Inside eerie castle 'untouched for more than 100 years' following huge tragedy (original) (raw)

An urban explorer has taken viewers back in time after venturing around a castle that has been abandoned since its owner's infamous death in a historic tragedy in 1912

The property is in central France (stock)

An urban explorer has taken a nostalgic journey through time, exploring a castle that has been deserted since its owner tragically died on the Titanic.

TikTok user @deserted_places guided his 4.1million followers around the majestic property located in central France. In his video, he reveals that the 19th-century castle was abandoned in 1912 when its owner, Norwegian businessman Engelhart Cornelius Ostby, lost his life in the shipwreck. The property remains untouched with artwork, furniture, and even children's toys still in their original places.

In the kitchen, pots and pans hang on the walls, while in the study, books are left on the shelves and tables, waiting to be read. Engelhart, aged 64, and his daughter Helen, aged 22, travelled first class on the Titanic after boarding in Cherbourg.

They each had their own cabins, with Helen in cabin B-36 and her father in B-30. As reported by Medium, they were both in their cabins when the Titanic hit the iceberg. Startled and disoriented, they met in the corridor between their cabins before heading up to the boat deck. However, Engelhart returned to his cabin to fetch warmer clothes, leaving Helen behind. This was the last time Helen saw her father alive as she was rescued on lifeboat 5. Engelhart's body was later recovered at sea by a cable repair ship, CS-Mackey-Bennett.

His body was returned to Providence, Rhode Island, and laid to rest at Swan Point on May 11, 1912. Helen, a survivor of the Titanic disaster, chillingly recounted her experience in lifeboat 5, saying: "There had been no panic. But at the very end, we could see and hear that the people on board were realising there was no place to go."

She described the ship's final moments: "As the ship began to stand on end, we heard a big rumbling, rattling noise as if everything was being torn from its moorings inside the ship. All of a sudden that stopped, and she stood on end very quietly for a minute, then went down like an arrow."

Helen took over her father's business Ostby & Barton in 1914 with her brother Harold and one of his daughters. She found herself trapped in Germany during a business trip in the same year but managed to escape through Flanders.

She arrived in Liege just as the German army did, forcing her to flee once more - this time making her way through England before heading back to America. During World War II, Helen experienced the terror of war firsthand when bombs dropped by German planes jolted her awake while she was in Belgium.

She sought refuge in Lisbon for three months until she could catch a plane to America in January 1941. Helen lived out her days in Rhode Island, dedicating her later years to volunteering at Rhode Island Hospital. Despite having numerous suitors, she never married and passed away on May 15, 1978, at the age of 88. Helen was laid to rest near her father at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.