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Christine McConnell, star of the Netflix series “The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell,” has submitted an offer for the historic Auburn property, she told The Citizen Friday inside one of its sitting rooms. McConnell is working with real estate broker Michael DeRosa and his partner, Kelli Idle, who said they were honored to help the star submit her offer to the city of Auburn.

“She would do so many fascinating things with the restoration of this property, if she’s awarded the contract,” DeRosa said.

Built in 1861, the three-story brick mansion totals 6,000 square feet, with 10 bedrooms and five bathrooms (three full, two half). A two-story carriage house sits in the back of the .9-acre property. The mansion’s architect was John W. Venderbosch, who also worked on Holy Family and St. Mary’s churches, among other historic Auburn buildings. It was built for Auburn banker and philanthropist James S. Seymour, founder of Auburn Community Hospital and Seymour Library. Later, it was occupied by Charles A. McCarthy of Auburn shoe manufacturer Dunn & McCarthy. 

By 2019, the mansion had been converted to apartments. It was inhabited as recently as seven months ago, DeRosa said, and the city acquired the property through tax foreclosure in June.

Rather than selling the dilapidated property at auction, however, the city of Auburn felt it warranted a special approach, City Manager Jeff Dygert said.

In September, Auburn City Council voted to award a contract to DeRosa to market some of the city’s tax-foreclosed properties. That way, Dygert said, the city can select buyers who have the best interests of the properties in mind. In the case of the Seymour mansion, the city has asked all prospective buyers to complete a form that asks how they’ll use the property, their timeline for restoring it, how much they expect the restoration will cost, how they plan to fund the restoration and more. The deadline for submitting offers is 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18.

Dygert said the city, which is asking for $50,000 for the mansion, has received more than a dozen offers so far. He hopes city council can begin reviewing them as soon as possible after the deadline passes. He’d also like to hold a community forum to collect feedback about the buyers and their plans. If possible, Dygert said, the city would redact the names of those who have submitted offers.

Those names include some “very interesting buyers,” DeRosa said. He attributes that to the mansion becoming a viral sensation in recent weeks, receiving coverage from Instagram account @cheapoldhouses and website Old House Dreams, as well as inquiries from national outlets CBS, NBC and Fox Business. And that coverage brought the mansion to the attention of McConnell.

“What the city is doing here is amazingly creative,” she said. “It’s such a clever idea.”

A model, actress, designer and baker, McConnell has wanted to buy “a big old creepy Victorian mansion” on the East Coast for three years, she said there on, appropriately enough, Friday the 13th.

It was also about three years ago that McConnell first rose to viral fame. She decorated her parents’ Los Angeles-area home for Halloween with large, demonic eyes and fangs, drawing thousands of visitors. Her brand of goth decor, elaborate themed cakes and more has since grown into a small media empire. It includes her Netflix show, which premiered in October 2018, as well as a Patreon-supported YouTube channel, “From the Mind of Christine McConnell,” and an Instagram account that has more than 500,000 followers. 

McConnell also has experience restoring homes. Her parents bought theirs when it was on the brink of being condemned, she said, so she spent her childhood there stripping floors and working with drywall and plaster. Her mother, Kathryn Evers, who accompanied McConnell to Auburn, was a general contractor. So McConnell is keenly interested in preservation, she said.

She’ll balance that interest with her own “slightly sinister” aesthetics if she’s selected by the city of Auburn to buy the Seward mansion, she said. Though McConnell wants to restore some of the historic character of the home, she also feels there’s room for her to add a “tasteful twist” to it. She’d like the mansion to become an attraction people go out of their way to see.

“With these kinds of properties, you have to think about it not just for yourself, but for the generations that are coming in the future that are going to want to appreciate and enjoy it,” she said.

Among the details of the mansion that have most captivated McConnell are its four marble fireplaces, one of which features a “creepy” visage in its fireback, she said. Having recently gotten into woodworking, she’s also excited about the curved wooden staircase, pocket doors and built-in cabinetry. The arched ceilings of the third floor make it look “like a fairy tale,” she added.

McConnell’s main concern about the mansion is privacy. Being on North Street, and having little separation from neighbors, it would have to be secured “in a way that’s aesthetically pleasing” if the star is going to live there with her husband, dog and cats, she said. For that reason, she posted on Instagram later on Friday that the mansion “wasn’t the right fit,” but DeRosa later clarified that McConnell will keep her offer on the table. She is revising it and updating her restoration plan, he said.

And if she is selected to become the mansion’s next owner, McConnell would like to hire local contractors to stabilize the home immediately and move in as soon as March, she said. The Auburn mansion would then become a focus of her YouTube series, she continued, as she both restores and reimagines it as only she can.

“It’s just so beautiful,” she said. “The bones are all here to do something incredible.”

There were moments during the 2019 season that Bennett didn’t think she’d make it to states. In the opening meet of the season at Marathon, Bennett’s time was worse than what she’d come to expect. It took a strategic chat with one of her coaches, Bill Mullarney, to ultimately change the course of her season. 

“I really wanted to (run at states), but in the back of my mind I thought, ‘I don’t know if I really can.’ I wasn’t very confident with myself,” Bennett said. “I asked Mullarney, ‘Do you think I could actually make it?'”

Mullarney, who coaches Southern Cayuga’s cross country programs alongside Sarah Allen, recalled the conversation. Together, Bennett and Mullarney looked for similarities from her best races, and agreed that Bennett’s top performances came when she didn’t run out too fast at the start.

Bennett said plainly, “It worked.”

Bennett posted one of her top performances at the IAC Divisionals at Groton, which she considers her “breakthrough meet” of the season. She finished the race third overall with a time of 20:37, the third-best time a Southern Cayuga girl has ever posted at that course; the Chiefs have run there annually since 1995. 

On Nov. 7 at Chenango Valley State Park for the Section IV Championships, Bennett continued her late season surge. 

In order to qualify for states, a runner must either be a member of the winning team in each class at sectionals or finish among the top five individuals that’s not a member of the first-place team.

Bennett finished the course in 21:01.2 for fourth among individuals, punching her ticket to the state championships. As a team, Southern Cayuga finished third in Class D behind only Delhi, the eventual state champion, and Elmira Notre Dame. 

Her performance can be traced back to that conversation with Mullarney, and the Chiefs’ coach believes such communication is one of the finer aspects of coaching. 

“She’s one of the best we’ve ever had,” Mullarney said. “Sophie is very coachable. She is very thoughtful about her performances and what she’s done. She was able to be analytical about what worked well and the races that worked well. 

“It’s always a pleasure to coach when it feels like you’re forming a partnership with somebody and it’s not just somebody telling somebody else what to do. … You work together.”

Bennett’s athletic talents aren’t limited to cross country. In the winter she plays for Southern Cayuga’s girls basketball team and track and field takes over in the spring. While basketball came first, she started running cross country in seventh grade because Southern Cayuga’s only other fall options for athletics were soccer and swimming. It helped that her older brother Conner was also a runner (and a basketball player). 

Since then, she’s been a staple for the Chiefs. While getting prepared for the 2019 season, Bennett was the main organizer for a trail run at Long Point State Park in Aurora that included 50-60 participants and raised almost $1,200 for a local food pantry. 

Looking ahead to next season, Bennett isn’t satisfied with being a championship meet participant. Next year Bennett hopes to finish within the top 20 to earn a medal — she was about 15 seconds short of doing so at this year’s championships.

“I promised myself I was actually going to run more this summer so I can reach my goals a little sooner next season,” Bennett said. 

Whether or not that happens, she’s already separated herself from the pack.

Beal initially played basketball in his youth, but became enamored with football and eventually asked his mother if he could play. That led to joining the local Pop Warner program, where he’d join forces with future varsity quarterback Troy Churney for the first time. 

Moskov remembers Beal before he joined varsity as the young kid who loved to hang around team practices and camps — “He used to come down to the fields, and I think he weighed about 25 pounds,” he joked.

Initially a tailback during his younger years, Beal began showing his versatility when he made the switch to wide receiver as a modified player. Whatever it took to be on the field, Beal was willing, and that was a trait that carried on through his senior season. 

“I loved playing the game of football when I was younger,” Beal said, “and I kept it going because I had good skills.”

Despite modest size, Beal’s athleticism was off the charts. He became one of the main focal points for Auburn’s offense last year as a junior, finishing fourth among Section III large school players in both receptions and receiving yards. He was also a playmaker on defense, racking up 59 tackles, three interceptions (including one for a touchdown), four fumble recoveries, and two sacks. On special teams, he served as the Maroons’ primary kickoff returner, punt returner and punter. In Auburn’s section quarterfinal game against Central Square in 2018, Beal returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown. 

This season, the Maroons’ top offensive weapon picked up right where he left off. Through Auburn’s first three games, Beal totaled 13 receptions for 223 yards and five touchdowns as the team started with a 3-0 record. 

Beal was a non-factor, however, when Auburn met Indian River for its fourth game of the year, a 52-20 loss.

The Maroons had another crucial league game the following week against Whitesboro and starting running back Robert Morris wouldn’t be available. That meant Beal, as he had often done before, would have to take on a new role. He’d be Auburn’s featured back. 

“We made the decision right after the Indian River game. We said, ‘He’s our best kid athletically and he got the ball three times,'” Moskov said. “Our goal was that we had to get Shaheed the ball more.”

Beal responded with his most dominant performance of the season, racking up 285 yards and six touchdowns on 20 carries. 

“Coach Dave and (offensive coach Chris Kudla) decided to move me to tailback, and they told me I was gonna get the ball,” Beal said. “They told me to be ready, which I was.”

Whitesboro wasn’t ready, and Auburn rolled to a 53-35 victory that sparked another three-game winning streak. In the section semifinals, the Maroons got another crack at Indian River, and this time the ending was different. 

Beal scored the first touchdown of that game on a screen pass from Churney that went for 34 yards to give Auburn an early 7-0 lead, a lead that quickly evaporated as Indian River scored five consecutive touchdowns. 

While Beal wasn’t the lone factor in Auburn’s 61-59 double overtime comeback win, he was still a major reason why the Maroons advanced. Beal tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Churney to bring Auburn within a score in the fourth quarter. Later, with Indian River needing a two-point conversion to extend the game to a third overtime, it was Beal who swatted the pass away to clinch the epic comeback win. 

“Everyone who scored that night contributed to that comeback and he made some pretty big plays,” Moskov said. “As with many kids, his role in that comeback will always be remembered and it was just a remarkable night.”

Beal played the last game of his varsity career in the Class A state quarterfinals. Despite his two touchdowns, the Maroons bowed out to Section I champion Rye, thus ending one of the most productive and unique careers in Auburn football history. The Maroons finished with 344 total points in 2019, a mark no team in the program’s 129-year history can match, and that accomplishment is due in large part to their senior specialist.

While plenty of special plays are worth remembering, Beal’s passion for football and command with his teammates might be what’s missed the most. If players weren’t concentrated in practice or in the huddle, it was often Beal that demanded focus.

“He has fun playing but he also knew it’s serious business playing football, and with the intensity of the game it’s not something you can be lackadaisical about if you want to be successful,” Moskov said. “He certainly communicated that, not only through his actions but through his words in the huddle or on the sidelines.”

Beal isn’t 100% sure what awaits after graduation. He’ll play varsity basketball for the Maroons this winter and then weigh his options. He’s considering staying home for a year or two before transferring somewhere to continue his football career. 

Wherever he lands next, the team Beal chooses will be taking in a player capable of contributing in infinite ways. What he leaves behind in Auburn won’t soon be forgotten. 

“It means a lot to me, being a Maroon,” Beal said. “Once you’re a Maroon, you’re always a Maroon.”