Four years ago, Jon Fulton Adams and Ron Megee got married and set out to buy their first home together.

Adams, a clothing designer who makes costumes for Unicorn Theatre productions, and Megee, a prominent local thespian who acts, writes and directs, considered moving somewhere quaint and secluded, like Weston or Parkville.

But that idea evaporated the moment the couple laid eyes on a three-story, castle-like manor in Kansas City’s Old Northeast neighborhood.

The grand home, built in 1884, had since been sliced into six apartments, its ancient molding and wood floors blanketed in plaster and dingy shag carpeting. But it had a warm energy that made Adams and Megee feel instantly at home.

“That’s it,” Adams remembers telling Megee. “That’s the one I want.”

They named it Chestnut House (after the street) and immediately started tearing away at everything that wasn’t original to the house. Carpet, drop-ceilings, walls — it all had to go. But instead of hiring professionals, Adams and Megee invited friends over and handed out shots and sledgehammers.

With demolition came discovery: The couple have so far uncovered a maid’s staircase in the kitchen and a secret bathroom on the second floor complete with a claw-foot tub. They also found lots of ancient liquor bottles squirreled away in the walls.

Adams and Megee say that through research, they found out that Chestnut House was occupied for decades by a mother and her adult son, who was rumored to have been an alcoholic. Neighbors told them he was known to stumble home from the bars every night at around 1 a.m. Until he passed away last year, the couple’s beloved dog Atticus would often wake up at that exact time and sit at the top of the stairs. It was like he was waiting for someone. The couple say they’ve also heard unexplained footsteps and slamming doors.

“I used to not believe in ghosts,” Megee says. “I do now.”

Those eerie incidents haven’t scared the couple off. They love Chestnut House more than ever now that its bones are exposed and adorned with art, taxidermy and lots of found objects from far-off times and places. All of it sets a strange and beautiful stage for Adams and Megee’s life together.