In late September, my husband and I were, once again, back up in Ohio, but this time we “planned” our stay a bit ahead.

We decided to spend one of our nights at the Punderson Manor Lodge, in Newbury Ohio.

When we called for a reservation, there were several rooms in the “new wing” available that fell within our budget.

This kinda bummed me out.

If I was gonna stay in a “historic” hotel, I wanted to at least stay in the “historic” part.

Little did I know, that the “new wing” was actually built onto the original Manor house in the 1960’s, not as “new” as I was thinking. I could deal with that.

Driving up the entrance, we were greeted by the Manor’s winged stone gargoyle that sits perched to the right of the main entryway.

Another set of greeters, two majestic lions, stood guard at the top of the Manor’s front steps.

The salutations didn’t stop there, oh no!

When we opened, and entered the heavy wooden double doors of the Tudor Mansion, a knight’s suit of armor eerily stood there in its foyer, towering above us.

 

Looking off to the left was a spectacular spiral staircase!

This place was flippin’ awesome!

The hospitable reception clerk checked us in and ushered us off to the right, where the “new wing” branched off.

We went up a small divided flight of steps, down a hall and to our room to unload our luggage.

The scenery that surrounds the Manor is nothing less than astonishing!

We still had a small grocery store trip that loomed ahead of us so we were eager to get that out of the way in order to possibly have time to get back and scout the terrain, maybe even walk a hiking trail or two. And, of course, we wanted to explore the inside of the Manor also!

We were headed back downstairs to make our way out the door, when we started chatting with one of the Punderson’s managers who was sharing with us some about the Lodge.

She offered to take us up the spiral staircase to show us a few of the suites in the original Manor section of the Mansion.

They were nothing less than exquisite!

 

 

Each decorated in its own style with added personal touches, and suite names such as “The Victorian Room” and “The Chaucer Room.”

 

We then ventured off into the Manor’s library and indoor pool.

 

There was one suite though, in particular, I had a hankering to see.

It was that of suite 231, The Windsor Suite, which is supposedly the most haunted room at the Manor.

I asked about it.

The manager checked and apparently, room 231 had not been cleaned yet and we were unable to see it.

With that, we left “gps-ing” the directions to the closest Walmart in order to hopefully get back in time to enjoy some of the outdoors of Punderson State Park.

Punderson Manor rests on approximately seven hundred and forty-one acres of natural splendor.

We were overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start!

We decided to take a casual stroll on the boardwalk that wraps around Punderson Lake.

The view of Punderson Lake is absolutely astounding!

The clear waters almost act as a mirror, reflecting the beauty that encases it.

We took a moment to absorb the view and then followed the wooden walk way up through the cabin area and around part of the campground.

Our time was cut incredibly short as the sun was beginning to set. We decided to head back to the Manor in fear of getting lost in the dark on an unfamiliar hiking trail… which would have, of course, just added some excitement to our visit, but my husband opted out!

 

The History

Punderson Manor, the breathtaking English Tudor style mansion that was built in 1929 overlooks the gorgeous Punderson Lake, a one hundred-and-fifty-acre glacier lake that is surrounded by natural beauty.

But the history of Punderson actually starts one hundred and twenty-three years before the mansion was ever even built.

Traveling from New Haven Connecticut in 1806, Mr. Lemuel Punderson discovered what he called “The Big Pond” and settled in the area planning to start his grist mill and distillery there on the property. Lemuel had built a cabin near “The Big Pond” for workers to stay in while building the businesses, while Lemuel lived in nearby Burton.

A couple of years later, Lemuel met the lovely Sybil Hickox and they were soon married. The couple eventually moved into the cabin to be closer to the mill and distillery. Over the next twelve years the couple had six children.

After Lemuel’s death in 1822, Sybil and the children continued to develop the land and renamed “The Big Pond” to “Punderson’s Pond” to honor their beloved father and husband.

After Sybil’s death, about fifty years later, it was said that no one actually owned rights to the lake. It was at that time, that the lake was then open to the public.

In 1902 W.B. Cleveland, who was a descendant of Moses Cleveland, began purchasing property around the lake.

He met and married Ocie Coppedge in 1904 and they began building what Cleveland called, “The Big House.”

In the 1920’s after W.B. Cleveland fell ill, the Cleveland and Coppedge families agreed to enter into a land contract with millionaire Karl Long in 1929.

Long actually tore down the “Big House” and started construction on a house for his wife, which was the English Tudor Mansion.

Unfortunately, The Great Depression caught up with Long leaving him penniless and unable to finish the mansion. He abandoned the property, which in turn, reverted back to the Cleveland and Coppedge families.

The Mansion served as the home for a girl’s summer camp operated by Ocie Coppedge in the 1930’s.

Unable to maintain and keep the camp going, Ocie Coppedge turned over the land rights to the State of Ohio in 1948.

Renovations began two years later and in 1956 the Mansion was open to the public, offering seven guest rooms and a dining facility.

In the mid 1960’s, a 1.4 million-dollar renovation added twenty-four additional lodge rooms, as well as twenty-six cabins, a tennis court, outdoor pool, banquet halls and more.

In 1966, Punderson Manor State Lodge was open for business.

In the fall of 1979, the state closed the lodge spending approximately $655,000 for a structural renovation, opening its door again during the spring of 1983.

 

The Haunts

Talk of the Manor and its strange goings-on began to surface before then, but it was during this renovation time from the late 1970’s until the reopening in ’83 while the Manor was closed to the public, that ghost hunter Robert L. Van Der Velde took five years to conduct the first serious investigation of the Manor.

He researched the Manor’s history, interviewed employees and documented reported paranormal events.

Chris Woodyard, author of the “Haunted Ohio” book series, talks about Punderson Manor in “Haunted Ohio II.”

Chris shares Mr. Van Der Velde’s reports of his investigations during that time.

The first recorded paranormal sighting occurred in 1978 when a band of Gypsies were camping out on Punderson Lake.

The group reported that late on the evening of their last stay, they witnessed a young black woman covered in seaweed rise up out of the lake, wonder the grounds for several yards before returning into the dark waters.

The Gypsies, packed up, reported the event to a park ranger and vowed never to return, which they didn’t.

An African American teenage girl who had been swimming in the lake had drowned the year prior.

 

During the remodel, custodians would often stay overnight, especially during the winter months, to care for the Manor.

One custodian reportedly was seen speeding off and leaving the Manor in a rush. When he was flagged down and approached by a park ranger, the custodian, who was described as a “skeptic,” reported that his TV had suddenly gone blank, the lights in his room began to flicker on and off, and then he reported that there was loud knocking, if not banging on his suite door. When he suddenly got up and opened the door, he looked down both sides of the corridor and no one was there. He was convinced that the Manor was “haunted” and refused to go back that night.

Another event occurred when two park rangers were making their rounds one evening and experienced an intense chill in the second-floor hallway. As one of the rangers made a comment pertaining to the heating system not working properly or possibly windows being open, both rangers claim to have heard a woman’s loud laughter echo through the hallway. When the laughter stopped, the hallway immediately warmed up returning the temperature back to normal.

A former employee was staying in one of the suites when something awoke her. She woke up startled to find a “bearded man in old shabby clothes” sitting on the foot of the bed. Thinking this was a co-worker trying to scare her, she went to shove him off of the bed with her foot and reported that her foot went “through” the man and he then disappeared into the wall.

A young woman was reported trapped in a bathroom by something that she could hear “breathing” on the other side of the door. She claimed that whatever was on the opposite side, held the door knob so tight she was unable to turn it. A friend entering into the room via a fire escape tried the knob and it freely turned opening the bathroom door.

 

The “Spectacular” Staircase

 

There have been many reports of apparitions appearing on Punderson’s spiral staircase.

In numerous reports, including that of a night manager of the Manor, people have witnessed a woman in “old fashion dress” appearing on the staircase. Others have reported her dress being blue-gray and having a cape and bonnet, possibly even being from the Civil War era. The woman is often accompanied by children. The night manager said when the ghost woman made eye contact with her, she quickly wrapped her cloak around the children and they all disappeared into a thin mist.

Another apparition that is sometimes seen peeking through the staircase rails is that of a giggling little girl in pink.

During the investigation time of the late ’70’s, some blueprints of the Manor were discovered and revealed several passageways and crawl spaces underneath the Manor where they found smashed furniture. During the exploration of these tunnels and crawl spaces the blueprints mysteriously disappeared. It has been speculated that some of these tunnels could have supported pranksters that would have liked to spook their fellow co-workers. But it doesn’t explain all these strange occurrences at Punderson Manor.

One of the most terrifying accounts was that of three employees one evening in 1979. While walking through the dining room one of the employees stopped short at what she thought she saw, which was a man “dressed like a lumber jack” hanging from a noose rope in the ceiling.

Not sure of what she had just witnessed, she ran out of the room to get the other two employees who were working. They too witnessed the hanging man and watched for three hours as his body rotated and dangled from the rope while his fingers twitched. This lasted until the sun came up and the image faded away.

Rumor has it, but can’t be confirmed by any documentation, that Karl Long, the millionaire that started building the Manor, hung himself as a result of having lost everything in the crash.

It was later discovered that a huge tree once stood where the dining room was built.

In Chris Woodyard’s book “Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Haunted Ohio,” Chris shares of a personal experience when she visited Punderson Manor with her daughter.

She explains they were walking up a hall when she witnessed out of nowhere a ghostly man in a red plaid shirt that crossed their path. She followed the man’s direction around what she assumed was another hallway and was stunned to find a dead end, with the man nowhere in sight. Her daughter never saw the man.

The Windsor Suite Room 231

The most “haunted” room at the Manor is that of the Windsor Suite, formally known as the “Blue Room” or as the Tower’s master bedroom.

It’s considered the finest room in the Lodge.

Chris tells of Mr. Van Der Velde’s account of a new banquet manager that was given the finest suite, The Windsor, to stay in upon starting at the Manor.

Distracted by studying the Manor’s menus, the new hire didn’t notice the slight breeze coming from behind his chair. When he finally noticed that his paperwork began to blow away, he suddenly looked behind him only to discover that a large and heavy floor fan was blowing and floating straight toward him. Stunned, the manager sat as the fan was inches from his head before the cord was pulled taut from the wall cutting the fan off and settling it back on the floor.

Other accounts in the Windsor include doors opening and slamming shut by themselves. “Things” have been noted to sit on the bed, complete with the indentions of the blankets and the sound of the mattress springs to prove it.

Later, during our stay at the Punderson, the hotel staff was gracious enough to give us the key and let my husband and I explore their beautiful and infamous Winsor Suite since it was unoccupied, and now, cleaned.

The Windsor consists of a spacious bedroom that has a huge walk-in closet, big enough to house a small sitting area and even has a window.

This suite is often used for wedding parties as it has plenty of room for the bride and her party to hang their dresses and get ready. The Windsor has its own living area, complete with a fireplace and its own Jacuzzi tub. It also features a separate bath.

 

 

As you gaze out the living area window, there you will see the view of the campground and cabins. You will also see that of the Punderson gargoyle which sits right below, as if guarding and protecting the guests of its most popular suite.

I approached a few of the Manor’s employees while we were there, and asked of any personal ghost encounters.

Most mentioned blaming “Pundy” as they call him, for any object out of place, or any footsteps they hear.

Our waitress for dinner explained that earlier in the evening she was the only one working the bar and restaurant and was keeping an eye out front from the kitchen’s camera. She stated she saw two ladies sitting in the rockers in front of the fireplace, one who had been there for quite some time. When she noticed the other, a lady with brown hair, she returned to the front only to see the one lady that had been there prior. She returned back to the kitchen where she once again saw the lady with the brown hair in the camera. Returning once more back to the front she asked the other lady who had been sitting in the rocking chair, if a lady with brown hair had left, to which the guest said, “No? No one has been in here with me but this rocking chair has been rocking by itself for over twenty minutes!”

That guest left and the waitress returned to view the kitchen camera again and both rockers were empty.

 

Another hostess stated that her husband and daughter had come to eat one night at the Manor while she was working. She had gone back to chat with them on her break and said both “looked as if they had seen a ghost!” She said she then asked what was wrong and they had both said they saw the window beside them unlatch and open on its own.

Before compiling this blog, I called the most recent manager of the Punderson and spoke to him about any recent occurrences in the Manor.

He stated that he has only been at the Manor since December, but has heard the usual stories of the woman in old-time dress that roams the hallways and stairs, of the children’s laughter, of the events in room 231 such as the hot tub cutting on and off by itself.  He also told me of the gentleman that allegedly hung himself near the dining room. He stated that many of the windows tend to open by themselves, to which he joked that his window was wide open this morning when he arrived to work.

The manager also took my number and said he would have a fellow call me who may have a story or two I might be interested in.

When the fellow did call me that afternoon, he agreed to speak with me on the condition that he remain anonymous, he was very adamant about this, to which I agreed.

He explained that he worked as a park ranger in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s when “all the stuff was happening.”

He said that he “never believed in ghosts and all that sort of thing until that night.”

I asked him to explain.

He and another park ranger were doing their nightly rounds of the campground one winter night which also included going into the manor and checking on things.

“It was a cold winter night and snowy, and they were calling for more snow. It was our job to go through the Manor, make sure things were okay, heat was on, water and lights were cut off, doors were locked up tight, and make sure there were no signs of break-ins.”

“We checked the first two floors and all was well, then we walked up the staircase to the top floor. As we approached the hallway, it was cold, and I mean real cold, Valerie! And all of a sudden, too! So cold, you could see your breath! My partner mentioned that the heating unit must not be working, or that somehow some of the windows must have been left open, that was the only explanation. As my partner and I discussed this and looked around, we heard a loud, high pitched laughter, that of a woman! We both were like, ‘What the hell was that?!’ and suddenly a colder rush of wind passed through us both and as the laughter stopped, the hallway’s temperature immediately warmed back to normal! From that moment on, I was a believer!”

This gentleman was one of the two rangers that I had read about that were part of Mr. Van Der Velde’s investigations.

He also explained to me that he had worked in the sheriff’s department for several years as well, where he had witnessed other reports from the Manor.

“Something you may not have come across in your research, is that this land back in the 1600’s belonged to that of the Erie Indian tribes. Part of where the campground now stands was once an Indian village. When I worked for the sheriff’s department, we received calls a couple of times from people that had witnessed Indians standing by the lake. I remember one time there was a report of someone asking when the “pow-wow was going to begin” as they wanted to watch.”

“Pow-wow? I asked?”

He said the people explained they had seen several people dressed in Indian garb sitting in a circle near the camp ground.

“I told them, I’m not sure what you saw, but there’s no pow-wow happening here at Punderson!”

 

My husband and I did experience a couple of incidents that happened in our room during our stay at Punderson Manor, both of which we believe have logical explanations.

The first one, happened when I unplugged the alarm clock radio from the wall to plug in my cell phone charger. As I pulled the plug from the wall socket, the radio, which was turned off, blasted a loud burst of radio music that last about five seconds or so before finally going off. This of course startled me to the point of me dropping the alarm clock radio. My husband laughed describing this as probably being a delayed electrical discharge from the clock radio being unplugged.

The other incident was when the “duster” that laid on top of our bed’s comforter slid off to the floor. Although it appeared to me that the duster was more in the lower center of the bed, I could have been mistaken. Even though I witnessed it slide a few inches before falling off the bed, the logical reasoning of that would be, of course, gravity.

 

I am told that the probability of actually witnessing a paranormal event is pretty uncommon, according to Greg Feketik of Tri-C Ghost Hunters of Ohio, and author of “Insights into the Unknown: A Ghost Hunter’s Journey.”

Greg and his wife Kathy also spent the night at the Manor, even staying in the Windsor suite, and did not have any experiences.

Greg explains,

“There are lots of haunted locations out there, but just because you stay or visit them, doesn’t mean you will necessarily experience anything.”

 

The Punderson Manor Lodge and Conference Center are part of the Xanterra Parks and Resorts, a company that features some of the most iconic destinations in the world.

During your visit, you can explore numerous hiking trails, fishing and boating, swimming inside and out, and an 18 champion hole golf course.

Punderson Manor joined as a member of Historic Hotels of America in 2015.

As we finished our walk that evening from the campground and were approaching the Manor, we noticed what we first thought were a flock of birds swooping down in a rotation around the top of the Manor. Come to find out, they weren’t birds, but bats!!! This had created much attention from the other guests and was the talk of the dining room.

We asked our waitress if  the bats were a nightly occurrence here at the manor.

Her response, “Nope! It’s a first! But then again, nothing that happens here surprises me anymore!”

In November, the Manor will be hosting a group of ghost hunters that are scheduled to come and examine room 231.