LeDuc Mansion
Tour this historic mansion and you might hear the footsteps of the LeDuc family’s ghosts.
Paranormal Claims
at LeDuc Mansion
- Some visitors report disembodied voices in the house
- Phantom footsteps are heard
- Shadow figures are sometimes spotted
- Sounds of paper rustling are reported by visitors
- People report being touched by unseen hands
- Cold spots are noted in certain areas
- EVPs are purportedly captured by visiting ghost hunters
- Visiting ghost hunters note anomalies in photos taken inside
- Lights in the house are seen from outside
A Haunting in Hastings:
History of LeDuc Mansion
In the small Minnesota town of Hastings is a gothic revival mansion that is said to be just as haunted as it looks. While Hastings has changed a lot since the Civil War, LeDuc Mansion remains frozen in time.
LeDuc Mansion’s stony facade has been the centerpiece of the neighborhood since the 1860s, and was home to the same family for generations.
Visitors to LeDuc Mansion, now a museum, can enjoy exhibits on the family’s history, see artifacts from their travels, and even view the rooms where some LeDucs died.
And local legend says visitors might also see ghosts of those long lost LeDucs going about their afterlives in their stately manor.
Timeline of LeDuc Mansion's History
Swipe or use timeline points to see LeDuc Mansion through the years
1862
William LeDuc moved to the Minnesota region in the early 1850s after marrying his wife, Mary. William found success as a lawyer around St. Paul, and also opened the city’s first bookstore. In 1862, after a decade of success, the couple bought a spacious 160-acre farm in the community of Hastings. There, they started work on their dream home, a design from a book called, ‘Cottage Residences.’
But, their home was anything but a cottage.
1866
Due to supply constraints and other slowdowns from the Civil War, William LeDuc’s mansion took four years to complete, finally finishing in 1866. The home was spacious and luxurious enough to accommodate the LeDuc family and would remain the family’s home for generations. The mansion included ten fireplaces, thick limestone walls, and rounded gothic-inspired windows. The LeDuc family called the imposing mansion home well into the 1900s.
But in 1940, changes would come to the family’s estate.
1940
In 1940, the LeDuc family sold the home to family friend Carroll Simmons. Simmons sought to reuse the home as a business and soon opened it to the public as an antique store. While Simmons continued owning and operating the store for decades, he donated the LeDuc property to the Minnesota Historical Society in 1958.
Though, he stipulated that he would continue to use the building for his store until he retired. The society agreed, and did not take ownership of the mansion until 1986.
2005
After Carroll Simmons retired, the Minnesota Historical Society took over LeDuc Mansion. Through the 1980s and 90s, the home sat listless, its future unknown. In the early 2000s, a restoration effort brought LeDuc Mansion back to life. The home opened as a museum in 2005.
While every visitor gets the chance to experience Minnesota’s history at LeDuc Mansion, some also say they experience paranormal activity there. Could some LeDuc family phantoms remain within?
Is LeDuc Mansion Haunted?
In their lives, the LeDuc family held several seances in their familial home. After Mary’s death, William often attempted to contact his wife in the afterlife through these seances.
He purportedly had very little success trying to contact her, but could his attempts have turned the mansion into a paranormal hotbed?
Since opening as a museum, LeDuc Mansion has been frequently mentioned as the most haunted house in Hastings.
Visitors and workers alike report strange shadow figures wandering through the halls at times, and odd cold spots in certain areas.
The Mansion’s Helpful Hauntings
One of LeDuc Mansion’s earliest paranormal reports tells of a restoration worker who slipped on the home’s stairs.
Rather than go crashing to the floor, invisible, phantom hands purportedly caught the worker as he fell and guided him gently to the ground. And that event proved to be just the beginning of LeDuc Mansion’s haunted happenings. Shortly after, when the home opened to the public, numerous other paranormal reports started coming out.
Hear Ghostly Sounds Around the House
Over time, phantom sounds became one of the most common unexplainable happenings at LeDuc Mansion. Ghostly footsteps are said to be quite common. The heavy footfalls will trace the halls and explore the mansion. Many people figure these footsteps are the sounds of William LeDuc, still tending to his dream home. Some witnesses say the sounds of the footsteps precede the appearance of William’s misty apparition.
Along with phantom footsteps, sounds of rustling papers are reported from Williams’ old workspaces in the house. Could he still be managing his business from beyond the grave?
Listen to the LeDuc Ghosts Speak
Going along with LeDuc Mansion’s long list of strange sounds, haunting voices are sometimes heard. Few can decipher what the LeDuc Mansion’s disembodied voices are saying, but their manifestation has become one of the home’s more talked about occurrences.
LeDuc Mansion is the frequent site of paranormal investigations, and many ghost hunters claim to leave the home having recorded EVPs of spirit voices. Even when the specters of LeDuc Mansion aren’t feeling talkative, ghost hunters still report odd pieces of evidence. Strange photos are another common report from LeDuc Mansion’s ghost hunts, everything from orbs to unexplainable mists.
A Light in the Attic
Often, passersby outside will see lights on inside the mansion at night, well after the museum has closed. Most regularly, these reports focus on lights in the attic windows. This is especially odd because the attic is not an open part of the museum, and many parts are just used for storage.
But the attic’s tower was once home to a family chapel that often served as an important focal point in the LeDuc’s lives. Could the attic lights be the LeDuc ghosts congregating in their attic chapel?
LeDuc Mansion: A Museum of Mystery
LeDuc Mansion remains a popular and respected historic museum in Hastings today, but they’re always sure to make some room for their ghost stories.
Docents often share their ghostly tales with visitors during tours, and the museum is open to private paranormal investigations. Many of the mansion’s most well-established ghost stories come from their past ghost hunts.
Anyone interested in scheduling a ghost hunt at the LeDuc Mansion should reach out to the site supervisor for more information and current rental rates. For those more curious in daytime tours, the mansion maintains regular tour times throughout the week during Minnesota’s warmer months.
Whether you’re hunting ghosts or history, you’re likely to find what you seek at LeDuc Mansion. Maybe you can even learn some history from the hauntings themselves.
