Witches, bats, and black cats don’t usually come to mind when you think of Biltmore, but deep in the basement of America’s largest home, there’s a cavernous room with brick walls painted in brightly-colored murals depicting such creatures. The paintings include characters from folklore, a platoon of wooden soldiers, and other imaginative imagery that eventually caused this area to be dubbed The Halloween Room.
For many years, the colorful murals remained a bit of a mystery, with some thought that the room was the scene of a 1920s Halloween weekend house party during which guests of John and Cornelia Cecil were invited make their mark on the walls. Subsequent research revealed, however, that the paintings were created in December 1925 to prepare the room for a New Year's Eve celebration–but that still didn't explain the slightly eerie tone of the murals. The swimming pool has dressing rooms for both men and women but the gym lounge only has men's dressing rooms and a corridor leading to the Halloween Room which is the only room large enough to house a gym.
Below is some of the stuff painted in there.