The Haunted Mudhouse Mansion
Mudhouse Mansion is an abandoned house located in Fairfield County, just east of Lancaster, at 4730 Mudhouse Road. It’s a very imposing, impressive place built into a hill, with a number of outbuildings surrounding it. With its empty windows and isolated location, Mudhouse Mansion practically screams haunted house. And, appropriately enough, it is one. It was built around mid-19th century, and it is considered to be Ohio’s most haunted residential structure. It is famous with several paranormal investigators and regular people that travels to Lancaster, Ohio. Even if there was a sign that basically yells “no trespassing”, it did not stop people from breaking in and exploring the place.
Why is it Haunted?
If you believe the local tales, you can take your pick. One legend tells of a government official who lived there after the Civil War and still kept slaves (in the North, even), locking them in one of the outbuildings at night. One night the slave dug his way out, entered the house, and slaughtered the entire family. Some say a more modern family was massacred there; their ghosts haunt the house.
Others say it’s home to the original “Bloody Mary,” the ghost lady who’s supposed to appear in your mirror if you say her name three or five or ten or a hundred times. Some kids in Lancaster grew up calling it the House of Mary. According to traditional American folklore, Bloody Mary’s children were killed, either by her husband or by her, and she’s pissed about it. This one is tough to believe, since Bloody Mary is known all over the world, and it’s pretty much a given that she never existed in the first place, much less in Fairfield County, Ohio. Then again, it’s all just folklore, so you can believe just about anything you want to about Mudhouse.
There’s a third haunting tale emphasizes the story of a psychopathic woman, who we assume could have been the origin of Bloody Mary, that murdered her whole family and committed suicide after. Finally, there is also a story wherein a family who moved into Mudhouse Mansion during the early 1900’s mysteriously disappeared. When no one could find them, local authorities started searching for them and eventually found every member of the family hanging in a secret room. All of them were apparently wearing pure white clothes.
No one can ever clarify whether or not any of these ghost tales are true. The only fact here is that the Mudhouse Mansion is considered to be the most haunted and morbid place in Ohio for well over a century. That is why hundreds if not thousands of people from all over the country have visited this place every year just to get a thrill.
Why Was it Demolished?
While most people see the place as a haunted mansion, David Mast, the son of Jeane Mast, the owner Mudhouse Mansion and the Mud House Road in Pleasant Township, see this place as just a farmhouse. In fact, he even told reporters that he was never quite particularly fond of the mansion.
David Mast said that his house was not his cup of tea and that he is not into the idea of spending millions just to make the house safe and livable. He also said that he never understood the people’s fascination towards the house or where the haunted stories even came from.
Mast said that he and his family had a hard time getting people to stay out of their house. The Mudhouse Mansion, which was complete with seven bedrooms, was demolished in a span of two hours. In fact, even before the excavation crew came in, one wall of the was already falling apart.
One of Mast’s neighbor, Cindy Herd, said she always have high respects for Jeane Mast, however, after 23 years of guarding and reporting trespassers to police, she also believes that it’s about time that Mast bring a select few people and watch the old farm house get demolished. Even if it’s quite a bittersweet moment, most neighbors were glad that the Mudhouse Mansion was demolished because this means that curious explorers would not be in danger anymore. David Mast was also glad that he won’t be patrolling the area anymore.
Even if the Mudhouse Mansion is already erased on the rolling hills of Fairfield County’s landscape, its memories and folklore from local residents who have seen it standing for several decades still remains.