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A Haunted Retreat

SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0001.pdf

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Title

A Haunted Retreat

Description

Cache Magazine/Herald Journal newspaper article by Diane Browning (1986) talks about "A Haunted Retreat," otherwise known as St. Anne's Retreat.
A Haunted Retreat
By Diane Browning
Correspondent

LOGAN CANYON-Maybe it is a legend. Maybe it isn’t. But some of the locals here in Cache Valley believe that St. Anne’s retreat in Logan Canyon is haunted.

The particular details vary, but a general theme repeats among the different versions-the area is frequented by the ghost of a nun.

In broad daylight, St. Anne’s retreat looks innocent enough. A carefully maintained set of cabins with their window covered with shutters, St. Anne’s grounds include rock-lined pathways and manicured lawns. It is the kind of place to seek out in order to “get away from it all” and to find some peace in the forested hillside.

In addition to the cabins, there is a main lodge on the property and a small swimming pool. Overall, there is nothing particularly ominous about the setting-in broad daylight.

But according to legend, St. Anne’s, which had been used in the past as a retreat for nuns, is haunted:

One version holds that one of the nuns had been raped and murdered at the retreat at the retreat. Another version holds that a nun had given birth to a child while at St. Anne’s and had drowned the baby in the swimming pool.

Regardless of which happened-if either ever actually did-the ghost of a nun was born.

According to Nancy Bodily of Logan, local high school students used to travel up to St. Anne’s at night “mainly just to scare each other.”

Bodily never saw the ghost. But she said legend has it that a nun comes out of the woods accompanied by two white Doberman pinschers with red eyes.

“If you see the nun,” Bodily says, “and if you’re a first-born son, it means you are going to die.”

The nun has been said to appear along the road going through Logan Canyon. And the danger of seeing her there is just as great for first-born sons as of seeing her at St. Anne’s, Bodily says.

“If you’re coming down the canyon,” Bodily says, “she’ll appear out of nowhere.”

The lodge at St. Anne’s also is haunted. According to the legend, a person who tries to spend a night in the lodge will be “bodily disturbed.” No further details were provided.

“It’s just one of t hose things you talk about when you’re a teenager,” Bodily says about the St. Anne’s ghost. “I would imagine that the legend still lives on.”

A note to the adventuresome: St. Anne’s is located on private property and is patrolled regularly by a night watchman.

Source

Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32

Rights

Reproduction for publication, exhibition, web display or commercial use is only permissible with the consent of the USU Libraries Special Collections and Archives, phone (435) 797-2663.

Relation

Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat

Language

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http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p16944coll20/id/10
SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0001.pdf

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

A Haunted Retreat
By Diane Browning
Correspondent

LOGAN CANYON—Maybe it is a legend. Maybe it isn’t. But some of the locals here in Cache Valley believe that St. Anne’s retreat in Logan Canyon is haunted.

The particular details vary, but a general theme repeats among the different versions—the area is frequented by the ghost of a nun.

In broad daylight, St. Anne’s retreat looks innocent enough. A carefully maintained set of cabins with their window covered with shutters, St. Anne’s grounds include rock-lined pathways and manicured lawns. It is the kind of place to seek out in order to “get away from it all” and to find some peace in the forested hillside.

In addition to the cabins, there is a main lodge on the property and a small swimming pool. Overall, there is nothing particularly ominous about the setting—in broad daylight.

But according to legend, St. Anne’s, which had been used in the past as a retreat for nuns, is haunted:

One version holds that one of the nuns had been raped and murdered at the retreat at the retreat. Another version holds that a nun had given birth to a child while at St. Anne’s and had drowned the baby in the swimming pool.

Regardless of which happened—if either ever actually did—the ghost of a nun was born.

According to Nancy Bodily of Logan, local high school students used to travel up to St. Anne’s at night “mainly just to scare each other.”

Bodily never saw the ghost. But she said legend has it that a nun comes out of the woods accompanied by two white Doberman pinschers with red eyes.

“If you see the nun,” Bodily says, “and if you’re a first-born son, it means you are going to die.”

The nun has been said to appear along the road going through Logan Canyon. And the danger of seeing her there is just as great for first-born sons as of seeing her at St. Anne’s, Bodily says.

“If you’re coming down the canyon,” Bodily says, “she’ll appear out of nowhere.”

The lodge at St. Anne’s also is haunted. According to the legend, a person who tries to spend a night in the lodge will be “bodily disturbed.” No further details were provided.

“It’s just one of t hose things you talk about when you’re a teenager,” Bodily says about the St. Anne’s ghost. “I would imagine that the legend still lives on.”

A note to the adventuresome: St. Anne’s is located on private property and is patrolled regularly by a night watchman.

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