Upon entry into the mysterious home, a disturbing encounter met their curiosity, unexpectantly. All the family members hung lifeless within the depths of a secret room as empty eyes stared back clothed in all white night gowns.

The abandoned mansion released screams from its walls, witnessed by the surrounding neighbors, and a woman claimed to hear a group of people talking from the third floor when she visited in 2001. No one occupied any part of the house or were found roaming the rooms.

With all the haunting claims, the mansion lay vacant for years as no residents dared occupy the mansion since 1930, except for a small unsuspecting band of hippies in the 1960s who invaded its environment for a time.

More recent encounters, in the 1990s, with the locals, attest to dodging shots from those who oversee the property upon trespassing at night. The local residents confirmed that Jeane Mast, the owner at the time, waited for trespassers while sitting in a lawn chair and armed herself with a gun outside the home.

The current owner, David Mast, explained he never grew fond of the farmhouse and unveiled the reason behind the demolition of the historic site. He never entertained the interest in upfronting $3 million to restore and renovate the historic landmark, giving way to the idea of transforming it into a Bed and Breakfast. Evidence presented itself when one of the walls buckled pending a collapse upon waiting for the excavation crew to arrive for the demolition.

The property continues to pass on in his family since the purchase in 1919. He did mention though in an article put out by the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette on September 21, 2015, by Spencer Remoquillo, that while in high school, he recalled spending nights in the home sleeping intentionally to scare off unwanted guests to prove the legends passed from generation to generation of ownership.

Through the bittersweet moment most residents nearby showed their support in removing the home to hinder curious crusades from future visits and removing any type of danger. Not long after the demolition began it fell into rubble within two hours.

Although Mast and the locals erased the mansion from the hills on September 21, 2015, it endures, etched now in Fairfield County’s history, the legend still haunts the hearts of those who knew it’s mysterious aura. Although the unfolding stories render no proof, the events in which happened those many years ago, are lost, now to the soil below forever locking the secrets away. The mystery still remains.

The mansion appeared in the 1875 Fairfield County atlas on a 270-acre parcel owned by William Pugh. Still maintaining the 270-acre spread, the house ran electricity, but still yet to be plumbed with pipes.

At one point the property witnessed joy as the ladies of Pleasant Hill U. B. church hosted an ice cream and strawberry social the evening of June 16, 1920, after Henry and Martha Hartman purchased the property in 1919. With over 2,000 in attendance, many arriving before 7 o’clock, people stayed until the late hours and into midnight. The hostesses believed to have enough for the social, one of the first for the season, however everything sold out and refreshments left attendees in want. One chauffeur managed to upset his vehicle while maneuvering to leave. No injuries resulted during the incident and several others joined together to return the vehicle to the road.

Although the stories remain secret to the walls of the mansion, quite a few people owned the property over the past century and a half. Henry Byler and Abraham Kagy built the Mud House Mansion sometime believed between 1840 and 1850. Henry traveled from Heidelberg, Pennsylvania in Lancaster County where he originated, born March 5, 1779, and Abraham journeyed from Shenandoah County, Virginia sometime prior to December 21, 1823, as he married Elizabeth Barbara Rugh that day in Fairfield County. He was born December 23, 1803. After construction finished and the Mud House Mansion realized, the two sold it to Elizabeth’s older brother, Christian Rugh, who was the same age as Abraham. It is unknown whether either Henry or Abraham lived in the house prior to the sale as no census records reveal. Christian’s record on the 1840 Fairfield County census displays his residence in Pleasant Township, Fairfield County, Ohio, however it remains unknown whether he lived in the mansion or nearby as it’s believed he purchased the property sometime prior to 1852. He is listed with his wife, Eleanor; a son, William H.; and a daughter, Mary A. It is believed that the Rugh family lived in the house after the turn of the century.

Before switching hands to the Hartman family there remains two other records of ownership in the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. In March 1915 the property sold for $1,750 to George Riffle of 617 East Allen Street, equating to $53,149.06 in 2024’s dollars. At the time it stood as the oldest landmark in the county owned by J. S. Sites, Nellie Shuman, and Della Rowles. After Riffle, in March 1919, it recorded that six and a half acres sold to Dr. L.A. Park, a Jersey Stock Fancier, and a plan put in place to rebuild and modernize the old house. With the sale, it must have been some time before Park took over, because on the 1920 census a record of Riffle and his family still lived on the farm and farmed the land. After moving out and into 617 East Allen Street, Riffle worked for Anchor Hocking as a glass worker and died April 29, 1976.

Henry and Martha Hartman then secured the full 270-acre property in 1919 living on the grounds. When Henry passed away in 1930, their daughter, Lulu Hartman, inherited the house with the surrounding property. At this time, it became known as the “Hartman Place.” She married Oren Mast and the property eventually passed down through the line to their son, Nigel William Henry Mast who married Jeane Ruth Wolfe. Their son, David Michael Mast, now remains in possession of the property despite the destruction of the mansion.

With the information found for the property’s changing of hands, it’s still unknown as to where the stories originated that formed throughout the years. They will more than likely succumb to time and linger forever, lost to the past continuing the tradition of a myriad mystery.