According to local legends, Aberdeen's Easton Castle is haunted by the lingering spirit of its reclusive former owner, Russell Easton, and by "partygoers" from the Gilded Age. The house, built in 1888, has long been a source of local lore and mystery, especially after Easton's final years of hermitage. Ghost stories about Easton Castle began to circulate during the last decades of owner Russell Easton's life, when he lived in the house alone after his divorce in 1945. Locals report that his ghost still lingers on the property. Easton was known to be unwelcoming toward trespassers, with rumors suggesting he would shoot salt pellets at neighborhood kids who ventured onto his property. A book on regional lore, Ghosts and Legends of Northeast South Dakota, notes that "partygoers from over a century ago still linger at Aberdeen's Easton Castle". This likely refers to the many parties the Eastons hosted in the mansion before Russell's reclusive period. A local journalist described the property as having a "mystique like a corporeal Oz," with a distinctly eerie atmosphere. The castle's isolated location and the collection of antique vehicles and farm equipment scattered in the woods add to its unsettling ambience, giving it a "Texas Chainsaw Massacre feel," according to one visitor.