isn’t simply haunted; it’s alive with the stories of everyone who has ever passed through its doors.
When you visit Yesteryear Village, take a time to stand on the Riddle House porch and stare out to the horizon. The fairgrounds will be alive with excitement, laughter, and the distant hum of carnival rides. But if you stay long enough, you might hear something else—a delicate whisper, the subtle shaking of an upstairs chair, or the echo of a man who still calls this place home.
Sources & Further Reading
- Palm Beach County Historical Society Archives – “The Riddle House: From Gatekeeper’s Cottage to Yesteryear Village,” archival notes, Palm Beach County History Online Collection.
https://pbchistory.org - Yesteryear Village Official Site – Historical overview and visitor information for the Riddle House exhibit.
https://www.southfloridafair.com/p/yesteryearvillage - Palm Beach Post Archives – Articles on the relocation and restoration of the Riddle House during the 1990s preservation project.
https://www.palmbeachpost.com - Ghost Adventures: “Riddle House” Episode (Season 1, Episode 4) – Travel Channel.
Aired originally November 6th 2008; features investigation footage, EVPs, and first-hand accounts of paranormal activity at the site. - South Florida Sun-Sentinel, “Volunteers Rebuild Haunted House Piece by Piece,” (1995).
Coverage of the move and reconstruction of the Riddle House from West Palm Beach to Yesteryear Village. - Local Lore: Palm Beach County Ghost Stories, edited by Harriet Smith Windsor, 2012.
Compilation of interviews and folklore from long-time residents, including stories of “Joseph in the Attic.” - Florida’s Haunted Heritage, by Greg Jenkins (Pineapple Press, 2010).
Features a chapter on the Riddle House and its historical background within Florida’s haunted landscape.
Some houses remember. The Riddle House doesn’t just remember — it reminds. Whether you visit for its architectural beauty or its lingering chill, step lightly. You never know who’s still keeping watch from the attic window.