Hannes Tiedemann built the mansion in 1865; there are over 30 rooms in the house. He soon moved into the mansion with his wife Luise, but it was not a very happy home and by 1881 it had become tragic.

Emma their daughter died from diabetes at the age of 15, in those days there was no cure, not long after this his elderly mother Wiebeka died, and by time the next 3 years had passed they had buried three children one was just 11 days old. To try and take his wife’s mind off what had happened he made many additions to the house including secret doors and passageways, gables and turrets and also a large ballroom. In March 1895 Luise died from what was said to be liver trouble at the age of 57. Rumours were spreading about all the untimely deaths in the household especially when a few years later Hannes remarried. Also at this point he sold Franklin House to Mullhauser a brewing family. By 1908 Tiedeman’s entire family had died and there was no one left to inherit his wealth or comfort him as he grew older, later that same year he passed away whilst out walking in the park, it is thought from a stroke.
 
Tiedemans death did not end all the talk about him, his home or family, there were tales of different sexual encounter, affairs and even murder. People thought he was responsible for the death of a niece and a young women possibly his mistress.

In 1913 the house was sold to the German Socialist Party, it was rumoured that the people were really Nazi spies and that 23 members were gunned down in one of the secret rooms,they owned the house for fifty five years and during that time it spent a lot of time unoccupied. It is believed that they rented out a small portion of the house out, as a nurse recalled tending to an elderly patient there, also that during the night she would be terrified as she heard the sound of crying children.

In 1968 James Romano , his wife and 6 children moved in by 1974 they had enough and moved out due to the fact of all the strange things happening in the house, they would hear music and voices and their children would say they had got ‘new friends’. A priest refused to carry out as exorcism he told them it contained evil spirits and they should leave. Over the following years it has different owners none staying for very long. The Romano’s sold it to Sam Muscatello hiss interest in the house led him to try and find the secret rooms and passages, it was whilst he was doing this he discovered a skeleton, after this finding he became ill and lost a lot of weight in a very short time, he tried to open the house as a tourist attraction but it was not very successful, he sold the house to a doctor who in turn sold it to Cleveland Police Chief Richard Hongisto and his wife they only stayed a year and quickly sold it to George Mirceta who was unaware of its reputation, he refused to believe it was haunted even though it had witnessed some strange things. In 1984 it was sold on again to, Michael de Vinco and even though he spent vast amount of money trying to restore it, he put it back on the market in 1994, it was sold in 1999 this owner was unsure if it was haunted or just had the sense of being so because of its age, regardless he sold the property to a land developer in 2003, who plans to open it as a private club after fully restoring it.

This is said to a very haunted house and that many ghosts roam here including a women in black who looks out of the small tower room window, the cries of children are heard a lot, and the electric circuit sometimes behaves erratically.