On the beautiful, wind swept and lonely reaches of northeast Wisconsin is West Bay Lake; and on the shores of this lake is the ruins of a mansion called Summerwind.
On the beautiful, wind swept and lonely reaches of northeast Wisconsin is West Bay Lake; and on the shores of this lake is the ruins of a mansion called Summerwind. This once huge, spacious, and very grandiose mansion was home of Robert P. Lamont and his family. Mr. Lamont built the mansion in 1916 to be a summer home for he, his wife, and their children as a place to get away from all the pressures of the political rat-race know as Washington D.C. and his job as Secretary of Commerce during the presidency of Herbert Hoover.
However, it would seem that long before the more recent dark tales of violent hauntings Lamont apparently had his own encounters with spirits; indicating that even before he built the great house itself, something dark and sinister haunted the land around the seemingly sublime lake. As the story goes, Lamont had a rather frightening encounter with an entity that tried to attack him and he shot at it. The bullets passed straight through the spirit and lodged in the basement door behind the ghostly apparition. Apparently the bullets remained in the door for many years until the house was sold after the death of Robert Lamont.
The mansion change hands several times, although no one ever reported any strange happenings until the early 1970s. Arnold and Ginger Hinshaw , along with their six children, bought and moved into Summerwind in the early 1970's. The mansion by this time had been empty for many years and become run down and dilapidated. When the couple looked into buying the old house and the property, they found, incredibly, that it was well within their budget. Both Arnold and Ginger could not believe their luck. However, the family would only reside in the house for six months, before fleeing in terror.
From the very first day the Hinshaw's started moving in, bizarre and unexplainable events began to happen. Dark shapes and shadows were seen dancing down the hallways. Disembodied voices were heard all over the house in empty and unused rooms. Family members reported seeing the apparition of a sad looking woman floating by the doors to the kitchen.
Appliances would break down and quit working; then, just as mysteriously, they would seem to repair themselves and be working fine when a repairman would show up to fix them. The windows and doors would close and open on their own. In spite of all these weird goings-on, the Hinshaw's decided they would stay and try to make the best of the situation.
Arnold and Ginger began renovations of the old house and while doing so came across a gruesome discovery, corpse of what appeared to a man. At this point, the paranormal activity in the house began to escalate to alarming proportions.
Arnold became sullen and withdrawn, complaining that evil spirits were plaguing him to the point that he had complete mental breakdown and Ginger was driven almost to the point of suicide. Arnold was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and Ginger fled with her children to her parents in Granton, Wisconsin. Eventually, Arnold and Ginger divorced and Ginger and her children got on with their lives, but the memory of terror of Summerwind has continued to haunt her.
In 1986, Summerwind was purchased by three investors who had wanted to turn it into a hotel or bed and breakfast. However, it would seem fate had other plans. In June of 1988, Summerwind mansion was struck by lightning during a fierce storm and burned to the ground. Today, only the foundations and the stone chimneys are all that remain of the once grand mansion, although, who knows? Perhaps the spirits that brought terror to this family and others still wander the desolate ruins of Summerwind.
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