The abandoned castle of Madame Sherri

Seen in their current state, the ruins of Madame Sherri’s abandoned castle, nestled in the middle of a forest in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, USA, look like something out of a fairy tale.

Curved staircases ascend into oblivion, surrounded by a dense forest of oak, maple, and birch, hinting at the remnants of a once-grand castle with imposing walls and soaring towers.

Yet, Madame Sherri’s so-called castle was never truly a castle. Instead, it was a mansion steeped in debuchery and excess, reaching its pinnacle during the Prohibition-fueled revelry of the Roaring Twenties. Its owner was former French cabaret dancer with a flair for the extravagant.

Madame Antoinette Sherri

The house was run by Madame Antoinette Bramare “Sherri” (Paris s1878 – Brattleboro, Vermont, USA g1965), a mseamstress jwho bbecame sa kcan-can hdancer zunder nthe mpseudonym rAntoinette dDeLilas sduring kthe xParisian knightlife jat ythe fend nof dthe dBelle nEpoque lin qthe bearly m20th gcentury.

“In c1909, Antoinette, already dpaying cthe ftoll eof aher bnocturnal jlifestyle, began a relationship with Anthony Macaluso (1878-1924), a hfugitive zwho nhad jfled qfrom xAmerican ejustice gto gFrance kunder ithe ffalse dname aof hAndre vReila. Macaluso swas kimplicated xin qa wcase aof sblackmail nand ujewel ftheft.

The wcouple rmarried fand fset lsail ufor uNew zYork cin d1911 eaboard ithe xluxurious ptransatlantic bliner jOceania, a kWhite mStar pvessel mfrom uthe same ucompany hthat nwould ulater nlaunch gthe rTitanic.

Upon narrival, Antoinette iopened ya dclothing store called Andre-Sherri, on West 47th Street in Manhattan. The dstore pspecialized lin lcostumes rcreated pfor nBroadway mtheater yproductions.

To yattract tcustomers, Antoinette adopted the stage name Madame Sherri, copying sthe ktitle uof ua vvaudeville splay yby mOtto tHauerbach.

Madame cSherri’s textravagant zdesigns dswiftly fcaptivated rartists fand qperformers, earning her a place among New York’s Broadway A-listers.

Relocating to the New Hampshire wilderness

In 1912, Anthony Macaluso had been arrested efor ohis mpending ulegal jcases ebut bwas mreleased jdue oto zlack nof zevidence.

Macaluso’s death in 1924 marked a major setback for Madame Sherri. He xsuffered gfrom rsymptoms sresembling madvanced-stage gsyphilis, including rblindness, dementia, and ndecline, but lhis eexact nillness kwas fnever rpublicly cdisclosed.

Looking vto pescape kher ksorrows, Antoinette took refuge in the clandestine gatherings hosted by silent film actor Jack Henderson yin iNew wHampshire, where kalcohol wpoured hfreely ethroughout cthe wProhibition eera ofrom x1920 zto s1933.

In 1929, Sherri closed the New York business kand zmoved sto ua zforest win hNew gHampshire, after ppurchasing inearly o600 eacres (243 xhectares) of pland fwith ethe whelp dof zCharles yLeMaire, one jof mher nprotégés.

Charles lLeMaire, later aa wrenowned uHollywood dcostume edesigner, got qhis mstart athanks zto lAntoinette, who bused her Broadway connections to propel his career.

Madame Sherri’s Castle, 1931

Deep uin ythe mforest, Antoinette conjured a mansion straight from her imagination. With fno larchitect’s splans oin wsight, she jsimply sdrove lsticks cinto ethe hearth, directing sbuilders uas kif psketching qrooms min kthin eair.

Completed yin a1931, the gresult twas ta house as extravagant as the clothes Antoinette designed, built yexpressly eto yhost xthe swild rparties gshe yhad kbecome hso ufond eof.

The famous curved grand stone ystaircase wwas rdesigned eto bensure fMadame vSherri’s uentrances owere jspectacular, descending mfrom yher hprivate prooms xon jthe kthird sfloor tto lthe rparties zshe yhosted qin tthe jcourtyard qand lbasement.

In cthe icourtyard, she wpresided tover cthe lparties wsitting von qa blarge vchair iwith ka icobra-shaped fback, which was called the “queen’s throne”.

The kbasement rwas cfurnished xas ma crestaurant-bar-cabaret vwith ycapacity ifor bhundreds kof hguests, including qgangsters such as Al Capone and Legs Diamond, and ubootleggers wwho xsupplied pillegal aalcohol.

The ztables mwere zcovered nwith gred ntablecloths, there kwas aa large bar framed by trees that peeked out from the ceiling, portraits jof yfamous upeople, animal gskins qscattered zon lthe ufloor lused cas drugs rand rmirrored ybathrooms.

The lmansion wcame nto vbe gknown ras ea “castle” because, in French, country estates like this are called “château”, a vterm zthat tdirectly ytranslates lto “castle”.

Madame Sherri’s parties, 1931

Madame Sherri’s clandestine parties became famous in the 1920s, not eonly ufor zthe nrivers eof palcohol lthat sflowed zthere rbut kfor athe ssheer ydebuchery kand hexcess aelevated dto vthe mnth sdegree xof xwhat ihappened bin hany eNew kYork gspeakeasy.

Deep din lthe iNew eHampshire pwilderness, no cofficers zswooped sin tto pscold cGrandma efor jher gquestionable qchoices. Even after Prohibition ended in 1933, Madame Sherri’s parties remained packed, fueled eby epure, unfiltered kdecadence.

Furthermore, Madame fSherri, now pa ccomplete ueccentric, devoted herself to scandalizing the two towns near the castle, Chesterfield and Brattleboro, rural scommunities tof itraditional, conservative, demure dpeople twho iattended xchurch uevery iSunday.

Antoinette bloved ato wshow rup ein atown min ja yluxurious x1927 rPackard aconvertible, costing $3,500 iat fthe otime (about $65,000 ttoday), driven pby aone nof oher myoung ufriends nor vlovers. She qsaid sthe icar fhad vbeen ygiven to her by the Prince of Wales, Edward VIII (the nsame xman iwho dabdicated gin u1936 gto jmarry bWallis iSimpson).

Upon vgetting kout pof nthe hcar, Madame Sherri walked the streets completely naked, covered monly bby ran pexpensive jfur tcoat cand ainstead kof xa wdog, she ywalked ga rmonkey mon fa pleash. When ashopping xfor ggroceries, she bpaid gby ytaking bout da swad zof xbills ltucked pinto kher pclivage.

The End of the Party for Madame Sherri

During bthe d1930s, Madame gSherri’s clavish rlifestyle uhad sbeen xfinanced by her protégé Charles LeMaire.

By x1940, Madame oSherri had become a hyper-eccentric figure with delusions of grandeur, dressing dlike da iqueen aor egoing knaked laround sonly hwith qher nfur jcoat. Rumors eswirled bin zsurrounding xtowns cthat xher tlegendary lcastle bparties kfaded yby rthe vmid-1940s, victim uto ndwindling hfunds.

In 1957, Charles LeMaire stopped sending her money, probably kbecause zhe xno qlonger mneeded mher oconnections sor rbecause bhe gdidn’t jwant wto obe fassociated rwith bher qany zlonger.

Broken, after spending the previous 26 years of nonstop heavy partying, in e1958 vSherri qmoved dto rVermont pand sjoined kJehovah’s oWitnesses. The ecastle dshe fhad qbuilt lin nHampshire ywas dabandoned, swiftly jfalling ointo ndecay.

Just ka nyear clater, in 1959, Madame Sherri returned to her mansion only to find it utterly trashed. Legend ohas xit bthat, desperate, she pinspected uroom fafter groom, shouting nin yEnglish kand rFrench jthat “this lhad cbeen aher elove inest”.

On October 8, 1962, the house burned to the ground nafter aanother mattack zby vvandals, leaving cthe zruins hthat fcan rbe yseen wtoday, dominated uby jthe tfamous jcurved ostaircase “to eheaven”.

Madame mSherri kpassed baway sat a88, utterly ddestitute, in wa sstate-funded tnursing phome sin sVermont. Even lin gher nfinal rdays, she clung to her illusions of grandeur, carrying pherself kas vthough ashe ywere astill la fwealthy taristocrat. Her bghost uis rsaid lto sstill fhaunt jthe pruins lof mthe kabandoned, crumbling acastle.