Searching for Dystopia: Faymore's Castle

Sam and I set off on a new adventure to find the ruins of a building known as Dr. Faymore's Castle in northern Ohio.

Dr. Faymore and his wife Doris started building the massive thing in the 1970s, but building a castle isn't an easy task and it was only about a third of the way completed by 1982 when the walls came tumblin' down, as the saying goes. It seems Dr. Faymore was Breaking Bad with prescription drugs. His troubles started with wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of people who had overdosed on medications he prescribed. Soon after, the doctor was busted by the DEA for illicitly dispensing huge amounts of narcotic medications. You can read a dramatic account of his arrest here. Dr. Faymore was sentenced to forty years in prison, but ultimately served fifteen.

Supposedly, all of his money was eaten up by legal fees, and so his dream home was never completed. It's hard to find a buyer for a partially-constructed castle, especially since the asking price in 1985 was $300,000, a steep price for a home in the area, even today.

And so it lies completely abandoned. Over time, looters cleaned out the valuable fixtures, and the floors decayed away. Little is left but the cinderblock walls.

The place is massive. Doris and Dr. Faymore intended their master bedroom to be 90' X 35', and it boasted a 45-foot long drawbridge, aviary, greenhouse, and wine cellar. I saw none of these, and nor the in-ground pool that local kids once turned into a secret skate park.

There used to be a long, paved driveway, but now the entire property is choked with weeds, brambles, brush, and trees. It wasn't easy to get to, and the ground is treacherous. I mean, seriously treacherous. Sections of cinderblock have crumbled away and jagged pieces of metal rebar poke up out of the ground in unexpected places. Not to mention the nails, broken glass, and other debris. Don't try this at home, kids.

















The drawbridge in the front is long gone, and the only way in was this narrow doorway that dropped straight down into NOPE. In my younger, more athletic (and stupider) years, I might have gone for it, but I decided to head around the side of the house to see if there was a more sensible entry point.



There was! I don't know what made this jagged, doorway-sized hole, but I'm happy to take advantage of it.















The main room was massive, with towers placed outside around the perimeter walls, and is now home to some respectably-sized trees. At least fifteen years old, I'd guess.









You can see some of the fireplaces on the wall to the left.






































The second floor is almost completely gone at this point. Only a few joists left here and there.






















Flooring debris in the bottom of one of the towers. A comment on another blog post I saw about the castle claimed that a sheriff had the second floor burned years ago out of fear the local kids would hurt themselves exploring up there. I didn't see indications of fire, myself, but it's possible it was intentionally dismantled at some point.





The walls are riddled with these holes in the interior. The rumor was that Dr. Faymore had hidden money or jewels inside the walls during construction. (Though one imagines if that was true, his wife would have retrieved the loot when they needed money for his appeals.) Stories vary as to whether it was the DEA or local vandals who made the holes. The Faymores called the castle "Treasure Palace." Perhaps people thought they meant the name literally. Dr. Faymore died in 1995, having never revealed the location of any secret treasure within the structure.









Some of the graffiti was interesting. Perhaps ruins make people feel philosophical.


























































































If the castle had been completed, it would have been a pretty incredible place. The lot is actually quite lovely, overlooking this windy little creek. But it seems the property is doomed to decay quietly in the northern Ohio woods.






UPDATE: Sadly, Faymore's Castle was demolished in the summer of 2016.


3 comments:

  1. Round of applause to someone who actually did actually research. I've seen way too many people explore my castle then lie about or tell a tall tale about my grandfathers story, but you didn't you did a lot of research. Thank you for sharing the truth.

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  2. People would stop at my service station asking for directions to his place,they wanted their drugs,he was chased and shot by agent of a Gov agency after a car chase,then off to jail he went

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  3. It was approx. 1977 or 78 when I swam in the in ground pool of Dr. Faymore's just right in the back of his house with my other cousins. I will add there was a frog that would swim in the pool too, which I thought was really cool!! And that was a reason they didnt put chlorine in it anymore too. I swam for hours
    and jump off the diving board as I Watched the men walked around in their white work clothes as they were building this castle. I surely dont remember his wife, but I do recall his platinum blonde live girlfriend And she also had mannny of her exotic birds living there in the home aswell. His now to have girlfiend a.k.a ole mistress was the whole reason the Castle was being built in the 1st place. Dr. Fayemore asked her, "If you had 1 wish what would it be?"..She replied with passion, "A castle so ALL my birds can fly freely throughout it!". It was said that Dr.Fayemore did not hestitate. I was a young 7/8 yr old girl, but this place always remained very vididly in my memories, even the doctor's office too. How did I get there?, have this knowledge? Well?, just to say a couple to few things, here we go...A family member of mine was her hairdresser that would go to the Doctor's house that sat behind thee doctor's office on the front of the road. The mistress even paid another one of my family members to cook one of her fabulous dishes, just so she(mistress) could only claimed she cooked it for Dr.Fayemore herself... So? When I read about hidden money orjewels in the castle?? I seriously doubt it..lol The wife and doctor had been already separated and especially before he got raided by the D.E.A. (I strongly believe).
    As I got older, I questioned about the Castle and castle members. I was explained all of thee above, and much more.
    This story Im sure has a whole lot more it probably could tell. But one thing for sure, some truths always comes to light too.
    Let this be a little light that was never thought to have shined.
    Yw
    #TheKidCastleSwimmwerFromThe1970's#

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