MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) - Halfway down Fullhart Drive, a looming grey tower becomes visible, peeking from behind the rows of trees and short, square houses.
At the end of the quiet neighborhood is a castle, looking equally impressive and out of place. Two-story towers edge the 4,000-square-foot home, built with thousands of cement blocks weighing about 300 pounds each.
It’s not surprising the story behind the castle became something of local folklore. It’s where busloads of kids stop every Halloween, expecting candy and perhaps a dragon sighting. And where strangers ring the doorbell, hoping for a peek inside.
Bob and Barbara Logan weren’t expecting any of this, though. To them, it’s just where they built their love story.
Bob and Barbara met for the first time when she was three or four years old. Bob, who was four years older, noticed her looking lost and brought her home, like a stray dog, even asking his parents if he could keep her. Naturally, his parents said no and took her home.
About 11 years, later Bob noticed Barbara again, when she and her sister piled into his friend’s car. He asked for her number and convinced her the other girl chatting him up was not his girlfriend. She fibbed and told him she was 16.
And that was it, Barbara says while looking at Bob, about 50 years later.
Barbara used to sing all the time, still does. When they were dating, it was often “Down in the Valley,” by Burl Ives.
“Build me a castle, 40 feet high.”
When Bob proposed, he promised Barbara he’d build her a castle. He was 20 years old; she was 16. They went to the justice of the peace to get married and didn’t realize until afterward that it was Halloween.
Neither of them had much, or came from much. Bob grew up with eight siblings, Barbara had nine.
“My goal was nobody in my family was ever going to be that poor,” Barbara said.
It took until three years ago, 24 years after they bought the property, to finish the castle. Barbara sketched out her dream home and Bob built it piece by piece as they could afford it, each piece chronicling part of their life.
On the back of some of the cement blocks are their children’s hand prints and initials. And inside some are likely weird items the children dropped into the concrete they mixed and poured in the backyard, including at least one flashlight, Barbara said laughing.
Five children, around 10 foreign exchange students and now nine grandchildren grew up there. Barbara put herself through an associate degree, then a master’s degree, then a doctorate degree there. Bob recovered from a heart attack and triple bypass surgery there.
The heart attack came in 2000, and it took nearly two years for Bob to build back his strength. He was in great shape before from working two jobs as a carpenter, plus working on his family’s house in his free time. They figure that’s what saved him. And after, when he could no longer work as a carpenter, the castle sort of saved him again.
“I think it helped me stay healthy and stay in shape,” he said.
Even then, Barbara said she never considered that her castle wouldn’t be built.
“It wouldn’t be of any value if he wasn’t here, anyway,” she said.
The triple bypass surgery came last summer, and Bob is still recovering from that one. His energy is low. Barbara retired to spend more time with him. Although the castle is completed, they still spend their time working on it. Right now they’re repainting the inside.
A January post on the Lost Muncie Facebook page, which has 19,000 members, gave a boost to the castle’s celebrity status. Members swapped stories about who built it, who lives there now and what the inside looks like.
Perhaps adding to the mystique is that Barbara doesn’t welcome in strangers. It’s still their family home, she points out, not a tourist attraction. Just beyond the front door, though, people can see four coats of arms standing in the front room.
Inside, the castle largely looks like a regular house, complete with a large front room, dining room and library with a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that spans the length of the wall. There are still touches of a castle feel, like the family crest and Barbara’s tea pot collection. The towers create a round section in a few rooms, where Barbara said it’s ideal to curl up with a book by the windows.
Out back, the house sits very close to the White River. That’s part of the reason Bob said it took two years to get a building permit. The river has flooded a few times while they’ve lived there, and while water has never entered the house, Barbara joked that they had a moat.
She hopes the castle will become a Muncie landmark and continue to stand long after she and Bob are gone. The cement blocks are certainly sturdy enough to stick around, Bob said.
Each year they spend their anniversary sitting on the front porch with buckets of candy as busloads of kids come to see the castle. Barbara said last year they ran out of candy, and she was digging around in the kitchen for some Twinkies or something. Bob spends the night assuring children the dragon he keeps in the dungeon only eats bad children.
It’s not exactly the anniversary they had planned for, considering they never meant to get married on Halloween. But, sitting in front of their castle, it’s the realization of so many of their young dreams, and Barbara wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’re going to stay right here,” she said.
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Source: The (Muncie) Star-Press, https://tspne.ws/2mK5PVg
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Information from: The Star Press, https://www.thestarpress.com
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