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Reported phenomena — as catalogued
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1818 Wayside Inn Between Bangor and Ellsworth
2517 Main Rd, Dedham, ME 04429
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Room rates vary by season. Free breakfast, parking, and Wi-Fi included. Restaurant and Rian's Pub priced separately.
Access
Limited Access
Paved walkways, multi-floor inn with stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1818 · National Register of Historic Places · Stagecoach Wayside Inn · Federal Architecture
The original Lucerne Inn structure dates to 1818, built as a wayside inn on the stagecoach route between Bangor and Ellsworth in what was then the township of Dedham, Hancock County. The location commanded a view of Phillips Lake and the surrounding hills, which would later be marketed as the Lucerne-in-Maine resort area.
The inn served as a regular stop for travelers, mail, and supplies through the nineteenth century. Former President Ulysses S. Grant visited during the post-Civil War period.
The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The current operation includes 31 sleeping rooms, the Lucerne Inn Restaurant, and Rian's Pub. The main house retains its Federal-period clapboard exterior; later additions accommodate modern guest rooms and event space.
The inn operates year-round and is one of the oldest continuously operating lodging businesses in interior Maine.
Sources
The Lucerne Inn's paranormal reputation rests on a single tragic narrative repeated across regional press. According to the account, sometime in the nineteenth century a woman occupied Room 8 with a man not her husband. The husband followed, discovered them, and killed both. He then moved to Room 5 and ended his own life. The story is told without specific dates or names in public sources, and we have not located primary documentation of the event.
What is documented are guest reports. Room 8 is the most-cited location, where one guest reported the door opening and shutting repeatedly despite being closed and verified each time. Lobby reports describe the inn's piano playing without anyone present at the keyboard. Televisions in guest rooms are reported to switch on and off independently.
Guests have also described shadows passing through the upper hallway and the muffled conversation of a woman and child outside guest-room doors when no one is in the corridor. An early circulated account described the feeling of someone always watching, which matches these hallway accounts.
The inn does not market the paranormal reputation aggressively, but regional tourism press treats it as established folklore. Visitors hoping for activity often request Room 8 by name.
Notable Entities
Book one of the inn's 31 guest rooms. Room 8 is the most-reported room, where guests have described the door opening and closing on its own. Folklore links the activity to a nineteenth-century murder-suicide attributed to the room.
Fine dining in the inn's main dining room, with views of Phillips Lake. Rian's Pub serves casual fare on a seasonal outdoor deck.
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