Built in 1887 for composer and spiritualist Jesse Shepard (aka Francis Grierson), Villa Montezuma is a Queen Anne-style mansion steeped in spiritualist history and paranormal lore. Shepard hosted séances and claimed to channel the spirits of Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin during musical performances. Visitors report hearing phantom piano music, seeing apparitions in the tower and witnessing ghostly figures in the stained-glass windows especially the portrait of Peter Paul Rubens, whose beard allegedly grays over time. A barren garden corner where nothing grows adds to the mystery, and some believe the mansion harbors residual energy from Shepard’s intense spiritual practices.