J.R.R. Tolkien would approve of this one.
A bizarre and beautiful home in Bethesda, Maryland, has gone on the market for a whopping $1.2 million. Referred to by many as the "mushroom house" or "hobbit house," it has long been a source of fascination in its D.C.-area neighborhood.
Current owners Edward and Frances Garfinkle bought the house in 1967, according to Curbed, and turned it into the quirky home it is today, adding high ceilings, skylights and swooping curves.
"At the time we were looking for something different. We did not want to be in a box," Edward told local news outlet WUSA9 of the house, which was constructed in 1923.
The ambitious project nearly bankrupted them. “We were kind of misled into thinking it was an inexpensive way to build. It didn’t turn out that way. ... We did this when we were young. Looking back on it, it was probably kind of dumb,” Edward said, per Bethesda Magazine.
But after decades transforming the place, the couple is finally ready to sell -- and show off their home's interior.
"A lot of people have wanted to see the interior. ... [Someone] would knock on the door, and they'd say, 'Can I come in?' And we'd say, 'No.' And they'd say, 'Why?' And we'd say, 'It's our home, we live here.' ... But, you know, it's been fun," he told WUSA9.
Real estate company Long & Foster notes in the 3,600-square-foot home's online listing that it "lends itself to the creative eye" and "is literally within a stone's throw from D.C."
Take a look inside:
Hobbit-Like House Sells For $1.2 Million
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Before You Go
Spirits in Residence: The "Unsinkable Molly Brown," famous for successfully escaping the Titanic, and her husband, J.J.
Spook Sightings: Visitors to the home, which is now a museum, have reportedly spotted a woman in Victorian dress rearranging chairs at the dining room table and caught whiffs of J.J.'s pipe and cigar smoke. And every October, the security system goes on the fritz.
Spirits in Residence: At least one of the five Wilkinson sisters (who all lived in the home) and "a man hiding in the attic"; caretakers think he may be a Confederate Civil War deserter.
Spook Sightings: In 1999, after standing empty for some 30 years, the 22-room home opened as a museum, where repairmen say they've seen female figures sleeping in beds and waving from windows and heard doors closing in empty rooms.
Spirits in Residence: The inhabitants of the tribal burial ground lying beneath part of this 444-acre estate, once home to farm-machinery magnate Charles Deering and now a cultural center.
Spook Sightings: One ghost hunter claims she recorded 60 paranormal voices on the property; other visitors say they've heard drums, glimpsed a woman motioning for help at the boat basin and seen furniture shift. And a visitor wrote a poem here, with phrases that mirrored those in Deering's personal journals.