To reach the house, you must travel up an
old overgrown driveway that is off Mudhouse Road, the house can be seen
from the road during the day but at night is totally invisible in the darkness.
The driveway is right next to a smaller abandoned white house. Our
first trip was at night which made things incredibly eerie, our second trip
was during the day which enabled us to take some great photos.
You must walk up the long driveway and climb over a little gate.
Further up the drive on the left is a large building that must have been
used as a guest house or storage area, as you walk past this building, Mudhouse
will loom just ahead. The house is beautiful; imagine what it
would have looked like in it's glory days. All of the lower windows
are boarded so we climbed the stairs up the hill on the right side.
We walked across the front of the house to a door on the second floor....which
happened to be covered with boards but wide open. The inside
is almost too much for words, we could've taken a thousand photos.
There are many rooms filled with debris and forgotten furniture, almost
every room has tall oval style Victorian windows. The
main living room has around 4 or 5 battered chairs, and a huge array of
windows with a great view to the outside, there is also a little fireplace
in the wall across from this area. Over to the left is an old bedroom
with a dirty creepy bed. There are 2 sets of stairs that lead down
into the dark first floor, this is where we found an old stove, refrigerator,
bathroom, and a small opening to a crawl space underneath. |
HISTORY AND HEARSAY
In 1839 and in 1852 Christian and Eleanor Rugh
purchased the property from Abraham Kagy and Henry Byler. The year
it was built is uncertain, there are reports that it was built in the 1840's
or maybe around 1900. The house was sold to Henry and Martha Hartman
in 1910. When Henry hartman died in 1930, the property went to his
daughter and is now owned by the Mast family. We called
the Mast family for permission to visit the Mudhouse but were greeted with
a very stern "NO, we do not do anything with that house!" .
The first local tale about this house is
that a government official lived there after the Civil War and still imprisoned
slaves; locking them in one of the outbuildings at night. One evening
the slaves escaped, entered the house and slaughtered the entire family.
Others say another family was murdered there, and their ghosts haunt the
property. There have also been rumors that the original 'Bloody
Mary' lived in the house. The legend is as follows; all of
her children were killed, either by her, or her husband and she is out
for revenge. And the popular Urban Legend is that if you go
in the house, stare into a mirror and say 'Bloody Mary' three times in
a row, she will appear. However, this tale is told all over
the world in different variations and is a little difficult to believe.
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