There are places rumored to be haunted because of their appearance. Abandoned interiors, broken-out windows and a state of disarray lead witnesses to whisper about the building. Other buildings are labeled as haunted because of their locations, usually in the middle of the woods, or at the end of a deserted road. Then there are those buildings that are known as haunted for a variety of factors. Mudhouse Mansion is one such building.
Mudhouse Mansion is one of the oldest buildings in Lancaster, Ohio and without a doubt, its most infamous building. The issue surrounding Mudhouse Mansion is not necessarily its remote location, nor is it the sad state of its inside. The issue that surrounds Mudhouse Mansion is its owner, Jeannie Mast.
Mudhouse Mansion was built during the 1840s, and consistently used as a private residence, albeit a very large one. Christopher and Eleanor Rugh were the first two owners of Mudhouse Mansion. They purchased the land from two men, Abraham Kagy and Henry Byler. It isn’t clear though as to who built the house, but it seems like the Rugh’s built it after buying the land. Some say the Rugh’s purchased the land in two parts, at different points in time from the two men.
The house later sold to Henry Hartman and his wife Martha in 1919, and they lived there for a number of years. When Henry passed away, the house was passed down to his daughter Lulu Hartman-Mast. The house has also been known by a few other names. Heritage of Architecture and Arts listed it as the Rugh-Mast House, while locals refer to it as Hartman Place.
The legends surrounding Mudhouse Mansion are numerous, and at times far fetched. One of those far fetched legends states that the urban legend of Bloody Mary began there, and that the original Mary once lived in the house. It seems that Mary went crazy one night and murdered her three children in the house before killing herself. Now if you say “Bloody Mary” three times in front of a mirror, she will murder everyone in the room. Given that the legend of Bloody Mary has circulated for hundreds of years, it seems highly unlikely that even the story began in a house in Ohio, especially one that is only 160 years old.
The other story of Mudhouse Mansion is that of one of its first owners. Legend claims that the man kept slaves during, and after, the Civil War. As slavery was outlawed (and never used in Ohio), he kept them hidden from the public, and even locked them into a shed at night. The slaves decided to revolt, and slowly dug a tunnel through the flooring in the shed. The night the tunnel was finished, the slaves snuck inside and murdered the family. Everyone involved is rumored to haunt Mudhouse Mansion, despite the fact that no such murder ever occurred there.
The Bloody Mary story has another version that surrounds Mudhouse Mansion. The legend places the blame on the woman’s husband. He murdered their children for some unknown reason, and the woman still walks the house looking for her children. Other legends claim that an entire family committed suicide by hanging themselves in the attic, or living room. Still another story says that were all murdered in the house by a drifter.
Mudhouse Mansion has sat empty for a number of years. Once Hartman passed away, his daughter inherited the home, but for some reason never chose to reside there. It has basically sat empty for over seventy years, with only a few vagrants who have sought shelter inside. Mudhouse Mansion has also experienced a large fire since being abandoned. On July 17, 2003 a fire broke out on the first floor, and it has yet to be repaired.
Considering that the majority of legends surrounding Mudhouse Mansion have been proven to be false, you may be wondering why those rumors still persist. Some would place the blame solely on the shoulders of its current owner Jeannie Mast. There are nearly as many rumors about Ms. Mast as there are about the house itself. Several people have expressed interest in purchasing Mudhouse Mansion. Some were interested in turning it into a haunted attraction for Halloween, others wanted to use it as a bed and breakfast, and still others simply wanted to renovate the building, and live there. Regardless of what they hoped to do with the house, Ms. Mast refused all requests. She has no interest in living there, nor does she have any interest in allowing anyone else to live there.
Some who have illegally found their way into the house have found themselves face to face with law enforcement on their way out. Ms. Mast keeps a watchful eye on her property, and according to some, she even watches the house with local law enforcement. The house is also patrolled regularly. Ms. Mast has also been known to press charges against anyone caught trespassing on her property.
You have to feel for Ms. Mast. She isn’t interested in living in the house, but still wants to keep it in the family due to its importance. Seldom does a month pass without another group of curiosity seekers breaking into the house, and causing even more damage. It would be interesting to see what happened if she simply placed a motion sensor flood light in one of the upstairs rooms….
I’ve never had the chance to speak with Ms. Mast, but I would love the chance, if only to hear about the history of the house.
Mudhouse Mansion is one of the most gorgeous historic houses in Ohio, but nothing more than an abandoned house in Lancaster that needs a little TLC.
Sources:
http://www.forgottenoh.com/mudhouse.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhouse_Mansion
http://www.graveaddiction.com/mudhouse.html
