Traverse City's founding lumberman built this 40-room Queen Anne mansion in 1891; it became a funeral home in 1976 and locals say Hannah never actually left.
305 6th St, Traverse City, MI 49684
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Ghost tour tickets required for evening access. Exterior and grounds viewable without charge.
Access
Limited Access
Victorian-era mansion with multiple levels; accessibility may be limited in some areas.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1891 · Perry Hannah Estate · Traverse City Founding Figure · Queen Anne Architecture · Historic Funeral Home
Perry Hannah arrived in the Grand Traverse region in the 1850s as a partner in the Hannah, Lay and Company lumber operation, which became the economic engine of early Traverse City. By the 1880s he was the most prominent man in the city — controlling timber, land, commerce, and civic development. He donated the 40 acres that became Oakwood Cemetery and helped organize multiple early institutions.
Hannah commissioned the 40-room Queen Anne mansion at 305 Sixth Street in 1891 when he was 67 years old. The home was built to an unusually large scale for northern Michigan at the time, featuring elaborate woodwork, multiple parlors, and a formal facade appropriate to Hannah's status. He lived in the house until his death on May 4, 1904, at age 79.
The property remained a private residence for decades after Hannah's death before Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home acquired and converted it in 1976. Notably, the conversion preserved most of the mansion's original interior features — the firm's own website describes the structure's original details as central to its identity. The result is a Victorian-era mansion operating simultaneously as a working funeral home and a historic landmark.
The combination of Hannah's long personal connection to the home, his death within it, and the building's subsequent function as a funeral home has made 305 Sixth Street one of the more plausible haunting claims in Traverse City — the building has genuine historical weight and an unbroken chain of significant human events.
Sources
Paranormal historian Desirae Dine, founder of Haunted Traverse Tours, places the Perry Hannah House among Traverse City's most credibly haunted locations. The tradition is straightforward: Hannah built the home, lived in it for over a decade, and died there — and the building's function as a funeral home in the decades since has not diminished the sense of occupancy that visitors report.
The Historical Ghost Lantern Tour has featured the Perry Hannah House as a stop for years. Specific claims include cold spots in rooms that Hannah used regularly, unexplained sounds in the upper floors after business hours, and a persistent feeling of being observed in the main parlor areas. The ghost tour accounts name Hannah specifically rather than an anonymous presence, which is consistent with the building's documented human history.
Northern Michigan journalism outlet MyNorth has covered the Perry Hannah ghost tradition as part of its reporting on Traverse City's haunted heritage, treating the story as locally credible rather than marginal. The combination of an identifiable historical figure, a well-documented personal connection to the building, and a continuous presence of the building in community life gives this particular legend more structural support than many.
Notable Entities
The Historical Ghost Lantern Tour includes the Perry Hannah House as a featured stop, citing persistent traditions about Perry Hannah's presence remaining in the home he built and occupied until his death in 1904. Tours typically run seasonally in fall.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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