The Haunted Palacio de Linares in Madrid, Spain
Today known as the Casa de Americas, the Palacio de Linares (Palace of Linares) in Madrid, Spain is said to house the spirits of its previous owners: the Marquis Jose de Murga y Reolid, his wife, and their child.
If you believe the legend, their story is one of abhorrent love, a forbidden child, and a tragic murder. But just what is the truth behind the ghosts of the Palacio de Linares?
The Legend at the Palace of Linares
Jose de Murga y Reolid was born in 1833 to a wealthy family that made their riches from railway investments. Though Jose grew up in the lap of luxury, attending many prestigious schools, and traveling Europe, his father always reminded him that money and fame were not important.
During a time when many powerful and rich families encouraged their children to marry into other powerful and rich families, Jose’s father did the opposite. He told Jose to marry for love and promised to support him no matter who he loved.
In 1857, at the age of 24, Jose met Raimunda de Osorio y Ortega, the daughter of a poor tobacco shop owner, and immediately fell in love. Jose rushed to tell his father, eagerly hoping he could introduce him to her; but upon telling him who Raimunda was, his father became furious.
Jose’s father refused to explain why he wouldn’t allow the courtship and sent Jose away to London in hopes Jose would forget Raimunda. Just days after arriving in London, Jose received word that his father had passed away.
A Forbidden Marriage
After returning to Madrid and attending his father’s funeral, Jose met with Raimunda and continued their relationship. The following year the two were married secretly as Jose’s only remaining family knew of his father’s wishes.
To the newlyweds, it didn’t matter, plus they had just discovered that Raimunda was pregnant and the two would start a new family together. Returning to his father’s home, Jose looked through several letters and found one written to him. In it, his father revealed a dark secret and the reason he prohibited the marriage.
Decades earlier, Jose’s father had an affair with the wife of a tobacco shop owner in town. The woman became pregnant and Jose’s father paid her off to keep the baby’s true father a secret. That baby was Raimunda. Jose had fallen in love and married his half-sister.
Sinful Choices
Being devout Catholics and knowing that incest was a sin, Jose and Raimunda reached out to Pope Leo XIII to explain their situation. At this point, the King of Spain had appointed Jose the title of the Marquis of Linares so an audience with the pope was not difficult to attain.
The Pope issued a papal bull entitled Casti Convivere, this allowed the couple to stay married but they had to practice the virtue of chastity, meaning they could never sleep together. The couple neglected to tell the pope it was too late for that as Raimunda was several months pregnant.
Jose de Murga y Reolid
Raimunda de Osorio y Ortega
Around this time Jose had also purchased a plot of land from the Madrid City Council and commissioned the construction of a lavish palace. Once the Pope approved their marriage, the couple moved into their new home and began to debate what they were going to do about their child who was soon to be born. The couple knew they had to keep it a secret but now holding political power, it would be difficult.
Months later, their daughter Raimunda was born, and seeing no other option, Jose and Raimunda killed her. Jose broke open a wall in the basement, placed baby Raimunda’s body inside, and walled her in.
The couple believed they could live with the guilt but just a few months later, Jose arrived home to find his wife had taken her own life. Unable to live with himself, Jose took a shotgun and shot himself in the chest.
Other Versions
While most versions of this legend start off the same, the stories diverge when Raimunda gives birth. In these versions Jose and Raimundo don’t kill their child, they instead try to keep Raimunda a secret for years.
In one story, this works for years until a journalist catches wind of the child. After convincing the journalist that it was actually one of the couple’s goddaughters, Jose and Raimundo decided to kill their child to avoid another possible sighting and scandal.
In another version, the couple’s child Raimunda grows to be 16 years old after spending her entire life hidden away in the palace. On her 16th birthday, Raimunda plans an escape to see the world but is immediately attacked by a thief in an alley. Guards come to her rescue and after saving her, she tells them who she is.
This causes a small scandal that ends the same way as the last story with Raimunda killed by her parents and a larger scandal avoided. Though many believed this was the end of the family’s story, their spirits would return a century later.
Ghostly Sightings and Evidence
After the deaths of the Jose and Raimunda, the Palace of Linares remained abandoned for almost a century. Eventually, it was purchased by private individuals but the City of Madrid repurchased it in 1989 and began plans to reopen it as the Casa de America; a public consortium that would also house a museum for tourists.
Renovated Ceiling
But before it could reopen, the palace had to be renovated as it had become dilapidated over the century. Workers were hired to start the process while guards were hired for an around-the-clock watch of the palace but soon both would report strange sounds and shadows at night.
Word started to spread that the palace was haunted and the belief in the paranormal was so strong that City Council hired an investigator to verify the claims.
Dr. Carmen Sánchez de Castro
In 1989 Dr. Carmen Sanchez de Castro introduced herself as a doctor of Psychology and Psychiatry who had a team with special equipment that could investigate the paranormal. Madrid’s City Council approved and Carmen started her almost 18-month investigation.
At the end of May 1990, Carmen sent her report to not just City Council but to the local media and radio stations because she had discovered proof of the supernatural. To everyone’s shock, Carmen had recorded the voice of a young girl calling out for her mother and proclaiming she was dead.
She also recorded the voice of a man asking for his daughter Raimunda and stating that his daughter never met her mother. Apart from this evidence, Carmen claimed to have been pushed by a force that was able to throw her across a room and provided 22 pictures of ghostly evidence.
Carmen also claimed the other shadows and footsteps heard by the workers and guards were the ghosts of soldiers who died on the land decades before the palace was even built. The news and evidence shocked the community and the following day over 200 people attempted to break into the palace to catch a glimpse of the ghosts themselves.
Police and guards were eventually able to calm the crowd and send everyone home but from that point forward more and more reports of ghosts, shadows, and things moving on their own were reported in the Palace of Linares.
But Did it Happen?
The legend revolving around the Marquis of Linares Jose de Murga y Reolid and his wife Raimunda de Osorio y Ortega is completely false and pretty easy to disprove by looking at their actual history and timelines. Since the Marquis is an official title given to him by the King, his life is somewhat documented.
The Real Story
Jose de Murga y Reolid was born in 1833 to a wealthy family and he did marry Raimunda de Osorio y Ortega in 1858 a year after his parent's death but, there is no evidence he was sent to London upon telling his father of his love.
While there are no records of Raimunda’s father who was dead by the time she met Jose, there is no evidence that Jose’s father was her father as well. Her mother also gave Raimunda away at the wedding which wouldn’t have happened had Raimunda actually been Jose’s sister.
There is also no record of a papal bull being given by the pope to the newlyweds and no record of the couple having children. Other relatives and close friends of Jose and Raimunda have also confirmed they did not have children nor was Raimunda ever pregnant.
Taking a look at the timeline of the legends and what is documented also raises serious doubts about the legend. We know Raimunda and Jose married in 1858 but the Pope at the time wasn’t Pope Leo XIII, he didn’t become pope until 1878. Pope Pius IX was the pope in 1858 and there are no records of him issuing the couple a papal bull either.
According to most versions of the legend, Raimunda became pregnant immediately after the wedding or at least a few years later. If that is true then it would have been impossible for Jose to hide a baby in the walls of the palace since the palace wasn’t actually built yet. The palace didn’t start construction until 1877 and Jose and Raimunda didn’t move in until 1884.
This means if they had a daughter around the time of their marriage, she would have been almost 30 years old by the time they moved into the palace.
The Deaths of the Marquis
From historical records, we know Raimunda died on October 28th, 1901 and Jose died on April 9th, 1902. If killing their daughter caused them to take their own lives then that also means she would have been around 40 at the time of her death. Far older than any legend claimed her to be at the time of her death.
We also know that Jose died of a lung issue and while a shotgun blast to the chest can be classified as a “lung issue” there is no evidence or records stating he killed himself; the same can be said for Raimunda.
Records show that after their deaths, since they had no heirs, Jose left the palace to his goddaughter Raimunda. Documents tell us she is the daughter of the long-time lawyer of Jose’s family. No doubt that the similar names helped perpetuate the legend yet no one seems to question why Jose would have left his palace for the daughter he supposedly kept hidden and killed.
After Jose’s death, the palace was abandoned by their goddaughter Raimunda and no one entered until the renovations started in 1989. But if the legend isn’t true, how is it possible that Dr. Carmen Sanchez de Castro captured evidence of the supernatural? Well, it turns out that Carmen isn’t exactly who she said she was.
Carmen’s Background
Looking closer into the events of 1989/1990 I discovered several news articles that shed light on what actually happened. The Urban development division of Madrid’s City Council never hired Carmen Sanchez to investigate the paranormal events. I couldn’t even find reports that the workers or guards experienced paranormal events prior to her investigation.
In reality, when it was announced the restoration of the palace was to commence, Carmen asked the City Council to let her conduct research at the location. In an interview with one member of the city council, they stated that since Carmen did not ask for money nor to be sponsored by the City, they gave her permission to look at the palace as a guest for her doctoral research.
It was then revealed that since she wasn’t actually hired by the city, they didn’t do a background check or check her credentials. When this was revealed, several reporters looked into her background and discovered that she wasn’t actually a doctor and did not have any license to practice. Carmen Sanchez de Castro was a fraud.
Carmen’s “Evidence”
Immediately after she shared her research with the public, she became a well-known public figure and a week later she was under arrest. Carmen wasn’t arrested for her lies against the city, she was arrested for check fraud that she committed 10 years prior. Police had just lost track of her until she appeared on the news to show her “evidence”.
Meanwhile more people started to take a closer look at her “evidence” and discovered that it was all fake. Carmen and her team had faked the evidence of ghosts and voices themselves. Carmen also refused or turn down the opportunity to go back and capture more evidence with others that weren’t part of her team.
During my research I found one instance of a report claiming the person who actually recorded the voice lines came forward and admitted it was fake but I couldn’t verify that with another source. Overall, much of the information surrounding Carmen was very difficult to find as there wasn’t a lot written about her or her findings once the legend spread, and only a few newspapers from Madrid have been digitized.
Although looking at several reports and books of other paranormal researchers, including those who believe in the supernatural, they have put her evidence under the spotlight and also determined that it was all faked.
Several investigators were able to replicate her findings in their own homes using the same equipment she used, something that should not be possible if the ghost of the Palace of Linares were actually real.
How the Marquis de Linares Legend Spread
Interestingly, despite Carmen’s lies and fake evidence, she wasn’t the originator of the legend. According to El Pais, one of Madrid’s largest newspapers, rumors, and legends about the marquis existed during their lives. Unlike other members of the nobility who had lavish mansions, Jose and Raimunda didn’t give tours of their home nor were they the type to throw parties.
Many questioned why they appeared to be reclusive and instead of realizing the two were in their 60’s by the time they moved into the palace, people started to spread rumors. Some spread rumors accusing the two of looking down on the poor and having so much money that they didn’t know what to do with it.
One rumor claimed that when the palace was built, Jose requested not to have any kitchens as they would only ever order food from a local fancy restaurant.
In reality, the palace had two kitchens and Jose and Raimunda donated much of their fortune to several different charities. Jose also included in his will that his estate uses what money he had left to build a new hospital.
Despite this, the rumors still spread and many looked down on the Marquis. After their deaths and with the palace abandoned more rumors spread of ghosts and strange noises. The history of Jose and Raimunda was twisted and rumors that the two were siblings took hold. Some even believe that was the reason they refused to leave the palace.
With around 90 years for the rumors to percolate, several different versions started to spread. In 1989 when the City of Madrid reacquired the palace and announced plans for restoration, it was big news. An article in El Pais written by Louis Escobar on April 1st, 1989 entitled The Fruit of Incest (translated) certainly didn’t help quell the rumors.
In fact, it most likely brought the story to a new generation as the legend is told as fact. Interestingly there is no mention of a child that was killed and buried in the walls of the basement. From there Carmen’s fake ghost story a year later that hit national news helped create the ghost story that many still believe today.
In various articles today you’ll find claims of guards that refuse to enter the Casa de Americas at night or that many still hear the spirit of a little girl wandering the halls. A few paranormal researchers have even claimed to have caught Raimunda’s voice on a recorder. One has to wonder if they know the real story behind the Marquis or if all they know is the version Carmen Sanchez de Castro wanted them to believe.
