The "Were Those Stucco Faces Talking To Me?" Story

The Gonder Mansion in Strasburg, PA

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in front of one of Strasburg, Pennsylvania's most beautiful homes which stands at 130 West Main Street.  Strasburg is nestled in the middle of Amish country and is filled with many bed and breakfasts, specialty shops and naturally many eateries.  Down the street from where I now stand is a great ice cream store on the corner that always has a line in front of it when they are open.  The reason for my photo shoot today is to take a few more photos of the mansion at 130 W. Main which is known as Gonder Mansion.  I took photos of most of the homes along Main Street a few years ago for another story I wrote about Strasburg and it's beautiful mansions, but the photos I will take today are for another reason.  I am trying to document why this place is haunted!  Not may be or could be haunted, since it is known that it is haunted!  I parked the car a few houses away on Main Street and told my wife I would be back in a few minutes.  She didn't want to accompany me for fear she may not return.  

This shows the right east side of the mansion.

As I stood, staring at the beautiful mansion, I swear I heard a voice calling.  Not necessarily to me, but just calling.  The street was quiet except for the Amish buggy that passed a few feet from the curb.  I pointed my camera toward the spires at the top of the building for a shot.....and then I saw it!  Faces staring at me!  Not just one, but two.  And, they weren't even looking out the windows at me.  They were part of the building.  This twin-tower jewel displays Victorian architecture with magnificent turrets and stone walls along the sidewalks and walkways to the house which was built in 1905.  It was the home of railroading giant Benjamin B. Gonder.  In order to keep tabs on the workers while the place was under construction, Benjamin lived across the street in a small home.  Living with Benjamin, affectionately known as BB, was his wife, Mary, their two children and BB's sister Annie.  

Can you pick out the two smiling faces?

When the home was ready for the family, they all moved in but Annie.  She was said to be "simple-minded" and an embarrass- ment to the family, according to BB's wife Mary, so she was barred from the mansion.  She was told she laughed too loud at things male guests would say, so would remain at the house across the street.  Well, the gossip began to fly around the town.  Some say she had a fight with BB while others said she had a fight with Mary, but whatever the case,  she remained in the house across the street.  She spent hours every day staring out the window at the mansion across the street, wishing she could be part of the family once again.  Over time she began to see faces staring back at her from the stucco of the two towers.  Two were smiling while one was frowning.  

Beautiful home at 130 W. Main

Over time she believed the frowning one was mocking her and she was convinced that her sister-in-law was the face that was mocking her.  She swore to get revenge.  BB died of a heart attack on March 16, 1916.  Annie became distraught  and left town on May 28 of 1918.  She was found to have committed suicide by drowning herself in the nearby Pequea Creek just outside of Strasburg.  She was buried in the same cemetery as the other Gonder family, but in a plot away from the family and facing away from the family.  Wasn't long before men, and only men, began to hear a female laughing inside the mansion.  Some also said they saw a ghostly female figure in the halls of the mansion.  Since then it has been reported that five men have died in the mansion.  

Annie Gonder's headstone nearby.

Could it be she wanted a bit more male companionship in her afterlife, since she couldn't have it when she was alive?  I took various photographs of the mansion and swear I could see the faces in the stucco of the two towers.  And, perhaps the sound of a woman's voice I heard may have been coming from one of the faces...or perhaps the voice of the young Amish woman who rode by in the buggy.  Didn't take me long to get back in the car and head toward the ice cream palour.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary. buy.