Ghosts of Punderson Manor A state park may not be a likely place for ghost, but the Punderson Manor Hotel is reported to be haunted. The hotel sits on the banks of a lake and has a history of scaring the daylights out of its employees and guests. One night, guests complained about noise from a party upstairs. However, there was no room above them. Robert Van Der Velde spent five years researching Punderson and found it to be rich in close encounters. "There was a big hotel fire and some children perished in the fire, and those supposedly are the ghost children that are seen here," Van Der Velde said. Guests often complain of a woman laughing or children playing in the halls late at night,. The best stories come from employees, who are at the manor nightly. Lights go on and off, heavy doors swing open on their own and footsteps and voices are heard. Maids are so frightened that they will clean one room only in pairs. As soon as they turn their backs after making the bed, the bedclothes are crumpled, as though someone is sitting there. One night a clerk awoke from a nap in the employee lounge to find a bearded man at the foot of the bed. A Civil War-era woman has been sighted several times in the dining room. She's always startled to be found out and rushes out of the room. The night crew says the ghost in never harmful, just mischievous. During a time when Punderson Manor was closed, park rangers would stay alone in the hotel to keep out vandals. They witnessed a lot of inexplicable activity, and several rangers quit after their nights alone.