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All Canada Ontario Burk's Falls Midlothian Castle

Midlothian Castle

A school teacher's massive and terrifying self-built castle.

Burk's Falls, Ontario

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  http://www.mmage.com/screamingheads/main.htm
  http://www.mmage.com/screamingheads/main.htm
Screaming heads   http://www.mmage.com/screamingheads/main.htm
Haunted trees   http://www.mmage.com/screamingheads/main.htm
Inside the bell tower  
blue thing?   22crusher / Atlas Obscura User
melting ghosts   22crusher / Atlas Obscura User
  princessrobyd / Atlas Obscura User
Screaming Heads   Engineerblake / Atlas Obscura User
red thing   22crusher / Atlas Obscura User
two (many) heads are better than one   22crusher / Atlas Obscura User
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About

It is often the case that school teachers have a very different life outside of the classroom, but few teachers have as interesting an extracurricular hobby as Canadian secondary school teacher Peter Camani. Since the mid-1970s besides being a teacher, he has also been building a massive, and rather frightening, castle.

Inspired by druids and ancient Briton, Camani has filled the castle and its grounds with fire-breathing dragons, arches shaped like gaping mouths, and an eerie forest of tree-shaped sculptures. The castle even has a dungeon. The most distinctive feature of the Midlothian Castle, however, are the hundreds of screaming concrete heads that he has placed throughout the grounds, including a giant one on top of a castle tower. In the words of the artist, "Amidst the heads and disks, the solitude of the park envelopes the visitor in a peculiar silence, a silence both quieting and disquieting, penetrated only by the eerie scream of the peacock."

Related Tags

Modern Castles Outsider Art Eccentric Homes Outsider Architecture Homes

Know Before You Go

Hwy 11 North from Toronto, take exit for Burk's Falls (Ontario St), follow Ontario St north through town then take a sharp hairpin left turn onto Hwy 520 to Ryerson, follow Hwy 520 west then turn left onto Midlothian Road and continue west.

This site is not marked but is hard to miss the 20 foot high screaming heads. Feel free to wander the grounds the artist doesn't mind, but do not enter the house unless invited and remember as the sign says on the gate, you enter Midlothian Castle at Your Own Risk. The castle and grounds are also home, once a year, to the Harvest Music Festival.

Community Contributors

Edited By

Blindcolour, mbison, mcpiper, princessrobyd...

  • Blindcolour
  • mbison
  • mcpiper
  • princessrobyd
  • Engineerblake
  • 22crusher

Published

May 20, 2010

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Sources
  • Project Website
  • http://www.mmage.com/screamingheads/main.htm
  • Wikipedia
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Camani
  • Harvest Festival
  • http://harvestfestival.org/location
Midlothian Castle
981 Midlothian Road
R.R.#1
Burk's Falls, Ontario, P0A 1C0
Canada
45.603457, -79.465195
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Dyer Memorial

Huntsville, Ontario

miles away

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miles away

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miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Ontario

Ontario

Canada

Places 181
Stories 13

Nearby Places

Dyer Memorial

Huntsville, Ontario

miles away

Koilos Sculpture

Bala, Ontario

miles away

Kiosk Ghost Town

Nipissing District, Ontario

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Ontario

Ontario

Canada

Places 181
Stories 13

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