Mishap at Hotel Conneaut: Deaths, Accidents and Incidents Through the Decades

Hotel Conneaut in Conneaut Lake Park was once the premier destination for the wealthy of Pittsburgh and surrounding areas to visit during the summer months. 

Built on the site and using remnants of Exposition Hotel that first opened in 1893, it eventually boasted 300 rooms to accommodate the large crowds that flocked to the shores of Conneaut Lake. But even then the hotel quickly sold out rooms and as demand for lodgings increased, several hotels sprouted up in the park. Hotel Virginia was built adjacent to Hotel Conneaut to accommodate the overflow, joined by a dining room between the twin structures. North of Hotel Conneaut was the beautiful structure of Dreamland Ballroom which burned to the ground in the horrific fire of 1908 that devastated the park. Fires proved to be a constant threat to the park and the resort suffered many losses as a result, even as recent as 2013. 

Deaths and accidents were par for the course with the huge throng of visitors that came and went through the decades. Legends surround the hotel that attempt to explain the ghosts haunting the hotel to this day, but instead of finding the origin behind these legends, my research unearthed several different accounts. Bride Elizabeth never perished in the 1943 fire, a chef never murdered a butcher, and the small child never fell down a flight of stairs on a tricycle to their death; at least there are no record of such incidents. It’s possible that there were accidents and deaths that the owners covered up, paying off the local papers so they would not report such incidents and thus soil the hotel’s reputation as a premier summer resort. This is just a theory with no foundation to stand on, an idea taken from the fictional account of the Stanley Hotel in Stephen King’s The Shining where the wealthy owner paid off reporters to keep quiet concerning the brutalities committed there. 

While on the subject, I do wonder if the legend of the ghost child riding through the halls of Hotel Conneaut upon a tricycle began after the release of the 1980 movie The Shining. Though in the film little Danny spends his endless winter hours pedaling his tricycle through the maze of hallways of Stanley Hotel, this tidbit was never in the book. In the Conneaut legend, it is a child—some accounts say a little boy named Michael while others say a little girl named Angeline—who rode too close to the stairs, toppling downward and now haunts the halls by colliding into guests. 

Hotel Conneaut did have its fair share of stories that were reported which are listed below. It is my hope that these may help explain some of the paranormal activity at the hotel. I have included stories that took place around the hotel as well as within because I believe them to be of historical significance and are part of the hotel’s story too. The many losses that were suffered in view of the hotel while the hotel remains standing—though only partially—nearly 130 years later are a testament to the hotel’s survivor status. The hotel may seem like an inanimate object to some, but to many others like myself, it is a living, breathing structure, full of the energy of all the people living and dead who have walked her halls, rich with history, and loved and adored by so many who call it home away from home.

Death of Owner’s Infant Son
July 3, 1899

Frank M. Lockwood, aged sixty-two, was the owner of Exposition Hotel when his nine-month old son, Earl Vincent, died of cholera. The summer season was in full swing at Exposition Park at the time with festivities planned for the 4^th of July holiday. It is unknown if the child died in Conneaut or in Titusville, where Lockwood lived, but it appears Lockwood and his wife Mary were living at the hotel during the time. What a devastating loss for the owners to endure, especially while running one of the most prominent resorts in the Midwest. The 1899 season was the most successful since the grand opening of the hotel. The baby was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Jamestown, NY.

Fire At Exposition Hotel
Winter 1900

In January of 1901, repairs were completed from a fire that had damaged the hotel. I could unearth no other details, including the cause of the fire and extent of the damage.

The Falling Death of a Hotel Laborer
February 14, 1903

In the winter of 1903, construction workers were hard at work building the new Hotel Conneaut, made from remnants of the original Exposition Hotel. The new hotel was built on the north end of the old structure. The three story portion of Exposition Hotel was used to form part of the new Hotel Conneaut. On Monday, February 9, a young laborer named Harry Hogan, 22, fell and struck his head. He returned to work Tuesday, but by nightfall was feeling very poor from the injuries he had suffered the day prior. He took leave from work and went home to recover in Erie where he lived with his parents. Unfortunately, by the next day he was confused and delirious. He remained in this condition until he passed away on Saturday, February 14. Harry Lester Hogan was buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Erie, PA.

Elizabeth: A Heartbroken Bride
July 27, 1904

Though this story did not happen at Hotel Conneaut, it does relate to the park, and remains the only account I could uncover about a bride named Elizabeth. Elizabeth “Bessie” Rainey, 26, lived with her mother, Elizabeth Frame Rainey, at Hotel Mantor during the summer of 1904 while her father, Jesse, remained in their hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, no doubt to work. Hotel Mantor was a lakeside hotel within view of Hotel Conneaut. Bessie soon found herself wooed and won by Dr. Arthur Henry, 38, and they were married in Youngstown on July 27. The following day, Arthur was arrested in Warren after another woman went to the authorities claiming Dr. Henry had taken money from her. It was revealed that the woman was none other than Dr. Henry’s other wife, Nellie Butler. They had married the previous year and she had given him all her savings when he tearfully told her he was in trouble for passing a forged check and would be arrested if he did not pay the fine.  This proved to be a falsehood, and as soon as he obtained her savings and her stock shares he abandoned her, leaving her destitute. Nellie was not the only one; Dr. Henry had four wives before her who were all living. It was also revealed that Dr. Henry was no doctor at all and had never passed the required examinations, operating as an unlicensed physician. 

After hearing the terrible truth about her new husband, Bessie fled home to her mother at Exposition Park, no doubt inconsolable and ashamed. She waited until April 15 of the following year before seeking an annulment in Youngstown. Her husband had been sent to the Columbus Penitentiary on charges of bigamy. Theirs had been his sixth marriage and his inflated ego made him unremorseful and full of self-aggrandizement and pity. I do not know what became of Bessie after her separation from Dr. Henry, but I hope she was able to move on. Even if she did or did not move on, perhaps the incredible anguish she suffered imprinted her essence upon Conneaut Lake Park and the ghostly bride wanders the grounds, hopeless and heartbroken.

Fire Destroys Three Nearby Hotels
December 4, 1906

A large fire tore through three of the largest hotels in Conneaut Lake Park as well as the surrounding frame buildings. Hotels Arlington, Brunswick, and Thatcher were lost, amounting to about $30,000 in damages.

Large Fire Devastates Half of Park 
December 2, 1908

Around one o’clock in the morning, guests sleeping in Hotel Bismark were awoken when they were alerted that the hotel was on fire. A heavy winter wind blew the fire towards the lake, destroying restaurants, places of business, and amusements, including the bowling alley, the Beach House, and the dance pavilion. Hotel Conneaut and Hotel Virginia became under extreme threat as the fire ripped through the park and burned within a street’s distance from them. However, with the exertions of firemen from Greenville and Meadville, the hotels were spared and though half of the park was destroyed, no one perished. For a beautifully written detailed account of this historical fire, please visit: http://crawfordpahistory.blogspot.com/2017/12/exposition-park-fire-conneaut-lake.html

The Falling Death of Dr. Cornelius Van Horne
June 2, 1907

Dr. Cornelius Edward Van Horne, 39, one of the most prominent physicians on the east side of Pittsburgh, stayed at Hotel Conneaut in the summer of 1907 and was noticed retiring to his room on June 1. On Sunday, June 2, at about 9:20 in the morning an Edward Hammond discovered the doctor’s rain-soaked body laying on the ground south of the hotel near cottage #3. Dr. Van Horne was wrapped in his robe but was otherwise naked. A postmortem found ruptured blood vessels in his head, most likely from a fall. It was presumed he fell over the low railing of his suite’s balcony—a 12-foot drop—and wandered a hundred feet in his dazed condition, ultimately dropping to die of exposure where he was found. Another theory that did not hold up so well due to lack of evidence was that Dr. Van Horne had been attacked. He was known to suffer from heart issues, so it is possible his early death was sped along by that factor. Dr. Van Horne was buried in Denny Cemetery in Crawford County, Pennsylvania.

Prohibition Raid
July 12, 1928

A group of sheriffs were having their annual convention in Parlour B of the hotel when their festivities were raided by dry officers. They had significant amounts of ale and most of the men were staggering about drunk. A skirmish broke out among both parties; the District Attorney pushed two sheriffs over a table and the inebriated sheriffs punched at anything and everything, including the chandelier. In the end, only the bellboy was arrested for violation of prohibition law which left onlookers shaking their heads. The dry officers’ reasoning was that they could not arrest everyone in that room, so the poor bellboy remained the lone whipping boy for an entire group’s offense. The raid was conducted by District Attorney Stuart Culbertson and Detective John Laley who were lambasted for their “rude” intrusion of the peace officers’ gaieties. The general attitude was that the raid had a purely political agenda and incensed the community. Prohibition would not end for another five years. 

The Fiery Death of Two Park Employees
May 1, 1936

Each winter, while the hotel was closed for the season, a few employees and caretakers remained in Conneaut and usually stayed in the bungalows that were rented out to the public during the summer months. These summer cottages surrounded the hotel and provided more private and roomier accommodations for wealthy park guests. On February 18, 1930 a small cottage adjoining the hotel went up in flames but no injuries were reported. Nearby farmers and park residents worked together to squelch the conflagration before the fire department arrived, saving the hotel from harm. Over a year later on August 1, 1931, two cottages burned and resulted in $2500 worth of damage. On December 2, 1935, a cottage caught fire from an oil stove, causing $500 worth of damage. The cottage had been occupied by William Kleeb, vice president and general manager of the Conneaut Lake Company. Fortunately, William had left the cottage prior to the discovery of the fire and was unharmed.

Shortly before the opening of the park on May 1, Maurice Bigelow, Manager of Hotel Conneaut, awoke to see the cottage adjoining his engulfed in flames. His father, Arthur Bigelow, 62, park manager, William Kleeb, 52, who had avoided the fire from the year previous, and Donald Macdonald, 30, park auditor, were sleeping inside the burning 9-room cottage. The men had been staying there from the beginning of the year in order to do repairs around the park and make the necessary preparations for the season’s opening. Fearing for the lives of his father and the other men inside, Maurice approached the burning bungalow and broke through a door but the flames were too high. He then attempted to enter the cottage by breaking a window, but again the heat was far too unbearable to cross. Donald Macdonald awoke as smoke filled his room on the second floor of the cottage. Shouting frantically for the other two men, he first ran towards Arthur Bigelow’s room but was held back by flames, so dashed downstairs, falling most of the way, to find the downstairs nearly obliterated by fire. He was unsuccessful in entering William Kleeb’s room due to the immense heat. He was able to escape the cottage by jumping through a wall of flames but was terribly burned in the process. He assisted Maurice Bigelow in the attempt to gain access to the cottage in order to save the other men, but they finally sought help from the fire department. 

Maurice Bigelow held out hope that his father had been able to escape before fire entirely consumed the structure, but after a search of the surrounding property, the dreadful truth became clear. Once the fire department had snuffed out the blaze an hour later, the bodies of the two men were discovered. The newspapers reported that William Kleeb was found on the floor of his downstairs bedroom and Arthur Bigelow’s body was seen slumped against a second-floor window that he had tried to escape from. However, from Maurice Bigelow’s own testimony, he found his father and William Kleeb dead in their beds, apparently never waking to notice the horror around them. Their burns were minor, leading the declaration that the cause of death was asphyxiation. Maurice Bigelow surmised the cause of the fire was an overheated water heater that had been burning in the kitchen before the men retired at 11:30 p.m. The loss of the cottage, one of the oldest on the grounds, was estimated at $5,000.

Arthur Bigelow was buried in Union Dale Cemetery in Pittsburgh, PA and William Kleeb was buried in Allegheny County Memorial Park in Allison Park, PA.

Robbery of the Hotel Safe
July 13, 1936

The hotel safe was robbed of $4500 during the hours of 1 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. Monday morning. The thief failed to notice another $1,000 in bills that was tucked in a corner of the safe and did not take valuable silver. When staff entered the room Monday morning, the safe was locked as usual and the combination used to open it. The thief must have been someone with access to the combination and there is no record they were ever caught. It proved to be an enormous loss, as the value of the $4500 at that time was worth over $69,000 when compared with the inflation rate of present day. 

Sudden Death of a Guest
Sept 7, 1936

It was written that a guest of the resort, Zedoc Gray, an 80-yr-old farmer from Richmond, suddenly dropped dead within the hotel. No details or cause of death were provided in the article reporting his demise, though one could assume a heart attack was the likely culprit. Zedoc Gray was buried in North Richmond Cemetery in Crawford County, PA.

Fire of 1943 Devastates Hotel Conneaut
April 28, 1943

In April of 1943, workmen began preparing the hotel for the season opening set for May 1. On April 27, a fire resulted from crossed wires and though quickly extinguished, the damage from smoke and water in the lobby and a few rooms amounted to $3,000 worth of damages. It was presumed the season opening would have to be delayed a week to clean up the water, fallen plaster, and other debris. Unfortunately, after firemen departed the scene, the fire rekindled itself and burned unnoticed for hours before being rediscovered at 4 a.m. on April 28 by a police chief making his rounds.  The embers had reignited and flames built up within, disguised between the partitions of the walls and tore through the hotel in such a clandestine manner. Firefighters from five communities rushed to the scene and set fourteen hoses upon the inferno, drawing water from hydrants and the lake. 

By the time the blaze was extinguished at 9:30 a.m., flames had destroyed 150 of the 300 rooms and the dining hall, amounting to $150,000 worth of damage which today would be worth about two and a quarter million dollars. Initially, hopes of saving the hotel were dismal and beautiful Hotel Conneaut was thought to be a total loss. However, the new south wing was spared. The second and third floors of the hotel’s original portion were ruined and the first floor suffered major water damage. Many rooms had been completely gutted and were a total loss. Half of the roof was compromised and because of war rationing, no lumber could be purchased to mend it, so she sat for years with her gaping wounds open for all to see. The exposure of these rooms over time caused irreversible weather damage and the original section of the hotel was eventually razed. A war was going on, so repairing the hotel could simply not take priority.

Ever since that dark day, the hotel has maintained the number of 150 rooms, never replacing the 150 that were lost and never having the need for them as a steady decline of business marked the beginning of the end. No doubt the rumors of ghosts have kept many away while drawing others in. Because the hotel was still closed for the season at the time of the fire, no one perished in the catastrophe. One news article in the Record-Argus did state that a lone laborer had been asleep in the hotel as fire traveled through the rooms, but was able to escape when the police chief sounded the alarm. Though evidence makes the truth clear, the legend of bride Elizabeth dying in that fire subsists, despite the efforts of historians like myself to squelch it. In any case, though the glory days of Hotel Conneaut are in the past, she bears her scars beautifully, standing solid and regal like an old grand dame cloaked in the furs and jewels of her youth.

References:

Baby Lockwood Death Notice – The Conneautville Courier (Conneautville, Pennsylvania) · 6 Jul 1899, Thu · Page 1

New Hotel at Exposition Park – The Conneautville Courier (Conneautville, Pennsylvania) · 3 Apr 1902, Thu · Page 1

Henry [sic] Hogan Death Notice – The Conneautville Courier (Conneautville, Pennsylvania) · 18 Feb 1903, Wed · Page 1

A.W. Henry and Bessie Raney Marriage Certificate – “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-S5QV-HC?cc=1614804&wc=ZRSC-SP8%3A121347801%2C122305301 : 15 July 2014), Mahoning > Marriage records 1904 vol 18 > image 143 of 300; county courthouses, Ohio.

An Interrupted Bridal Tour – The Conneautville Courier (Conneautville, Pennsylvania) · 3 Aug 1904, Wed · Page 1

Dr. Henry Arrest – The Conneautville Courier (Conneautville, Pennsylvania) · 10 Aug 1904, Wed · Page 1

10 Annul Marriage – The Record-Argus (Greenville, Pennsylvania) · 15 Apr 1905, Sat · Page 4

Debate Rises Over Rundown McClure House – The Meadville Tribune Dec 5, 2005

Three Hotels Burned – The Daily Morning Journal and Courier, 5 Dec 1906

Sudden Death At Expo – The Record-Argus (Greenville, Pennsylvania) · 3 Jun 1907, Mon · Page 2

Dr. Van Horn Obituary – The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) · 3 Jun 1907, Mon · Page 4

Death From A Fall  –  The Conneautville Courier (Conneautville, Pennsylvania) · 5 Jun 1907, Wed · Page 1

Exposition Park Fire Swept – The Conneautville Courier (Conneautville, Pennsylvania) · 2 Dec 1908, Wed · Page 1

Saw Tub of Ale at Sheriff’s Jamboree – The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) · 12 Jul 1928, Thu · Page 1

Two Burned To Death In Resort Lake Fire – The Charleston Daily Mail (Charleston, West Virginia) · 1 May 1936, Fri · Page 55

Pittsburghers Die in Flames At Lake Park – The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) · 1 May 1936, Fri · Page 1

Two Men Die In Fire Destroying Cottage – The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) · 1 May 1936, Fri · Page 3

Two Men Die As Fire Sweeps Home –  The Gazette and Daily (York, Pennsylvania) · 2 May 1936, Sat · Page 1

Conneaut Lake Hotel Looted of $4,000 – The News-Herald (Franklin, Pennsylvania) · 15 Jul 1936, Wed · Page 2

Zedoc Grey Death Notice – The Conneautville Courier (Conneautville, Pennsylvania) · 12 Sep 1936, Thu · Page 6.jpg

Hotel Conneaut Partly Gutted By Blaze Today – The Record-Argus (Greenville, Pennsylvania) · 28 Apr 1943, Wed · Page 1

Conneaut Lake Hotel Damage $150,000 – The Gazette and Daily (York, Pennsylvania) · 29 Apr 1943, Thu · Page 25