History & local legend
Railroad businessman Benjamin Gonder built his mansion on West Main Street in Strasburg in 1905. The ghost story centers on his sister, Annie, who lived nearby but never moved into the grand house. According to local tradition, Benjamin’s wife, Mary, was embarrassed by Annie’s behavior, especially her habit of laughing at the men during dinner conversation. Annie was left watching the mansion from her window.
Benjamin died in 1915, and Annie died in 1918. Afterward, people began telling of a woman appearing in the mansion’s halls and laughter coming from an unseen source. The laughter is attributed to Annie, finally entering the home she had been kept out of. In the local telling, only men can hear her.
Sources
- Strasburg Borough, inventory of historic district buildings, 130 West Main Street
- Lancaster County Magazine, local account of the woman in the halls and the laughter
- Uncharted Lancaster, the laughing ghost of Gonder Mansion and the Gonder family
- The Pennsylvania Rambler, Annie’s life and the contemporary Lancaster Examiner account of her death
