The three-story Greek Revival Victorian-style mansion was built in 1907 by F.E. Houghton, a wealthy man who needed the extra room for a growing family of 12 children. Houghton invested in rich oak paneling, leaded glass bookshelves, ballrooms, ”pocket doors” that slid into walls, three fireplaces, and a second staircase. The third floor housed the main ballroom and play area with toy storage, where most of the unexplained phenomena currently take place.

In the 1920s, the mansion was converted to a boarding house, and then briefly a funeral home. The Luker family bought the mansion in 1986 and renovated it as a bed-and-breakfast inn.

During the house’s funeral home years, ”an entity or two may have stayed behind,” Luker said, or a transient border might have passed away as well. The more likely source of the house’s hauntings are the Houghton children, who were reported to have enjoyed sneaking into the playroom after their parents went to sleep.