However, around 1990, eccentric Memphis millionaire Robert Hodges, also known as Prince Mongo, purchased the hall. The quirky buyer is known for his unconventional lifestyle – he claims to be a 333-year-old refugee from a planet called Zambodia, who has 33 wives and 33 children. He has even featured as a guest star on US TV show History's American Pickers.

“I’m here on a mission to save Earthlings, and I will in due time," he told the local newspaper Memphis Flyer in 2000. "The Earth is self-destructing and when the time comes I will save a few people and take them with me. People don’t realize how much I've already saved them from."

Why an eccentric millionaire abandoned this American castle