Wisconsin’s Most Famous Haunt - Summerwind Mansion

This article is from the www.examiner.com


April 16, 9:58 AM By Kathie Kessler


Summerwind – Wisconsin's Most Famous Haunt! Part 1


Built on the beautiful shores of West Bay Lake, was Wisconsin's most famous haunted houses, Summerwind Mansion.


Constructed in the early 1900's as a fishing lodge, the property was purchased in 1916 by Robert Lamont who spent the better of 2 years renovating the property. Robert Lamont lived in the home for 15 years until he witnessed what he thought was an intruder in his kitchen. He took two shots at the man, before he realized he had just seen a ghost. He fled the home in the 1930's.


The home was sold to the Keefer family in the 40's, but they never lived there permanently. When Mr. Keefer died Mrs. Keefer began selling off parcels of the property but the house always seemed to revert back to her, as every tenant either moved out or befell some financial ruin. The property, once again abandoned, was finally sold to Arnold and Ginger Hinshaw who moved in with their children. The house was in terrible shape from weather and vandalism and required much work. Strange things would began to happen right from the beginning. A relative was out helping clean up the yard one weekend when he heard a gunshots. He looked around for nearby hunters, but was surprised by the smell of gunpowder in the kitchen and two gunshot holes in the basement door. He examined the holes, they were not recently made, they were smooth and painted over the shots from Robert Lamont over 40 years earlier!


Windows would be closed, only to be found open again the next day. Rooms would be measured for materials but when they arrived the room sizes would be drastically different. A scrap of lace curtain that hung on a curtain rod was taken down and burned more than 6 times, but would repeatedly be found re-hung in the window. Photographs taken would show furniture in the room that was no longer there.


While removing some built in cabinets, George pulled out some drawers and found a space behind one.. he got a flashlight, crawled down and what he saw was unbelievable, an old dried up, shriveled corpse of a person, that would later disappear when re-investigated, after being seen by two separate people.


Within 6 months of moving in to Summerwind, Arnold had suffered a nervous breakdown and Ginger tried to commit suicide. Fearing for their safety Ginger fled and moved back in with her parents. She eventually remarried and thought the horrors of Summerwind were behind her. Until she found out her father purchased it to turn into a bed and breakfast!


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Summer Wind Part 2
Summer Wind Part 3
Summer Wind part 4