On June 20, 1941, my grandfather was murdered in what was being used as a garbage dump on the back side of the Martin House property close to the lake. A man was at the dump to get scraps for his hogs when he saw my grandfather being taken out of a car. He had already been beaten badly. The killer proceeded to stomp my grandfather until he died. The witness alerted the police and gave them a description of the killer and his car. Within a few weeks, the witness' body was found floating in Martin Lake. I won't go into more detail other than to say the killer was very easy to recognize due to a physical impairment, and he was a prominent business man in the area. Another witness also came forward and said he saw my grandfather in the company of 3 men earlier that afternoon and it appeared my grandfather was possibly drunk. The witness knew all 3 of the men, with one of them being the same man seen at the dump stomping my grandfather. As it turned out, my grandfather had no alcohol in his system per the coroner. No arrests were made and the case was closed. When I tried to get the records from the county, they said the courthouse roof had leaked and destroyed the records. The newspaper articles are very brief with no real information. They even misspelled my grandfather's name so badly, I had a hard time finding the articles. End of story.
As for ghosts at the Martin House, I have never been there so I have no input on that subject. However, I well remember as we travelled north on Hwy 98 towards the papermill, my mother many times pointed towards the part of Martin Lake that is south of the Martin House property and she told me there were many unexplained deaths (other than the ones I have described) in that area. Bodies found floating, children killed by bank cave ins, etc. I wish I could remember more details, but I do know she described several.
Murders on the Martin House property