Monday, April 25, 2011

Haunted houses for sale


325 Summit Street
Lockport, New York
$129,900


This 5400 sq. ft. federal-style fixer-upper (1st image) was built in 1834 entirely of limestione blocks quarried on site by local abolitionist Francis Hitchens, owner of the Lockport Glass Factory. The house was supposedly a stop on the underground railroad. At some point it was the residence of a wealthy family who owned a number of slaves. As legend has it, the slaves were unhappy with life in the Summit mansion, went insane one by one, and took revenge on the family. Their pets were disfigured, the family members were massacred, and the slaves then turned on each other. Those who survived the resulting murders and suicides were taken into custody. Since then, apparitions have been seen in the mansion's windows, voices have been heard inside, and visitors experience a sense of being watched. The mansion has been owned by the Ruhlmann Family since the 1940s, but hasn't been occupied since 1960. When a buyer attempted to restore the house in the mid-1990s, the frightened workmen left their scaffolding in place and fled - or at least that is the story. Ray Ruhlmann says that the rumors of haunting by a slave or Civil War soldier are an attempt to explain the mansion's abandonment: “No, it’s not haunted. It’s just an old house that hasn’t been lived in for many years — it’s as simple as that.” He hasn't had any offers on the house, which would likely cost at least $300,000 to renovate, but has leased it to the Western New York Paranormal Research With Integrity, which is conducting daytime tours of the property and hosting overnight stays. Co-founder of the group Russ Krest is not ready to put all the rumors to rest: “Yeah, I do think it’s haunted. This place is a calm, wonderful place during the daytime. Soon as the sun goes down, it changes.”

2042 State Road 222
Tate Township, Ohio
$900,000


This property includes the 4,000 sq. ft. manor house (2nd image), a 4-car garage, a guesthouse, a summer kitchen, a tobacco barn, a fishing pond, and nearly 100 wooded acres. The 2-story brick house is an architectural landmark with stepped gables at each end. One of county's oldest homes, it was built almost 200 years ago by brothers John and Edward Salt, who moved from Kentucky to Ohio with their English parents in 1796. John Salt raised hogs, floated them down the Ohio River on flatboats that he would build, and sold them in New Orleans. The Allen Family, who has owned the property for nearly 40 years, found French coins dating to the 1800s during a 1972 excavation in the yard, and the house is on the National Register of Historic Places. The ghost of a young girl appears infrequently and doesn't appear to be malevolent. "I have only seen her twice. She was walking in an upstairs bedroom. She appeared to be about 12. She had a long white dress on and blonde hair. She didn't speak to me," describes Lisa Daniel Allen, who grew up in the house.

13 comments:

  1. I've often wondered why (the vast majority of) ghosts in the US are said to have lived and died in the last 200-ish years. There were people in North America before Europeans discovered it. It seems like there should be more Native American ghosts around.

    Do you know if there's some sort of limit as to how long a ghost would stick around?

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    1. You're looking in the wrong place. Go to Indian burial grounds and you'll get your fix.

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  2. I'd love to visit these houses but I got a chill just reading the stories about them!

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  3. "I'd love to visit these houses but I got a chill just reading the stories about them!" me too. That's scary.

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  4. Stacie in Buffalo, NY1/26/2012 9:42 PM

    I knew that the summit mansion was for sale and I really wanted it because I have a large family. When I mentioned it to a co-worker, she told me the rumors about the place was that it was haunted. When I did a google search, a whole bunch of stories popped up. Stories about massacres, insane slaves, black figures...that did it for me. I no longer want that house.

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  5. This house looks really incredible and scary yet for me living their is interesting. This post is worth discovering.


    Charles A

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  6. The house was built by Francis Hitchens in 1834. Hitchens, aside from being an engineer of the Erie Canal, was a noted abolitionist. No slaves ever lived in this house. Slavery did not exist in New York State in 1834. If anything, the house might possibly have been a stop on the Underground Railroad, meaning escaping slaves were given aid here. Why would former slaves haunt a place that helped them achieve their freedom?

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  7. Anonymous is entirely right. I've been in there a few times and never felt it was haunted. Just a generation or two of teenage fantasies.

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  8. I do enjoy the manner in which you have presented this specific matter plus it really does offer me a lot of fodder for thought. On the other hand, coming from everything that I have experienced, I only hope when other reviews pack on that people today continue to be on issue and not embark on a tirade involving some other news of the day. Anyway, thank you for this exceptional piece and though I do not concur with the idea in totality, I respect your standpoint.sell my house fast austin

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  9. I would give anything to be able to afford to buy the house in Lockport, NY. I live in Buffalo & just fell in love with the place!! Haunted or not, it's a gem & should be restored. Just a beautiful place...

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    1. I drive past this house quite often and wish I had the money to restore it. I don't quite know why I am drawn to this place. It's been sold and hopefully the new owners will restore. The last time someone tried to do that, the workmen just left their scaffolding and left. I somehow remember that being talked about when it happened in the 90's. As far as the hauntings go, remember, the slaves who died there were considered insane so that could be why they stay.

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  10. My Father lived in that house as a child. I myself have been in this house many times as a teenager. I know for fact there tunnels I was there the day Ray Sr. had them dump dirt and stone inside because people were braking into the house and he was afraid someone would get hurt. There was an old man living there at the same time somewhere around 1980, we called him "old man Johnson", he lived there with his wild looking dog that people said was a wolf in the house. The renovations were being done by Ray Ruhlmann II he did a little work at a time on the house, roof, trim, window framing etc. I laugh at all the stories that come about on this house. I have been in it many times with my grandfather who worked for the Ruhlmann's and I worked for Ray II myself as a teenager and went there daily to pick things up. Sure it was dark and creepy, but nothing haunting. There were some old antique fixtures in the house people kept stealing, which was the reason for boarding it up tight.

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