About This Location
The oldest house on its original foundation in Raleigh, built in 1785 - seven years before the city existed. Wealthy businessman Joel Lane built it for his son Henry, and it became known as Mordecai House when Moses Mordecai married into the family in 1817.
The Ghost Story
Mary Willis Mordecai Turk (1858-1937) is the primary ghost, seen as a woman in gray 1800s dress floating down the stairwell. Creaking footsteps echo from upstairs when workers are alone. The mid-1800s piano sometimes plays itself with no one on the bench. Outside, investigators recorded a little girl humming late at night. Inside, they captured sounds of someone falling and a man shouting "Get up!" One investigator couldn't climb past a certain step due to overwhelming grief - baby son of Martha Mordecai died here after being scalded in a bath.
