Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky.

Listener discretion is advised.

Almost 30 years ago, my soon-to-be-step father was trying his best to be a relatable parental figure

as many do in such situations. Hearing I had an interest in the supernatural,

he declared that he knew of a building, a haunted castle, nearby his home in Alderado, California,

and he'd like to show it to me. Being a reasonably snarky teenager dealing with the trauma of her

parents' divorce and now her mother's insistence on moving all of us three hours away from our

childhood home because of this man, I remember being a bit apprehensive about doing anything

cordial with him, but the lore of a haunted castle in the middle of California's gold country

proved to be too much. I've begrudgingly joined him on the 20-minute drive up Highway 49

on a hot, dusty summer day. We passed golden rolling hills and remnants of old barns and gold rush

era buildings until we've reached the small town of Ion. And within seconds of our arrival,

I saw a glimpse of a large red castle with a massive belt-hour that looked so incredibly out of

place I gasped. We made our way up the driveway and got as close as we could to this old Romanesque

style red castle, and I don't think I'd ever seen anything like it in person in my life.

And I also somehow knew just by staring at it that terrible things had happened there.

We got out of the car and looked past the fence that stopped us from getting any further,

and I asked my stepfather what was this place? He replied, it's Preston Castle. I nudged further,

inquiring what it had been before. He said it was a school for troubled boys.

As I peered through the fence, trying to get a clear look in some of the windows and pondering

what it would have been like to be a young boy dropped in front of this looming structure,

not knowing what could possibly be inside, my stepfather added, I spent a year here when I was a

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