Overholser Mansion Ghost: Anna’s House in Oklahoma City

Reviewed by Josh N · Updated September 1, 2026 · How we verify

Talk of an Overholser Mansion ghost in Oklahoma City comes down to a single, persistent claim: that the woman who helped build the house never left it. According to The Oklahoman, local ghost stories hold that the spirit of Anna Ione Murphy Overholser haunts the Heritage Hills mansion she shared with her husband. That is the extent of what the record supports, and it is worth saying so plainly before anyone drives to Oklahoma expecting a catalog of cold spots and slamming doors.

What the house does offer, in abundance, is authenticity. Built in 1903 and restored in 2015, it is open for tours, and almost everything a visitor sees is original to the family who lived there for more than fifty years.

Henry Overholser Built a Mansion in a Field

Henry Overholser, called by many the “father of Oklahoma City,” bought the land in 1901 specifically to build a residence. When the house went up, it stood away from the city center and was surrounded by farmland. It is generally considered Oklahoma City’s first mansion, which makes it a curious artifact: a grand chateau raised in expectation of a city that had not yet arrived around it.

Overholser died in 1915. His wife Anna, a socialite, remained in the house. Their daughter, Henry Ione Overholser, born in 1905, married David Perry in 1926 and lived in the mansion with her mother until Anna’s death in 1940. Ownership had already been transferred to Henry Ione in 1937. When Henry Ione died in 1959, the property passed to David Perry, who sold the mansion and its furnishings to the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and Historical Preservation Inc.

A $38,000 Chateau by a London-Trained Architect

The 11,700 square foot house was designed in the Chateauesque style by W. S. Matthews, an architect trained in London, at a cost of $38,000. It is clad in buff-colored brick and red sandstone, with a porte-cochere on the south facade and a three-story octagonal tower at the southeast corner, capped by an eight-sided pyramidal roof and a finial.

Inside, the interior walls and ceilings were hand-painted and are lit by fixtures imported from Italy. The original French stained-glass windows survive, the floors are the original English carpets, and Belgian woodwork frames the rooms. Two large stained-glass windows sit at the top of the main staircase, each showing a Greek woman playing an instrument, one a violin and one a tambourine. The third floor, reachable only by the back staircase, opens into a ballroom with nooks tucked under the dormers and a spacious maid’s room beyond.

A 4,000 square foot carriage house stands to the west, built at the same time and in the same brick. Its first floor originally held stables and later became a garage; the hayloft above became servants’ quarters. Today it holds offices and event space.

Separating the Anna Overholser Story From the Record

There is no documented death in the mansion tied to violence, no fire, no institutional tragedy of the kind that usually anchors a haunting. The ghost story is local folklore, reported as such, and it attaches itself to the most obvious candidate: the mistress of a house who lived there until 1940 while her daughter’s family grew up around her. Readers should treat it as a story the city tells about the building, not as an established event.

Touring the House in Heritage Hills

The mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and was later donated to the State of Oklahoma to become a museum. The Oklahoma Historical Society managed it from 1982 to 2003, and Preservation Oklahoma has run the site since. Access is by tour rather than open wandering, so check current schedules before making the trip. The two main entrances face N Hudson Avenue on the east and NW 15th Street on the south.

Address: N Hudson Avenue at NW 15th Street, Heritage Hills, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

See Overholser Mansion for Yourself

Sources

• Written historical and descriptive data (Loc (official))
• The Overholser Mansion remains a testament to Henry Overholser, one of Oklahoma City's early fathers
• NPGallery Asset Detail (National Park Service)
• Wikipedia: Overholser Mansion

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