Fairlawn Mansion, Superior: The Pattison Home, the Children's Home and the Ghosts

Fairlawn is the great Queen Anne mansion at 906 East Second Street in Superior, built for lumber and mining baron Martin Pattison and his family and finished in 1891. Its four-story tower, with a widow’s watch looking out over the bay, rises over the neighborhood. The house is now run by Superior Public Museums and open year round.

Between the Pattisons and the museum, Fairlawn spent 42 years as a children’s home, and that chapter is at the heart of its ghost stories. Staff have described children’s laughter, glimpses of servants and footprints they cannot explain, and the museum itself runs flashlight Superstition Tours through the darkened house in the fall.

History of Fairlawn

Martin Pattison made his fortune in lumber and later mining, and served three terms as mayor of Superior. He built Fairlawn as a home for himself, his wife Grace and their six children, and it was completed in 1891. It cost more than $150,000 at the time, a figure the museum puts at well over $3 million today, and Wikipedia notes a claim that furnishings brought the total to about $250,000.

The house is a four-story, 42-room Queen Anne Victorian, its most striking feature a round corner tower with a widow’s watch over the bay. Inside, the main floor held a library, reception room, parlor, music room, dining room and Martin’s office. The Pattisons lived here until 1918.

From 1920 to 1962 Fairlawn was a children’s home, with the children living on the third floor. Local reporting describes the house over the years as a private residence, a children’s home, a shelter for people in need and finally a museum. That long stretch, when the rooms rang with children’s voices, is what most of today’s ghost stories draw on.

Restoration began in earnest in the 1990s. The main floor was restored in 1996, at a cost of about $1.6 million, to look as it did in the Pattisons’ day, and the house opened as a tourist attraction. Today the first floor is fully restored and Superior Public Museums runs tours, events and seasonal programs, from summer garden visits to the fall flashlight tours.

The ghosts of Fairlawn

The children

The most common reports are of children’s laughter in empty rooms, which WPR noted in its haunted Wisconsin road trip. With more than four decades as a children’s home, it is no surprise that the stories focus on the young residents, though nobody has named a particular child, and there is no record of a tragedy behind the tales.

The servants

Staff have also reported seeing former servants in the halls, according to WPR. A great house like Fairlawn ran on domestic staff, and the back stairs and service rooms are where these figures are said to appear.

Footprints

In 2019, Fairlawn’s executive director Megan Meyer told Northern Wilds: “I’ve heard a noise. I’ve seen some stuff, including child and adult footprints.” She added that regular tours mention the supernatural only if guests ask, and that the flashlight tours were a chance for staff to share their own experiences and photos of things they could not explain.

Martin Pattison

On some flashlight tours a costumed Martin Pattison has talked about his own funeral. That is theater, not a sighting, but it is a reminder that the museum enjoys its ghost stories as much as its visitors do.

Where to look

• The third floor: where the children of the children’s home lived from 1920 to 1962.
• The servants' halls and back stairs: where former servants are said to appear.
• The restored first floor: the Pattisons’ library, parlor, music room and dining room.
• The tower: with its widow’s watch over the bay, best seen from the lawn at dusk.

Visiting Fairlawn

Fairlawn is open year round, with guided tours leaving on the hour from the gift shop. Hours change with the season, staffing and events, so check the museum’s website before you go; reservations can be made up to two months ahead but are not required. In summer you can wander the grounds and gardens at your own pace.

The tours to book for ghost stories are the Superstition Tours, also billed as Ghosts of Fairlawn and flashlight tours. Staff darken the house and lead small groups of about eight through it for around 30 minutes, telling ghost stories and explaining bizarre Victorian superstitions and traditions. You bring your own flashlight. They have run in the fall around Halloween and on Friday the 13th, with tickets in recent years around $12 for adults. They are not recommended for children aged five and under, full-face masks are not allowed, and the museum has not allowed photos or video on these tours.

Book early: walk-in places are limited and groups are small.

• Visiting Museum run by Superior Public Museums, open year round
• Tours Guided tours on the hour; flashlight Superstition Tours, Ghosts of Fairlawn, in the fall and on Friday the 13th
• Ghost hunting Staff-led flashlight ghost and superstition tours; no private ghost hunts

Tips for your visit

• Watch for the fall and Friday the 13th Superstition Tours and book as soon as dates go up.
• Bring a good flashlight; you will need it.
• Ask your guide about the children’s home years on the third floor.
• Stand on the lawn at dusk and look up at the tower.
• Cross the bridge to Duluth for Glensheen and the SS William A. Irvin, two more haunted Lake Superior landmarks.

More haunted places nearby

• Haunted places in Duluth, Minnesota: Glensheen and the SS William A. Irvin across the bay
• Haunted places in Wisconsin: the rest of the state’s haunted places
• Ringling House ghost hunt: our ghost hunts and sleepovers in Baraboo
• Haunted places in Wisconsin

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• Wikipedia: Fairlawn Mansion
• Superior Public Museums: Fairlawn Mansion
• Northern Wilds: Fairlawn Mansion plans for fall flashlight and superstition tours (2019)
• KOOL 101.7: Ghosts of Fairlawn tour set for March 13th (2020)
• 1440 WROK: Fairlawn Mansion in Superior offers spooky flashlight tours (2023)
• LakeSuperior.com: Superstition Tours, Ghosts of Fairlawn
• WPR: Haunted Wisconsin