TZAIMS LUKSUS & BUCKTHORNE HALL

 The Story of Tzaims Luksus & Buckthorne Hall

In 1901 Howard Hart Shields, The youngest son of Capt. Hamilton LeRoy Shields, of the wealthy Troy, NY Family of Hart, Howard, White, Finch, Eddy, designed a rough draft of a house he had the archjtect William Clarke Bull design, for his wife Caroline Lane, also of Troy, NY, and then commissioned Martha Brooks Brown, the first woman landscape designer, to create formal and informal gardens.  She had just finished the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC.

Howard, being the youngest child was artistic and poetic and like George Wadhington Vanderbilt, and James Colgate was more a socialite artist living on his family wealth and was not a business man, but devoting his life to artistic endeavors. 

In 1910 his wife Caroline Hart died leaving him with their very young daughter Elizabeth and son Hamilton.  

Lonely and introvert he married his housekeeper, Helen Anderson, but his family never ever accepted her, being a servant, and not of a notable and wealthy family.

in 1929 Howard lost his fortune in the stock market crash and at the Williams Club at Williams College shot himself in the head.  Although he destroyed his jaw he didn't die and lived remotely with his second wife that was ruining his life and that of his children.

Depressed, he hung himself from a ladder in the attic in 1935.  The children married and left the area and the housekeeper took on a lesbian partner and delved into excessive Laudinum, an opium related liquid and local rumour claimed they delved into drugs and whitchcraft.

Being an outcast the two women never received funding of signicance from the Shields-Eddy family.

In 1962, the widow died leaving the mansion to her partner but Howard's son, Hamilton broke the will and placed the estate up for sale.  His wife and son Arthur didn't want it.  No one locally wanted to buy it due to its history.

Tzaims, passing through from Philadelphia, one foggy morning, saw the for sale sign nailed to a tree.  Shocked by the dark gabled mansion, set back among old trees, and spacious lawns, recognized it from a recurring dream he had as a boy.  

In his dream he was raking and burning leaves in the driveway in October in front of a large dark gabled mansion that had a large front lawn, a long curving gravel driveway with huge old trees surrounding it exactly as Buckthorne Hall was.

That same day he leased/purchased it from Hamilton not knowing anyhing of the family or history. Labor Day 1963.  He took possession October 1, 1963 and was raking and burning leaves on the gravel driveway in front of his large gabled mansion on Halloween.

Many years later when the internet connected families through RootsWeb he found his mother was related to the Hart Shields family and that Howard was her cousin and Tzaims was the last member of the Shields family living in Old Bennington, Vermont.  

None of the Hart Shields Eddy family were alive then so none ever knew Tzaims was their cousin.

Tzaims felt the presence of ghosts in the house the first night, especially on the top floor leading to the attic where a year later he installed a tracker organ, bats lived in the attic, he got chills and felt a very disturbing presence.  Then a later a poweful presence held him down in bed in his bedroom whilst he was sleeping and it would wake him up several times struggling to get free of it.  This led Tzaims to investigate and be alert for para normal phenomenon. 

One night struggling again with this invisable force holding him down, one of many times, instead of struggling he reached out and grabbed out and around it and a naked young man took form saying 

"I didn't know you could do that!" 

Revealing the ghost to be Howard, Taims wanted to talk to him but the ghost departed.

Once he was able to communicate with Howard's ghost its presence was less likely to visit but remains in Buckthorne Hall.  It was the last time he felt the presence or was held down in bed.

In 2013 Tzaims' younger brother Gene [John Jr) died suddenly from cardiac arrest through hardening of the arteries in the kitchen and due to frozen ground was kept in the great room in his coffin for five weeks of December and of January when the ground could be dug for a grave in the garden.  Gene's ghost appeared one night claiming he was with Howard.

Tzaims bought a second coffin for himself and placed a wooden table top on it creating a hall table since he was now alone with no one to arrange his funeral.  

However, with severe winters  and problems with the kitchen chimney not drawing smoke from the wood stove he went to Burma where it was warm for a month intending to then go to Thailand for 2 months returning end of April 2020 but covid struck the world keeping him in Rangoon for 4 years.  

Deciding to stay when he learned his Buckthorne Hall had been broken into, things stolen, vandalized, with four Youtube videos claiming his mansion was abandoned he didn't know what to do.  

In the videos he saw much of his family heirlooms, coin collection stolen, his Tibetan Study broken into, Tibetan artifacts taken, Masks stolen and things trashed and scattered around, and decided he couldn't face returning to the disastrous damage but instead leave it until he could figure out what to do.

Then neighbors and local government started to threaten him, showing more hatred and further destruction of his property and having them assaulting and harassing him for years decided for him to remember his home for 60 years as he left it beautifully maintained as best he could being in a village of hateful mercenary neighbors and corrupt local governments.

Almost 3 million prople have watched the four Youtube videos so far.

Comments calling him a genius, great artist, Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist, spiritual leader, philosopher, crazy, mentall, bdisturbed, bi-polar, a vampire, and the devil Lucifer since his name is Luksus.  How does one address such comments?

Better then an exhibition of his work if in an art gallery or publoc museum.  The Youtube videos show a complete picture for viewers to try and figure out,  some can, some cannot, some feel enlightened, some feel threatened but anything and everything is there from around the world plus his artwork, fabrics, rugs, designs, et al as clues.  

Buckthorne Hall is Tzaims' Mysterious House Museum, a lifetime of creativity and collecting.  A complete story intact only better on the Internet!!  

Love it or hate it, understand it or not, it will probe your sub conscious mind.  It will reveal your fear and horrow or inspire as you see the light from it or be plunged into darkness.  Your mind reveals what is in you.

Though taxes were and are bing paid the village and town do not protect his property but instead allow trespassers to enter, arrest some and collect fines for the police and court, so the village and town are profiting by letting his property be vandalized.  Now Tzaims wonders about how criminal people in local government and law enforcement are in the US.  

DID GOD AND MAHAMUNY BUDDHA LEAD HIM TO THERAVADA BUDDHIST BURMA SAVING HIM FROM THE KITCHEN CEILING FALLING WHERE HE SAT FOR BREAKFAST AND MOST HOURS OF THE DAY IN WINTER?  ALSO SENDING HIM TO A SAFE COUNTRY FREE OF COVID.  SANCTIONED BY THE US, THAT TREATS BURMA AS THEY VIOLENTLY TREATED HIM?  HE STRONGLY THINKS SO.  SAFE IN BURMA RATHER THAN UNSAFE IN AMERICS!