Oddity/Curiosity Trip #2 - The Charles Ponzi House

 

Last week, I spent the day with my high school friends Christine and Charlene in Lexington.  I thought it would be interesting to go see some curiosities in Lexington/Concord since I was there.  Christine was all for it, so I told her about them.

The first stop was the original Charles Ponzi house.  He was the creator of the "Ponzi scheme", basically, the first pyramid scam.  An Italian immigrant (figures) living in Boston, he fine tuned this scam.  He borrowed from Peter to pay Paul.  He promised investors a 50 percent return on their money in 90 days if they purchased international postal reply coupons, which were coupons he purchased overseas for a penny and exchanged in the US for six cents.  Unfortunately, it wound up costing more to ship and exchange than they were worth here.  It worked as long as you had new investors at the bottom of the pyramid.  Short story long, he spent 7 years in jail and died penniless in Rio de Janeiro.  Investigators searched the 20 room mansion in Lexington, MA and all they found were 100 gallons of home-made Italian wine.

Butler's Pantry

While we were looking at the house, a lady came out and I went to ask her if this was the Ponzi house and if it was ok to take pictures.  I was expecting a sign or something, but there was nothing.  A few minutes later, another lady walked out and told us she was the current owner and if we would be interested in a tour.  Are you kidding?  Sure!!  I told her that her house was in a book on Curiosities in Massachusetts.  She was surprised, she never had anyone come by to see the house.  The house...err...mansion was huge, hence the name mansion!  She still had original chandeliers and the old butler pantry with a pass through.  The fancy woodwork on the ceiling and moldings were original.  It was beautiful.  She gave us copies of some pictures she had from a book.  She had original photos of Ponzi, but she couldn't remember where they were.  No kidding!  LOL Her husband made a copy of the page in my book mentioning the home.
Before we ended the tour, it so happened that the owner knows my friend's Christine's aunt and uncle and were going to see them that weekend!  What a small world!  Chris would've never had met them if we didn't get that tour and talked to that lady.  She was so friendly and open, it was so cool!

Beautiful landscaping, and some original trees and steps from 1919.  This had to be the coolest curiosity trip to date!!  I have some pictures, but their quality is horrible.