Rated as Wisconsin's most haunted house, Summerwind Mansion was destined to be haunted from the day it was built. It was built in 1916 by Robert Lamont in the shores of West Bay Lake, Wisconsin- the far northeast region of the state. The mansion is no longer standing, some of pieces and memories remain.
Lamont was the first to encounter a spirit. He actually fired a pistol at the ghost thinking it was an intruder but after shooting and the bullets going through the basement door- well was it a ghost or just his eyes playing tricks on him?
But when the 1970s hit, the family who lived there was driving to insanity by the supposed ghosts. Arnold and Ginger Hinshaw with their six children moved into the grand mansion during the early 70's but only stayed for about six months.
The Hinshaw's reported to seeing vague shapes and shadows flickering throughout the hallways, claiming to hear muffled voices in dark, empty rooms and when they would walk around the house the noises would stop. But the most alarming paranormal activity they reported was the ghost of a woman floating back and forth past the French doors leading off from the dining room.
The appliances, a hot water heater and water pump would break down but repair themselves before a serviceman would be called to fix the appliances. Also, windows and doors that were shut closed would reopen on their accord. There was one window that would raise and lower itself numerous times throughout the day.
Supposedly, Arnold had enough of it and drove a heavy nail through the window casing to keep it closed. Another spooky event that happened was when Arnold was going to the vehicle to leave for work and it suddenly went up in flames and the cause is still unknown.
One day when Arnold was making some renovations to the house he found a narrow opening in a closet and went to look into it. What he found shook him to the core- a human corpse stuff back into the wall of a closet. They never contacted the authorities nor remove it from the wall to give her a proper burial.
Was the mystery corpse the reason for the happenings around the house due to never being laid to a proper rest?
Arnold suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent off to treatment whereas his wife Ginger contemplated suicide and when her husband was sent off, she moved to Granton where her parents lived until her father built the place.
There's more of the Hinshaw's story of their time at Summerwind Mansion provided by Prairie Ghosts.
The mansion was destroyed in 1988 by a fire but paranormal activity still ensues at the location. Visitors claimed the place attracts supernatural beings. Some visitors have also claimed a strong sense of someone or thing hovering around them, orbs and floating objects showing up in photos and recorders picking up voices and sounds that can not be heard by the human ear.
Whether the site is haunted or not, something had to drive the Hinshaw's to insanity, was it the corpse they found or were they doomed from the start?
