There are haunted homes, after which there are homes that hang-out you. Jeffrey Epstein’s Long island mansion wasn’t simply every other billionaire’s gilded hideout. It was once a gothic horror wrapped in leopard print, surveillance cameras, and unsettling proximity to energy. Assume Eyes Broad Close directed by way of a deeply wicked actual property agent.It had the entire trappings of wealth—heated sidewalks, a taxidermied tiger, seven flooring of Versailles-by-way-of-psychodrama—and but its Most worthy commodity wasn’t luxurious. It was once leverage. As a result of Epstein didn’t simply accumulate artwork or investments. He accumulated other folks.
1. Woody Allen Citadel Dracula, and the Buffet of Dread
![“In many respects [your dinners] seem like something out of Castle Dracula. The food is sometimes served by young women reminding one of Lugosi’s three female vampires. One imagines you sleeping in a coffin lined with damp earth.” —Woody Allen, 2016 letter to Jeffrey Epstein](https://static.toiimg.com/photo/imgsize-23456,msid-123144774,resizemode-4/in-many-respects-your-dinners-seem-like-something-out-of-castle-dracula-the-food-is-sometimes-served-by-young-women-reminding-one-of-lugosis-three-female-vampires-one-imagines-you-sleeping-in-a-coffin-lined-with-damp-earth-woody-allen-2016-letter-to-jeffrey-epstein.jpg)
Woody Allen, no stranger to morally fraught dinner conversations himself, as soon as described Epstein’s townhouse dinners as one thing out of Citadel Dracula. In a birthday letter written in 2016, he famous that the meals was once once in a while served by way of “younger girls reminding one in all Lugosi’s 3 feminine vampires,” and that the host might be imagined “napping in damp earth.” It was once a metaphor on the time—ironic, absurd, a little bit macabre. These days, it reads like prophecy scribbled on embossed stationery.
In lots of respects [your dinners] look like one thing out of Citadel Dracula. The meals is once in a while served by way of younger girls reminding one in all Lugosi’s 3 feminine vampires. One imagines you napping in a coffin coated with damp earth.
Woody Allen, 2016 letter to Jeffrey Epstein.
2. A Bride in Suspension
The centrepiece of the mansion wasn’t a Picasso or a Monet, however a sculpture: a girl in a bridal robe, dangling by way of rope from the atrium ceiling. There was once no plaque explaining its that means—no artist observation to melt the blow. Only a suspended effigy in white, providing guests their first glimpse into Epstein’s twisted sense of decor. Artwork? Symbolism? A caution? Making a decision.
3. The Eyes Have It
The lobby was once coated with dozens of framed prosthetic eyeballs. You walked in, and the home stared again. Eyeballs from injured veterans, organized now not with reverence however theatrical morbidity. It wasn’t simply gruesome. It was once intentional. A shrine to remark in a space filled with hidden cameras. This wasn’t ornament—it was once declaration. Surveillance wasn’t delicate right here. It was once theme.
4. Chinese language Takeout and Leopard Chairs
In spite of proudly owning a house that gave the impression of Versailles had a fever dream, Epstein famously served Chinese language takeout at his elite dinners. Visitors—who integrated scientists, high ministers, and the bizarre media magnate—queued up like place of business interns at a running lunch. They ate from plastic boxes whilst seated in leopard-print chairs. The desk was once lengthy, oblong, and extra boardroom than ceremonial dinner. The distinction was once the purpose: energy doesn’t want to galvanize. It simply must regulate the visitor checklist.
5. Lolita at the Shelf
In his wood-panelled place of business, Epstein stored a inexperienced first version of Lolita in simple sight. Now not hidden in a library, now not filed underneath “literature,” however displayed proudly like a philosophical totem. Beside it sat pictures of Epstein with global leaders and billionaires. You didn’t want to learn between the strains. The strains had been underlined, highlighted, and set at the back of museum-grade glass.
6. The Selfie Wall of Energy
Pictures had been all over the place. Epstein with Pope John Paul II. Epstein with Invoice Clinton. Epstein with Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Mick Jagger. Donald Trump gave the impression in a shot from 2000, smiling subsequent to Epstein and a tender Melania. Ghislaine Maxwellpresent within the authentic photograph, were cropped out like a foul ex. Those weren’t recollections. They had been receipts. Social evidence framed in walnut.
7. A Buck Invoice from Invoice Gates
One show cupboard contained a single-dollar invoice signed by way of Invoice Gates with the message “I used to be unsuitable!” Whether or not it was once a misplaced guess or personal funny story, it was once every other reminder: the neatest males on the planet as soon as stood on this space, smiled for the digicam, and scribbled punchlines for a convicted intercourse wrongdoer.
8. The Bed room with Eyes
Pictures display a digicam fastened above Epstein’s mattress. Some other in an adjoining room. Sufferers have lengthy testified that the mansion was once stressed—an elaborate surveillance gadget able to recording intimate moments, personal conversations, leverage-in-the-making. This wasn’t a panic room. This was once a panic community.
9. The Letters from Academia’s Olympus
For his 63rd birthday, Epstein gained heat, typed letters from males who taught categories on ethics, good judgment, and the medical means. Noam Chomsky. Ehud Barak. Lawrence Krauss. Joi Ito. Martin Nowak. Woody Allen, too. “A collector of other folks,” Barak known as him. There have been poems. Congratulations. Nostalgic memories of dinner debates. They weren’t protecting his crimes—but—however the silence spoke louder than their stanzas.
10. The Space that Made the Silence Louder
This wasn’t only a space. It was once a assemble. A theatre of standing, stuffed with sensible individuals who omitted the script since the lighting fixtures was once just right and the wine was once respectable. It was once a spot the place fact wore make-up and lies had been wearing tuxedos. Sufferers had been allegedly trafficked right here, assaulted right here, silenced right here. And nonetheless, the carousel spun. Photographers snapped. Visitors arrived. No person requested why there have been no circle of relatives pictures. Or why the therapeutic massage room wanted that a lot lubricant.
Ultimate Phrase
Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019, however the home lives on—in paperwork, in pictures, in recollections, and within the letters written by way of those that knew higher and stayed anyway. It wasn’t only a house. It was once a replicate. And like several just right haunted homes, it didn’t simply lure other folks within. It confirmed them who they in point of fact had been.