It was released on October 28, 2009 as a double CD with a 60-page booklet illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt,[citation needed] and debuted at No.

[citation needed] The story revolves around a young child on a beach late at night, where she encounters a mysterious but non-threatening stranger.

The characters of this story include an American Vietnam War soldier named William Cozier, the Renaissance era philosopher Erasmus who is the keeper of the eponymous castle of lost knowledge, and a Communist general based on the dissident Tran Do.

[citation needed] An additional bonus track, "The Flight of Cassandra", was available exclusively online on Amazon.com, the first time that TSO had done something like this.

[citation needed] Some of the songs on Night Castle trace their origins to music written by Savatage, the heavy metal band from which the Trans-Siberian Orchestra evolved.