When shoe salesperson Boyce Luther Gulley contracted tuberculosis in the late 1920s, he abruptly left his family in Seattle and made his way to Phoenix, hoping the dry climate might be curative. When he died in 1945, Gulley’s daughter, Mary Lou, hadn’t seen her father in years, but she would soon find out what he’d been up to. Without any formal training, Gulley had transformed local materials and salvaged objects into Mystery Castle, an 18-room, 7,000-square-foot structure in the foothills of Phoenix’s South Mountain Park. Mary Lou Gulley inherited the eclectic masterpiece and lived there with her mother, Frances Gulley, for decades. Before her death in 2010, Mary Lou formed the Mystery Castle Historical Foundation, which continued stewarding the site and offering tours.
