Rider's Inn

Suzanne Rider, third wife of inn founder Joseph, died under suspicious circumstances (an alleged stair fall that the building's tight spiral staircase makes physically implausible) and now opens the front door for late-arriving guests at this 1812 stagecoach stop in Painesville. Room 11, called "Suzanne's Room," is the most active spot, with wall-tapping and the scent of roses. The inn also served as an Underground Railroad station where an estimated 3,000 freedom seekers passed through a dry well entrance to a basement hiding spot.

Suzanne Rider died weeks after her wedding. The official story is that she fell down the stairs, but anyone who has seen that staircase has doubts. It's a tight, cramped, circular thing that leads to the kitchen. Even a small woman (and Suzanne was small by all accounts) would get wedged against the walls after two or three steps. The more likely theory, according to locals and at least one investigator who has studied the building: her husband broke her neck and staged the fall.

That was sometime in the early 1800s. Suzanne was Joseph Rider's third wife. She'd provided the financial backing for the inn he opened on June 16, 1812, just as the War of 1812 was starting. The building sits at 792 Mentor Avenue in Painesville, about 30 miles east of Cleveland, and it was built as a stagecoach stop on the Buffalo-to-Cleveland route. Joseph wanted a place where soldiers could drink. He got one.

The inn stayed in the Rider family until 1902. During those ninety years, it served as an Underground Railroad station (an estimated 3,000 freedom seekers passed through, accessing a basement hiding spot via a ladder in a dry well behind the building), a retreat for returning Civil War soldiers, and eventually a Prohibition-era speakeasy in a room adjacent to the current dining room. One freedom seeker, known only as Mr. Johnson, reportedly settled in the area after gaining Canadian citizenship, though specific details of his later life remain unverified. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Suzanne is the ghost everyone comes for. Room 11 is called "Suzanne's Room," and it's considered the most active spot in the inn. Guests report tapping on the walls and the scent of roses with no flowers anywhere nearby. But her most famous habit is answering the front door. Multiple witnesses over the decades have described arriving late at night to find the door already open, with a woman in a nightgown standing there as if she'd been expecting them.

In the 1980s, local police responded to the inn and found the front door standing open with a fire burning in the basement. The fire was caught early enough to save the building. Locals credit Suzanne with opening the door. A similar incident happened around 1995 or 1996, when a neighbor spotted the front door wide open at about 1 a.m. and called police. No break-in, no explanation.

The theory that Suzanne opens doors selectively (and for protective reasons) has stuck. She seems to pick specific doors at specific times. Nobody has worked out the pattern.

She's not alone in the building. A soldier in what guests describe as either Revolutionary or Civil War-era clothing stands near the windows and waves at people passing by. Children have been heard laughing and running through the upstairs hallways when no children are booked. A music box in the parlor has started playing on its own during investigations, which is a neat trick for a device that requires being physically wound.

During renovations, workers discovered a beer cellar under the old tavern section (the left wing of the building, which is the original rough tavern structure). They also found artifacts in the attic: a seven-foot mattress, presidential materials, and a top hat. Abraham Lincoln traveled through Painesville, and the discovery prompted local speculation, though nobody has confirmed the connection.

The Crue of Darkness, a team of female paranormal investigators from the northeast, conducted an investigation with about a dozen participants. They used dowsing rods, EVP recorders, and video cameras. A medium on the team reported sensing at least one child in the building. EVP recordings captured voices, though the specific content hasn't been widely published.

Elaine Crane bought the inn in 1989 and owned it for decades. The property has changed hands recently. As of 2025, a hospitality veteran named Leonard William took over the inn and plans to reopen it as Pub 1812. The ghosts, presumably, were not consulted on the rebrand.