Haunted Punderson Manor Lodge, Newbury: Ghosts of a Tudor Manor

Punderson Manor Lodge sits in Punderson State Park in Newbury Township, east of Cleveland. The English Tudor house was begun in the late 1920s by Detroit businessman Karl Long as a private mansion beside Punderson Lake, a 150-acre natural kettle lake. Long never finished it. The State of Ohio bought the land in 1948, completed the house and opened it to guests in 1956. Today it has 31 guest rooms in the manor, cabins in the woods, a dining room, golf and the lake on the doorstep.

It is also one of the most talked-about haunted lodges in Ohio. Guests have described at least a dozen different figures over the years, the strangest a man seen hanging from the dining room ceiling. Others report laughter with no one there, doors and faucets that work by themselves and figures in the tower suites, and some link it all to Lemuel Punderson, the early settler the lake is named for. This guide brings the stories and the history together, with tips for booking. For more in the region see haunted places in Ohio.

The ghosts of Punderson Manor Lodge

The hanging man in the dining room

The story told most often about Punderson Manor is the most unsettling. Former employees have described a figure in lumberjack clothes hanging by the neck from the ceiling of the dining room or lounge. The fullest version, repeated in a 2005 Hotel Online report and a 2022 student newspaper feature, says three employees watched it in 1979 for close to three hours, slowly turning, until it faded at sunrise.

Nobody has put a name to him, and no record of a death in the house has been published, so treat it as the lodge’s signature legend rather than history. Cleveland Magazine notes that the reports go back to the 1970s and center on the original seven guest rooms and the dining area.

Lemuel Punderson

Lemuel Punderson, a land agent, was one of the first settlers here in the early 1800s, and the lake and park carry his name. Many guests over the years have said it is his ghost that haunts the Manor House, and that it has frightened more than a few of them. It is an appealing story, but the manor was built about a century after his time, so it is folklore rather than a documented link.

A dozen figures and no names

What sets Punderson apart is the sheer number of reported apparitions. Heritage Ohio says there have been at least a dozen sightings over the years, none of them identified. Accounts mention a woman in Civil War-era dress, a woman laughing on the circular staircase heard by a park ranger, and children laughing in empty rooms.

One odder tale comes from a psychic who claimed to contact a ghost who looked a little like Teddy Roosevelt and wanted his rocking chair returned. Some tie that to W.B. Cleveland, who owned the estate before Karl Long. Another story blames the children’s laughter on a fire that destroyed the Wales Hotel across the lake in 1885, in which some say children died. We have found no records behind either.

Laughter, doors and faucets

The more everyday reports are what keep people talking: doors opening and closing on their own, faucets turning on and off in empty bathrooms, televisions in the older section switching on at night, pencils flying and cold spots in the halls. In the Windsor Suite, one woman said she felt someone holding her down on the bed. These stories tend to come from the older parts of the manor rather than the cabins.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• The Windsor Suite (the Blue Room): The lodge’s king suite in the historic estate, with a separate living area and a Jacuzzi tub. Heritage Ohio singles it out among the tower suites as a hotspot. Request it by name.
• Historic estate rooms: The Victorian, Saxon, Churchill, Sherwood, Georgian and Chaucer rooms keep the feel of the original house; the Chaucer Room is in the manor’s original wing.
• The Cherry Dining Room: The lodge’s restaurant and the setting for the hanging man story. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Cabins: Wooded cabins with kitchens near the lodge. Few ghost stories are told about them, so book these if you want the setting without the stories.

History of Punderson Manor Lodge

Lemuel Punderson, a land agent and one of the area’s first settlers, developed the site in the early 1800s, and the lake soon took his name. It became a gathering place for the township: on August 22, 1882 the pioneers of Newbury held a reunion on the lake, where Albert G. Riddle’s poem “Punderson’s Pond” was read. Summer cottages and a hotel followed.

The Tudor manor itself was begun by Karl Long, a wealthy Detroit businessman, as a home for his wife overlooking the lake. Accounts give 1925 or 1929 for the start. The Depression wiped out his fortune and he died before it was finished. In 1948 the Ohio Division of Wildlife bought the land and lake, and in 1951 control passed to the Division of Parks and Recreation, which developed Punderson State Park. The park now covers 741 acres.

The state completed the mansion and opened it to the public in November 1956 with just eight guest rooms. Cleveland Magazine reports that 24 more rooms were added in 1962, and cabins were built in the grounds. Ghost stories began to circulate in the 1970s, mostly about the original rooms and the dining area. The lodge is still owned by the State of Ohio and run as part of the state park lodge system.

Today the lodge has 31 manor rooms, an indoor pool, the Cherry Dining Room and an 18-hole golf course, with boating, fishing, disc golf and a lakeside boardwalk in the park.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Call the lodge directly to request the Windsor Suite or a historic estate room; online bookings may not let you choose.
• Have dinner in the Cherry Dining Room, the setting for the lodge’s best-known story.
• Walk the lake boardwalk at dusk, when the manor looks its most atmospheric.
• Ask the lodge about pets before you book; the policy is set by the lodge.
• Pair your stay with the Franklin Castle stories in Cleveland.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Franklin Castle, Cleveland: Cleveland’s most famous haunted house
• Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield: The Shawshank prison, one of Ohio’s best-known haunted buildings
• Hotel Millersburg: An 1847 hotel in Amish Country with a gentleman in a 1920s suit
• Haunted hotels in Ohio

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

• Punderson Manor: Rooms
• Punderson Manor: About
• Wikipedia: Punderson State Park
• Cleveland Magazine: Park shadows
• Hotel Online: Punderson Manor ghost stories (2005)
• The Hilltop Echo: A local hotel haunting, Punderson Manor (2022)
• Heritage Ohio: 10 haunted Ohio hotels
• TourismOhio: Haunted Ohio 2024 (PDF)

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