Summerwind Mansion, formerly known as Lamont
Mansion, is a now derelict cellar hole on the shores of
West Bay Lake in Vilas
County
, North East Wisconsin
. It is reputed to be one of the most
haunted locations in Wisconsin. Due to
abandonment, the elements, and fire, little of the mansion
currently remains standing. For a while it was popular with
paranormal tourists. Summerwind's
ruins are located on private land and are currently closed to the
public.
Location
Summerwind
was constructed on the edge of West Bay
Lake in Vilas County, North East Wisconsin, off of the western intersection between Highway B
and Helen Creek Road. The coordinates of the mansion's
location are N46 11.916 W089 25.298.
History
Origins
Summerwind was originally constructed during the early 20th century
as a fishing lodge. In 1916 it was purchased by
Robert P. Lamont, who employed Chicago architects
Tallmadge and Watson to substantially remodel the property and
convert it into a mansion. The renovations took two years to
complete, and led to the near total reconstruction of significant
portions of the property.
Lamont remained in Summerwind for approximately 15 years, during
which time the maids told Lamont that the mansion was haunted, but
he did not believe them. However, he is then reported to have
abandoned the property suddenly in the mid 1930s after witnessing
an apparition in the mansion's kitchen. Local legend holds that he
and his wife were eating dessert in the kitchen, when the door to
the basement started to shake open, revealing the ghostly form of a
man. Robert Lamont was reported to have taken one look at the
ghost, and pulled out a pistol. The ghost swung the door shut and
Lamont squeezed off two shots in its direction, before fleeing the
residence with his wife. The ghost is said to be Jonathan
Carver.
1940s-1960s
During the 1940s, the property was sold to the Keefer family, who
maintained the mansion, but never lived there on a permanent basis.
Some accounts place the sale after Lamont's death in 1948. Others
place it around 1941, prior to his death.
After the death of Mr. Keefer, his widow subdivided the land and
sold it. However, the plot containing Summerwind reverted to Mrs.
Keefer several times after various purchasers experienced financial
difficulties and were unable to keep up payments. During this
period there were no specific paranormal incidents recorded, but
purchasers reported unease about the property, and it remained
largely unoccupied.
1970s
After remaining vacant for some time, the house became the
residence of Arnold and Ginger Hinshaw and their four children, who
moved in during the early 1970s. It is from this time onwards that
most of the haunting reports originate.
After taking up residence, the Hinshaws reported a number of
strange occurrences, ranging from
flickering shadows that appeared to move down
the hallways and soft voices that stopped when they entered rooms,
to unexplained electrical/mechanical problems and sash windows that
raised themselves. They also reported seeing the ghost of an
unidentified woman who appeared several times in the vicinity of
the house's dining room.
Urban legend holds that after
experiencing extended difficulties retaining workmen the Hinshaws
decided to renovate the house themselves. During these renovations,
Arnold is said to have removed a shoe drawer from a fitted closet
and discovered a hidden recess behind it. In that recess Arnold
discovered what he at first took to be the remains of an animal.
However, because of the cramped entrance, he could not be certain
of what he had seen. Later that day, he sent his daughter Mary into
the recess to see what the unidentified object really was, only for
Mary to discover a human skull and strands of black hair. No report
of the find was ever made to the police and the veracity of the
legend has never been determined. The body was reported to have
vanished when Ginger's father and brother investigated the recess,
several years later.
Within six months of moving into Summerwind, Arnold suffered a
breakdown and Ginger attempted suicide.
Arnold was sent for
treatment and Ginger moved in with her parents in Granton,
Wisconsin
. The land, once again, reverted to Mrs.
Keefer.
Years later, Ginger's father, Raymond Bober, announced plans to buy
Summerwind and turn it into a restaurant with the help of his wife,
Marie, and son, Karl. The Bober's attempts to renovate the house
suffered from many of the same problems as the Hinshaw's attempt.
Bober's son Karl; who traveled to the house alone in order to
arrange estimates and pest control work, also reported a variety of
unnerving events including voices and an apparent supernatural
reenactment of the alleged 1930s Lamont incident.
At this time, workmen also reported feeling uncomfortable and
complained of missing tools and other happenings. One example is
that when they attempted to draw blueprints, the dimensions of the
house would change, with some rooms producing larger measurements
on some days than on others. Photographs taken of the same
location, on the same film, were also said to show a single room
being several different sizes even if they were taken seconds
apart, or to show furnishings that had been in the room when the
Hinshaws had lived there, but which had since been removed.
After experiencing several apparently supernatural incidents, and a
number of conventional difficulties, Bober abandoned his plans to
convert Summerwind by 1979 (at which point the land again reverted
to Mrs. Keefer) and instead applied for permission to operate a
concessions stand nearby, but his application was turned down due
to problems with local ordinance.
Bober documented his experiences in Summerwind and published them
in 1979, under the pseudonym “Wolffgang Von Bober”.
In November 2005 the Discovery Channel aired an episode of "A
Haunting" about the Hinshaw's experiences when they lived at
Summerwind.
1980s – present
After Raymond Bober relinquished the property it was sold one more
time but again reverted to Mrs. Keefer. In 1986, by which time the
mansion had fallen into disrepair, Summerwind was purchased from
the estate of Mrs. Keefer by a group of three investors. Later on
the land and the ruins was sold to a Canadian family. They
presently live in Richmond Hill, ON they report frequent
unexplained hauntings.
There have been several largely unconfirmed reports by people who
have investigated the house in its abandonment, often involving
objects flying around, disappearing and reappearing, and
photographs with odd shadows in them. Late night clandestine
visitors have also indicated that they have experienced seeing
Summerwind mansion as it would have appeared in an earlier time.
Subsequent visits would then reveal the true run-down condition of
manor.
In June 1988 Summerwind was struck by lightning several times,
resulting in a fire that destroyed much of the mansion. Oddly,
lightning struck the house, not the taller trees around it. Today,
only the house's chimney stacks, foundations, and stone steps
remain.
Jonathan Carver
According to accounts given by Bober, the events at Summerwind can
be traced back to 18th century American explorer and writer
Jonathan Carver, whom Bober believed
was haunting the site.
In his 1979 book, Bober claims to have been contacted by Carver,
who told him that he was searching the grounds looking for deeds to
the northern third of Wisconsin which had been granted to him by
Sioux Indians as a gift for settling a
fight between two Sioux tribes that nearly led to war, and which
were built into the footing of Summerwind 130 years after his
death. Bober believed that Carver had wanted the past owners of the
house to help him find the deeds, or to make way for people who
would. Despite searching the house's foundations, Bober was unable
to locate any sign that the deeds had been buried there.
The only connection between Carver and the house itself is that the
house falls under the jurisdiction of the elusive deed. No other
explanation was offered by Bober as to why somebody would put the
deed into the foundation of Summerwind.
In 1983, freelance writer Will Pooley contacted Herb Dickman, one
of the men involved in setting Summerwind's foundations in 1916.
Dickman claimed to have no knowledge of any foreign objects being
built into the mansion's footings, or of any anomalies surrounding
them.
References
9. Hollatz, Tom, and Seal Dwyer. The Haunted Northwoods. East
Peoria, IL: North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc., 2000.
Further reading
- Hauck Dennis William (1994), Haunted Places: A national
directory, Athanor Books, ISBN 0-9637914-1-9
- Norman Michael, Scott Beth (1985), Haunted heartland, Stanton
& Lee Pub, ISBN 0-88361-092-2
See also
External links
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