The Nunnery
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Narratives from legend-tripping at St. Anne's retreat ("Nunnery").
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THE NUNNERY
Tristin Merkley
Utah State University
Fife Folklore Archives
Logan, Utah
Mythology; Folklore
Mr Brad Gibbons
Fall 2014
Mountain Crest High School
Hyrum, Utah
• Table of Contents
Release Forms
Cover Essay
Autobiographical Sketch
List of Informants
Item No. Informant Title
1 Rylin Baby Crying
2 Rylin Halloween Guards
3 Dawsin Nunnery Location
4 Dawsin Nun Killing Herself
5 Strattin Dog Story
6 Ryan Selling It
7 Ryan Trespassing
8 Ryan Shotgun Wielding Guards
9 Ryan Built in the 20th Century
10 Ryan Hatch Family Donation • 11 Ryan Private Ownership
12 Ryan Movie Stars
13 Ryan Aborted Children
14 Ryan Fined
15 Ryan USU Students
16 Ryan Pool Cold Spot
17 Ryan Names
18 Ryan Offerings
19 Ryan Handcuffs
20 Ryan Guards Going to Jail
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• Tristin Merkley
Mr. Gibbons
Cover Essay
11/7/2014
Nunnery
I did my report on the Nunnery. I selected this topic because me and all of my friends
have gone up to the nunnery several times before. And it is a pretty popular place for lots of
teenagers to go, and takes their girls. Or dates up there with them to get a good scare and to
get their dates to cling tightly to them. That is probably the main reason a lot of the high
school students go up their. To scare the girls so bad that they need to hold on to them super
tight and the guys really like that so they keep on doing it over and over, and therefore it will
always remain a popular attraction for all of the kids to go up there. • The method that I used to collected all of my materials for this report is that I had a
bunch of my friends come over and then I selected one of them to tell me a few different
stories that they had heard about the Nunnery. After getting interviews from one of them I
would move down the list and interview the other ones about different stories, and myths or
legends that they had heard or read about on the internet or they were told by their friends.
And then they retold those stories to me while I recorded them on my phone in the Voice
Memos, then later I emailed all of those stories to myself. After doing that I downloaded them
on to my computer and moved them all into a new file that I created. Upon doing that I then
put the CD in my computer and went into the new folder and selected all of my recordings
then I moved them all over onto the CD and burned them on to there and added that to my
packet.
After finishing all of my interviews there was a conclusion that I came to. Listening to
all of the haunted stories I decided that the Nunnery is not haunted. Even though there is all of •
• those myths and legends about the place. But I feel that most of them are just myths. They
are just stories about the place that people have made up. Or they have just changed
dramatically over time and now they are corrupted and aren't even close to the stories that
they were originally. Thats why I think that the place isn't really haunted there was just a lot of
things that happened there and people think that it is this old creepy compound of buildings
with all of these murders and ghost stories that happened there but really it is just a bunch of
old buildings nestle in the trees across the river up on the mountainside about seven miles up
logan canyon. And it isn't haunted it is just an old retreat used by the Nuns that is now
abandoned and isn't in use anymore and that is what makes it so creepy because it is just old
and abandoned. And then people came up with all of the scary stories to go along with it.
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Mr. Gibbons
Tristin Merkley
11/6/2014
Autobiographical Sketch
My name is Tristin Merkley. I am seventeen years old, and I am a senior at Mountain Crest
High School. I was born in Mesa Arizona but grew up in snowflake, about three hours away
from there. I have a deep passion for my dirtbike and I love to go and tear it up on the track
doing huge jumps through the air. My passion for dirtbikes started early when I was little and
started riding a little fourwheeler, and when i moved up to my first dirtbike I totally fell in love,
and I have been doing it ever since. In my report about the Nunnery I interviewed lots of my
closest friends, and they told the stories that they personally had, happen to them. They
actually had all of these things happen, and sawall of these while they were at the Nunnery.
My friends like to go up there and experience a really good scare, and I am always right there
with them. The first time I went up there I had heard about the place but didn't really think
anything about it because I was seventeen and nothing could scare a senior on the wrestling
team, but that night at the Nunnery I got really scared. My friends had gone up lots of times
previously but i had never gone with them, my first time, my friends picked the "perfect" time
to go they said. Late at night on a friday evening after we all got off work and met up to hang
out. Once we arrived at our spooky destination we started up the path that went up to all of
the abandoned buildings. After walking up there in the dark with little crappy flashlights on our
phones, we were all on edge, walking really close to each other. We walked past a few
buildings then over to one of the bigger ones, opened the door, and we all went inside. Shortly
after entering the house one of my friends claimed to see a ghost walking on the upper level
of the building along the stair railing, thoroughly freaking all of us out. We all looked up there
but nobody saw anything, after that we were all really scared and went through another
building and that did it for us, we had to get out of there. We all ran down the trail back to the
car and took off. Not really knowing what happened but we could all feel ghosts at the
Nunnery .
• Ryl i n- Rylin Merkley is a sophomore at Mountain Crest. He is currently on the wrestling
team wrestling in the one hundred and fifty two weight class. He likes to hang out with his
woman and can always be caught texting her and he can never not text her because she
means the world to him.
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Dawsin- Dawsin Merkley is currently in the eighth grade and likes to mess with pvc pipe
and melt it into different objects axes and swords. He is also a pyromaniac and can always be
found wit matches ready to burn or melt something to bits.
Stratti n- Strattin Merkley is a very weird little guy. He is currently attending the 5th grade
at Mountainside Elementary. He likes to run around with no shirt on most of the time and is
always good for a great laugh because he is always doing dumb stuff and makes everybody
laugh at how dumb he is.
Ryan- Ryan Parkinson is currently graduated and he is now working at Thompson Electric
and he doesn't really do anything but work and save up money to go to Utah State University
and he wants to become a surgeon and do lots of surgeries on people and get lots of money
because doctors make bank.
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Item 1
Baby Crying
Rylin Merkley
Petersboro, Utah
November 8,2014
Context: Me and my little brother rylin were sitting at our kitchen counter and i asked him to
tell me a story that he had heard about the Nunnery and this is what he said.
Text: Ok tell me a story about the Nunnery. So supposedly there was a bunch of pregnant
nuns that went there and they got their babies and drowned them in the pool. So when you
walk by the pool you can hear babies crying.
Texture: Rylin said that this as just a story, or kind of a rumor that /'Ie had heard about the
Nunnery in the past.
We both thought about how true the story seemed and by the en~ we decided th~t it se~med
false and that the nuns wouldn't have killed their babies like that.
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Item 2
Halloween Guards
Rylin Merkley
Petersboro Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: Me and rjlin were again sitting in our kitchen when I asked him to tell me another
that he had heard or been told about the Nunnery and he told me the Halloween Guards
story.
Text: Another story 1 heard about the Nunnery, the owner of it, hired some guards and some
kids went up there on Halloween. And the guards captured them put them in the pool and
then they shot all of the execution style.
Texture: Rylin said that he heard this story from one of his friends and after thinking about the
truthfulness of the story we came to the conclusion that this story couldn't be true .
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Item 3
Nunnery Location
Dawsin Merkley
Petersboro Utah
November 8,2014
Context: I interviewed Dawsin and I asked him if he knew where the Nunnery was at and if
he did if he would describe it, or tell me where it was.
Text: So the Old Nunnery about 3 miles up Logan Canyon if you don't look for it you would
never see it, it's on the other side of the river. And it is se back into the mountains and fenced
in, there are houses and an old chapel and a swimming pool. The only thing noticeable as you
drive by is the huge gate that is locked and barbed wired. They have guards stationed up
there at all times. the Catholic church used to use it as a place to send nuns that were having
troubles mainly the ones that had gotten pregnant.
Texture: After pondering the story me and Dawsin drove up Logan Canyon and found the
Nunnery and after much more than 3 miles it was on the side of the road where he had
described it at.
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Item 4
Nun Killing Herself
Dawsin Merkley
Petersboro Utah
November 8,2014
Context: I asked Dawsin If he had anymore stories from, or about the Nunnery that he knew
about and that is what brings us to our next story.
Text: Tell me the Nun story. Ok so the story goes that a Nun tried to escape with her baby
late one night. She left her baby in the bushes, to lead the dogs away from her child When
she returned to the spot the baby was missing, so she returned to the main houses. And saw
her baby floating in the swimming pool dead. The Nun then killed herself in the pool, the
whole area was then sold years later to a private family. A group of kids got in there once
before security was beefed up and they swore the empty swimming pool was freezing even
• though it was a july night.
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Texture: Dawsin said that he had red this story out of some article that he had seen then read
off of the internet.
And after hearing the story I decided that this story could not have happened up at the
Nunnery .
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Item 5
Dog Story
Strattin Merkley
Petersboro Utah
November 8,2014
Context: I asked my little brother Strattin to tell me a story that he heard from our brother
Dawsin about the Nunnery, which was the Dog Story.
Text: Tell me the Dog story, ok there is a rumor that if you go up there at night and pull off of
the shoulder of the road, you can see the eyes of the dogs sniffing for the babies of the nuns
that were trying to keep their kids.
Texture: This story goes along with the previous story that dawsin told about the Nun killing
herself in the pool and then the dogs are still running around up there looking for the babies of
the Nuns.
• After he told this story we both decided that it couldn't be a true, or real story.
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Item 6
Selling it
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: I interviewed Ryan and told him to tell me what he knew about the nunnery and was
up with the place.
Text: Ok so tell me about the Nunnery, it's a bunch of cabins, also known as Saint Anne's
Retreat. the owner is basically trying to recover what he spent on the place it was listed for 2
million dollars in july of 2010 the price has gone down now to about 600,000.
Texture: after critically thinking about this interview we decided that this story was real. We
researched what it was listed for now. And we even took a drive up there and saw that there
was a for sale sign on the gate that went up to it.
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Item 7
Trespassing
Ryan Parkinson
Providence, Utah
November 8,2014
Context: So me and ryan were talking and I asked him what the grounds look like and stuff
like that from everybody trespassing, and that is what he told me about which takes us to his
story.
Text: So there is a lot of people trespass there, there is always crap on the ground like,
garbage and stuff, and most of the cabins are usually locked but there is a lot of people that
break in a lot up there.
Texture: We both thought about the story but after we went up there and walked all over the
grounds and then when we looked around but we didn't really see a bunch of trash or
anything like that but we did see that a lot of the cabins had been locked but had been broken
into so you could still enter them if you wanted to .
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Item 8
Shotgun Wielding Guards
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8,2014
Context: Me and Ryan were sitting in my kitchen doing an interview and I asked him if he had
heard about the halloween story with the guards and he said that he knew that story and
decided to tell it to me.
Text: Ok tell me the swimming pool story. Ok n like 1997, 38 kids trespassed and the guards
found them and then they herded them into the swimming pool, then the kids were tied up and
threatened by the guards until the police showed up, anyways a bunch of people got mad
about it and the resulting trial that followed made national news .
Texture: After reviewing and researching the story we decided that the story had to have
been fake because we couldn't find a reason why the guards would have reason to tie them
up and threaten them while they were in the swimming pool.
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Item 9
Built in the 20th century
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8,2014
Context: I asked Ryan if he knew the general area of the Nunnery and if he knew when it was
built or made. And a lot of general information about the place.
Text: Where is the Nunnery at. It's about 7 miles up Logan Canyon, Its privately owned and it
was built in the early twentieth century by the Hatch family. And the land is owned by the
forest service.
Texture: We researched on the internet for stories like this and we found almost all of this
general information on there. And this story is true and real and he was a really reliable
source for this.
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Item 10
Hatch Family Donation
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: I asked Ryan about how the Nunnery ended up with the Catholic Church and what
they ended up doing with it.
Text: So what happened to the Nunnery. The Hatch Family Donated it to the Catholic Church
in the nineteen fifties. And they re-named it St. Anne's Retreat. The Nuns from Sisters of the
Holy Cross, vacationed there until it was turned into a youth camp in the eighties.
Texture: After validating the truthfulness of the story and finding out much more research
about the place .
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Item 11
Private Ownership
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: He is telling me the story of what happened to the Nunnery after it was turned into a
kids youth camp.
Text: So what has happened to the Nunnery nowadays. So in the early nineties the Catholic
Church, turned the Nunnery into a private ownership. And that is how it has been ever since.
Texture: Ryan said that he heard this story from an online internet source that he had read
about.
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Item 12
Movie Stars
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: Ryan decided to tell me some history of the Nunnery and what it was used for
before the Nuns used it and it was turned into a summer camp. And that is what brings us to
this story.
Text: So what happened with the Nunnery before the hatch family donated it and it was used
by the catholic church. So before it was used by the Catholic Church it was used as a hotel for
lots of famous movie stars.
Texture: Ryan told me this story and he said that he had heard it from one of his friends that
he was hanging out with them and then they told him this story. and we both thought about it
for a while and decided that the story was pretty truth full.
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Item 13
Aborted Children
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: I asked Ryan why the Nunnery was still haunted or like what still haunts the
Nunnery and why everybody is scared of that place.
Text: So what still haunts the Nunnery like why does everybody think that the Nunnery is
haunted and everything like that. There was rumors in the nineteen fourties that the Nunnery
was an abortion clinic for unwed teenagers. And these aborted children still walk the grounds.
Texture: Ryan read this off of the Old interweb and he found that it is actually not a real storie
and it wasn't completely truth full.
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Item 14
Fined
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8,2014
Context: I was still continuing my interviews with Ryan and I asked him what would happen to
you, or any other person if they went up there and were caught by the police for trespassing.
And he told me this story.
Text: What happens when you walk around up at the Nunnery and get caught by the police.
Well so it's private property so if you trespass and get caught the cops will give you a citation,
and you will get in trouble and fined for it.
Texture: This is a really legit story because i have some friends that went up there and got
caught by the cops and were cited and fined for trespassing on private property and they got
in big trouble.
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Item 15
USU Students
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: I was asking Ryan if he had ever heard of any stories of people that had gone up to
the Nunnery and had been caught by the cops and got in trouble for trespassing and were
fined for it.
Text: So do you know of any stories where people have gotten fines and have been
trespassing up at the Nunnery. There was a bunch of USU students that were caught up there
at the Nunnery and they got ticket and fines and everything.
Texture: Ryan is currently going to USU and he said that he heard it from one of his friends
that goes to school with him and they told him the story, so when it comes to the validity of
this story it is one hundred percent truth full.
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Item 16
Pool Cold Spot
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: Ryan told me this story because he had a cousin of his drown in a pool and it really
has a personal connection with him so this next story he told because he could relate to it
very personally.
Text: Ok tell me about the cold spot in the pool, ok so there was a little boy who drowned
there in the pool, and the cold spot is because of the little boy, and he is haunting it. The cold
spot is about two or three feet in diameter.
Texture: This story is one hundred percent true I really believe deep deep down in my heart
that a little boy might have actually drowned in the pool and did die there and he is now
haunting it because the is a coldspot in the pool I felt it when we went up there .
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Item 17
Names
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: I asked my friend Ryan to tell me all of the different names of the Nunnery and so
that is what brings us to this next interview or story that I have recorded.
Text: Ok so tell me all of the different names of the Nunnery that you know of. Ok so the first
one is Hatch's Camp, the second one is Forest Hills, the third one is Pine Glen Cove, and the
fourth and final one is just the Nunnery.
Texture: Ryan stated that he had seen all of those names off of some website and he told
them to me. And we both concluded that this story is completely true.
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Item 18
Offerings
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8,2014
Context: Ryan told me this story after me asking him to tell me more about the Nunnery and
basically just a bunch more of background information and other things about the Nunnery.
Text: So when the family stopped using the Nunnery, who did they try and give it to first. Well
in the nineteen fifties they offered it to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Then
they offered it to Utah State University but neither one of them were interested in it, that is
when they handed it over to the Catholic Church.
Texture: This is a true and reliable story because they Hatch Family did try to give the
Nunnery to all of those different places before the Catholics took it from them.
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Item 19
Handcuffs
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: Well one day Ryan was looking on the internet and he was just reading a bunch of
stories about the nunnery and he came across this story and then after he had read it he
decided to tell it to me.
Text: Ok so what is one of the big myths or legends that surrounds the Nunnery. Well
according to the article one boy was butted by a shotgun and the little girls were molested and
they all had wristmarks from fake plastic handcuffs.
Texture: This story I think is a myth because the people couldn't just do, all of what they did
to those kids. They would have to go to jail for that.
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Item 20
Guards Going To Jail
Ryan Parkinson
Providence Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: This Interview goes along with the previous story but it tells the after the fact part.
Like how that other story ends and what happens after.
Text: So what happened to the kids after they were found. Well the cops showed up and they
replaced the plastic hand cuffs with real metal ones then they took them to the sheriffs office
and they were given tickets for trespassing. But then the victims parents found out what
happened and the charges were dropped and the guards went to jail for a few months for their
crimes against the kids.
Texture: As for the truthfulness of this story I believe that this one is a real, and a very true
and honest story that for the most part is pretty accurate.
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Urban Legends and Legends
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Personal narrative from an individual who went up to St. Anne's retreat in Logan Canyon.
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Urban Legends and Legends
Tanner Burt
Utah State University
Fife Folklore Archives
Logan, Utah
Mythology: Folklore
Mr. Brad Gibbons
Fall 2014
Mountain Crest High School, Hyrum UT
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Table of Contents
Release Forms
Cover Essay
Autobiographical Sketch
list of Informants
Item No. Informant Title
1 J. lilies Bad Wine
2 Skidmore Frozen Disney/Disney on Ice
3 T. lilies The Nunnery
4 T.lilles The Fart in the Dark • 5 H. Burt The Vanishing Hitchhiker
6 H. Burt The Choking Doberman
7 H.Burt The Hook
8 H. Burt What's That Smell
9 H. Burt The Tapeworm Diet
10 H. Burt Finger licking Good
11 H. Burt The Kentucky Fried Rat
12 H. Burt Concrete Convertible
13 J. Burt Bloody Mary
14 T. Burt The Pygmy
15 D. Burt The Hanging Lady
16 D. Burt Fu-Fu
17 Skidmore Old Greg
18 J. lilies Old Greg
19 Skidmore The Haunted Swings
20 Murillo Titus
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Cover Essay
Urban Legends and Legends
Urban legends are something that I have always thought were fascinating. I remember
back to when I was a young kid and I heard stories about alligators in the sewers pipes in pop
culture, and my older sister tried to explain to me the story of the nunnery, and other stuff that
was similar to that. I did not know it at the time, but they were all examples of urban legends
and legends and I found most of them to be hilarious and thought provoking stories. I don't
know what it is about urban legends and just legends in general, but they just draw my
attention and make me wonder as I am sure they do with most people, because some of them
really make you wonder if they are actually true. I remember back to the first couple days of
my Folklore class and an assignment that we did. On the assignment was a section for urban
legends, and I remember it made me become even more interested in them and ultimately
made me choose to research and do a project that focused on urban legends and legends.
According to Google an urban legend is a humorous or horrific story or a piece of
information circulated as though true, especially one purporting to involve someone vaguely
related or known to the teller. Urban legends are grounded in truth even if it is just a little bit
and they are typically heard about from a friend of a friend. Almost all the stories I heard
people tell me or that I read about myself I wanted to believe were true. That last statement
reminds me of something my dad told me once concerning Forrest Gump, it was something to
this effect "When I first saw Forrest Gump I wanted to believe that he was a real person, but
then your mother told me he was a fictional character and it ruined the whole thing for me."
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Even though they may not be true and are only "legend," I still enjoyed learning more about
them, and finding out what they were really all about.
Heather Whipps hit it on the head when she stated, "urban legends aren't easily
verifiable, by nature. Usually passed on by word of mouth or-more commonly today-in email
form, they often invoke the famous "it happened to friend of a friend" (or FOAF) clause that
makes finding the original source of the story virtually impossible. (Whipps). Not knowing if
the story is actually true or not is quite possibly one of the reasons that urban legends are so
captivating and intriguing to people. I know that personally for me just thinking about these
kinds of stories gives me kind of an eerie feeling. An example of this would be one of the
interviews that I conducted with my friend Jayden Skidmore. According to the story an angry
man ended up killing his wife, her secret lover, and five kids who the man though were his but
they actually weren't, he then proceeded to kill himself. This story may not be true, but it
definitely could have happened but no one really knows.
Another characteristic of urban legends and legends is that over time the stories
become larger than life. A made up example of this that I just thought of would be like
someone finding a fingernail in their soup at a restaurant, but as the story goes along and gets
retold that fingernail turns into a finger. They just evolve naturally overtime to become this
way. Tom Harris a writer for How Stuff Works had this to say about urban legends, "The most
remarkable thing about urban legends is that so many people believe them and pass them on."
(Harris). Because if you think about it most of these stories are passed along by word of mouth
so basically it is just like a giant game of telephone when you are dealing with these stories,
over time when different people tell the story they add their own creativity to the story and it
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wouldn't be too big of a leap to jump from finding a fingernail to finding a full-fledged finger in
the soup.
One thing that all legends have in common is a grain of truth. It could range from an
incredibly small detail, or the whole story could be almost entirely true. It just differs from
story to story. Another thing that makes them all sound possible is the story details that are
used. For example a speCific location, a speCific time, names, dates, you name it. If it speCifies
any part of the story it adds to the believability. Another common characteristic of these types
of legends is the inclusion of some type of moral. Elissa Michele Zachar put it very well when
she said, "put a little thought into the story and it becomes plain that some are social warnings,
morality principles, designed to keep us from doing things that society says are sinful and
therefore dangerous, and reminding us to conform to society's norms." (Zachar). An example
of this is the moral that "The Hook," (a very popular and well known urban legend) teaches
young teenagers. The moral of liThe Hook," tries to warn teens to avoid being alone in the
middle of nowhere and by yourself with a member of the opposite sex because who knows
there could be some crazy killers out there.
To be honest these types of stories really interest me and make me want to read more
of them. Sure some of the stories are a little farfetched, but half of the fun of urban legends is
speculating the truthfulness and possibility of them. Another reason I enjoy urban legends and
legends is that you can try to see how the stories may have become exaggerated and larger
than life over time. Most urban legends include a moral of some sort, so if you get no
enjoyment out of the story you still get a pretty good moral that can actually be pretty
beneficial and protect you from problems in real life.
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Works Cited
Harris, Tom. "How Urban Legends Work." How Stuff Works: Sources of Urban Legends. How
Stuff Works. May 16, 2001. Web. November 9, 2014.
Whipps, Heather. "Urban Legends: How They Start and Why They Persist." Live Science: Urban
Legends Debunked. Live Science Magazine. August 27, 2006. Web. November 9, 2014
Zachar, Elissa Michele. "Urban Legend: Modern Morality Tales." The Epoch Times: Urban
Legends. The Epoch Times. July 18, 2010. Web. November 9, 2014.
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Autobiographical Sketch
My name is Tanner Burt. I am seventeen years old and a senior at Mountain Crest High School in
Hyrum, Utah. I was born in logan at the hospital and have lived in neighboring River Heights my whole
life. I have two sisters and no brothers. My dad is an independent insurance agent and also in the Army
National Guard. My mom is also an insurance agent and works with my dad in their logan office, she
runs the office when my dad is off with the army. My family and I all love the outdoors and are all pretty
hardcore cyclists. My family is LOS and that's pretty cool. My family doesn't really spend much time
telling each other scary or funky stories, but when they do they tend to be pretty epic and awesome.
have always enjoyed listening to others tell me stories that are weird and unusual. It doesn't matter
who is telling the story, if it's a good enough story I will listen to anyone. I typically hear my favorite
types of stories when I go on campouts with my friends and family or when I am travelling with my
extended family and we are just trying to kill time on a long car ride or are really bored. The weird
stories I hear then get told to all of my friends whenever we hang out or go do something because I
almost always feel the need to tell them about the latest gross/interesting story that I've heard about.
And recently since my involvement in a Folklore class at school my friends and I have begun to go out
and visit some of the sites and places where some of the stories we have heard about happened.
Because of my recent fascination with legends and urban legends I've decided to collect stories from
some of my friends and family .
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List of Informants
J. Zilles- Jake Zilles is 18 years old and a high school senior at Mountain Crest, the same school that I go
to. He lives in Wellsville, Utah and has lived in Cache Valley his whole life and we have been best friends
since before first grade. Jake is interested in outdoor activities like hiking and golfing. He is interested in
weird and scary stories like I am. Items: 1, 18.
J. Skidmore- Jayden Skidmore is 18 years old and a high school senior at Mountain Crest, the same
school that I go to. He has lived in Wellsville his whole life. Jayden is on the high school cross country
team and really likes to run and stay active in the great outdoors. He took this class last year and
learned all about these kind of stories. Jayden loves weird legends. Items: 2,17,19.
T. Zilles- Tanner Zilles is 16 years old and is a high school junior at Mountain Crest, the same school that I
go to. He lives in Wellsville, Utah and he is brothers with Jake Zilles one of the other people that I
interviewed. Tanner loves anything and everything that has to do with the great outdoors. He is an avid
hunter and enjoys camping and hiking. Tanner is interested in urban legends and the weirder they are
the more he enjoys them. Items: 3, 4.
H. Burt- Heather Burt is my mother and is 47 years old. She lives in River Heights, but was born and
grew up in the Provo area. She is an insurance agent and works with my father who is also an insurance
agent in their logan City office. My mom loves to stay active and enjoys activities like running and
biking. Items: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
J. Burt- Jessica Burt is my older sister she is 20 years old. She lives in River Heights in my parent's house
and is a student at USU in her second year of school up there. She also works in my parent's insurance
office. My sister likes to ride road bikes and sing and likes to be actively moving or involved in
something whenever she can. Items: 13
T. Burt- Teressa Burt is my younger sister and is 12 years old. She is a student at Spring Creek Middle
School in Providence, Utah. Obviously my little sister also lives in River Heights, Utah with the rest of my
family. She enjoys riding horses and loves to hang out with her friends whenever she can. She likes to
hear and listen to stories that her friends tell her. Items: 14.
D. Burt- Darcy Burt is my father, he is 49 years old. My dad is an insurance agent and owns his own
business which is in logan City. He is also a member of the Army National Guard and has been for over
twenty years, he is a lieutenant colonel. He went to USU and majored in H.R. and Business, he
graduated in 1992. He lives in River Heights with the rest of my family. He likes to tell stories about
actual events that he has read about or experienced. Items: 15, 16.
A. Murillo- Alex Murillo is 18 years old and is a high school senior at Mountain Crest, the same school
that I go to. He is a member of the student government on the EXEC councilor something like that and
tells some pretty cool stories. Items: 20 .
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Item 1
Bad Wine
Jake Zilles
Wellsville, Utah
October 27,2014
Context: Jake and I were hanging out at his house with his other brother Tanner and our friend Jayden
who both let me interview them as well. We were all inside just hanging out and I asked them if they
knew any urban legends, so they thought about it for a while and then Jake told me this one. This is a
story that you could pretty much tell to anyone because it's a little bit gross and scary, but not to gross
and scary. It's just right.
Text: Ok so this is a story I heard and it's called bad wine. So there were these Algerian wine makers and
they would import the wine to Paris, a very wine consuming country, and so it the story goes that they
have a slow draining tank of wine that would drain into bottles that they would distribute to the city and
stuff, and but when they got to the bottom of the tank, and it was too late to recover the bottles at this
point. They found a dead a dead Algerian in the bottom of the tank with a knife in his back. And the
reason why it stopped pumping wine is because one of his boots had came off and it had clogged a
valve. And so that's what made them check inside. And so yeah they found a dead Algerian in the
bottom of a draining tank.
Texture: Jake told me that he had heard this story from a relative about a year ago when they were on a
vacation together. He told me that they were just telling each other stories and this one stood out to
him for some reason, but he didn't know why. He thought that it was a pretty cool story but doubted it
was true.
Neither of us believed it to be a true story, but then again neither of us really knows a whole lot about
the cutthroat world of wine making, and anything is possible. We both felt that someone would have
probably noticed the dead worker in the wine and notified someone. It would be incredibly unlikely that
a dead body would end up in a tank full of wine, how would he fit through the opening? It just doesn't
add up .
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Item 2
Frozen Disney/Disney on Ice
Jayden Skidmore
Wellsville, Utah
October 27,2014
Context: Jayden and I were at our friend Jakes house one day just hanging out with Jake and his brother
Tanner playing the Xbox and having a pretty awesome time. We went to gets some food from the
kitchen when I asked them all to tell me some urban legends or just legends that they had heard over
the years. Jayden and his family are huge fans of Disney so this was the perfect story for Jayden to tell
me.
Text: So this urban legend is a pretty popular story its title is frozen Disney. Uh the legend goes that urn
since Disney was a very urn a very smart human being and he had a lot of duh technological advances
and stuff. Urn that he had arranged himself to be frozen after he died instead of buried. Urn and that
way he's just waiting for the a, a reanimation pretty much and uh. Urn so yeah it pretty much got
started because uh he was just that kind of guy I guess and uh the Disney company kept his life pretty
secret and pretty personal and it you know they didn't arrange, nobody knew anything about his death
really because they kept that pretty secret and personal. So it's pretty easy to keep the legend going
and just became pretty big.
Texture: Jayden told me he heard this legend once when he was in Disneyland on vacation from one of
the workers while they were waiting in line to go on a ride. He told me that he didn't really believe it
was true, even though he really wanted it to be true.
This story definitely makes you wonder because not a lot was known about Walt Disney and maybe he
was weird enough to freeze himself for the future. I guess we will just have to wait and find out in the
future. If it was a true story and Walt Disney was revived in the future that would be pretty scary.
Jayden and I thought about it though and we didn't really think it was true. We hope that it is though
just because it would be strangely cool.
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Item 3
The Nunnery
Tanner Zilles
Wellsville, Utah
October 27,2014
Context: This is the second story that I got from Tanner Zilles on the same day. He told it to me while
we were hanging out at his house with his brother Jake and our other friend Jayden. We were just
sitting on a couch eating some snacks not really doing anything and he just asked if a story about the
nunnery up logan Canyon would work for my project. I didn't see any reason why it wouldn't work so I
let him tell me the story.
Text: The nunnery. Umm dude it is so cool. Um ok so there's that nunnery. Is that up logan Canyon?
Up logan Canyon, and the legend about that is, I heard this from my dad his buddy that's a cop used to
go and take up meat and they would pay him for it. So he's in there taking meat to them one day and he
would just they'd have him just go set it in the basement or whatever. Yeah and just like keep it going
man. But so when he went down in the basement one day and there was always this chest that was
locked but it was unlocked this time so he opened it and it had like a bunch of baby skulls in it and little
humans and apparently they killed babies because they'd like get pregnant or whatever and they
couldn't have babies so they'd just kill them. And that's the legend of the nunnery.
Texture: So like Tanner said in the interview he heard this story from his dad who heard it from one of
his buddies. So basically from the start I found this story hard to believe because it had been spread
from a friend of a friend to me. Tanner didn't really believe it either, he just thought that it made for a
good story which it does.
Tanner and I both know that the Catholic Church owned the property but we just couldn't picture nuns,
who are supposed to be nice good people killing poor innocent babies. It just kind of goes against
everything you kind of think and know about nuns. It definitely makes you wonder though and it also
makes you want to go see where it supposedly happened.
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Item 4
The Fart in the Dark
Tanner Zilles
Wellsville, Utah
October 27, 2014
Context: Tanner and I were just hanging out at his house with his brother Jake and our other friend
Jayden who both told stories as well. We were all inside gaming it up on the Xbox having a pretty great
time. I asked them if they had any stories and got this one from Tanner. It is definitely not the type of
story you would want to tell with girls around, however I find this story fitting because Tanner really
knows how to let them fly and it was dark. Also Tanner was not at all baked or high during the recording
he was just taking some creative liberty and being an idiot.
Text: Ummm so this is the story of a plain Jane girl in school who has never been out on a date, no
boyfriend. Yeah so she didn't have a boyfriend. So one day the captain of the football team asked her
to go to the big dance, you know like prom, and so she ran home overwhelmed. She had her hair done,
she had a new dress, nails manicured, and told her parents on how to act. She was like "be cool dad no
cleaning your shotgun." In the process of getting ready the chili she had for lunch starts to make itself
known getting all rumbley in her stomach. Near seven o'clock the time that he's going to be there the
gas was getting unbearable. She feels about to bust uh she uh you know she's going to burst dude she's
going to lay one out. But just before she can get relieved the door bell rang. So she let him in and
introduced him to her family, dad wasn't cleaning the shotgun super cool, no one was baked um but by
this time she can hardly talk and is breathy she had to fart like really bad she's like "hahaha I'm not
going to toot myself haha," so she begins plotting how she's going to get like rid of it before she blows it.
You know gonna blow gonna blow an 0 ring or something. So she planned that when he opens the door
to let her in she blows on his way around the car, rolls the window down, fans it out, and everything will
be fine. So she didn't blow her 0 ring, didn't want to hurt herself there. He opened the door for her
closes it and starts to walk around. She lets it out and it sounds like a howitzer, the car vibrates the
license falls off, she rolls the window down fans it out and is all cool and composed when he gets in. He
smiles and says "oh I would like you to meet Ruth and Bob who are sitting in the back seat."
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Texture: Tanner actually had heard this story from me about a month before the interview when I was
learning about urban legends in my folklore class and I shared it with him one day at school. He found it
to be pretty funny and thought that it would be a good one to tell me. It's definitely a good urban
legend and always makes me laugh a little bit.
We both realized that it's a pretty farfetched story and probably didn't actually happen, but it still makes
for a dang good story and who knows maybe it actually did happen to some poor girl who hasn't been
on a date since. I hope to someday go on a date with a girl that this happens to just because I think that would
be freaking hilarious.
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ItemS
The Vanishing Hitchhiker
Heather Burt
River Heights, Utah
November 7, 2014
Context: So one night when my mom got home from work I just kind of cornered her and got her to tell
me all of the urban legends or legends that she had ever heard from other people or read about online
or in books. After quite a bit of prodding I finally got her to tell me them and also got her to remember
or realize that some of the stories that she had heard about over the years were actually urban legends.
Basically my whole family was in and out of the room where we were doing the interviews so sometimes
during the recordings there is quite a bit of background noise.
Text: This is the story of the vanishing hitchhiker. It was told to me by my mom's mom, my grandma a
long time ago she's dead now. So a couple miles outside of Logan there is a busy road and it's
intersected by another busy road. It's a really dangerous intersection and there's talk of building a
pedestrian overpass over it. But however there's no plans, the plans only exist on paper so. Doctor Ball
was driving home from a country club dance late one Saturday when he slowed down at the intersection
and was surprised to see a beautiful young girl dressed in a beautiful ball gown. You know waving for
him to pull over he put on his brakes and motioned for her to get in the backseat and he asked her what
she was doing out here all alone at this time of night at that time of night. And she said oh it's too long
of a story to tell you, but please if you'll take me to 718 East 200 South in Logan I can tell you the whole
story. The doctor put the car in motion and he drove quickly to the address she had given him. When
he pulled up at the house it was all dark and he turned around and behind him in the seat there was
nobody there. "What the heck he said./I The girl was gone he went up and rang the doorbell and he
knocked on the door of the house that was all dark. He did that for about five minutes and finally
someone answered the door. This little gray haired man answered the door. And says "I can't tell you
what an amazing thing has happened a young girl gave me this address a little while, a while a, a little
ways away and I drove her here and./I "Yep I know," says the old man "this has happened several other
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Saturday evenings this past month. That young girl sir was my daughter and she was killed in an
automobile accident at that very intersection where you saw her almost two years ago."
Texture: My mother said that when her grandma told her this story it really freaked her out and she was
scared of that road for a while. But looking back on it now my mom just kind of laughs because she
realizes that there is no way that it could be a true story. Sure someone may have died there, but
there's no way that there is like a ghost haunting that stretch of road.
I asked my mom why her grandma told her this story and she wasn't sure, so I kind of suspect that she
may have told my mom this story to scare her about that intersection or just busy roads in general. I
don't believe that the story is true either I really think that it was intended to scare younger kids away
from streets.
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Item 6
The Choking Doberman
Heather Burt
River Heights, Utah
November 7, 2014
Context: So one night when my mom got home from work I just kind of cornered her and got her to tell
me all of the urban legends or legends that she had ever heard from other people or read about online
or in books. After quite a bit of prodding I finally got her to tell me them and also got her to remember
or realize that some of the stories that she had heard about over the years were actually urban legends.
This is the second story that I got her to tell me. Basically my whole family was in and out of the room
where we were doing the interviews so sometimes during the recordings there is quite a bit of
background noise.
Text: Heard a story about this woman in las Vegas. She came home from work and her Doberman was
gasping for breath laying on the ground. She put the dog in the car and ran to the vet and the vet said
that he was going to have to perform a tracheotomy and put tubes in his throat so he could breath. He
told her to go home and um he would call her and call her and let her know. So she gets home and the
phone is just ringing off the hook when she gets home. And she answers it and it's the vet and he's
telling her get out of the house go to the neighbors and call the police. So it seems that when the vet
did that operation on the dog he found um three fingers lodged in the dog's throat. Um and then when
the police came they found an intruder unconscious lying in the closet without his fingers.
Texture: My mom said that she heard this story from a friend of hers when they were going to school
together. My mom and her friend were just telling each other stories one day in class and this was one
of them. They both thought that it was a little bit of a scary/chilling story. My mom's friend heard it
from like a friend of a friend.
My mom and I wondered if this could have actually been a true story, because it sounds like something
that could totally happen. An attack dog doing his job bites ends up biting off the fingers of an intruder.
It could totally happen but nobody really knows if it did happen and we probably never will know if it
was a true story.
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Item 7
The Hook
Heather Burt
River Heights, Utah
November 7, 2014
Context: So one night when my mom got home from work I just kind of cornered her and got her to tell
me all of the urban legends or legends that she had ever heard from other people or read about online
or in books. After quite a bit of prodding I finally got her to tell me them and also got her to remember
or realize that some of the stories that she had heard about over the years were actually urban legends.
This is the third story that I got her to tell me. Basically my whole family was in and out of the room
where we were doing the interviews so sometimes during the recordings there is quite a bit of
background noise.
Text: I heard this story about a girl from Scipio and her boyfriend and they were out and they were
parked on a country road. And the girl was just nervous and she kept saying "oh I just feel nervous I'm
anxious." And unbeknownst to them there was a report about an escaped criminal in the area and he
was supposedly dangerous and had murdered some people. And they called him the hook because one
of his hands was missing and he wore a hook in place of it. Well the girl just kept saying that she was
nervous and wanted to go home and the boy he just got mad, turned on the car, stomped on the gas,
roared out of there. When they got to the girls house he got out and went around to the door and when
he got to her door there was a hook hanging on the door handle.
Texture: My mom told me that she heard this story from one of her brothers at a family reunion that we
went to a few years ago. My uncle told it to her when they were just sitting around the campfire. They
were both telling each other stories and having a good time. She doesn't remember why this one stuck
out to her, but this is the only one that she remembered the whole story to not just bits and pieces like
she did with the others.
My mom and I wondered if this could have been a true story, we didn't think about it too long before we
came up with the verdict that it was totally just made up and there was no way it was true. It definitely
would be a good story to tell to a couple to try and scare them to avoid old roads that no one drives
down. It would also be pretty cool to sneak up on some people who were parked on some road and
pretend to be the hook .
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Item 8
What's That Smell
Heather Burt
River Heights, Utah
November 7, 2014
Context: So one night when my mom got home from work I just kind of cornered her and got her to tell
me all of the urban legends or legends that she had ever heard from other people or read about online
or in books. After quite a bit of prodding I finally got her to tell me them and also got her to remember
or realize that some of the stories that she had heard about over the years were actually urban legends.
This is the fourth story that I got her to tell me. Basically my whole family was in and out of the room
where we were doing the interviews so sometimes during the recordings there is quite a bit of
background noise.
Text: I heard this story about this woman in California she had a really nice house and her husband was
cheating on her. Well she wanted to have the house, he was trying, he was, they're getting a divorce
and urn they're, they're ending up the house the people the people are, the husband and his girlfriend
our ending up with the house. So before the lady moves out she stuffs anchovies and shrimp and just
yucky fish in the curtain rods so that it smells up the house. So the guy and his new little urn bride new
little girlfriend they're living in the house and loving it and then the house starts to just smell, just to
wreak, and smell bad and they can't figure it out. So they had the carpets cleaned, they get it all cleaned
and they can't figure out where the smell is coming from so finally they end up selling the house, or
selling the house to the guys ex wife for way cheap and urn the funny, the best part is they end up taking
the curtain rods with them to the new house.
Texture: My mom didn't really remember where she heard this story from. She thought that maybe she
had read it online a few years ago or something like that. She wasn't sure if it was a true story but she
thought that it was really funny, and thought that if it was true that the woman who stuffed the rods
with fish was pretty clever.
We wondered if it could have been true and we thought that it could have happened but we just didn't
know for sure. We both thought that this story was pretty hilarious though and we knew that we
wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it either. If it did nothing else this story definitely gave me
a good idea for a nasty prank to try out sometime in the future.
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Item 9
The Tapeworm Diet
Heather Burt
River Heights, Utah
November 7,2014
Context: So one night when my mom got home from work I just kind of cornered her and got her to tell
me all of the urban legends or legends that she had ever heard from other people or read about online
or in books. After quite a bit of prodding I finally got her to tell me them and also got her to remember
or realize that some of the stories that she had heard about over the years were actually urban legends.
This is the fifth story that I got her to tell me. Basically my whole family was in and out of the room
where we were doing the interviews so sometimes during the recordings there is quite a bit of
background noise.
Text: So the story goes that there was this woman who was overweight and she tried to lose weight by
using all these different diet methods and she couldn't lose any weight not fast enough and. Somebody
told her that she should try this special diet from Europe. It was a pill you take this pill and the pill once
it got um with the liquid in her body with the water from her body it dissolved them around the pill.
• And inside the pill was a tapeworm that was revitalized. So she took that and it got lodged into her
intestines, and she was really excited because she stopped, started losing weight really fast. But she
kept losing losing losing weight, and before she know it she was dead.
Texture: This is a story that my mom said she heard at the gym she goes to. Some girl was talking to
her about weird diets and then she remembered this weird story that she had heard about. She said
that she had read about it online or something. They had a discussion about it and in the end decided
that you would have to be pretty crazy to try this diet and that it probably wouldn't work anyways.
My mom and I both thought about this story for a little while and found it pretty hard to believe in even
a little bit. It is hard to believe because it just doesn't seem like it could happen at all, no one would be
dumb enough to try and eat a tapeworm those things are bad news. Who would even be stupid enough
to try it? You would have to be insane I think, but then again there are some messed up people in the
world who will try anything ifthey think it will help them.
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Item 10
Finger Licking Good
Heather Burt
River Heights, Utah
November 7,2014
Context: So one night when my mom got home from work I just kind of cornered her and got her to tell
me all of the urban legends or legends that she had ever heard from other people or read about online
or in books. After quite a bit of prodding I finally got her to tell me them and also got her to remember
or realize that some of the stories that she had heard about over the years were actually urban legends.
This is the sixth story that I got her to tell me. Basically my whole family was in and out of the room
where we were doing the interviews so sometimes during the recordings there is quite a bit of
background noise.
Text: Ok there's this story about this woman who went to Wendy's and got some chili, because she
really liked there chili. She thought that it was really good. So she's in the drive through, and then she
leaves, and then she starts eating it. And she gets down to the bottom and there's this big chunk of
something. She thinks it's either a bean or hamburger or something. And she goes and she's looking at
it a little closer and she realizes Itoh my gosh this isn't, this isn't a bean this isn't a hamburger." There
was a fingernail on it. It was some body's finger that was inside her Wendy's chili. She pulls over to the
side of the road makes herself throw up and never eats at Wendy's again.
Texture: This is a story that my mom read on line a while ago on like the MSN homepage or something.
She thought that it was a little bit of a disturbing story, but at the same time found it to be slightly
funny. The story actually made her never want to eat at a fast food restaurant again because it kind of
grossed her out just to think about someone's finger showing up in her food.
We both speculated on the truthfulness of the story and found it kind of hard to believe.
We just didn't think that a finger would be able to end up in the chili without somebody noticing it and
we were pretty sure that someone would report that they had sliced their finger off into the chili if it
actually happened. It would just be really gross if actually happened and would probably have caused
some pretty big problems for Wendy's.
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Item 11
The Kentucky Fried Rat
Heather Burt
River Heights, Utah
November 7,2014
Context: So one night when my mom got home from work I just kind of cornered her and got her to tell
me all of the urban legends or legends that she had ever heard from other people or read about online
or in books. After quite a bit of prodding I finally got her to tell me them and also got her to remember
or realize that some of the stories that she had heard about over the years were actually urban legends.
This is the seventh story that I got her to tell me. Basically my whole family was in and out of the room
where we were doing the interviews so sometimes during the recordings there is quite a bit of
background noise.
Text: So there is this story about this old lady who really likes to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFC. So
one day she was eating along with what she had ordered, this original crispy chicken. She noticed, she
was looking at the piece of meat and she noticed that there were some teeth in the meat. So she kind
of skinned it off a little bit and she saw that she was eating a rat. Well the woman had a heart attack
and died and then her relatives sued Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Texture: My mom said that she read this in a magazine or a newspaper one day and it made her a little
bit queasy. She thought that it was a disgusting story and hoped that it was not actually true and didn't
even want to believe that it could have been true. She was really grossed out she said.
We had a little discussion about it and decided that to be safe we should probably never eat at fast food
restaurants again, specifically KFC. I thought about it and it probably wouldn't be too hard for a rat to
get into the chicken at a crappy KFC where they weren't very careful, and it would be pretty easy for it
to go unseen by the people working there. This story is pretty gross.
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Item 12
Concrete Convertible
Heather Burt
River Heights, Utah
November 7, 2014
Context: So one night when my mom got home from work I just kind of cornered her and got her to tell
me all of the urban legends or legends that she had ever heard from other people or read about online
or in books. After quite a bit of prodding I finally got her to tell me them and also got her to remember
or realize that some of the stories that she had heard about over the years were actually urban legends.
This is the eighth story that I got her to tell me. Basically my whole family was in and out of the room
where we were doing the interviews so sometimes during the recordings there is quite a bit of
background noise.
Text: So there's this story of this woman whose husband works for a cement company. She saves for a
long, years and years and and saves up enough money to buy him his favorite dream car which is a
mustang convertible. So the car is at their house with the with the owner of the car, and he and and the
wife are negotiating a price when the husband comes home in, driving the cement mixer. He sees the
flashy car and the wife talking to a strange man and he dumps the load of the cement inside the car.
Texture: My mom said that she read this story online a while back but she didn't remember where. She
laughed about the story because the husband was an idiot and just assumed that his wife was having an
affair and that the car belonged to the man who was in with his wife, when really it was about to be his.
She thought about it for a while and considered that it could have possibly happened.
Both of us speculated if this story could have been a true story, but kind of found it hard to believe. We
didn't think that the man would be able to destroy his favorite type of car, and also that his wife and the
previous owner would have probably been able to stop him. Unless his wife was really good at hiding
money the husband probably already knew about the car fund as well. This story is pretty humorous
and now if I ever see a car full of concrete in someone's driveway I will know what has happened.
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Item 13
Bloody Mary
Jessica Burt
River Heights, Utah
November 7,2014
Context: So I was interviewing my mom a whole bunch of times at the kitchen table and then my sister
walked in and said she had a legend that she could tell me. It was really funny because she told me the
story in just a few seconds because she was getting ready to go on a date and had to hurry and tell me
the story before she left. My whole family was in the room listening when my sister told the story.
Text: So this one time I heard that if you went in a bathroom and you spun around three times and said
Bloody Mary each time, she would appear to you and eat your soul.
Texture: So my sister quickly told me that she had heard this story while at a girls camp one year and
that she heard it while they were sitting around a campfire and that later some of them went and tried
it out. Unfortunately it didn't work and the story isn't true. My sister didn't believe it anyways.
This story is really old and there are a lot of different theories on where it started. No one really knows
and no one can really say that it is true because no one has died from it yet. I honestly don't believe it,
but it would be a little bit creepy to go and try it out in a dark, deserted, scary looking bathroom.
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Item 14
The Pygmy
Teressa Burt
River Heights, Utah
November 7,2014
Context: So on the same night that I got the story from my sister Jessica and all of the other stories from
my mom, my little sister Teressa also came up to the table where the interviews were taking place and
told me this bizarre story that she had heard from one of her friends one day at school. This story is
pretty weird and I found it a little strange that my little sister knew this weird gruesome story.
Text: Ok so there once there was once rumors about a pygmy that lived in Providence Canyon or Logan
Canyon and so, but everyone thought that they were just rumors. And one night a man and his
girlfriend go up into the canyon on a date and so they get out and they're in their tent and the man
forgets something in his car. So he goes and gets something from his car and then she hears in the tent a
bloodcurdling scream. So the man comes back and tells her to get out of the tent and go to the car. They
run to the car and they get in the car. They see something running after them and the guys opens the
door and is yelling out who is that, who is that. The pygmy runs after them. The man runs after them the
supposedly creature runs after them and while he's trying to close the door and the pygmy's arm gets
stuck in the door. The man drives off and while he's trying to get the pygmy off he opens the door and
tries to get it off. The pygmy jumps in the car and attacks the man pulling him out ofthe car. The woman
comes over into the driver's seat and starts driving away. The next day the police come up the canyon to
see what was going on they find a pool of blood and a severed head.
Texture: My sister told me that she had heard this story from her friend at school a few months earlier
on their way to a class after lunch or something. They both thought that it was a really gross story and
never wanted to go up Providence Canyon. My sister's friend had heard it from another friend who
swore it was true, but they're in like seventh grade and like to believe in everything.
Both of us don't believe this story and find it hard to believe that anyone could. It doesn't seem
possible, in fact it seems about as probable as Bigfoot or the
Loch Ness Monster. It makes for a pretty gruesome story though.
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Item 15
The Hanging Lady
Darcy Burt
River Heights, Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: So my dad and I were hanging out at home on Saturday and it was just after lunch and I was
taking a break from working on this assignment. I took the chance to ask him if he knew any good
stories or if he had heard any cool ones growing up. After I kind of explained to him what kind of a story
I was looking for he summarized this one and asked if it would work. I told him it would work so we
recorded it and here it is.
Text: So I know this place that is east of Scipio it's called Cal's its and old farm house out in some old
fields. There's nobody that's lived there for years and it's a haunted house. And there's a legend that
there is a lady hanging in there from a rope. And on Halloween night that it is haunted, so we went out
as a young kids and went out there and it truly was haunted, and we saw the lady hanging in the rafters
still from the rope on a Halloween eve.
Texture: My dad told me that growing up he heard about this story from one of his friends who lived in
Scipio at school one day or on a bus ride home. And they actually like my dad said in the interview went
out to this old farmhouse on Halloween and saw that the owners ofthe old building had set up a
skeleton in the rafters. He wasn't quite sure if it was a true story, he was never able to find out.
Both of us considered the possibility of this story. We definitely thought that it could have happened,
but we didn't believe that it had. It seems like in every community or area there are a few stories about
people committing suicide, this story reminded me of the story of the haunted swings in the Mt. Sterling
Area .
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Item 16
Fu-Fu
Darcy Burt
River Heights, Utah
November, 8 2014
Context: So this is the second story that I collected from my dad and he gave it to me immediately after
he gave me the first story. I had never heard any stories like this one from my dad, and I don't think my
mom had either so she was a little bit surprised to hear my dad tell this story. He claimed that he had
only heard the story and never went there but I don't know.
Text: I know another place that is just north of Scipio it's called Fu-Fu and there's a bunch of
cottonwood trees and it's a place where you can go out and where the young people go out and make
out and you jump in the ditch underneath the cottonwood trees and you kiss your first true love at Fu-
Fu in Scipio. It's an urban legend.
Texture: My dad said that he heard about this story from his friend who lived in Scipio, back when they
were in high school. They were on the bus home one day after school and my dad's friend was telling
him all about this cool place. They both wanted to go and see if it was a real place, but I was told that
they never went there instead they just heard stories about it .
Both of us wondered if it was a real place and we both thought that it probably was a real place, it's
really not that hard of a story to believe, because what else are a bunch of bored teenagers going to do
in a small farm community? Someday I hope to go and visit this legendary site and see if it's actually real
and find out what it's all about .
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Item 17
Old Greg
Jayden Skidmore
Mt. Sterling, Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: Jayden (who I had already interviewed and gotten a story from before) and I were hanging with
about ten other people at our friend Miranda's house in her hot tub on a Saturday night and I was really
in need of some stories so I asked everyone if they had any and only a few were willing to share. As
always I knew Jayden would be willing to help me out and he didn't let me down and gave me a couple
pretty sweet stories. He may have been inspired to tell me this story because we were in a hot tub but I
don't really know. There is a lot of background noise from the other people that were there and some
splashing from the hot tub on the recording.
Text: So there's this legend of, in, it happens in England on this lake and it's Black lake of Old Greg. And
on a full moon if you happen to be fishing there you better watch out. Because he will come and get
you and he'll take you to his lair and if you don't do what he wants he'll slaughter you.
Texture: Jayden told me that he heard about this story from our good friend Tanner Zilles, who had seen
some terrible video about Old Greg and had then, told Jayden all about it, because that's what he does.
Jayden and Tanner thought that it was super weird and slightly entertaining but they didn't believe in it
one bit because it was just too bizarre of a story.
Both of us just laughed when Jayden finished the story, because it was a weird story and it was a little
bit sketchy. We didn't think that it was at all probable that someone would be able to live in a lake and
pop up and snatch people to take back to his cave underwater, but we did think that it made for a pretty
dang good story.
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Item 18
Old Greg
Jake Zilles
Mt. Sterling, Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: Jake and I were both out at our friend Miranda's house one Saturday night and we were
hanging out with about ten other people including Jayden Skidmore and Alex Murillo who I also got
some stories from that night. So we were sitting in the hot tub and I asked people if they had any good
stories that they could share with me and this is the one that Jake gave me. He had heard Jayden give
his story about Old Greg and wanted to tell me his version of the story. We are sitting in a hot tub with
a bunch of other people so there is quite a bit of background noise and a lot of splashing.
Text: So there's this legend about this old man who's out on the lake fishing with his wife over in
England, this is Black Lake. He's Fishing on the lake with his wife, he caught a big fish and got yanked in
never came back up. Now the rumor is that if you go fishing on a full moon by yourself you catch a big
fish and you'll pull up Old Greg and then he'll drag you down to your lair and he'll kill you.
Texture: Jake said that he heard about this story from his little brother Tanner a few weeks ago after he
had seen or read about him online. Jake and Tanner both found the story of Old Greg to be really scary,
but at the same time somewhat humorous. They laughed at the story, but did not even consider it to be
a possibility. They both thought that this was an incredibly good story and bring it up every chance that
they get.
Both of us just laughed at this story and didn't think that there was any way that it could have been a
true story or actually happened. The story in no way seems probable or possible but it is a pretty
entertaining story. If I ever find myself on Black lake in England at night and there happens to be a full
moon out that night I'll know what to expect. I'll probably make sure that I am extra careful or just
paddle my boat back to shore as fast as I can if I see the slightest movement.
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Item 19
The Haunted Swings
Jayden Skidmore
Mt. Sterling, Utah
November, 8, 2014
Context: Jayden and I were hanging out at our friend Miranda's house with about ten other people one
Saturday night in the hot tub that's at her house. I had gone around and asked everyone if they had any
good stories being pretty annoying because I really needed them. Jayden came to my rescue and even
though he had already given me a story that night, he remembered that he had this story and asked if
he could tell it to me. I really liked that this story supposedly took place in Mt. Sterling not far from
where we were.
Text: Once upon a time there were the haunted swings. What happened and why they're haunted is
because, one day there was a man who built these swings for his children. So there were five children,
five swings. And one day this man comes home to his wife in you know with another man. So he's
furious and he finds out that none of the kids are his none of them. They're all this other mans. So he
kills the other guy he kills his wife and then he heads out to these swings and these poor children were
just swinging, all five of them and he kills every one of them and then he ties a rope to the center of the
swings and he hangs himself.
Texture: Jayden told me that he heard this story from his good friend Cody Zilles who just so happens to
be related to the people who own the property with the haunted swings on it and he will probably
someday inherit it and own it himself. Cody actually told Jayden this story when they were on a
campout at the haunted swings for a scout camp one night. Jayden and Cody don't believe the story,
but they didn't sleep very well that night.
Jayden and I wondered if there was any truth to this story and we found it really hard to believe. It
could have been possible, but it probably wasn't and Cody told Jayden that it was just a good story that
someone had made up. Even though it may just be a good scary story and isn't true, it makes you
wonder how the story was created or where it originated and if it may have actually been a true story in
another town or city.
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Item 20
Titus
Alex Murillo
Mt. Sterling, Utah
November 8, 2014
Context: So one Saturday night I was out at my friend Miranda's house with about ten other people. I
had gone there hoping to get a few stories from people and I ended up getting a few which was great.
One of the stories came from Alex Murillo, someone I don't really know and who I don't really talk to
but it was a really funny story I thought and I really liked it. So Alex told me the story while we were all
soaking in Miranda's hot tub, so throughout the whole recording there is quite a bit of background noise
and a little bit of splashing.
Text: So there they were two, two young high school boys, on a crawdad fishing trek in the ole Hyrum
Dam. And uh due to their inexperience they went out to shore, saw a line cast way out into the lake and
they wondered what this person could be trying to catch. So out of curiosity once again they pulled in
the line and a cage started to emerge from the water, and as they pulled it closer something started to
emerge from behind the cage. It was Titus the freshwater lobster of Hyrum Dam. Who, his, the claws
were as big as my fists and he looked so delicious and I tried to grab him but he swam away backwards
like crawdads do. So he's still out there.
Texture: Alex didn't really say, but this kind of sounded like a personal experience story to me. I don't
know if Alex actually saw a freshwater lobster named Titus in Hyrum Dam it would be pretty cool if he
did. This legend is one that I've never heard anything about so maybe it will be the next big legend for
the Cache Valley area. I'm sure that there are crawdads in Hyrum Dam so maybe one of them grew to
freakishly large size.
I don't think that this is actually a true story I find it hard to believe, but it makes for a really funny story
that makes people laugh and the way it was told just made it that much better. I think that the next
time I go out to Hyrum Dam I may have to go and see if I can verify this story by trying to catch Titus the
freshwater lobster of Hyrum dam .
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Ghost Stories
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Two accounts of legend-tripping at the "Nunnery" In Logan Canyon.
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Ghost Stories
Tyler Thurston
Utah State University
Fife Folklore Archives
Logan, Utah
Mythology: Folklore
Mr. Brad Gibbons
Mountain Crest High School
Fall 2013
• Table of Contents
Release Forms
Cover Essay
Autobiographical Sketch
List of Informants
Item No. Informant Title
1 Roholt Dream
2 Peacock Nunnery
3 Roholt Oujia Board
4 Linton Logan Canyon
5 Backus Nunnery
6 Backus Haunted House
7 Nielson Haunted Closet • 8 Nielson Face on the Wall
9 Gonion Weeping Widow
10 Gonion Haunted House
11 Janet Thurston Ghosts
12 Janet Thurston Ghosts
13 Janet Thurston Ghosts
14 Janet Thurston Ghosts
15 Jake Thurston Closet door
16 Brenda Nielsen School
17 Jake Thurston Attic
18 Janet Thurston Hitchhiker
19 Janet Thurston Hillside
20 Roholt Pasture
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.. ... .. .. ....... .. __ ... _ --- -
Cover Essay
Ghost stories have been and always will be a hot topic just
about anywhere you go. It seems like no matter who it is you talk
to either they know a guy, or they say that they themselves have
witnessed or heard something that would have to do with the
paranormal. If you believe the stories you hear or if you think that
the story you are being told is just a story that's been blown way
out of proportion just to try and get a cheap scare out of somebody
it is still fun to see the kind of reactions that you do out of people
when the story is over, so its always nice to have some good stories
tucked away just in case.
I love to hear ghost stories and I always have. I do what I can
to think that what they are telling me is 100% true because I think
it would be way cool if I knew for a fact that ghosts do exist,
however I cant do that so I just try to believe that they do. It is
interesting to hear other peoples views on what they think is
causing weird things in their house to happen because they are
certain that there is no such things as ghosts and that there is a
logical reason for everything, when really they are probably
freaking out in their house every time the wind blows, and they
just want to act like they don't believe in the paranormal.
The thing that would probably intrigue me the most about
ghosts and crazy things like that happening is because for the most
part I think I really do believe. One thing in particular really makes
me believe that the dead have a way of talking to you in different
ways. For example, during the end of summer in 2010 me and my
family were up at the sand dunes on our second day of our four day
dune trip riding four wheelers. We had all woken up and
everybody was eating breakfast. I wanted to hurry and do some
riding so I just had a glass of milk and went off by myself but
stuck around camp while my family ate. I ended up crashing my
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wheeler really bad and came very close to dying from all of my
injuries that consisted of: five vertebra in my back being broken,
shattering my spleen, lacerating my kidneys, bruising a lung, and
getting a concussion. After my full week of being in the ICU in
Rexburg I was able to go home. It was the second or third night
that I had been back when I had a dream. I was at a party of some
kind in this HUGE room that kind of seemed like a super fancy
hotel lobby or something, just a giant room. In the middle of the
room there was a giant circular center piece with a metal railing
going around it and in the middle there was like a water fountain,
and some trees. When across the room I see my aunt Tami and my
uncle Curtis, both of these members of my family were killed in a
car accident in 2008. I run around the center piece and give them a
big hug and the dream ended shortly after that. I thought it was a
pretty crazy dream but didn't say anything about it to anybody
basically because it was kind of a sad dream and didn't really want
to upset anybody. Well about a week after having that dream I was
in the bathroom one morning brushing my teeth and my mom
came in and started doing her hair. My mom begins talking to me
and she tells me that a few nights ago she had a dream. In this
dream I was at a party of some kind and she remembered a center
piece in the room with a fountain in the middle of it. She saw me
running around some kind of center piece to go and give my aunt
and uncle a big hug. As she finishes telling me this story I am
dumbfounded that she just vividly described my dream to me.
Keep in mind that I almost died and was still recovering, the
doctors had told me that 15 minutes later to the hospital and I
probably would have bled to death. The way we looked at it was
pretty much my aunt and uncle telling us that if I wasn't going to
make it through this ordeal that they would have been there on the
other side to take care of me.
Another story that I have I experienced with my friends. We
were all over at our buddies house when our friend told us that he
had a oujia board. I had always wondered about these things but
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had heard stories and I was a bit worried to try it out but curiosity
got the best of my and I was down to be playing it and see if it
worked like people said it did. There were ten of us there but only
eight were willing to play it because of all the hype that goes on
with them, two people didn't want to take the risk, I couldn't really
blame them. We sat down lit the candle and started asking it
questions, it immediately started working for us but were just
asking it things like "how many spirits are here with us" and things
like that. When we really started to get freaked out is when we
asked it where it was located and it would answer with "TV" and
you were the guy by the TV or "Couch" and you were on the
couch. The scariest part however was when we asked a spirit
where it was and it responded with "you" at that point we all
stopped and briefly freaked out, then put it away. Of course though
we had to pick it up again and keep asking stuff, nothing really
freaky happened around us at all but the answers were freaking us
out pretty good. The house that we were playing it in has got quite
a few weird things going on and our friend that lives there has told
us some weird things that go on in there and he kind of thinks that
we might have let something in with the board, so needless to say
we haven't played it for quite some time.
My method for collecting all of the material was pretty
simple. All I did was I asked around to see if anybody had a story
about something that had happened to them that they thought was
weird and that they didn't really have a logical explanation to.
Some of the stories that I had gathered, the person couldn't sign for
it because they were to young, or they were to far away so I just
had them tell the story to somebody else that I was friends with,
and then I just had that person tell me the story so that I could
record it. Then for some of the other stories I had, I already had
gotten a few stories from people and had them sign for it, then they
would call me with another story that they remembered they had
and then I would just record it over the phone because I didn't
need another signature, just their voice. Then when it came to
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organizing everything, all I did was just put everything in the order
that it happened. There is no sense in making all of the interviews
jump around everywhere because it would be harder for me to
keep track of everything and I am sure it would be a pain to grade,
plus for the most part I think I just followed the packet we were
given to go off of because I figured that you can't go wrong with
following the instructions.
The way that I look at ghost stories hasn't really changed
even after interviewing everybody and hearing their stories. Plus
all I can really do is take everybody's word for it that they are
telling the truth, however the story Kaden Roholt told about his
dad being visited by his deceased grandpa shortly after he had died
I truly believe to be true because that is not the first time I have
heard that story before. I assume that story is one that might have
actually changed the way I look at ghostly things a little bit
because that one I can actually relate a little bit to my experience
with my aunt and uncle. Now I kind of think that maybe dreams
could be some type of a (not trying to sound crazy here) but like a
window or something? I don't know, but apparently there is
something special about a dream and the dead because I know of
two accounts that involve a deceased family visiting them in their
dream for pretty crazy reasons. Kadens grandpa was there to say
goodbye and I think one of the reasons my aunt and uncle could
have been able to talk to me was because I was already so close to
death. Plus I forgot to mention this up top but I got really sick with
something called C-dif, that was the worst experience that I have
ever had. I would go through all of the pain of the four wheeler
accident again before I went through the C-dif illness again,
because that was the part out of the whole experience where I
literally felt like I was going to die. I lost 25 pounds in a matter of
about a week and was so dehydrated that I had to go to the hospital
and get two fulll.v. bags pumped into me because I couldn't keep
fluids. Around this time was when I had my dream.
•
•
•
At the beginning of getting all of the information from
friends and family and friends of friends, I was skeptical. To be
honest even when I have been thinking things through as I have
been writing this paper, I have been changing my perspective on
how I look at ghosts. I think that ghosts probably do exist, whether
you read through this and think that I am an idiot for thinking that I
really couldn't care less. I know what I have experienced, I have
heard my friends discuss things for the interviews and outside of
the interviews that I believe to be true and so therefore I think I
have good reason to believe .
•
•
•
Autobiographical Sketch
My name is Tyler Thurston and I am seventeen years old. I am a senior at Mountain Crest
High School and will be graduating in 2014. I was Born in Logan Utah and have lived in
the same area in Nibley for my entire life. I have one little brother and no sisters. My dad
works at Nucor steel and my mom works at Gossner Food's in the human resources
department. I also work at Gossner Food's and am on my way to my third year working
there. I am a maintenance worker and am outside doing stuff for the most part but am
indoors every now and again. I plan on working at Gossners until I am old enough to
work at Nucor steel along with my dad and my uncle, my grandpa also used to work there
until he retired about six years ago so I figured I should probably keep the tradition
going! I live for music. Metal music is something that my life revolves around, old and
new. I'm talking 80's hair metal like Motley Crue, Poison, Pantera, and so much more.
however I mainly listen to the newer type of metal that is super heavy and gets you
moving like crazy. I am currently in a band where I do guitar and vocals, and I love
everything about it. I also love to snowmobile, snowboard, go rock climbing, go to the
dunes, drag racing and pretty much anything else that involves friends and a good time.
The reason I would like to learn more about scary stories and things that involve ghosts is
because I just love getting scared, and I love "dark" "scary" things like movies, music,
and many many more. I have always been fascinated with things like that and I have
also always been confused on what to believe when it comes to ghosts. There are a bunch
of shows that are on TV that say they are all real, but I have no way of knowing if
anything is really happening in those shows because with special effects and all of the
other stuff that we have nowadays you can never tell if anything is true, and when it
comes to big budget movies that are being made that say "based on a true story" or "true
events" you never know how many of the things in the movie really did happen, or if
Hollywood just took a cool concept they heard about and decided to add a bunch of far
fetched stuff in there so that it is kind of based on the true story. Some friends of ours
actually were living in a house that they had claimed to be "haunted" and they actually
had some pretty believable stories, plus we had stayed the night there a few times and we
experienced a few things that were kind of "different" if you know what I mean. Me an
my friends have had some experiences of our own also. Curiosity got the best of us one
night when me and a bunch of my friends were all hanging out and we decided that we
would go get our hands on a Ouija board. I have always wondered about these things,
wondered if they really worked or not, always thought that maybe the people playing
them were just making them move and that everything was super fake, however I am a
believer now. That thing scared us pretty good and we have not been able to get any of
our other friends to touch play it with us again so I am thinking I might look further into
those things and learn more about them while I do more of my research on ghost stories
and encounters .
•
•
•
List of Informants
Roholt- Kaden Roholt is a Senior at Mountain Crest High school
and lives in Mount Sterling which is up in the Wellsville Area. He
has lived there for about 16 V2 years because he moved into that
house when he was little. He is 17 years old and plays in a band
with me called Tr3ason where he plays bass. He enjoys playing
music, snowboarding, and hanging out with friends. He thinks his
house just might be haunted from the weird things he sees and
hears from time to time. 1, 3, 20
Peacock- Justin Peacock is also a senior at Mountain Crest High,
and he lives in Nibley Utah and has for all of his life. He enjoys
riding four wheelers, and really just being outside doing something
fun with friends. He works at the McDonalds in Hyrum and is
currently thinking of quitting his job and finding a new place to
work. 2
Linton- Robert Linton is one of the owners of the Whysound
venue in Logan Utah and is also a musician himself. Robert writes
classical instrumental stuff on the acoustic guitar and actually
wrote and performed some of the music that was on the Oprah
Winfrey show back when it was popular. However just because he
is playing acoustic stuff he certainly likes himself some super
heavy metal bands! 4
Backus- Alec Backus lived in Arizona for a few years before
moving to Hyrum about four years ago and he plays in a band
called False Witness right now where he plays guitar and My band
has played quite a few shows with them and we attend just about
every metal show in Salt Lake with them anytime there is an
awesome show in town. 5, 6
Nielson- Mckae Nielson lives up in Mt Sterling and is 17 years
---------------------- ---._ ......... - . .. .
•
•
•
old. Mckae plays guitar really really well and does plays in the
same band as Mr. Alec Backus, and he does vocals as well. Hi
family is Mormon and attends church often. He currently works for
the Iron Gate grill catering and likes doing that and really enjoys
the fact that he gets to eat the left over's that people don't eat at the
parties he caters for. 7, 8
Gonion- Tristan Gonion lives in Hyrum Utah and is yet another
musician. He plays in the band with Mckae Nielson and Alec
Backus where he plays bass. Tristan loves to ride four wheelers
and go fast, plain and simple he likes to go fast. 9, 10
Janet Thurston- Janet Thurston is my madre and lived in
Pocatello for her whole life until she married my dad, and that is
when they moved into an apartment that they lived in for a few
years and then we moved into the house we live in now. She likes
to snowmobile, make crafts, and just do artsy type things, she is
currently employed at Gossner foods. 11, 12, 13,14, 15,17, 18, 19
Brenda Nielsen- Brenda lives in Hyrum and is retired from
work and is my grandma. Her and my grandpa care for my two
little cousins who are both 5 and 9. She used to teach at an
elementary school before I was born but now spends most of her
time keeping the young ones busy .
•
•
•
Tyler Thurston
August 11, 2013
Item 1
Deceased Dream
Context: Kaden informed me that his dad had a pretty crazy
experience once when he was 8 or 9 years old and he was kind
enough to share the story with me.
Text: Alrighty so my dad told me this and its one of my dads
personal experience ghost stories. When he was about 9 or 9 his
grandpa had passed away, and when he was asleep his grandpa
came to him and he said hey Shane, im dead and I wanted to talk to
you for a minute. He had a short conversation with him and they
said their goodbyes. As his grandpa was leaving his dream he woke
up to his dad waking him up and he said hey Shane I have bad
news. Shane said I already know. His dad said what do you mean?
Shane said grandpa visited me and said he was dead.
Texture: Kaden heard this from his dad and his dad said that it is
completely true and that he remembered everything with distinct
detail.
Both me and Kaden believe his dad was telling the truth and I
think this was one of the most interesting stories I gathered out of
the twenty other stories that I have to sort through.
Item 2
• The Nunnery (Get out)
Context: Justin has a brother in law that took a trip up to the
nunnery with his friends and this came up in conversation because
about 2 weeks ago me and my friends went to the nunnery so he
told me about Rex's experience.
Text: Alright my brother in law Rex was with a group of his
buddies up at the nunnery and it was him and ten other friends, one
of his buddies had a camera and they were in a little group walking
through the nunnery, and it was really quiet then they suddenly
heard a whispered "get out", so they all freaked out and ran out of
• there and on the video you hear get out then the rest is just the
sound of a swinging arm with a camera haha pretty creepy.
Texture: Justin heard the story from his brother in law Rex but I
am not entirely sure if I am sold on this story or not. We have been
up at the nunnery and there was nothing really going on the whole
hour and a half we were up there. Who knows, maybe it was
somebody up there with another group of friends and they thought
it would be funny to go and scare the other group of people that
was up there with them.
• Item 3
Oujia board
•
•
Context: Alrighty So me and two other friends had this Ouija
board and we were playing with it and the night went on with it
and we had been playing with it for about an hour and a half before
everyone left and my one friend who owned it was to afraid to take
it home with him so I just said I would keep it here at my house.
So
then later at night I'm in bed playing X box and I am just laying
down and while im playing I notice a serious pressure going on my
arm and when I look at my arm the pressure slowly relieved and it
felt like something was getting up and moving, so i was kinda
wigged out but I didn't think much about it. So I keep playing x
box then it was late enough to go to bed. I go to take my shirt off
and my tag was sticking out and then it felt like four fingers slid
down my neck and tucked my tag into my shirt so I flip around and
there was nothing there so I got a really eerie feeling. So I am
laying in bed and fall asleep but then wake up around 3:20
which is the witching hour between 3-4, and at the end of my bed I
• hear some really heavy breathing at the end of my bed so I look
•
•
around and don't see anything and the breathing kept happening as
I forced myself to go back to sleep.
Texture: Kaden told me this story right before we started playing
with the Ouija boards ourselves because he wanted us going in
there already freaking out even before anything started to happen.
I can buy this story because I have heard crazy stuff from people,
and on the internet about the Ouija boards so why would it be
crazy to think that it could happen to him?
Item: 4
• Ghost Dog
Context: I asked Robert if he could help me out with my
•
•
mythology project by telling me a story that he had maybe
experienced that was at all scary, and he happened to have this one.
Text:
Hey what's going on? My friends and I were chilling up logan
canyon one night we go up there often to hang out have food and
sit around a camp fire. It just so happens this one particular night it
was kind of strange we were all sitting around the campfire and a
sound came out of nowhere that I heard like a chain rattling. And at
first I though someone parked their car down on the road and was
walking their dog up the trail, maybe even a park ranger seeing
what was going on. So as I heard the noise I kind of just jumped up
expecting to see a dog under the table like I mentioned but
instantly after I heard chain rattles there was nothing there and it
was crazy that our natural reaction was to jump out of our seats to
look under the table, see what was there and it was right in our
vicinity of where we were and after we saw nothing we went and
searched the path because we were so focused on the sound we had
• heard and this was pretty legitimate and after looking around we
•
•
•
didn't find anything so it was very very strange.
Texture: I don't know what Robert heard, maybe it was a ghost of
some sorts or who knows maybe it was even a chain tied to a tree
somewhere that was blowing in wind or something I don't know
but Robert isn't the type of guy to just lie to you so I believe he
heard something that startled all of them .
Item 5
Nunnery
Context: Alec and I had gone up to the nunnery with a group of
friends and then a few days later he went up with another group of
friends and he wanted to tell us how the two experiences differed
. ........ _ . . . _---- - ----- -------
•
•
•
Text: Alright so me and 3 or 4 other friends went up to the
nunnery in Logan canyon and first off its just a super sketchy
place but so there is a main room that is a lot freakier than the rest
by where the pool is if you know what I'm talking about. And its
weird to hear creaking sounds and the main room inside of it, its
boarded off except for a hole we had to go through you get in and
it smells awful, chains hanging from the roof there is weird sounds
all over, there is no way it wasn't paranormal. There was creaking
up and down steps and nobody else was walking around with us
we were all standing still. The nunnery / St. Anne's Retreat.
Texture: I had been to the nunnery before and didn't really
experience any of these things before except for the big room
being boarded off and the chains from the ceiling but I don't know
maybe he really did hear and see and smell that stuff, it is a creepy
place however.
Item 6
Arizona Ghost
Context: Alec told me this story a few years ago when we had just
gotten done watching a scary movie because he said that it
reminded him of the same type of "ghost be gone" they had to use
in Arizona.
• Text: ok so when I lived in Arizona I was a little kid so I don't
remember a whole lot about it, but I had this really weird freaky
house we were renting and the basement was always really
freezing cold, and we felt like there was another presence there so
my parents got a weird kind of exorcism and get rid of the ghostly
presence and it worked and was gone forever.
Texture: I don't know about this one, especially because he was a
little kid at the time so it could have just been a whole lot of little
kid imagination going on that had a lot to do with it but he believes
• what he said was true so I am not going to fight him on it ha.
•
Item: 7
Haunted Closet
Context: We were making fun of Mckae and what not and the
things we were saying to be funny reminded him of a story that
wasn't really what you would say is funny it's a lot more freaky .
Text: This one is about my haunted basement closet so one day I
•
•
was down there watching TV and I noticed the door was opening
and closing by himself and I thought my little brother was playing
around so I kept watching TV and it kept opening and closing. It
brings back emotions. So I'm sitting there and I get this bad feeling
like a chill and I was like I need to check this out and I turned off
my TV so it was really dark and I look in the closet and there was
no one in there so it was weird then the door slammed shut behind
me and I was like 0 no 0 no and then I hear a voice like Mckae
Mckae and I was freaking out it was crazy then something grabbed
my leg ... .it was outta this world.
Texture: This is either a really crazy story that should be on the
news or else this is just something he thought he would say ha
either way I think it is a fun story that could be passed around to
people that is just fun.
ItemS
Face
Context: he got done telling me the other story that he told me for
7 and he said that he had another one for me so we sat down and he
let me interview him once again.
• Text: So I was laying in my bed and it was bed time and I am
• asleep. I wake up and its like 4 in the morning and im like that's
weird I woke up so I roll over to sleep again and I close my eyes
and then I open them again and I see this face on my wall that I
swear was there so I was freaking out and I was like oh no that is
crappy and so I closed my eyes and went to bed and in the morning
it wasn't there and so I was just being haunted by a ghost
Texture: I have actually heard stories about people playing with
Ouija boards and having this type of thing happen to them. I don't
know if he has ever played with one of those before, but I would
recommend he quits doing that if he does if he is getting crazy
• things like that to happen in his house!
Item 9
Weeping Widow
Context: Me and my friends went legend tripping on Halloween
night to the cemetery to see the weeping widow and see if we
could get her to look at us when we shined the light on her, and
Tristan Gonion tells us what happened
• Text: Me and my wonderful friend Tyler, and Alec and Mckae and
• Tyger all decided to check out the weeping widow in the late
afternoon in the night, so we decided to hop the fence and
unfortunately Tyler ripped his pants and so did I we got stuck and
were freaking out as cars were driving by and once we got over our
ripped pants we went to the widow and did the light thingy and
looked at it and it worked and we were very surprised because we
were very spectacle, it was quite sketchy because we didn't think it
would work and it did, and being in the cemetery was creepy
• anyways.
Texture: I was with these guys when they did it and yes indeed it
did work, we all had big flash lights and once we turned them off
we saw the statue lift her head out of her hands and look at us .... .it
was scary.
Item 10
Haunted Building
Context: Tristen heard about this haunted area from his brother
that lives in Pennsylvania and he went there so he thought he
would share it with his dear friends.
Text: I heard about this building that was haunted I don't
• remember what it was but I went to check it out with one of my
•
•
•
good old pals so we decided to go in and we got to the door and it
was chained and we broke it, and the creepy door creaked and we
got into the room and it smelled like something had been skinned
in there like hunting people lived there, it was kinda weird, so we
wondered around the building and we found a dining room area
that was way nice and had a way nice chandelier at the edge of the
table it was really weird like someone was following us but no one
was there and it looked like people had been living there recently.
Texture: I wish I knew what this place was called so maybe I
could google it or something but he said everything he told us was
true and this building was really nasty.
Item: 11
Haunted House
Context: These friends of ours live just down the road from us and
this lady has got a BUNCH of stories about ghosts that she has
come in contact with over the years and I have been in her house
and I am definitely thinking that she is being haunted all of the
time
Text: we are at our friends house hanging out one night and she is
telling me about how she has these ghosts that have followed her
- •• '00 _______ _ ___
•
•
from one house to the next, and were all sitting in the living room
all of us and she starts talking about it and all of the sudden I hear
somebody running up and down the hallway upstairs above us and
we were all downstairs so it was kind of creepy.
Texture: I believe this story one hundred percent because I was
there when it happened and there are quite a few more stories to
come that have to do with her and her ghosts .
Item 12
Old house
Context: The same friend that had the ghost running up and down
the halls also had an old house that she lived in back when she was
a little girl still living at her parents house.
Text: So this friend said she has been followed by ghosts like her
whole life anyway there was an old, old house that she lived in in
• providence across the street from the maverick where they built
- --- - - ---------
•
•
that new car wash and stuff, and she lived in there and said it was
really haunted and she said one day she came back from school
and
walked in and there was someone sitting on her couch and there
was an old lady sitting on her couch in a black veil in all black
sitting and staring forward and she ran in the kitchen and came
back and the lady was gone.
Texture: I believe all of the stories this girl tells because a fair
amount of these stories actually have proof anyways and that
makes it even more awesome .
Item 13
Old House Picture
Context: I have actually seen the newspaper clipping that has the
picture of the man standing in the window of this house and it is
one of he coolest pictures I have ever seen
Text: ok so my same friend that lived in that same creepy house
across from where the maverick was said that it was haunted by
• this old man and I guess when they tore that house down to build
•
I •
•
the carwash there the newspaper was there and took a picture of
the house and they all started freaking out because they were
bulldozing it and the newspaper guy said that there was somebody
there and anyways they printed this picture in the paper and you
could see the silhouette of the man in the upstairs window as they
were tearing it down.
Texture: like I said I have seen the picture of the newspaper with
the guy in the upstairs window and it is really creepy, but totally
awesome! That is a picture that will make a person that is curious
about ghosts a believer .
Item 14
Ghost Girl
Context: I knew this story even before my mom did because our
friend told me this herself, this happened in that old house she
lived in in providence back when she was a little girl.
Text: k so my again my friend that has been living in haunted
houses her whole life told me one morning her mom was yelling at
her to get up one morning and she was taking her time and her
mom was getting mad and she is facing the wall and her mirror is
i.
•
•
on the wall and she said she opened her eyes and this girl that
looked like she was on skates or something because she wasn't
walking went like walking by her door and shot her this big 01
dagger and just kept going on by.
Texture: I really like this story because I can actually like see it
playing through my head and it's a really cool story, personally I
think I would freak out and lose my mind and never sleep in that
house again .
Item 15
Mysterious Door
Context: I was actually in the room when this happened and saw it
with my own two eyes.
Text: So me, my dad and my brother we were all just hanging out
watching TV and out of nowhere our closet door in my parents
room opens up and it's weird because there wouldn't be a draft
or anything in there. So yeah, that's about it.
Texture: This was really freaky because we were all just sitting
•
•
•
there talking and the door just opened. It's really weird because
that closet door always swings shut after you open it so when it
opened all by itself it was creepy!
• Item 16
Helping Hands
Context: I never heard this story before but I found it pretty
interesting. I would like to find this story and read more about it.
Text: K several years ago in a small Wyoming town, this is true
but
I don't remember exactly where. There was I believe a man and a
woman that were in trouble with the law. lean 't remember why
exactly but they went into an elementary school first thing in the
morning and held the kids and the teachers hostage. And it wasn't
• a big school so but there were plenty of kids and they took them
into the gym and they had guns and urn I can't remember they
threatened to blow them up I think. And so anyway the police and
everybody found out and surrounded it but all the kids were scared
And did what the teacher told them but urn eventually I don't
remember if they one of them got shot or something I wish I could
remember better. But kids came and they were being helped out
of
the window by these different people and stuff and the kids said
• after that they had actually had seen people there that were just
•
•
•
---,- ,----------_._ .
kinda floating they didn't have legs or feet. And they saved, I don't
think anybody got hurt any of the kids or teachers. But later on
they were trying to describe who it was that helped them because it
wasn't any of the towns people or anything. And so a lot of the
families got out their photograph albums and they were looking
through and the kids would say that is the person that helped me.
And it would be their great great grandma or great great grandpa
that they never met. And that is a true true story. But there was a
lot
of them that were helped by an ancestors that had passed on years
and years before.
Texture: I really like this story and can't imagine being helped by
family that have already passed on. But then I think it would be
really cool to see some of them again .
----------------- .. _.. _ -_ ... __.. ... .
• Item 17
Footsteps in the attic
Context: I heard this story before and it's from the same people
that lived in the haunted houses their whole lives.
Text: OK so my friend Cody his mom when he was younger he
well his mom when he was younger she heard footsteps in her
attic when she was hanging out with his dad they were just
hanging out watching movies and they heard footsteps in the
attic so they thought they'd go check them out. So anyway they
• go check them out and they go walking up into the attic and
nothing was there. Then they went down and went to get some
•
flashlights came back and when they were on their way back they
heard footsteps on the ladder. So when they got back the footsteps
were gone. The very next day well not the very next but a few
weeks later they heard the very same thing but only in the attic
they didn't want to go check it out. But that is what he told me so
that is pretty much it.
Texture: My little brother heard this story from his friend that
lives in this house and he is so, so sure that his friends house is
haunted.
Item: 18
Hitchhiker
Context: I have actually heard this type of story before in my
mythology class.
Text: so I heard this story about this guy that was driving down
this road and he saw a girl hitch hiking so he picks her up and she
was pretty cold so he gives her his lettermen's jacket and drops her
off at her house and then realizes that he forgot to get his jacket
back so the next day he goes back to this house and says I need to
• get my jacket back is Susan here? And they said I am sorry Susan
died twenty years ago. He said well no I saw her last night and I
•
gave her my jacket, the mom said well I can take you to her grave
they go to the cemetery and his lettermen jacket is on top of the
grave.
Texture: I don't think I really believe this story because I have
heard it be told in so many different ways so it sounds like
everybody kind of has their own spin on it. Or maybe it is true but
some of the translation has been shifted throughout all of the times
it has been told .
•
•
•
Item 19
Maiden on the Hill
Context:
Text: ok so many many years ago in high school there has been
this story about this maiden who was in love this man, well this
man went hunting up in the mountains and never came back, so
she
went looking for him and actually froze to death up there. And
every time the snow starts to melt in the spring you can see an
outline of her and its called maiden on the hill.
Text: I have seen this mountain before I the spring and its really
cool looking. You can actually see the girl and it looks like she is
walking across the mountain side. I had seen if before but hadn't
heard the story until now .
•
•
•
Item 20
The Pasture
Context: This is a friend of mine's property that some of my other
friends go up to in the summer time to have fires and hang out that
is up in Mt. Sterling and its pretty creepy and has some creepy
things going on around it all the time.
Text: Ok so my friends own this property where it is kind of
secluded from everything else in Wellsville. And whenever we go
down there to sleep out there or just hang out. We always hear
something running across the river a few hours after we get there
and there are always just twigs around us breaking and footsteps
and we always see something white darting in between trees. One
day while leaving me and one of my friends we saw something big
and white jumping from tree to tree and after we saw that we were
out of there.
Texture: This in my eyes is all true because I have been down
there before and I agree with the things running towards us in the
river and then nothing ever shows up. I still however haven't seen
any white things jumping tree to tree there before but hey anything
is possible I guess .
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 55
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Paranormal Encounters
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Item 20 consists of a personal narrative from an individual who went up to St. Anne's retreat in Logan Canyon.
Paranormal Encounters
Nick Allen
Utah State University
Fife Folklore Archives
Logan, Utah
Mythology:
Mr. Brad Gibbons
Spring 2014
Mountain Crest High School.
• Table of Contents
Release Forms
Cover Essay
Autobiographical Sketch
List of Informants
Item No. Informant Title
1 Hartle Grandpas Ghost
2 Hartle Jump zone Ghost
3 Stolworthy Jump zone Ghost
4 Stolworthy Jump zone Ghost
5 Stolworthy Talking Elmo
6 Stolworthy Bloody Mary
7 Ashcroft Devil Goat
8 Ashcroft The Ghost Door
9 Ashcroft The Blue Beam
10 Ashcroft The Ghost • 11 Ashcroft Green Canyon
12 Ashcroft The Blonde Ghost
13 Ashcroft The Cemetery Ghost
14 Allen Jump zone Ghost
15 Allen Recordings
16 Wengreen The Witch Tree
17 Wengreen The Haunted TV
18 Wengreen Tapping
18 Wengreen Haunted Houses
20 Wengreen St. Anne's Retreat
•
• Cover Essay
Paranormal Encounters
Things of the paranormal have always been of interest to me. There is no scarier feeling
in the world than when you experience something of the paranormal. I remember when I was
younger my older brother would always tell me paranormal stuff that had happened to his
friends. I was always so scared but yet I wanted to know more, without experiencing these
things for myself.
My first time ever experiencing something paranormal came a few years back when my
friends and I heard a group of older kids talking about how scary Bloody Mary was. My friends
instantly wanted to try it. Me being the baby that I am told my friends that there was no way
that I was going into the bathroom to try it. When my friend went in there and did Bloody Mary
• I just remember him coming out at a full sprint, that rush of adrenaline that I got just seeing
how terrified he was instantly made me terrified.
Going After the Paranormal
Growing up in an LDS family I have always been warned about going after the
paranormal. So I haven't personally gone looking for it. But I have been with people who have
gone after it. I always try to make sure that I am never pressured into doing something like that.
But it is fun to listen to people who have gone after the paranormal. As Stephen Wagner says
in, "The Risks and Dangers of Paranormal investigations." He says, "Yes, ghosts, spirits, demons
and any other entity can attach themselves to you and follow you home." This is very true if you
go out looking for these things you will find them and it could ruin your life forever. I have
always been careful to not go looking for them. I know that it is very dangerous to go after •
/
•
•
them. I would recommend that you stay away from this stuff just because things might start to
follow you around, and try to harm you.
The main reasons people go after them
I think that people go after them because they don't know if they will actually work or
not. Well they do work and it is very scary. Like Bronson Stolworthy said, "We heard some older
kids about how they have done Bloody Mary." I think that when people go after them the
paranormal they either continue to go after it or they get really frightened and will never speak,
or got after it themselves ever again.
Why I chose my topic
I'm not sure why I did choose my topic actually. Because stuff of the paranormal scares
me so much. But then I remembered that I really just like to listen to people tell their personal
experiences and just watch as they tell me what happened and it's almost like they are doing it
again. The fear that they get on their face when they are telling it is just so fun to watch. They
also scare me a lot, and it's weird because I don't like to watch scary movies or anything, but I
love to listen to stories. And just so you know I don't go looking for it, it still scares me more
than almost anything on this planet so I like to stay away from it all. But I don't think that there
is any harm done in listening to other people's experiences.
I have always been curious to know if there is good spirits out there, like there are bad spirits that
try to harm you. Is there good spirits in the world that will try to keep these bad ones away from
you and try to help you? Like what is said in " Section 2. Relationship Between People On Earth
And Spirits" Which says, "good ghosts can also visit this world and help you." I think that this is
• true. I have seen it all the time, like when somebody's parent dies and at the funeral or later
•
•
•
after the funeral they say that they felt their parent with them during the funeral. I have also
heard when people have literally seen there grandparent in their ghost form visit them after
the funeral. It really freaks these people out, but they know that there parent is not going to do
any harm to them, so it really does just comfort them. I also like to listen to these stories of
people whose parents have come back to let them know that they are okay. It really makes me
not as scared of the paranormal. I know that if my parent's dies suddenly I would want to know
that they are okay. This happened to my seminary teacher's son died unexplainably, and the
story of how it happened almost made it sound like a suicide to everybody. But one day his son
came to him right before he was going to bed, and his son pretty much told him the whole story
of how he died. And how his family should not be worried about him because he was alright.
Another reason that I chose my topic is that it has always made me wonder whether or
not that there are more ghosts in cemeteries than there are in houses. I have tried to find
stories of other people that could try and lead me on but I haven't ever really found any. It
seems like most people tend to stay clear from cemeteries. I think just a general reason for this
is that they probably just want to respect the dead.
Paranormal stuff is so great to listen to. You just have to be careful that stuff like this
doesn't start to happen to you on a regular basis. Make sure that the risks are worth it. As yo
study my paper it can help you get more knowledge on this topic.
•
•
•
Wagner, Stephen. "The Risks and Dangers of Paranormallnvestigation."About.com Paranormal
Phenomena. Web. 19 May 2014.
Allen, Nick Paranormal Encounters
"Relationships between people on earth and spirits" paranormal. com N.d. May 14, 2014
,---------------------
•
•
•
Autobiographical Sketch
My name is Nick Allen. I am 17 years old and I was born in Ogden Utah. I have lived in Wellsville
Utah ever since I have been 6 years old. I am a junior at Mountain Crest High School. I have 3
brothers and no sisters. My dad works for a company named Barco. My mom is a stay at home
mom. My family loves to be outdoors, we love to go fishing, skiing, and especially hunting. We
love the cold weather. My whole family is a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day
Saints. My brother is on a 2 year mission for our church in Argentina. My friends and I love to
tell scary stories. My Grandma also loves ghost stories. She tells me a lot of personal ones that
have happened to her. My whole family is very creative and can come up with stories. My
brothers and I used to love when my dad would tell his all of the crazy things he used to do
when he was in high school. We used to just listen to them for hours at a time. My dad's stories
are what got my so hooked on a good story. Whenever my family would go on a road trip my
dad would just tell us stories the whole time that we were driving. I personally love to listen to
stories, but I do not like to tell them. I love to be outdoors, and I always love to go on a run. I
love to go running through the mountains on trails. I also like to hike in the fall and just look at
all the beautiful trees and the colors that are there in the fall. That is one reason why I like
hunting so much, because I get to spend a lot of time in the outdoors hiking. I love the cold
weather that we have here in Utah. Because it allows me to spend time in the mountains with
my family and friends skiing and having a good time. I run cross country, and track for Mountain
Crest as well. I love the valley I live in, it is one of the prettiest places I have ever been. I decided
to use the paranormal stories that have happened to my friends for my folklore project.
•
•
List of I nforma nts
Hartle- Kayden Hartle was born in Ogden Utah, he moved to Smithfield Utah when he was ten
years old and has lived in the same house ever since then. He still goes down to Ogden to visit
his old friends and his grandparents who live down there. He is 16 years old and is currently a
sophomore at Sky View High school. He works part time at the Jump zone. He is a faithful
Mormon. In his free time he likes to dirt bike, hang out with friends, and ski. He likes stuff of the
paranormal. Items 1,2.
Stolworthy- Bronson Stolworthy lives in Providence Utah, and is a student at Mountain Crest
High school. He is 17 years old and is a junior in high school. He has lived here in Providence his
whole life. Bronson is a part time worker at Jump zone. He is a faithful Mormon. He is very
interested in Ghosts and that kind of stuff. Bronson likes to spend his free time, learning new
tricks on the trampoline, hanging out with friends, working out, and snowboarding. Items
3,4,5,6.
Ashcroft- Christian Ashcroft is 22 years old. He lives in an apartment with his friends, in Logan
Utah. He has lived in Logan his entire life. He used to be a member of the Mormon Church, but
he has been inactive ever since high school. He works full time at Taco Time. In his free time he
likes to play computer games. Items 7,8,9,10,11,12,13.
Allen- Zane Allen is 11 years old he currently attends Mountain Side Elementary. He has lived in
Wellsville his entire life. In his free time he likes to play soccer, ski, and run. He is a member of
the Mormon Church. Items 14, 15.
Wengreen- Chase Wengreen lives in Mendon, Utah. He is 17 years old and is a junior at
Mountain Crest High School. He is a faithful member of the Mormon Church. Chase used to live
in Morgan Utah, but he moved to Mendon when he was 9 years old. He has lived in the same
house ever since then. Chase is very scared of paranormal stuff because he thinks that it is real.
In his free time he likes to snowboard, camp, and read. Items 16,17,18.
Wengreen- Dallin Wengreen is 15 years old and is a freshman at Mountain Crest High School.
He is a member of the Mormon Church. He has lived in Mendon since he was 7 years old. In his
free time he likes to play basketball, and read.
• Note- All my informants are middle-class, Caucasian, and come from a Christian backgrounds.
•
•
•
Item 1
Grandpas Ghost
Kayden Hartle
May 17, 2014
Logan Utah
Context: I was at the jump zone talking to Kayden who works there. We were talking about if
ghosts hang around once they die. It must have been talking about ghosts that reminding him
of an experience he had when he was 3 years old.
Text: When I was little my grandpa died, and before he died he was a mechanic at a lot of auto
shops. For my third birthday he gave me a toy Tonka Truck. A little bit later my grandpa died.
And the night after he died I woke up to a squeaky noise. It was the toy Tonka Truck going up
and down the halls. So then I got really scared and cried myself to sleep.
Texture. I think that this story did happen because it seems like a pretty believable story to me.
I don't think that is something that you would lie about. Because it was already a pretty sad
story because his grandpa died. I've heard that sometimes spirits stay around after they die to
try and comfort people. I really do think this story is true.
• Kayden Hartle
May 17, 2014
Logan, Utah
•
•
Item 2
Jump zone Ghost
Context: I went into the Jump zone and was talking to Kayden. I had asked him if he thought
there was any ghosts in the Jump zone. When I asked him this it must have made him think
about something that happened at the Jump zone.
Text: Before the Jump zone was here the furniture store used to be here. And where the
support beams are there used to be separate rooms. And in the separate rooms there was just
furniture stuff in them. And everyone morning at 3:33, which is the time of the Devil. Every
first of the month the alarm used to go off, and nobody knew why because there wasn't any
mice or anybody in there. So the cops would always have to come and they would look on
surveillance cameras and stuff. And nobody really new why it went off. They just went off every
3:33.
Texture: I think that this story is real. Because the alarms went off at 3:33 and there was no
reason for it makes me believe this story. Also it makes it more believable that it only happens
the first Monday of every month. Because if it happened every morning than you could say that
something was just wrong with the wiring. I think that this story is true .
•
Item 3
Jump Zone Ghost
Bronson Stolworthy
Logan Utah
May 17, 2014
Context: Bronson works at the Jump Zone. I came in and asked him if anything Paranormal
takes place at the Jump zone. When I asked him this it must have reminded him of an
experience he had last week when he was working at the Jump zone.
Text: Well um before Jump zone was here there was um different play grounds that rented out
the building, and like gymnastics places and stuff. And there was this little girl that killed herself
here. Um she jumped off the playground and it broke her neck or something. And um its
happened a couple times but, um when I forget something up top and all the lights are off I
come up to get that one thing. And I hear laughing underneath the tramps. And it freaks me
• out because I'm pretty sure that it's that little girl who killed herself.
•
Texture: I think that this story is true. Because sometimes when somebody dies I think that they
stay in the building that they died in. I also believe this could have happened because lots of the
workers there also testify that they have heard this little girl laughing at them. Bronson also
seemed very scared when he was talking about this little girl laughing at him .
•
Item 4
The Jump Zone Ghost
Bronson Stolworthy
May 17, 2014
Logan Utah
Context: Bronson works at the Jump zone. I went to the Jump zone to see if anybody had any
paranormal experiences while working at the Jump zone. When I was talking to Bronson it must
have made him think of an experience he had a month ago.
Text: Well one night at the Jump zone the alarms were tripped. And so we went and looked at
the security videos. And for a little while there was nothing, and nobody had broken into the
building. Nobody was trying to break into the building. But around the same time that the
alarms got tripped, um we saw from one end of the trampolines we saw the tramps go in like
somebody was jumping on them. It wasn't going in a lot though it was like a little kid jumping
• on the tramps. It just kept moving into the hallway like over the tramps to where the hall was,
and the front desk. Then the alarms got tripped right as it stopped jumping. Like it had run out
•
or something.
Texture: This story is probably true. They showed me the security footage that they had saved
from the night. There really was a figure jumping up and down on the tramps. I don't think that
the workers are trying to playa prank on me either.
•
Item 5
Talking Elmo
Bronson 5tolworthy
May 17, 2014
Logan Utah
Context: Bronson works at the Jump zone. I went to the Jump zone to see if anybody had any
weird stories there. When we were talking about the ghost that lives in the Jump zone, it
reminded him of a story that happened at his house when he was ten years old.
Text: When I was like ten years old my sister moved out to college. And she had this Elmo doll.
You could press its belly and it could talk and stuff. And urn it was like a couple nights after she
had left. I got her room downstairs and it scared me because it was down stairs and stuff. That
night I heard noises coming out from the family room outside my room downstairs. I went out
there and it was like the same thing over again, I miss you come play with me. And I went in
• over by the cupboards and I opened the cupboards. And it was my sisters Elmo doll and it was
saying I miss you come play with me. And I'm pretty sure it was because my sister went to
•
college and it was freaking me out. So I went upstairs and slept in my parent's room. We got rid
of it the next day.
Texture: This is a very scary story. It is interesting that it was doing this right after his sister
went away to college. But because his parents got rid of it the day. Because this story happened
when he was 10 it makes it a little more believable because when you are ten you usually know
what is going on very well. I think that this story is true just because there is a lot of supporting
evidence in the Text .
•
Item 6
Bloody Mary
Bronson Stolworthy
May 17, 2014
Logan Utah
Context: Bronson works at the Jump zone. I went into the Jump zone because I was curious if it
was haunted. When I was asking Bronson about the Jump zone it must have reminded him of
this experience he had.
Text: Well one night at a football game, we a bunch of my friends, heard from a bunch of older
kids talking about how they have done Bloody Mary. And how you're supposed to say Bloody
Mary three times in a mirror while it was dark. And then turn the lights back on and there was
supposed to be something crazy, Bloody Mary or whatever, and me and this kid named Taylor.
We went into the bathroom, and we turned off the light and we said Bloody Mary, Bloody
• Mary, and Bloody Mary three times. And we turned the light back on and um he said he saw
something in the mirror but I wasn't even looking in the mirror because I was too scared, and
•
he freaked out and we both ran outside where all of our other friends were. I was just freaking
out and I was breathing really hard and, all of my friends all of a sudden were like what's on
your neck? And right on my neck, the front of my neck where my Adams Apple was there was
like red markings and it looked like and eyeball. It was like the illuminati eyeball.
Texture: Bronson told me that this happened two years ago at a football game in the school
bathroom. I question the truth of the red eye on his neck. I think it could have been he was just
so scared that's what he thought that it was. His friends were probable just scared in the heat
of the moment and that's what they thought it was .
•
Item 7
The Devil Goat
Christian Ashcroft
Logan, Utah
May 17, 2014
Context: Christian and I were at work together in Taco Time talking about all the crazy things
that have happened to us. When we were talking about our stories I think it reminded him
about this experience he had.
Text: When I was a kid I used to play baseball with my neighbor. My house was right by a large
forest. One day when I was about ten years old my friend and I were playing baseball. I was up
to bat and my friend gave me a good pitch. When I hit the ball I just watched it fly into the
trees. So I went running into the trees after it. When I was in the trees I started to look around
for the ball, but I couldn't find it anywhere. While my eyes were scanning around I noticed that
• there was a goat standing on two legs leaning against the tree looking at me. Its eyes were
bloodshot red, and it didn't really have a body, it had a figure. I didn't believe it for myself so I
•
called my friend over, and when I pointed it out to him we both took off running for our
freaking lives. I never went into those trees again.
Texture: Christian was about 10 years old when this happened to him. Because he was so
young I question whether or not that this story his true. Lots of little kids think they see things
but they really don't. This story is very hard to believe. But because his friend was also and saw
this goat I think that he is telling partial the truth with this story. I think that most of this story is
real but part if it is exaggerated.
•
•
•
ItemS
The Ghost Door
Christian Ashcroft
Hyrum, Utah
May 17, 2014
Context: Christian and I were working at Taco Time together, we were talking about all of the
scary things that have happened to us. I was telling him about weird noises that I've heard in
my house before. It must have reminded him of this story.
Text: One day I came home from a hard day's work at Taco Time and it was about 11:00 at
night when I got to my apartment I realized that I was the only one home. My apartment is
already haunted I think so that made me extra scared. When I got home I was pretty scared so I
decided that I would turn on some music just in case there was somebody in my apartment,
and hopefully they would leave. When I was listening to my music I noticed that the door
drifted open, so I stopped the music and the door closed. When I played my music again the
door opened, so I stopped it and the door shut so I walked into the hall and there was nobody
there. I was so scared that I decided to just go stay in my friend's house for the night.
Texture: Christian told me that this happened to him a year ago in June. When he first told me
this story I thought that he was just kidding. But I could tell that as he was telling this story he
got scared again. When I noticed him getting scared again I realized that he wasn't kidding. I
think that this story is true, because it would be hard to come up with a story as fast as he told
this one .
•
•
•
Item 9
The Blue Beam
Christian Ashcroft
Logan, Utah
May 17, 2014
Context: Christian and I were working at Taco Time when he told me this story. We were talking
about a dream that I had the night before, and it reminded him of this experience he had a
couple months ago.
Text: One night I was having a hard time falling asleep. When I finally fell asleep I woke up
again. I decided to check what time it was. When I picked up my phone I noticed that there was
a small blue light right on my chest. I looked up at my closet and noticed that was where the
blue light was coming from. I tried to move so the beam wasn't on me but anywhere that I
moved it stayed on me. I felt like there was something very evil in the room. I tried to get up
and walk out but a strong force pushed my down onto my bed. I tried to break free from it but I
couldn't move. All of a sudden I felt like there was a huge weight on my chest that I couldn't get
off of me. Because it was pushing so hard on my chest I felt like I couldn't breathe. I started to
get super light headed. Then I must have passed out because I woke up and the sun was shining
into my window. When I looked down at my bed none of my bed sheets were on my bed
anymore. When I went up to get breakfast my roommates told me that they felt something
very evil in our house last night. That's when I realized that last night really did happen.
Texture: This happened to Christian a couple months ago. It happened in his apartment in
Logan. When Christian told me this story he seemed very scared. Christian and I are very good
friends so I doubt that she would lie to me. I think that he is telling the truth about what
happened to him that night .
•
Item 10
The Ghost
Christian Ashcroft
Logan, Utah
May 17, 2014
Context: Christian and I were working together at taco time talking about if we thought houses
could be haunted by ghosts. We were also talking about if we thought ghosts could also be nice
instead of being all mean. It must have been the ghosts that reminded him of this experience
he had last year.
Text: A year ago my brother lost his job and he had to come live at my Apartment. He moved
into the extra bed room that is right next to my room. Weill helped him move all of his clothes
into his room that took about the whole day. Well when we were done and getting ready for
bed he warned me to not be scared of the little boy. I thought he was joking and didn't think
• anything of it. I slept perfectly fine all night and I didn't even remember what he told me. When
I woke up I went and got in the shower. As I walked out of my room I looked over and saw a
•
little boy opening the door to go into my brother's room. I couldn't believe it so I rubbed my
eyes to see if there was anything there, and the little boy was gone.
Texture: This is a very interesting story. The fact that his brother told him to watch out for the
little boy makes me believe that this story is real. But the fact that he saw the little boy as he
was still a little groggy makes me not believe this story. I think that this story is real because I
don't know if you can hallucinate seeing a ghost.
•
Item 11
Green Canyon
Christian Ashcroft
Logan, Utah
May 17, 2014
Context: Christian and I were working at Taco Time talking about scary stories that have
happened to us. We were talking about if we thought canyons could be haunted by a ghost. I
think it was talking about canyons that made him think of this experience that happened to him
last week.
Text: I think canyons are haunted. One night my friends decided to go have a fire up Green
Canyon. I knew that I had work that night so I tried to get it off. Nobody would take my shift so I
decided to just meet my friends up there after work. When I got off work I just had a feeling
that I should just stay home and to not go and meet my friends at their fire. I decided that I was
just being a baby and started the drive up Green Canyon. I again had an iry feeling about the
• canyon and I wanted to turn around. I decided that I had already driven this far so I decided just
•
to gomeet my friends. When I was about half way up the canyon I looked over into my
passenger seat and there was a dark figure sitting in my seat. I let out a scream and started to
head down the canyon. As soon as I got out of the canyon the figure left my car.
Texture: I think that this story is true. I have heard a lot of a lot of scary things that have
happened up Green Canyon. I have been up there myself and I felt very scared the whole time
that I was up there. Because of all the other stories I have heard I believe that this story is true .
•
•
•
Item 12
The Blonde Ghost
Christian Ashcroft
Logan Utah
May 17, 2014
Context: Christian and I were working at Taco Time talking about if we thought ghosts were real
or not. This must have reminded him of an experience he had last year in his apartment at Utah
State University.
Text: Last year when I was live up at Utah State I had something really scary happen to me. It
was about midnight when I got home from work. To my surprise none of my roommates were
home. I was very scared because my roommates and I have always thought that our apartment
was haunted. I was very scared so I decided to go to bed. When I was in my bathroom brushing
my teeth I saw a girl with long blonde hair go running and laughing down the hall of our dorm. I
thought that it was one of my roommates playing a trick on my so I walked into our living room
expecting to see one of my roommates there, but there was nobody there. So I called my
roommate asking her where she was, and she said that she was at her parents' house for the
night. I thought about who it could have been, and that's when I realized that nobody with long
blonde hair lives with me.
Texture: When Christian told me this story he was very serious about it. It almost looked like he
was a little scared just thinking about it. If it wasn't a ghost it was probably just one of his
roommate's friends trying to scare him. I personally believe this story and think that a ghost
actually did run down her hall.
•
•
•
Item 13
The Cemetery Ghost
Christian Ashcroft
Logan, Utah
April 10, 2014
Context: Christian and' were working at Taco Time talking about if we thought that ghosts
were real or not. We were also talking about if we thought that ghosts stayed in cemeteries
with their bodies. This happened to him two years ago when he was a senior in high school.
Text: Back in high school me and my friends used to playa lot of games in cemeteries. Well
once we were playing ghost in the graveyard and' was the one looking around for everybody.
Once' found all my friends we were talking in the back of the cemetery. We all started to here
weird noises. So we decided that it was time to leave. The noises started to get louder and
louder until we all just started to make a run for it. 'looked back and saw a figure floating after
us so , started running even faster, when' looked behind me again' saw the figure had moved
closer to us at an inhuman speed. When we got out of the cemetery we looked back and
nothing was there.
Texture: , am not sure if' believe this story. The ghost that he saw was probably just one of his
friends just trying to scare them. And the noises that they heard could have been just the wind
blowing through the trees and the headstones. When it moved at an inhumane speed he
probably just thought it was further away than when he first saw it .
• Item 14
The Jump Zone Ghost
Zane Allen
Wellsville Utah
May 182014
Context: I was talking to Zane about how cool I thought that It would be to have a sleep over at
the Jump zone. That must have reminded him of an experience he had when he was sleeping
over at the Jump zone with his friends.
Text: Are you crazy there is no way I would ever have a sleepover at the Jump zone! Last week
me and some friends decided to sleep over at the Jump zone. Everything was super fun until
about 2:00 in the morning. We were all laying the foam pits, with the lights dimmed so we
could see a little bit, but not so it was bright. We were talking when we heard somebody
jumping on the tramps. I thought it was just one of my friends playing around with us. So I tried
to sneak over to the trampolines, and when I looked at them there was nobody there, the
• tramps were just moving up and down. It was scary.
•
Texture: This happened to Zane a couple weeks ago. This would be very scary especially if I was
only 11 years old. Zane is friends with the owner's son, so they get to go have sleepovers there
a lot. I think that this had to bet the Jump zone ghost that was jumping on the tramps. There is
nothing else that it could be .
------------------------------------- -----------_ ..... _ .
•
•
•
Item 15
Recordings
Zane Allen
Wellsville Utah
May 18, 2014
Context: Zane and I were talking about all the awesome trips that we have been on before. I
was talking to him about when I was in St. George with my friends. It must have been this that
reminded him of an experience that he had.
Text: So one time we were in St. George for my soccer tournament. And we were in this creepy
house that we could rent for the weekend. And it was just really creepy because there was
burnt candles, and pictures of Mona Lisa, and weird statues, and then one night I was sleeping
and then with my brother and then urn we woke up in the morning and he was looking at his
iPod. And he went through the pictures, and there was a creepy, well there was a video, and
then it was of me and my brother sleeping. We just thought it was one of my other brothers
messing around but it really wasn't.
Texture: Zane said that this happened to him last year for his soccer tournament in February. It
sounds like a very scary story. I think that it did actually happen. Because Zane told me that the
recording was recorded at 3 in the morning. He also told me that he was the last one to go to
sleep so that puts everybody else out of the picture .
•
•
•
Item 16
The Witch Tree
Chase Wen green
Mendon Utah
May 18, 2014
Context: Chase and I were hanging out at his house in Mendon Utah. I remembered hearing
about a witch tree that is up in the mountains above his house. When I asked him about this it
must have reminded him of this experience he had.
Text: Dude the witch tree is definitely haunted. Last week me and my friends were hanging out
in Mendon, we were all super bored and had nothing to do. We decided to get in my razor and
head up the witch tree and see if it is haunted. When we started to head up the mountain there
was no wind at all. When we got to the Witch Tree I went in through the fence, and I kicked the
tree has hard as I could. Right when I kicked it the wind started to blow at about 30 miles per
hour. This really freaked me out so I got back in the razor, and I swear as I turned on the engine
I heard a howl come from the tree. I just bombed it down the hill.
Texture: I think that parts of this story are true. I don't know if I believe that they heard a witch
howl when they were leaving. I think the witch howl was just to make the story seem scarier.
The probably just thought that they heard the witch howl because they were so scared at the
time. But I do believe that the wind started to blow really hard after chase kicked the tree.
•
•
•
Item 17
The Haunted TV
Chase Wengreen
May 18, 2014
Mendon Utah
Context: Chase and I were hanging out at his house, I asked him if he knew about any haunted
houses that were in Mendon. It must have been me asking him about haunted houses that
reminded him of something that happened to him in his old house in Morgan Utah
Text: Back at myoid house in Morgan Utah, we urn used to have a lot of weird things happen to
us when we lived there. One I just got home from a friend's house and I was really scared just
because it was dark outside and stuff. Weill got home and just went to bed because it was
already pretty late. And I woke up at 3:33 to my bedroom TV playing at full blast. It was really
scary because I know that I didn't turn on my TV, it just turned on randomly. I was really scared
because I already thought that my house was haunted .
Texture: Chase said that this happened to him about 5 years ago when he used to live in
Morgan. There is a lot of things that this could have been. It could have been that he just rolled
over on the remote while he was sleeping. But I think that his house was actually haunted, and
that a ghost did turn the TV on .
•
•
•
Item 18
Tapping
Chase Wengreen
Mendon Utah
May 18, 2014
Context: Chase and I were hanging out talking about ghosts and haunted houses. I asked him if
anything scary had happened at his house. It must have been this that reminded him of an
experience that he had.
Text: So quite a while ago I was sitting in my bed, just playing games on my phone, and I heard
something, somebody jump into my window seal and I heard the leaves crackling, and then I
heard three loud bangs on my window I got freaked out, so I stood up and ran out my door, and
then I went up to my little brothers room and slept there. Then the next day we just went out
and looked at my window to see if we could see if anyone was there. There was like crushed
leaves on my window seal and I saw figure prints on my window .
Texture: Chase told me that this happened to him two years ago. He also told me that as he
was running out of his room that he looked back and didn't see anyone there. I think that there
could have been somebody there, it was probably just one of his older neighbors trying to scare
him or something .
•
•
•
Item 19
Haunted Houses
Dallin Wengreen
Mendon Utah
May 18, 2014
Context: I was at Dallin's house talking to his family. I was asking them about a scary looking
house that I drove past in Mendon. This reminded Dallin of an experience that he had in that
house.
Text: Okay so about two months ago me and some of my friends went to an old abandoned
house. And I was with a group of friends, and most of them scattered all throughout the house
going downstairs into the dusty old basement. And me and two of my other friends went into
the upstairs rooms and there was a couch. We saw two eyes poke up above the couch and we
went to go see what was behind it and there was nobody there.
Texture: Dallin told me that this story happened to him about two months ago. The way he
described it to me it sounded like he kind of saw the top of a head with the eyes. I personally
don't think that this story is real. It was probably just an old cat that lives at that house now. I
just don't know if you would be able to see a ghosts eyes in the dark .
•
•
•
Item 20
St. Ann's Retreat
Dallin Wengreen
Mendon Utah
May 182014
Context: I was over at Dallin's house talking with is family. They were talking about buying a
cabin up Logan Canyon. It must have reminded Dallin of an experience that he had up at St.
Anne's Retreat.
Text: Dude the Nunnery is scary. Last summer I was with my cousins and we were at a family
party, and it was really dumb so we decided to go up to the Nunnery. It was about 11:00 at
night when we got there. When we walked through the gate I was instantly freaked out. We
decided to go by the pool first. But when we walked out to the pool we heard a baby crying, we
looked around and couldn't find a little baby, so we left, and I will never go there again.
Texture: Dallin told me that this story happened to him last summer. I think that it is probably
true. I have heard from a lot of people that scary things like that happen to the Nunnery. He
could just be trying to scare me though. But I think that he is actually telling me the truth. He
didn't really seem like he was kidding around about it either.
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Saint Anne's Retreat
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Personal narrative from interviewees who describe their experience legend-tripping at St. Anne's retreat.
Saint Anne's retreat
Martin Tige
Utah State University
Fife Folklore Archives
Logan, Utah
Mythology /Fol klore
Instructor: Brad Gibbons
Trimester 3, 2013
Mountain Crest High School
Hyrum, Utah
xvi
Table of Contents
Field Collection CD Cover Sheet
ii
Informant Release forms
iii
Collectors Release form
xvi
Table of contents
xviii
Cover Essay
xxix
Autobiographical Sketch
xxx
list of informants
xxxi
TranscriPtio"/ .. c... ....... \V
1-9
•
•
Cover Essay
ST. Anne's Retreat
xviii
Now just a week ago, I knew not even the name St. Anne's retreat. But this past week, I
have visited the place that so many spirits call home. I myself am not much of an adventurist
paranormal wise. Just the mentioning of a spirit and I would nearly run for the hills. The story
behind St. Anne's retreat however intrigued me. A friend of mine named Silver Pena told me that
she had been researching about a place in Logan canyon called The Nunnery. She told me that
there had been many stories but the only story she had told me that really had me hooked, was a
particular story about how Christens used this camp for impregnated nuns. In this particular time
children born by nuns were believed to have been the work of satin, they were to be disposed of
at birth so that they had no chance to do damage to this world. One particular nun however felt
the need to keep her child, so she decided before the birth of this child, she was going to run
away. From the start, the head nun had suspected that this nun would have second thoughts so
she had decided to keep a close eye on her. When she had finally put her plan into motion, the
head nun was not too far behind. Realizing this once she had given birth to her child, she thought
to hide the child in some bushes and lead the head nun away and pick up her child at a later time.
Soon the head nun gave up, or so she thought, going back to pick up her child she was astonished
to find that her child was missing. She, went back to the camp and as she approached the camp
there was a peculiar object floating on the far north side of the pool. As she came to focus in on
the object she had a sense of recognition. Once she could see the object in full she saw that it was
her child lying face down, no more than a lifeless corps. All of the grief due to this event caused
• the nun to go insane and later commit suicide.
•
The property though is owned privately, meaning people are unable to visit this place of
folklore. "a former Catholic summer camp located a few miles up the canyon from Logan, Utah,
where
some young people were charged with trespass not long ago"(Toelken). I feel this place of
historic event should be given to the public however with some restrictions some people chose
to disrespect abandon private properties. I feel they should open it up almost as a museum just
for people who are just like me who would like to experience the chill, to be in the same place as
these said sprits and learn things first or in this case second hand. Honestly they could even make
a profit off of the place selling admission tickets.
What makes this place so great? Well there are many different things that are being held
behind the walls ofSt. Anne's Retreat. This place to me was a battle ground, nuns stayed here
fighting for the lives of not only themselves but for the children that they had brought into this
world. The pool at St. Anne's has taken many lives but has little to offer, visiting it, there is said
to be a cold spot in the pool where a particular nun has committed the ultimate sin, which is not
taking the lives of others but taking her own life. In sprit she sits at the edge of north comer of
that pool grieving for her lost child. Not only is there that, but in the basement of some of the
cabins there's said to have been rituals to have been taken place here.
•
•
Work Cited
Toelken, Barre. "The end of folklore. The 1998 Archer Taylor memorial lecture." Western folklore 57.2/3
(1998): 81-101 .
•
xxx
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Martin Stephanus Tige was born January 6, 1996 in Sudan, Africa. He moved into the United
States in the year of 1999 in search of a better life, he soon found himself living in the state of
Utah. As a young boy Martin was very curious about how many things worked, taking apart
nearly four VHS players and almost able to reassemble the mechanism by age seven. He mainly
grew up all over the small cities of Utah but always somehow ended up in Rose Park. He
attended four elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools, soon to be a
graduate from Mountain Crest High school. Martin was never academically the smartest kid but
was a quick learner when it came to hands on projects. This led him into High School Clubs such
as the Mountain Crest Robotic team, as the head designer and builder in his team. His
fascination however has nothing to do with what his dreams are. Martin hopes to become a
Law Enforcement after graduating from High School.
•
•
•
xxxi
List of informants
Silver Pena: Silver has attended Mountain Crest high school since sophomore
year and is hope in make her way into music. She has and outgoing personality
and is almost always caring for others
Camila Triana: Camila has also attended Mountain Crest but only for sophomore
year, then later moving to Intec High near USU (Utah State University)
•
•
CD Track: 1
St. Anne's Retreat
Transcription cover sheet
Interviewee: Camila Triana & Silver Pena
Place of Interview: Hyrum library
Interviewer: Martin Tige
Recorder: Martin Tige
Recording Equipment: Iphone 4, voice memo
Transcription Equipment: Microsoft Word
Transcribed by: Martin Tige
Brief Description of Contents: Silver gives brief interdiction about St. Anne's Retreat.
Camila explains in detail the tour that we had toke a week before
Reference: MT: Martin Tige
CT: Camila Triana
SP: Silver Pena
Note: as we had the interview there was some laughing in the background and also
people were moving around .
•
1
Transcription Paper
Martin Tige - MT
Camila Triana - CT
Silver Penia - SP
MT: So today's May 17, and we're at the Hyrum library; the weather outsides pretty good, looks
like its about to rain though. And I'm here with Camila Triana, and Silver Penia and we're here
talking about The Nunnery or better known as St. Anne's Retreat; so what's the story behind St.
Anne's' retreat, like how did it become known that way?
( brief pause)
SP: well um, there's many stories to it and the one I became mostly familiar with or the one I
heard a lot of was, it first stared as a camp and I don't remember the exact name of the camp
but .. um a famous building person he created it for a summer camp for him and his family so its
more like a summer home. and there are tons and tons of cabins in there and then after that he
gave it to his son who was living in New York at the time and his son was really famous here in
America cause he was one of the wealthiest guys, and because of him-because of him being so
recognized in the nation a lot of Hollywood movie stars asked him permission to use it as a
summer home just a place to get away and one of the stars herself was Marilyn Monroe she
stayed in one ofthe cabins, (chuckle) I don't know which cabin exact but she was one ofthe
famous people here .. Um later after they were done using it, he. Tried to give it, he tried to sell
it to the LOS church but they didn't want it and he tried the same with jahobo Witness and they
didn't want it so he ended up donating it to the Catholic church and they used it; well theres
different versions of this they say that they used it as an abortion clinic for teenagers or a clinic
where they'd have their babies and um they'd put them up for adoption. And as for the nuns,
the other version is that nuns who got pregnant they would be sent there in secret and they,
once they had their babies, they would be drown in the bathtubs which were supposedly filled
with holly water (brief pause) um so yeah.
MT: Kay, now you've been there ten- eleven times?
SP: (chuckling) Eleven times
MT: and every single time you've token a different group of people.
SP: um hm
2
• MT: What's the pool. The cold spot in the pool?
--
•
SP: the cold spot. Urn there's, they say like theres always a different version to everything but
for the pool urn. It was actually open I think thirteen years ago and they were using it as a camp
after the catholic- after the catholic church and a thirteen year old boy drown there in the pool,
no one knows how they say his spirit could be the one haunting the pool there's a certain spot
like on the east side of the pool that's cold. And the other version is that there was a nun who
had a baby. And she wanted to keep that baby and so when everybody-when all the nuns were
getting ready to sleep or something she decided to get her baby and run away with it and
manage to you know, wanted to keep her baby and so the head nun caught her and she started
chasing her. The innocent one is what we'll call her the innocent one with her baby an they
chased each other around the forest or the woods and when the innocent nun got, you know a
few feet away she was able to hide her baby in bushes and runaway and she hoped that when
she'd come back her baby would still be there so when she realized that the head nun finally
gave up she came back to pick up her baby and her baby wasn't in the bushes anymore so she
went back to the camp and her fear became a true thing like her nightmare just became reality.
She found her baby flouting face down in the pool and so that could be another reason why the
pool has a cold spot. Due to that baby and or the nun who commended suicide after seeing her
baby there she drown herself
MT: Okay, now we were there just a week ago and Camila will you explain what happened
while we were there?
CT: What part?
MT: Just run them through everything
CT: Okay, so we first went up there after touring this like run down chimney which wasn't to
interesting. But we went to the pool like Silver described and she wouldn't tell us the cold spot
so we had to find out where we thought the cold spot was and it was pretty ligament all of us
claimed it was in the same spot. Except for Martin, he got really warm
( background laughter)
MT: For some reason I felt warm when I got there
CT: yeah, so anyway we kind of went around the pool, kinda checked it out then urn after that
we were proceeding to look through the rest of the houses but they were boarded up for
security reasons and so we went through the rest ofthe neighborhood ofthe cabins and
discovered urn. One of the larger cabins had a wraparound porch with screens and one of the
doors were open so we went through the door and urn we kind of went inside to look and see if
t.
•
•
3
we could go inside of the cabin but it was still boarded up um. We went around that area and
um some people like me claim that we heard noises but we still haven't verified that um but its
all in the video and um after we weren't really interested the fact that it was closed we exited
out of one of the, it was randomly swinging doors and we visited the "fake" grave site and um
then we went um to look at the rest ofthe cabins at the end ofthe hill and um all ofthem were
closed at the top except when we went around one of the last cabins um it was like a beautiful
mint green cabin it was pretty cool they all had really cool designs and the architect was really
inspired just I don't know simple designed it was really beautiful so it's kinda sad that it has-has
a depressing story and kind of bad mantra with it because no one could really visit it I guess
'true grandeur' anyways so we went around that and it turns out the basement, it didn't have a
door just had like a hole through the cement and um I guess you could say was it like trails
siting like the stuff that locks the end of the house to the- to the floor? That stuff it was under
the porch so 'we decided it would be really smart to go under there and take a tour'
(sa rcastica lIy)
SP: we were hoping that somehow; well before- before it was all boarded up um like all the
doors were busted down and so; um before I went with you guys there was um we found our
way from the basement up to the stairs and I mean nothing was boarded up so, that's what we
were kind of hoping for (laugh)
CT: um hm yeah
MT: and we found something else instead though
SP: we did ( still laughing )
CT: yeah, uh we went in it was really creepy and some people were kind of wussy but you know
we at least got some footage anyways we went in and it was; with some of the lights we were
able to see where, what kind of rooms were in the basement it was just a cellar and a food
storage area; Obviously they were empty and then there was is one room that had uh. (small
pause) that had a shelf and uh coat hanger bar and on the shelf uh was a open uh, it was closed
I think. It was open
SP: it was open, I lost the page. Oh my gosh (laughing)
CT: Oh my gosh I wonder what page it would be interesting to know what page It was on cause
it was a child's bible and it was open, we don't remember what page it was open at but um; and
then there was like a short challis I guess used as like a candle holder but it obviously didn't fit
the candle and the candle was red and then there was a nail on the c-on the - on the wall and a
rope tied to the nail that was tied in a nus on a bear and the bear- and the bear was mutilated
in the eyes, both of the eyes were pulled out whatever, plastic button whatever they were both
_._----- --------------------------
•
•
4
out and stuffing was leaking out him the same with the neck-part of the neck that was on the
nus was also ripped and then urn. Going vertically there was a cut in the stomach and it was just
kind of creepy to see a mutilated bear that like an open pair, it was like an open scripture and
then a candle so we went in there and we kind of creped out well actually we went in there
twice. First time we got scared and we freaked ( brief moment with Silver) Second time we just
took in and get out and then urn. We decided to take a tour of the rest of it urn so were going
through the cellar kind of like backtracking if you were to go through the front door but
obviously it'd be the end ofthe tour ofthe house so we were at the end and we were going up
and it seemed like there was a dead end cause its really, really small in these sort of houses I'm
guessing if they're built in the early 1900's they still had small- small construction guidelines
and they're more building permits really didn't have like fire safety restrictions, so everythings
really small and urn instead of finding a dead end we turned the corner we all kind of creped
out because we were getting actually into the house and it was gonna be a realistic tour urn and
then we found that there was stars at the- at the - at the- at the turn of the corner of the wall I
guess and there were tinny and really steep and they went around a corner so they would be
like half of a spiral staircase obviously not as urn, grand I guess and so we're going up and we're
wondering if we could go through because at the top of the stars was a door. And so I had
luckily been the front; not; (laugh) and I had the flash light at least and so. Was it just me you
and Nick
SP:yeah, Yeah
CT: yeah, just us three anyway so this big huge party of children of three (laughing) so secure
anyway so we're going up and I flashed the light through the door and the door was open a
crack and I could see some graffiti and I was curious as to what it was because most times
people have swear words or do not enter or random I guess you could say as straight as you can
and frankly as you can like pictures of genitalia nasty stuff so anyway I was thinking it was one
of those things cause I've heard of that before and um instead I saw half of a pentagram and it
wasn't just a star pentagram or upside down stars because you could also draw a devil goat
face inside of it and do a whole satanic ritual with it so it kind of creped me out and in any kind
of situation when you're going in a unknown everybody feels really scared and there reallythere
senses when you know you can't- you can't see very well your other senses are high end a
lot more and its one of those six sense tale tale sign when you just don't feel good it's a cold
chill feeling and you're like dude let's just get out of here so after seeing that sign I was like
yupp uhm not going up there not unless there was a big crew of people and it was like some
documentary and we had these big bal-bulky cameras than it'd be fine but .
•
SP: yeah you know and I was reviewing um the video I took while you were going up. You
yourself before even seeing the graffiti or anything you were like I guys I don't feel good I I was
like are you sure? You were like yeah I don't feel good.
CT: oh eah, I was like I don't wanna be a wuss or anything but I don't feel good.
SP: yeah, and once you looked at it you were like yeah there's not there's not good signs up
there
5
CT: yeah that's right not good I was like guys let's just stop. Yeah, so after seeing that I um I
don't like feeling scared a lot because I've gotten over it I guess you could say; after watching so
many scary movies you don't get scared sometimes I guess.
SP:yeah
CT: But in this situation I was pretty scared because my adrenalin was kinda rushing through
my veins. But I was trying to like keep it chill you know- like keep it chill
SP: (laughing) yeah you didn't look scared like
CT: that's what I was trying to do like you know I was trying to keep it together I didn't wanna
run out and scream and scare everybody. So I was like okay you know just breathe let's get out
of here
SP: I kinda felt like that though cause when I first saw the teddy bear
CT: and your like ahh.
SP: I was like guys this isn't
CT: and you ran out oh my gosh
MT: and as we were running out I bumped my foot and everybody runs out
( moment of laughter)
SP: one simple little noise and this whole thing
CT: well its cause I was like looking at it and um I don't know If I could say it in this audio (
looking over at Martin)
(Martin gives a nod yes)
MT: you can
•
CT: but umm the bear- the symbols with the bear reminds me of masonic rituals and so I was
just curious as to what it was but you guys hadn't heard of that before and so, I don't know If
you had heard of it you probably would've heard urn a bias pers- like a bias perspective as well
and I was just- I just wanted to see what it was like and what they had in there and stuff and so
when we shon-when we shined the light on it you were so scared like oh my gosh! What is
that?
SP: you know at first I was; I first noticed the teddy bear and I was like guys this isn't normal
cause at first you know in the process ofthe mind it's like oh someone's trying to scare you
know trying to scare you. But once I looked at the shelf I saw a bible and a candle and that's
whenl~artedhea~ngout.
CT: yeah because you - and then we thought it was blood earlier to and it was actually just
candle wax so I'm guessing they were trying to read the bible with the candle which would
make sense ritualistically but urn
SP: who would go in there by themselves though, I wouldn't dare do anything like that
6
CT: well if- I don't know I guess if it's abandoned and you wanna practice something that not a
lot of people agree with urn, you do it alone. Or maybe if there intent was to be alone to be
more satanic or whatever but I don't know you can't really judge that because mas-masonry is
kind of an obscure ritual not a lot of people know about they just know that it's either good or
bad. But it can kinda go in-between because like the mutilation we saw on the bear that wasn't
right.
MT: that was not normal
SP: that was not
CT: the different symbolism with the neck the throat and the gut makes sense with masonry urn
and then also the candle and anyway.
SP: well yet again they were no demonic symbols
CT: besides upstairs if- if my fear was right but I'm like oh my gosh I sees nothing but anyways
that was- that was pretty much it and after we kind of left were like okay we're good lets just;
and it wasn't it was barley even twilight it wasn't even like (both CT & SP) 'dark' and so I'm like
dude I'm glad we really didn't go at the dark or else things would've been so much more high
end and we would've freaked out; cause you were even saying when we were entering the
whole cabin complex it really doesn't feel that scary you know I kinda just feel like a chill. You
• didn't feel (brief pause) I guess your adrenalin pumping as much as it had the other ten times.
7
SP: yeah, well actually I'd say my first five times (mumble) but the weird thing is like every timeevery
time I go there's always bound to be that one that one point where it's the depression
feeling that last a few seconds then leaves but like the first time the vary first time I went
(pause) urn (pause) I was- I was terrified I was so scared urn. It was actually my first time going
in a haunted place and uh urn after we were done, like I started feeling like all my energy just
going down that's the weird thing to because four of my friends entered the red cabin right
next to the pool and it was three guys and one girl and .. as soon as she stepped on the door
step urn her and my other friend freaked out, looked at each other and were like 'did you hear
that' and they both said it- it was funny they were like 'yeah' and so they both ran out and so
the other two that were in there ran out and uh and I was outside. I was like guys what's going
on-whats going on? And there like 'oh we heard something' and the other two that were in
there were like yeah 'we didn't hear anything you guys are tripping' later on through the day
we went to first dam and we started reviewing the video and clearly it was-it was recorded on
an ipod and you could clearly hear a woman in the background that sounded like she was crying
CT: oh was this the video you should me later?
SP: Maybe
CT: perhaps I think oh yeah
SP: but yeah she sounded really sad and uh it was just like (pause) I don't know how to explain
it - it was just a short amount of time but by then when we were reviewing everything I just felt
dead I felt drown like drown out of energy they were all joking around they were like 'oh the
spirits must have gotten your energy"
CT: oh yeah, that must have been true though cause maybe yeah.
MT: Actually while we were there I felt super light headed so
CT: Are you serious?
MT: yeah
SP: I'm telling you you're always bound to feel or hear something
CT: yeah, in my case what the heck?
SP: you're like woe I hear something
CT: and then I was like okay chill out, it could've been the wind
• MT: wait so what was the sound that you heard? (speaking to Camila)
•
CT: I heard the first sound urn the audio that I took with the video captured the same sound
twice so it was basically reputation but I heard "inside inside" but it was such a faint whisper I I
thought I was insane and I thought oh maybe it's the video recording you and your cousin
SP: and that's weird though, that's the weird thing I was like guys we cant go inside its boarded
up in a few minutes later I mean a few seconds later you hear that
CT: uh hm yeah I know
8
SP: actually when we were there my first time the girl that heard the moan not the moan. The
cry yeah the sad sigh urn we were in that cabin and we heard a thing shes like 'guys I see a man
sitting by the fireplace' and she ran out. We didn't see anything we didn't capture anything in
that but I find- I find it kinda interesting how her point of seeing a guy sitting next to the
fireplace and your point of hearing the 'inside'
CT: yeah but it was really faint to and I thought I was mor- when I was there it didn't sound as
faint as it sounds on the video recording it sounded like anybody whispering during a test
SP: like they were next to you?
CT: yeah, and it wasn't as soft either it was like a sharp whisper and so I thought maybe it like
when you play back a video on not like the most expensive video camera you have it sounds
kinda like sharp and kinda like small and then when nobody; I looked behind me and all the rest
of our group were taking a video
SP: in front of you
CT: and they were still currently doing it then I realized nothing was playing back and 1- I waited
a minute longer to see if anything happened and then I was like dude I don't feel good and then
I was like what the heck. Did you guys hear that and then I was like I'm insane and then when I
later heard it like I was replying it urn the next day cause that night I went to bed and I was like
I'm not gonna play that urn I wanna go to bed; cause so many times I've watched movies in my
room and then I'm like freaked out because I'm alone obviously it's just my room anyways so
yeah urn it was right before we had gone on a hike as a family so my sisters were there with me
and they were listening to it and urn I didn't hear it actually the first time and there like wait did
you hear that wait go back. I'm like wait did you guys hear that too than? And there like yeah
we heard some kind of whisper and so I was like so I'm not insane and urn so we played it back
and it was the said twice but it was faint I guess "You have to have special be really special to
hear it" no I don't know but I guess It does explain cause my sister Naomi has a really really
good sense of hearing like when I'm eating food she tells me not to 'chomp' like I'm eating
normally and you know when you're eating cereal whatever and you hear it? She hates that
•
•
9
sound and like anything she'll be like did you hear that? And she is the worst for paranoia like
anything, loh my gosh did you hear that?' anyway so that explains how she could hear it I guess
a lot better than I could when we played the video still I don't know just kind of interesting to
have experienced
MT: it's still kind of creepy but what was the practice with the bear?
CT: the practice with the bear is a masonic ritual according to; I'm not a professional at all 1- I'm
just; I've been interested in what's going on with different kinds of practices whatever and I
guess I could say when I started reading urn Dan Brown's da Vinci code, The lost symbol. Other
ones he's written, there all really full of syb-sy- like symbology and urn different kinds of I guess
you could say urn motives of symbols like different kinds of patterns and how symbols kinda
repeat itself through history and urn I was interested after I was reading it because he was
talking about how the Masons are kind of un-un- kinda- not under privileged cause most of the
really rich bureaucrats are Masons and it's kind of like this brotherhood and each time- the
whole point of going in this brotherhood is kinda like when you're sorority or a- what's the
other one called? There's like a female and male one, what's the other one called? Sorority and
SP: oh I have no clue
CT: it's like- like- it's like the is it an F? I think it F anyway those little clubs you go into when
you're in collage and urn anyway so the whole point is to kinda get in the group where you can
kinda be friends with them and the other point is especially in Masonry is to learn urn urn they
call themselves secrets because urn once you learn them you're not supposed to tell anybody
about it and its really strangely tied to Christianity which explains the open bible uh that's really
interesting I really wanna know what it was open to cause it'd be really interesting to find out
SP:yeah
CT: anyways so urn according to like what's been given by them and what's been linked by
people who've been in them it's what they do sort of thing kind of exposed them is that they do
different rituals kind of like when you get into a club and you get blind folded or something go
through these different tests but some oftheir symbology if you tell where you've learned the
secrets to other people urn you symbolically cut your throat, urn cut your stomach and I think
with the eyes I still haven't remembered exactly what part of the eyes but I'm guessing just
cause eyes are one of the main things we use in life as our sight and (Silver laughs in
background)
CT: what? What's so funny dude?
•
SP: sorry
CT: anyways I'm not really sure with the eyes though because lots of times the eyes have a
symbolic meaning as what you see with your eyes like that's the whole thing
SP: isn't it like you decide to go bind if you tell a secret?
10
CT: yeah, like they'll cut your eyes but the whole point of the eye is besides your hearing and
your smell I guess your eye sight is like one of the most things we use to and everyday like any
kind ofthing is like 'oh I saw it' but you trust me like you know so I'm guessing it's like one of
those things one of those senses you use the most so part of that whole ritual is if you tell the
secret they'll cut your eyes out I'm not- I don't know - I don't know if it's progressive order
each secret you tell like oh my eyes are cut out I'm gonna tell another secret or if they do it all
at once. I don't know. I'm not really sure but that kinda interested me and then that sort of
thing but I'm not an expert at all so I don't even know anyway that's alii know
MT: now just- With me I don't know I just kinda see that as see no evil hear no evil for some
reason
CT:yeah,yeah
SP: that's so true
CT: that makes sense
MT: cause its just if you see something I guess then without eyes you wouldn't be able to see
anything anymore so that's kinda creepy
CT: creepy stuff in the basement
MT: just don't go around fallowing into basements anymore
CT: yeah, kick the door open that's a lot better
SP: there you go
(laughing)
MT: im pretty sure if you kick the door open you're gonna find a super surprise
SP: a big surprise.
CT: a dead body or something
MT: something like that
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Logan Canyon Nunnery and Paranormal Experiences
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Interviews with individuals to tell their experience legend-tripping at the "Nunnery" in Logan Canyon, and others give accounts of other paranormal experiences.
LOGAN CANYON NUNNERY AND PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES
McCall Hoggan
Mountain Crest High School
Mountain Crest Folklore Archives
Logan, Utah
Folklore
Instructor: Brad Gibbons
Fall 2012
Accession Number: -----------------
Total Number of CDs in Project: 1
Equipment Used: RCA Digital Voice Recorder VR5320R
Class: Folklore
Quarter & Year: Fall 2012
Instructor: Brad Gibbons
Interviewer: McCall Hoggan
Address:
Informants: Sarah Allison Harris, Jana Hoggan, Jill Froehle, Jared Hoggan
Brief Description of Project: Started out to find out infonnation about the Logan Canyon
Nunnery, but quickly got into stories about Ouija Boards and other Paranonnal Experiences.
Ii
VI II
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Field Collection CD Cover Sheet 11
Informant Release Forms 111
Collector Release Form XVI
Table of Contents XV11
Cover Essay (Analysis) XV111
• Works Cited XXIX
Autobiographical Sketch xxx
List of Informants XXXI
Transcription w/Cover Sheets 1-13
IX
LOGAN CANYON NUNNERY AND PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES
COVER ESSAY
Is the Logan Canyon Nunnery haunted? We may never know, but after my brief research
maybe we'll have a better idea of what the answer is. I interviewed 2 people who had been to the
Nunnery, and two people who just had strange paranormal stories to tell. The two people who
had gone to the Nunnery, both said they didn't see anything to make the place seem haunted
besides their own fear that came only because they were expecting something scary .
The Nunnery's real name is St. Ann's Retreat; it was first used as a summer retreat for
two wealthy New Yorkers and their families. They had many guests who came to stay, including
the Czar of Russia. It was later used as a summer retreat for the Nuns in the 1950's and later as a
Children's Catholic Camp. The property has 21 total buildings on it, which include two larger
lodges, six smaller cabins, a pool house, a playhouse, and the swimming pool.
The classic myths of the Nunnery are usually quite similar and go something like this:
One of the Nuns got pregnant and to try and save her reputation and keep her faith she gave birth
and then drowned her new born baby in the swimming pool outside. After doing this she could
no longer live with what she had done, so she killed herself in the main lodge. Another story is
that the Nuns were getting pregnant by the Priests and then drowning their babies in the
swimming pool. There are many different variations of these stories .
•
•
•
x
Some of the things that are supposed to happen when you go to the Nunnery late at night
are that if you go by the swimming pool and wait you will hear the crying of newborn babies
about to be drowned. Another is if you go into the main lodge and walk through the building you
will see the ghost of the nun who killed herself.
"You know we didn't see the nun walking around like some people say they do, so we just
basically did the tour, scared ourselves, and took off. "
-Jared Hoggan
I personally think that the stories were just made up, and that it's just a bunch of old
buildings. I do however think it would be a really cool place to see in the day
•
•
•
WORKS CITED
http://www.deseretnews.com!artic1e/640196655/Legends-surround-St-AnnsRetreat.
html?pg=all
.,
XI
--------------------------------- ,--_. __ ._-_.
•
•
•
XII
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
McCall Haylie Hoggan was born September 3, 1995 in Logan, Utah. She lived in a condo in
Black Hawk until she was three, when her parents divorced she lived with her grandparents in
North Logan, Utah. She moved to Nibley, Utah in the second grade with her father and step
mom. At this age her two aunts told her many scary stories, helping her realize she enjoyed the
thrill of being scared. She attends Mountain Crest High School where she is a junior in Mr.
Gibbons Folklore class. She has heard many stories of and about ghosts, but has not yet seen one
for herself. She loves to hear stories of the paranormal but, usually isn't interested in going to
sites where known ghosts are located. When she is not at school she enjoys taking naps, spending
time with friends and family, fine dining, and occasionally traveling.
-----------------------_.. _---- -
•
•
•
XIII
LIST OF INFORMANTS
Sarah Allison Harris: Allison is my mom, she works at State Farm and is a student getting her
Masters Degree at Utah State University. She has lived in Cache Valley most of her life, and is a
graduate from Logan High School.
Jana DeVone Hoggan: Jana is a graduate from Utah State University, she has lived in Cache
Valley her whole life, where her back yard led right into the River Heights Cemetary. She is
currently moving to Nome, Alaska where she has ajob in Juvenile Probation.
Jillian Marguerite Froehle: Jill was born in Cache Valley her sister is Jana Hoggan, they
played the Ouija Board together at their home in River Heights. She now lives in Nome, Alaska.
Jared Bradley Hoggan: Jared is the oldest brother of Jill and Jana, and is also my dad. He has
lived in Cache Valley his whole life. He has not been quite as into the paranormal as his sisters.
1
• LOGAN CANYON NUNERY AND PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES
TRANSCRIPTION COVER SHEET • CD Track: 1
Interviewee: Sarah Allison Harris
Place of Interview:
Date of Interview: October 28,2012
Interviewer: McCall Hoggan
Recorder: McCall Hoggan
Recording Equipment: RCA Digital Voice Recorder VR5320R
Transcription Equipment: Microsoft Word • Transcribed by: McCall Hoggan •
Transcript Proofed by: McCall Hoggan
Brief Description of Contents: Allison describes the time she went to the Nunnery and the
things that happened while she and her friends were there.
Reference: MH= McCall Hoggan (Interviewer)
AH= Allison Harris (Interviewee)
NOTE: Pauses during the interview such as "Umm H are not included in the transcription.
I : • •
•
•
•
2
1.
MH: Ok, when did you go to the Nunnery?
AH: When I was 16.
MH: Ok, do you remember what time of year it was?
AH: It was fall.
MH: So it was cold?
AH: It was a little bit cold, it hadn't snowed yet.
MH: Why did you go?
AH: Well, because my friends and I had heard lots of stories about it like that it was haunted. We
heard that one of the nuns that had lived there got pregnant and drowned her baby in the
swimming pool to hide it. Umm and so we just, everyone talked about it and it wasn't gated off
and like how it has barb wire now it wasn't like that then, you could just walk through the gate
and walk up there so we wanted to go check it out just to scare ourselves kind of.
MH: Ok, umm who did you go with?
AH: My friends umm, trying to think everyone who was there when we actually went inside the
building, cause we went a couple times but there was only one time when we were actually brave
enough to go inside the building. I think my friend Jenny was there and Jake and J.R.
MH: Umm, what happened once you got to the nunnery?
AH: Well like I said we'd been there before, just we wanted to look at the swimming pool. And
we hadn't dared to go inside the building, so this time we were like we're gonna go in the
building and walk around.
MH: Was the swimming pool inside?
AH: No, the swimming pools outdoors. But so we'd been to the swimming pool before, but this
time we had a flashlight and we're like we're gonna go inside and like explore. And ,what's the
question? Sorry I forgot
MH: What happened once you got up there.
AH: Okay, so we decided to go in so we're walking around in there umm just it was scary kind
of because we'd scared ourselves not, I don't really think it's a scary place I don't think its
haunted I just think that we were scared. And we were walking around and our friend Jace who
had been waiting in the car like he was like "I'm not going in you guys are crazy." Umm he
•
•
•
•
•
•
came up after we had gone in and like did something to scare us like he made this loud noise
outside, we freaked out everyone ran out of the building except me and I was there alone.
MH: Why didn't you run out?
AH: Ugh, I don't know I didn't know everyone was gonna leave. I left after I realized everyone
had gone.
MH: Ok, is that all?
AH: Umm ya, and I ran back to the gate like where he was parked cause I was scared.
MH: Umm would you ever go back?
AH: Oh ya, I'd like to go back in the day time just to see what it's like. I don't think its haunted.
MH: I want to go there too; I think it would be cool.
AH: So ya, I'd like to go back just to check it out.
MH: Ok.
3
•
•
•
• LOGAN CANYON NUNNERY AND PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES
TRANSCRIPTION COVER SHEET
CD Track: 2 & 3
Interviewee: Jana DeVone Hoggan
Place of Interview:
Date of Interview: November 1, 2012
Interviewer: McCall Hoggan
Recorder: McCall Hoggan
Recording Equipment: RCA Digital Voice Recorder VR5320R
• Transcription Equipment: Microsoft Word
•
Transcribed By: McCall Hoggan
Transcript Proofed by: McCall Hoggan
Brief Description of Contents: Jana tells some stories of X whom she talked to on her
Ouija Board, and ofthe possible ghosts that she heard in her home.
Reference: MH: McCall Hoggan (Interviewer)
JH: Jana Hoggan (Interviewee)
NOTE: Pauses during the interview such as "Umm" are not included in the transcription.
4
•
•
•
5
2.
MH: Ok, can you state your name?
JH: I am Jana.
MH: Where are we right now?
JH: We are at my house, in Logan Utah.
MH: Ok. So have you personally played with an Ouija Board?
JH: Yes, I have on many many occasions.
MH: Ok. (Phone Rings) Where did you play with the Ouija Board?
JH: I have played it in my bedroom at myoid house in River Heights, I've played it in friends'
houses, in cemetery's, in various places that we thought were maybe haunted, we would go play.
In those experiences there was one common person that seemed to always come to the board
when we would be trying to talk to people, his name was X he was supposedly the Devils right
hand man, usually whenever we'd be talking to someone or like a spirit he would come and take
over like half way through. He could just kick them off the board and take over the conversation;
he had a very distinct way of spelling things and so we could always tell when he had taken over.
MH: What do you mean by that?
JH: Because he commonly misspelled and abbreviated words, he had never actually been born so
he didn't really learn how to read and write through like a school setting. And so he just spelled
things the way they sounded, which so typically he spelled a lot of things wrong. And then
whenever we talked to spirits who had actually lived, they could spell better and were easier to
talk to than him.
MH: Who was usually with you when you talked to X?
JH: My sister, J~ll, and my friend Zandra were always with me.
MH: K. How old were you when you started using the Ouija Board?
JH: I was 16 and I only had it for about a year, just because I ended up getting rid of it because I
decided I didn't like it.
MH: What made you decide to get rid of it?
JH: After we kind of the excitement of playing it started to die out, I kept it under my bed and
when it was under my bed for about 3 weeks I was having really weird bizarre dreams about
•
•
•
death and dying and serpents and it was kind of scary. And I kind of chalked it up to the Ouija
Board, so I got rid of the Ouij a Board and I had never had those dreams since I got rid of it.
MH: Hmm, so.
JH: Can you like fast forward it to ...
MH: Its recording ..
JH:Oh
MH: Its ok, so back to X do you remember anything specific things that he would say to you?
6
JH: Not necessarily to me, it seemed that he had a crush on my sister which is why whenever she
was around and we were playing the Ouija Board is why he would come in and take over. Ifwe
ever started playing and she was gone to the bathroom or something that's when we would get to
talk to somebody else. As soon as she would enter the room he would take over, and he always
wanted to talk to her. I can't remember some of the specific things that he would say to her, but
kind of that he was waiting for her to die so that he could be with her.
MH: He said that?
JH: Uhh- huh, and it was just really creepy it got to the point with him where he was so, because
he was a very powerful spirit where he was supposedly you know, pretty high up on the devils
list that where he was able to overtake other spirits and kick them off the board and he would
make weird things happen every once in a while. But it got to the point that Jill wouldn't play on
the Ouija Board anymore because it was just getting to weird because he was so powerful and so
possessive that we were afraid something would happen if she continued to play, so she just
observed for a while. Some ofthe weird things that would happen, is like one time we had a
bunch of candles lit and we had asked X when he had taken over the board to show us a sign that
he was as powerful as he said he was. And right when we asked him to do that the candle that we
had at the head of the board shot up really big and all the other ones dimmed down really low for
like just a second then it went back to normal. And we asked him if that was him messing with
the candles and he said yes. And then we told him on another occasion that we wanted a sign and
right when we asked him that, a door slammed outside and there was no wind there was no one
out there, there was no reason for the door to slam especially as hard as it did. And then he once
again took credit for that also when we asked if it was him, he said it was.
MH: Did you ever see him in person, or thought that you saw him or any of the ghosts that you
talked to?
JH: No, well not I don't know not that I know of, I know there's an incidents in my parents
house after we played the Ouija Board where Jill saw somebody she thought it was me, I was not
home no one else was home. But she said she was in the bathroom brushing her teeth, and
•
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7
someone came down the hallway to the bathroom and said her name and she said you know she
kind of put her finger up in the mirror and said you know hold on just a second cause she was in
the middle of brushing her teeth and she got done brushing her teeth, she went out there and
there was nobody downstairs, nobody in the house, nobody was home. And she called me to see
if I had come home and left, and I had never been home. And so Jill may have seen him, and that
was about probably the only time except for I used to wake up to sometimes when I would hear
people talking in the hallway but there would be nobody there. But I don't know necessarily who
it was, but I could always hear a man and woman talking in the hallway on several occasions I'd
wake up in the middle of the night and I could hear them.
MH: Were they loud, or quiet?
JH: It was enough so I could hear them but I couldn't make out what they were saying, cause
they were in the hallway outside my bedroom door. And then, because ya where I don't know
exactly what X looks like the one time I thought I saw a spirit, I don't know if it was him or not
but it was really scary. I was laying in my bed and it was one of those weird half-awake half
asleep things, and I dreamt that I watched my bedroom door open cause I always slept with my
bedroom door closed. And in my dream my bedroom door had opened, well then in real life I
rolled over and opened my eyes and there was a man standing above my bed like looking down
at me and I gasped because I was scared and then he like disappeared. And I sat there forever and
I know I was awake when it happened and but that was the only time I ever saw that man, which
could have been him. I don't know, it was really scary though.
• LOGAN CANYON NUNNERY AND PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES
TRANSCRIPTION COVER SHEET
CD Track: 5
Interviewee: Jill Froehle
Place of Interview:
Date of Interview: November 1, 2012
Interviewer: McCall Hoggan
Recorder: McCall Hoggan
Recording Equipment: RCA Digital Voice Recorder VR5320R
• Transcription Equipment: Microsoft Word
•
Transcribed By: McCall Hoggan
Transcript Proofed by: McCall Hoggan
Brief Description of Contents: Jill tells about her time playing with the Ouija board and going
to the Ogden cemetery to see Florence. She even talks a little about what some people think are
aliens in Alaska
Reference: MH= McCall Hoggan (Interviewer)
JF= Jillian Froehle (Interviewee)
NOTE: Pauses during the interview such as "Umm " are not included in the transcription.
8
•
•
9
3 .
MH: Ok, so have you ever had a paranonnal experience?
JF: Yes, many.
MH: Ok can you tell me about any of them?
JF: One in particular that stands out is probably when I was in high school me and my friends
like sometimes just for fun would play on the Ouija Board and there was like you know we heard
weird things about the myths of the Ouija board and anyways supposedly that only bad spirits
could actually or neutral spirits could actually speak through that. And anyways there was one in
particular that would always usually talk to us and his name was X, and in the spirit world he
supposedly was pretty high up there on the, on who was in control on the other side. Or at least
who has somewhat power on the other side, but anyway so his spirit for some reason took a real
attachment to myself and we'd been told from people with experience in the Ouija board that a
lot oftime spirits will be drawn to a person with a very innocent spirit or a good spirit and to be
honest usually when we played the Ouija board I was always saying prayers in my head because
you know I'd get really nervous of the unknown and bad things can really happen. Anyway
during this time, there was one day that I was in, in my home and I was downstairs in our
basement and I was alone down there, or at least I thought I was. And anyway I was in the
bathroom with the door open, and I was brushing my teeth. And in our bathroom downstairs
there's a mirror, a huge mirror above the sink and then, so then you know as your brushing your
teeth you can see out into the hallway behind you. And then there's another mirror, and so the
mirrors can catch you know reflections of each other. Well anyway, when I was brushing my
teeth I heard my name, I heard somebody say my name. And I look up and I just see this
silhouette of a figure and it, it resembled a male figure and I assumed it was my younger brother
at the time, Lance. And I held my finger up to say one minute you know, just give me a minute
I'm brushing my teeth ill be done. So anyways when I got done brushing my teeth I went into
Lances room at the time and nobody was there, and you know the lights were off and I thought
well ok maybe he went upstairs. So I went upstairs to see what he needed, and it turned out I was
the only one home and nobody was home, and nobody had been home. And so it really freaked
me out because you know who or what was it that said my name. And that I could see, and you
know see a figure of. And at that time I kind of related it to that maybe it was that spirit that we
had you know talked to on, on the, on the Ouija board.
MH: Is that the only time that you felt like you saw something, or?
JF: No, I always felt like growing up I always saw things or heard things. But I could never
explain them, and, and sometimes you know theres people that do studies on, on people that for
some reason have people from the other side that are drawn to them, its something that usually
happens to them all their life and you know I always noticed it where ever I went or where ever I
lived. I would usually catch something out of the comer of my eye or I'd hear things, I remember
being young and being upstairs in my parents room and I could hear voices talking to each other
like a man and a woman. I could never tell what they were saying, but I could hear them and I
remember turning off the TV to make sure it wasn't the TV, you know like background noise.
And putting my ear to the floor and could hear people talking down stairs, but nobody was there .
..•. _ .... _ .. _ ....... - - ----- __________________ .......1
•
•
10
And then even as I got older, you know I would hear or see things and you know I finally got to
the point though where you know I learned, that you can either draw them more to you by
focusing on that sixth sense that you may have, I believe everyone has that if people start using
theirs and figuring out how to use it and trying to getting in touch with it I think then they can
and are able to connect with whatever is going on the other side, or energys of some sort in this
world. Because you know we know very little about our brains and the capability of what we can
do with them, and we use very little of them. And so anyways my point is, is that as I was getting
older I started to push those notions out of my head and to distance myself from wanting that
connection with the other side. Or not wanting to have that connection and I would say now that
I'm a lot older I don't have those things happen to me because I am not in tune with that side of,
of my soul or spirit anymore.
MH: Ok, so have you had anything paranormal happen to you since you moved to Nome? Or
does nothing really happen anymore?
JF: I don't, I don't think anything has happened up here. I'm trying to think back, I know that
being up here its so different when you have darkness for, for a lot of the time such as in the
winter only getting four hours oflight. I remember well just being outside seems very eerie here,
and there you know are things that go on here that are unexplained. People disappear, people
vanish up here but, there was even a movie based on it. But it was their own theory, but if you do
any type of research on Nome, they do have 20 its standing now I believe at 24 or 25 people that
have never been found. They just vanish, they have, every, everybody, the FBI even has come up
here to investigate what goes on, and everybody has their theory, but I don't believe they know
for sure since they don't have any evidence of what happens to these people. But I for myself up
here or since I've moved here have not had any paranormal experiences, but I haven't for a long
time as I said. Probably you know a while ago they stared to not let my, inner spirit connect to
that other side, and not, because I was always tired of being afraid, or of being, or seeing things I
didn't want to see or catch out of the corner of my eye, or hear things.
MH: So, would you want to tell me about the time when you went to the Ogden cemetery?
JF: That is probably one of the most vivid experiences I've ever had, and that even as I've grown
older and more skeptical of those kinds of things, that is one thing I cannot deny that I, that I did
see with my own eyes. It was, I was in, again I was in high school and some friends there was
five of us and we'd gone to the Ogden cemetery and because there was this supposed spirit that I
mean the corny part was that if you flashed your headlights three times, this spirit would appear
and walk you know towards the vehicle and the two guys at the time that had gone, that had said
they had seen it and then took myself and two other friends along. You know we wanted to see it
for ourselves, we, we believed them but to a point. Because you never believe those things unless
you see it for yourself, and anyway so we went and we drove down to Ogden you know it was 2
a.m. or something and we drove into the Ogden cemetery and we backed up into this corner and I
think you kind of sat diagonal. One of the guys was driving and then, I don't remember who was
sitting in the passenger's side, but I just know I was sitting in the back in the middle so I could
see directly you know between the passenger and driver in front of the car. And we sat there and
they flashed there lights and we sat there for like an hour, and nothing happened. And so you
know while we were sitting there in the dark we were just talking you know as teenagers do, we
have lots to talk about and anyway so then we decided oh we're gonna give it five, ten more
minutes and then we'll go home. Cause we hadn't seen anything, and I don't know ifit's because
•
•
11
we started talking about like death and how you know we'd want to die, or how we wanted to be
buried, or how you know if that, if that ever happened to us and as we were talking about it all of
a sudden probably, probably ten feet in front of the car there was this three flashes, like on the
ground. A green yellowish glow and it just went FLASH FLASH FLASH! Really quick and we
were, we all saw it, and we, we were all like "did you see that?" "did you see that?" "oh my gosh
what was that?" "what was it?" and you know it like, even right now telling it the hair on my arm
starts raising. Because it takes me back to that point of being afraid of something you don't, you
can't explain, or don't know what it is. And so we sat there a little longer and within a couple of
minutes it happened again, and It just FLASH and then but it stayed. And then all of a sudden
this figure started to rise out of the ground and you could, it was a woman and you could see her
as, you could see every detail. As she rose up you could see her hair and it was long and flowy,
and then she had this gown on like, a gown from you know the 1900' s you know more of a old
style vintage gown and it, anyway when she started to rise up which you know I, I started
screaming. I was scared to death, I was terrified that if she started walking towards the car like
the myth is said too, my fear was I have these, I'm in the middle and I have these people sitting
next to me and what if she possesses one of them. And I just started screaming "START THE
CAR!" "START THE CAR!" "GET OUT OF HERE!" "GET OUT OF HERE!" And everybody
else was screaming and the guy that was driving he started the car, and I remember he turned on
his lights and you could see almost this silhouette and what was even scarier was that we had to
drive through her to get out, and we did, and I was terrified absolutely terrified. Because I could
not explain it, it was a translucent figure but you could see everything. You could see her eyes,
her nose, her mouth, her like I said her hair was long and wavy and, and as we drove back to
Logan you know one of our friends she wanted to go back, she wanted to go back and sit there
longer, and I refused, I refused I never wanted to go back, and I never wanted to see that again.
•
•
CD Track:
Interviewee:
LOGAN CANYON NUNERY AND PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES
TRANSCRIPTION COVER SHEET
6
Jared Hoggan
Place of Interview:
Date ofInterview: November 5,2012
Interviewer: McCall Hoggan
Recorder: McCall Hoggan
Recording Equipment: RCA Digital Voice Recorder VR5320R
Transcription Equipment: Microsoft Word
Transcribed by: McCall Hoggan
Transcript Proofed by: McCall Hoggan
Brief Description of Contents: Jared tells about the time he went to the Nunnery.
Reference:
NOTE:
MH= McCall Hoggan (Interviewer)
JH= Jared Hoggan (Interviewee)
Pauses during the interview such as "Umm" are not included in the transcription.
12
•
•
4 .
MH: Its November 5, we're in Nibley Utah, its 7:00 at night and I'm interviewing Jared about
the time he went to the Nunnery. Can you tell me about it?
13
JH: Va, I was in high school it was probably fall, like September. And a group of friends from
high school who had always wanted to go up there, and check it out cause we had heard the usual
stuff.
MH: What's the usual stuff?
JH: Like that it used to be a, a nunnery or a convent or something for nuns, a summer retreat.
And one of the nuns was supposedly pregnant and drowned her baby in the pool to cover it up
and shortly after they closed it down. And it sat empty for a long time, anyway so a bunch of us
decided to go up there, and you go across a, you go across a bridge across the Logan River and
then down a long wind, you know dirt road down to it. And it was all over grown with trees, and
really kind of spooky at night, and we were there and it was dark. And so we walked down and
there's a big pool, swimming pool outside, and kind of a big building like kind of a, I don't know
what you'd call it just kind of a place where they could gather, and then there was three or four
cabins, smaller cabins around the big building. We went in you know went through it and looked
around, people were trying to scare each other. And that's about it you know it's definitely a
place I'd like to see again especially in the day light cause I bet it's really pretty all the
craftsmanship and the cabins and stuff was really nice, at one time it was a really pretty pretty
place. It was kind of surprising that they would just let it go, and you know let it get so run down
and beat up. There was a lot of graffiti from people who had been in there before us and lots of
damage, broken down doors and stuff like that. You know we didn't see the nun walking around
like some people say they do, so we just basically did the tour, scared ourselves, and took off.
MH: So you don't think its haunted?
JH: No. I don't think its haunted, I think it's pretty cool.
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Legends of St. Anne's Retreat
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Folklore fieldwork assignment presenting several versions of St. Anne's Retreat in Logan Canyon.
LEGENDS OF ST. ANNE'S RETREAT
Sandra L. Shaw
Utah State University
Fife Folklore Archives
Logan, Utah
English 423
Instructor: Wilson
Summer 1984
•
LEGENDS OF ST. ANNE"S RETREAT
•
•
Sandra L. Shaw
Logan, Utah
Utah State University
American Folklore
Summer, 1984
T ABLE OF CONT ENTS
Cover Essay • • • • . . . . . . . i • Autobiographical Sketch . . . . . . . . . •• vi
Item if Informant Title
I. Hekeda at St. Anne's Retreat
1 Rich, R. The Deer Lady
2 Richardson, D. The Jealous Nun
3 Ferrin, R. Drowning Babies
4 Ferrin, R. Disappearing Keys
5 Alder, E. Freezing Nuns
6 Hardman, L. Hedeka and Her Dogs
7 Neeley, A. S. Hook Lady
8 Jensen, S. The Lynching Mob
II. Modern Day Experiences at St. Anne's Retreat • 9 Jensen, S. Scratched Paint Job
10 Hardman, L. Barking Dogs
11 Hoth, J. Clean and Dirty Swinuning Pool
III. Other Hauntings of St. Anne's Retreat
12 Allred, J. Mass Murderer
13 Nelson, J. Haunted Retreat
14 Budge, L. Pregnant Nun
15 Sinunons, P. Fighting Nuns
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4
5
6
7
8
9
11
12
13
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15
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Cover Essay
I have grown up in Log~ and because I know so many people from the area
I decided to focus on something that I could collect from my friends. I
thought of things that were common to most Logan High School graduates
and St. Anne's retreat immediately came to mind. It has always intrigued
me because I had never heard a story before that explained in detail why
it was such a scary place. I had heard rumors that nuns had been killed
at the retreat, but I had always wondered about the details. I thought
it was amazing that such a thing could happen in Logan Canyon because it
was so out of the ordinary for a place like Cache Valley to have a murder
take place.
I have ~een up to St. Anne's a couple of times when I was in high
school, and I knew that other people had often gone up there too. I had
been scared each time I had gon~ and I was also very curious about where
and why the stories had originated. I thought that there must have been
some incident that had started the telling of the legends, and I was
very curious to know if there was any truth to them. I had always thought
that nuns were interesting and mysterious, and this added to my. desire to
find out more about the legend of St. Anne's.
As I learned about folklore, I began to notice that legends like the
one about St. Anne's were not just found in Cache Valley, but allover the
country. I realized that being scared was a favorite pastime of many
people, and even such small towns as Mink Creek had someplace that was
considered haunted. I found that people, especially high school kids, .~
would tell scary stories about a certain place, and then go there to
get scared or carry out some tradition to bring a ghost out. The stories
i
•
•
•
usually dealt with some kind of restless ghost haunting the place because
of a sudde~ violent death.
After I had chosen my topic, I began collecting by asking people if
they knew any stories about St. Anne's Retreat. The easiest place to
collect, although it was somewhat ironic, was at church on sunday. I attend
a young adult L.D.S. ward, whose members are mostly people who have graduated
from Logan High School. I would ask as many people as possible if they
knew anything about St. Anne's, and then I would wtite their name down and
call them later to get the full details. This was an easy way to go through
a large number of people without much effort.
I later collected by calling informants on the telephone, and then
writing down what they were saying as quickly and as accurately as I could.
I tried to use the words that the informant had used, but I edited the unnecessaJY
words. I put down the idea of what the person told me, and used
the more original words in their narration. Some of the informants had
a hard time remembering the stories, and would tell me a few circumstances
out of order. For these items (#2,11,15) I put the circumstances in a
story form, however most of the items were told in story form.
I classified all of the items as legends, and then I ~anged them
according to theme. From each informant I collected their place of birth,
age, education, religion, and ancestry. I asked each informant a variety
of questions about the circustances in which they heard the story, and I
also asked them what they thought of the story. These questions included
such things as: whether or not they believed the story, if it scared them,
if they had been to the retreat, why they thought that people told the
legends, did they like the story, and why were nuns used in the stories •
ii
•
•
•
The answers to these questions enabled me to better evaluate the
p~Tpose of the legends and the reasons why people tell them. Most of
the informants thought that reasons for telling the storieses were for
fun, excitement, and thrills. While I was doing this project, I realized
that people love the excitement that goes along with being scared, and
they tell these stories in order to get that excitement. Some people
believed that the legends originated because something really did happen
at St. Anne's Retreat which spa'DkEid the telling of these stories. I do not
know if a murder took place at St. Anne's, but I think that something
mysterious might have happened at the retreat. Another reason for the
stories could be the intriguing qualities that nuns have to an L.D.S.
community like Logan. Few mormons understand nuns, and because of this,
people might have begun to tell stories about them to express their fears
of the unknown. They could have begun as warning stories to young people
to keep them from going up the canyon late at night. This theory is
ironic because telling such legend causes young people to become curious,
and they desire to go to the retreat to find out if it realily is haunted.
Most of the people I interviewed had been to the retreat.
I felt the , comment made by informant if 8, "people tell stories about
St. Anne's because it adds excitement to an otherwise normal place," was
an ,',insightful comment about St. Anne's. It is an ordinary retreat, but
because pe0ple have built up such a significant tradition of legends about
it, it has become an infamous landmark to a large number of Cache Valley
residents. I asked many people if they could tell me a story about St.
Anne's, and most of them could not give me a detailed story about it, but
they had heard of it, and they' knew that legends did exist about it. It
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is amazing that so many people know that St. Anne's even exists. Because
they do know, I think that a conclusion about human nature can be drawn.
People like to talk about the infamous, tragic, mysterious, and sensational,
otherwise the legend of St. Anne's would have died out long ag~ along with
many of the other legend that exist allover the world.
Many of the informants had heard the story at girl's camp where it
is traditional to sit aroung the campfire telling ghost stories. Most of
the other informants heard the story at a party where there was a large
group of people. This shows that people like to talk about the supernatural.
They like to think about those things that are out of the ordinary because
they may feel that their own lives are very normal and relatively unexciting.
Because they do not know what the lifestyle of a nun is like, they may thi nk
that a nun has a more exciting life than they do, especially if she has
a big black dog or a haunted swimming pool nearby.
I think that people receive a superioTity; by talking about these kinds
of things. First, they are eager to pity someone else other than themselves,
and they are also relieved that such a terrible thing didn't happen to
them. They can vicariously experience the fear that the legendary characters
have felt when they visit the retreat, but they feel the security of having
a group of friends with them. They also have the security of knowing that
other people have gone up to the retreat before them and made it back altve.
This gives the person a chance to feel superior to the figures in the
legends, and may enable the person to feel better about themselves.
The variations on the legend are so numerous that it is almost
impossible to come up with an all inclusive story. The nuns are usually
a significant part of the legends, and the black dogs, and empty swimming
pool are often mentioned. These three it~s allow the storyteller to add
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unusual details to their story that will make it more interesting. The
purpose of these stories is significant because they do offer a c~~ce for
the listener to escape from an ordinary life and think about the extraordinary.
Because they are somewhat believable, the stories are exciting and fun to
hear. They are an interesting and exciting way of entertaing people.
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Autobiographical Sketch
I was born on July 25, 1964, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I grew up in
Logan, Utah. Both of my parents were raised in Ogden, Utah. I have one
older brother, and one older sister. Both -:of them are married, and I
have been the only child living at home with my parents for about seven
years.
For many years my dad worked for Grand Teton National Park during the
summer months as a naturalist. Our family enjoys hiking and camping together.
We enjoy mountains and wilderness because we spent so much time togetether
in the Tetons. We often sat around a campfire and talked until late at
night. I don't remember hearing any ghost stories, but I do remember
hearing jokes and bear stories. During the rest of the year my father
teaches botany at USU.
I have lived in Logan all of my life. I went to Hillcrest Elementary
School, Logan Junior High School, and Logan Senior High School. I am now
attending USU where I have changed my major from computer science to nursing.
I was recently accepted into the WSC/USU nursing program. I will graduate
in 1986 with an associate degree in nursing, and I hope to go on to get
my bachelor's degree •
I am an active member of the L.D.S. Church. My hobbies include
sewing, crosstitch, photography, playing the piano, hiking, and skiing.
I work for the USDA Poisonous Plant Lab in the Plant Industry Building
at USU analyzing poisonous plants •
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Item if 1
"The Deer Lady"
Informant Data:
Robert Rich
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Robert Rich, 22, was born and raised in Logan, Utah. He is an active
member of the L.D.S. Church, and he served a mission to Japan. His
ancestry is English. He is a sophomore at U.S.U. majoring in civeil
engineering. He likes skiing, phoography, and sports.
Contextual Data:
Robert heard this story at a high school party at St. Anne's. He
didn't believe the story, and it didn't scare him. He liked the story
because it scared everybody else. He thinks that people tell the St.
Anne's story because it is scary to alot of people, and it brings about
a scary atomosphere. Robert thinks it is fun to be scared, and he likes
to tell scary stories.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Julian was the most beautiful lady in all of Logan. She was working
at a bottling plant to get enough money to get married. One day as she
was working, her beautiful long hair got caught in a machine and pulled
her in, scarring and mangling her face. Her hand was cut off, and a hook
was put in its' place. Her fiancee refused to marry her, and the towns-people
made fun of her ugly features. Angered and discouraged, she changed
her name to Hekeda and moved up the canyon to live. As she watched young,
pretty couples corne up the canyon, she got a wonderful idea of revenge.
She attacked the couples and scarred and mangled the girls. She couldn't
be caught because she could run as fast as a deer, and she knew trails
and shortcuts in the woods that no one else knew of. Sometimes, even
today, you can still see her running in her white nightgown with her hook
hand glistening in the moonlight.
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Item # 2
"The Jealous Nun"
Informant Datal
Darci Richardson
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Darci Richardson, 19, was born in Wisconsin and raised in Logan, Utah.
She is a sophomore in elementary education at U.S.U., and she enjoys
playing the piano, bicycling, and talking. She is an active memeber of
the L.D.S. Church.
Contextual Data:
Darci heard this story at girl's camp. She was very scared when she
heard the story, and she believes that nuns did get killed at St. Anne's,
but she doesn't believe the rest of the story. She has been to the retreat,
and she was scared when she went. She thinks that everyone wants to tell
their own story about St. Anne's because it is fun and entertaining. She
believes it was a Catholic Retreat, and she is curious to know if any of
the story is true. She thinks that people go up to the retreat to showoff
and to satisfy tpeir curiosity.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The pregnant nuns were sent up to St. Annes. One of the nuns, named
Hekeda was having an affair with the male caretaker. She became jealous
when the other nuns talked to hi~ so she killed all of the nuns. The dogs
barked when she murdered the nuns, and when you go up there now you can
hear them barking and see their green eyes shining •
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Item II 3 & 4
"Drowning Babies" & "Disappearing Keys"
Informant Data:
Rosalie Ferrin
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Rosalie Ferrin, 18, was born and raised in Logan, Utah, She is a
freshman at U.S.U. majoring in communications. She recently graduated
from Logan High, where she was the validictorian of her class. She was
also honored as "Miss Logan." She is an active member of the L.D.S. Church,
and she enjoys dancing, sleeping, and just "hanging out.-
Contextual Data:
She heard both of these stories at girl's camp when they were sitting
around a campfire telling ghost stories. She does not believe the stories
are true, and she thinks that they are told to keep up the tradition of
telling stories. She believes that everyone changes the legends about
St. Anne's, and tells them the best that they can remember them.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The nuns used to go up there when they got pregnant, and they would
have their babies. Then they would drown them in the swimming pool and
bury them. He~eda was a nun who got caught drowning her baby, and she
got in trouble with her priest. She stays at the retreat to haunt other
nuns who try to drown their babies.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
This is supposed to have happened to someone when they went up to
St. Anne's. They drove their car up there, parked it, and turned off
the lights. They put t}h::>lirr car keys on the top of the car to bring Witch
Hekeda down. A light shone on the car and the car keys disappered. They
couldn't leave St. Anne's without their keys, and they never retruned home •
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Item IF 5
"Freezing Nuns"
Informant Data:
Elise Alder
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Elise Alder, 19, was born and raised in Logan, Utah. She is of Swiss
and Welch ancestry and active in the L.D.S. Church. She is a sophomore
in elementary education at U.S.U •• She likes to play with children, do
handwork, sew and care for plants. She works at Carousel Square as a food
worker.
Contextual Data:
Elise thinks she heard this story at a slumber party with all of her
girlfriends. She said they would tell scary stories and stay up all night
because they were so scared. They liked to talk about the supernatural.
She thought that if they talked about evil things long enough, something
evil would happen to them. She believed that nuns were used in the story
because they were mysterious, and nobody knew what the lifestyle of a nun
was like. She didn't think it was to put down Catholics, but to play up
the devil. She doesn't belive the storiesi but she and her girlfriends
were very scared by them because they thought something evil could happen
to them.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
St. Anne's was a place where nuns could go on a vacation, usually
in the summer or winter. One winter a long time ago; some nuns' went up-,
there to stay. It was a very s1!V~e winter with lots of snow so a man had
to bring their supplies to them every week. He would take their fuel and
food to them because it was the only way they could get it. One week the
man couldn't get his wagon through, and he had to wait about two weeks
before he could go up there again. He finally made it up to the retreat,
and he found all the nuns had starved and frozen to death. He noticed
that their bodies had been chewed by dogs. He was very wo~ried about this,
and was just leaving when he saw one of the nuns, whose name was Hekeda.
She began chasing him with her two dogs. He got away and told the towns-people
what had happened. Hekeda still haunts the retreat with her dogs,
and you can see her chasing you in your rearview mirror as you are leaving •
It is believed she is of the devil.
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Item fI 6
"Hekeda and Her Dogs"
Informant Data:
Larry Hardman
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Larry Hardman, 22, was born and raised in Logan, Utah. He is of
Anglo-saxon and Danish ancestry. He is active in the L.D.S. Church, and
he served a mission in London. He is a sophomore majoring in business
at U.S.U. He likes sports, writing, and exercising.
Contextual Data:
His friend told him this story one evening when they were bored and
trying to think of something to do. His friend wanted to take some girls
up to St. Anne's and scare them. Larry hadn't heard of St. Anne's before
so he was told this story. He thinks the story is a good one because he
believes it to be partially true. He said that he read in the local newspaper
th~t there actually were some nuns who were killed up there. He
also likes the name Hekeda because it is a good, scary name. He used b
go up to the retreat often when he was in high school. He liked to go
up there to get scared, and showoff how brave he was. He would take girls
there to scare them and protect them.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
All the nuns and mother superior lived at St. Anne's. One of the
nun's name was Hekeda, and she took care of seven afghan hounds. In the
early 1920's a guy went up there and killed and raped them all. All of
the bodies were found except Hekeda's and the dog's. Every time someone
goes up to St. Anne's to fix it up, they always hear dogs barking, and
then see a lantern'on the mountain. You can see the figure of a woman
walking her dogs up there at night. If you yell the name Hekeda three
time~ a blue fog will cover your car, and you won't be able to come down
out of the canyon •
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Item # 7
"Hook Lady"
Informant Datal
Angela Sue Neeley
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Angela Sue Neeley, 20, was born and raised in Logan, Utah. She is
of English ancestry and active in the LDS Church. She is a senior at
U.S.U. majoring in elementary education. She enjoys skiing, writing
letters, reading, and crosstitch.
Contextual Data:
She was at girl's camp in Logan Canyon sitting around a fire telling
scary stories when one of the girls told about St. Anne's. She said that
everyone got scared, especially since they were so close to the retreat.
She was very scared, but she still wanted to go to the retreat for the
adventure of it. She thinks being scared when you are in a big group is
fun because you can all hold hands and scream. She thinks the stories
are told for fun, for a reaction, and for scaring people. She has gone
up there a couple of times with friends, and she kept watching for Hekeda
all the way home. She was so scared one time, that she wet her pants.
She doesn't believe the story is true, but it does scare her. She says
she wants to believe the story for fun.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The most beautiful woman in logan was in an accident while she was
working, and she got caught in some machinery. Her hand was cut off and
her face was marred. She had to we-ar a hook on her hand, and she lives up
at St. Annes. She gets revenge on beautiful girls. Some girls were
found floating the the swimming pool, and they had scraped necks from
Hekeda's hook. If you go up to the retreat . and bother Hekeda, she will
follow you home at night and scratch on your window •
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Item /I 8
''The Lynching Mob"
Informant Data:
Steve Jensen
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Steve Jensen, 21, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and .lraised in Logan.
He is majoring in Pre-med at U.S.U. where he is currently a junior. His
ancestry is Finnish and English, and he is an active member of the L.D.S.
Church. His hobbies include sports, and horseback riding.
Contextual Datal
Steve heard the first item from a friend, who told him the story,
when they went up to St. Anne's Retreat one day. He later asked his
parents if the story was true, and they told him it was, but they were
on vacation when it happened. He didn't think the story was scary, but
he thought it was amusing in a gory sort of way. He doesn't believe the
story is true, but he thinks it sounds possible, however it is hard for
him to beleive that something like that would happen in Utah without
everybody knowing about it.
The second item was told to him by his brother when they were taking
dates up there. The dates had heard about St. Anne's, but they had never
seen it. The dates wanted to see the place and hear about it. This story
scared Steve because it was more modern, but he didn't believe it.
Steve thinks that people tell stories about St. Anne's because it
adds excitement to an otherwise normal place. He believes that nuns are
used because the retreat was owned by the Catholic Curch. He doesn't
like to get scared, but he does like adventure.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
This actually happened sometime in the early sixties. St. Anne's
was a vacation area, and there were about twelve or thirteen nuns up there
when one of them went bezerk. She just went bonkers. She had been training
these four Black Labs, which she had gotten from Hekeda, to kill. She
kept them in a woodshed on the mountainside, and one night she let the
dogs loose. She got a lantern and a hatchet, and she and her dogs slaughtered
all of the nuns. Time passed and nothing was discovered until someone
made a delivery to the retreat. The person who found the dead nuns went
back to Logan and got a bunch of people together. This mob of people
went up to St. Anne'~ and they found the crazy nnn, and they decided to
hang her. They gave her the chance to speak her last words, and she said,
"I will forever haunt this place." She still haunts St. Anne's today.
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Item it 9
"Scratched Raint Job"
Steve Jensen
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
About eight years ago, four high school guys drove up to St. Anne's.
They were just goofing around, and they thought all of the stories about
St. Anne's were just a joke. -They had a ouija board with them, and they
started saying stuff like, "St. Anne, come and get us. Come here St. Anne."
All of a sudden they heard dogs barking, but they couldn't see them. This
scared the~ so they got in their car and locked the doors. They were
just sitting in the car when the heard scratching noises allover their
car, but they couldn't see anything. They started to drive away, and they
looked out their back window. They saw a woman standing there with four
Black Labrador dogs, and she had a lantern in one hand and a hatchet in
her other hand. When they got down out of the canyon, they found that
the car was all scratched up, and the guy who owned it had to pay $200.00
to get a new paint job.
*Notes Informant and contextual data are found on the previous page.
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Item if 10
"Barking Dogs"
Informant Datal
Lucy Hardman
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Lucy Hardman, 24, was born and raised in Logan, Utah. She is a
senior at U.S.U. majoring in art. She is active in the L.D.S. Church,
and she served a mission to Kansas. She does volunteer work at a preschool
for handicapped children, and she enjoys sports, ceramics, and sewing.
She likes to tease people, and she has a fun sense of humor.
Contextual Datal
Lucy told me this story as a personal experience which happened to
her when she was in high school. She believes the legend of St. Anne's,
and she believes that there really were dogs chasing her and her friends.
I don't know if she was teasing me when she told me that she believed the
story or not. She loves to be scared,and she thinks that is why people
tell scary stories. She doesn't believe that nun stories are told only
in Cache Valley, but allover the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Lucy and her friend were driving around the canyon one fall night
when it was really nice and warm, and they decided to go to St. Anne's.
There were three guys who wanted to go, and three girls who didn't want
to go. Since the boys were driving, they went. They parked the car by
the highway, and began walking up the dirt road. On the way, one of the
guys said "Do you know what happened up here?", and he proceeded to tell
story of the nuns. '~he nuns used to come up here in the wintertime and
stay. One spring the nuns didn't come back. The townspeople went up to
investigate, and they found the bodies of the nuns floating in the swimming
pool, because they had been raped and murdered. They also found mother
superior's black dogs chained up and starved to death in a shack." The
guy telling the story suggested that they go look in the swimming pool.
l"'hile they were looking at it, one of the guys yelled, "I'm scared," and
ran to the car as fast as he could. Everyone else followed him, but the
girls were slower. As they were running down the mountain, they heard
9
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•
dogs barking and chains dragging on the ground, and they thought the dogs
were chasing them. The dogs were howling and looking for the nuns. The
girls were crying because they were so scared •
10
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Item it 11
"Clean and Dirty Swimming Pool"
Jana Hoth
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
--------------------
Informant Data: Jana Hoth, 20 was born and raised in Logan, Utah. She
is of German ancestry and active in the L.D.S. Church. She is a sophomore
at U.S.U. majoring in business. She likes sports, sewing, and watching
T.V •• She works at Schriber's Cheese.
Contextual Data:
Jana can It remember where or why she heard this story, but her friend
told her the story as if it had happened to her brother. She didn't know
if it was true or not, but she believes that stories are told about St.
Anne's because something did happen at the retreat, and people add on to
and change the real story. She had never been to St. Anne's or heard the
legend about the nuns.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Some guys went up toS:t:o,Anne's once, and while they were drivinB'-up
the road a tree fell down in front of their car, and they thought they
might have seen a lady jump out of the trees too. They saw the swimming
pool and half of it was dirty and half of it was clean, but they didn't
know why. Some girls also claimed that they saw ghosts or something there.
• 11
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Item if 12
"Hasa{Murderer"
Informant Data:
Jeff Allred
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Jeff Allred, 21, was born and raised in Log~, Utah. He is of English
ancestry, and he is active in the L.D.S. Church for which he served a
mission to Oklahoma. He likes footbal~ softball, motorcycles, and women.
He is attending U.S.U ••
Contextual Data:
Jeff heard this story when he was in high school. He was talking
with his friends at lunch time and sitting on the jock bench--this is a
bench at Logan High where all of the "jocks" sit--when the subject of St.
Anne's came up. The legend was told to entertain, and to scare the guys.
He went up to St. Anne's often in high school. He liked to take girls up
there, and scare them. He doesn't believe the story is true, but he does
like it.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
On a dark and dreary night, a fugitive from the law murdered his
wife . and his neighbors on both sides of his house. They were left in
pools of blood. The cops came to get him, and he cut their throats :with
a knife he had hidden in his left shoe. He drove the cop car up fourth
north, and on the way he saw a group of preschool children, which he picked
up and drove to St. Anne's, where he butchered them and put them in the
swimming pool. The nuns living there came out to see what was going on,
and he slaughtered them too. He threw them into swimming pool, .and it
had become a pool of blood. The police came up to the retreat to find
him, but they never did. The cops took all the bodies down to the dump
in garbage trucks, and they came back to go swimming in the bloody pool •
12
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Item IF 13
"Haunted Retreat"
Informant Data:
Jenny Nelson
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Jenny Nelson, 20, was born in Colorado Springs, Colo., and reaised
in Logan, Utah. She is of Swedish ancestry and active in the L.D.S.
Church. She enjoys reading, playing the cello, and skiing. She works
as a secretary, and sh is a junior at U.S.U. majoring in English.
Contextual Data:
Jenny was at a high school party in Logan Canyon when she heard this
story. Guys and girls were sitting around telling scary stories when they
began talking about St. Anne's Retreat, and they decided to go up there
and look around. Jenny didn't believe all of the story, but she did believe
that someone had been killed at the retreat. She was scared when they
were at the retreat, and she felt like something might happen, but she
didn't know what. She thinks that people tell the stories because ito: is
fun to be scared, and she does not feel that the stories are told to
demean Catholics. She felt that the experience she had at the retreat
enhanced the associations between the guys and girls, and she thought that
some boys would take girls up to the retreat so that they could act as a
protector and show off their courage.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
There was a murderer hanging around the canyon who visciously
slaughtered one or two of the nuns, and their ghosts haunt the area
now. When they were murdered the dogs barked at the murderer, and you
can still hear them barking and the nuns screaming when you go up there
at night. The dogs will bark until you fall into the swimming pool.
They closed the nunnery because of what happened there. The hauntings
have caused more deaths, and someone dived off the diving board into an
empty pool. Other people have gotten killed there.
13
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Item if 14
"Pregnant Nun"
Informant Data:
Lanice Budge
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Lanice Budge, 19, was born and raised in Logan, Utah. She is an
active member of the L.D.S. Church, and she is of German and English
ancestry. She likes to swim and ride horses. She is a sophomore at U.S.U
majoring in math education.
Contextual Data:
She can't remember where she heard this story or who told it to her
because she has heard so many stories about St. Anne's at different times.
She thinks that she probably heard it at a party in the canyon with a group
of her friends. She tried to go up to the retreat onc~ but a man told
her to leave. She doesn't like the story, and she dOGS not believe any
of it is true. She thinks it is a sick story, and whoever made it up
had a morbid imagination. She was not at all scared by the story. She
thought people told the story to get scared and excited.
* * * * * * * * * ~ ~ *
One of the nuns that was living up at the retreat got pregnant, so
she killed all of the other nuns because she didn't want anyone to know
that she was pregnant. She had the baby, and it reminded her that she had
killed everyone else, so she killed it toq by drowning it in the swimming
pool. She haunts the area today.
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Item If 15
"l1ighti ng Nuns"
Informant Data,
Patricia Simmons
Logan, Utah
July, 1984
Patricia Simmons, 19, was born and raised in Logan, Utah. She is
a sophomore at U.S.U. majoring in economics. She is of English ancestry,
and she is active in the L.D.S. Church. She enjoys playing the piano,
reading, playing tennis, and music.
Contextual Data,
Patricia was at a party in the canyon with her high school friends
when she heard this story. They went up to the retreat to look around,
but she was truo scared to go all the way to the swimming pool. She doesn't
enjoy getting scared, and she didn't like the story or believe it. She
was scared because of the spirit of telling ghost stories, and she did
have a little belLef in the story. She thinks that people tell the stories
about St. Anne's because they like to get attentnion, get scared, and show
off. She believes that the story is told about nuns because it was once
a nunnery.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Two nuns were fighting by the swimming pool at St. Anne's retreat.
One of the nuns was knocked into the swimming pool where she hit her
hea~ and went unconcious and drowned. She haunts the swimming pool today.
15
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Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 8
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Cache Valley Magazine article (2010) featuring St. Anne's Retreat
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Images featured in Cache Valley Magazine shows Pine Glenn Cove (Logan Canyon) also known as Hatch's Camp, The Nunnery, and St. Anne's Retreat.
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September 2010 5
EDITOR.S NOTE
Dark and light clouds mingle over Logan Peak on a stormy summer afternoon.
Under the weather
Now I truly understand the meaning
the phrase: "Out in left field."
Shortly after deciding that the photographic
spread in this issue of Cache
Valley Magazine would be focused
upon the skies above our beautiful little
corner of the world, I found myself
trapped in the outfield during a city
league softball game. I say "trapped"
because from my vantage point along
the left-field line on a Willow Park diamond,
I had an amazing view of what
would prove to be the most majestic
rainbow of the year to my right, followed
shortly afterwards by the most
spectacular sunset of the summer to my
left. And I, of course, had failed to pack
my camera in my bat bag along with
my glove and cleats.
Less than a couple of months later,
I have no idea whether my team won
or lost that game. And it doesn 't really
matter, because to me, that evening will
always be regarded as a loss because I
missed out on a great photographic opportunity.
But that's kind of the way this summer
went for me. Everything was a little
bit off.
Where I would normally crave
blue skies, cloudless days and lots of
sunshine, the fact is that's rather ... well
... boring. To capture really compelling
6 Cache Valley Magazine
images of the sky, you need things in the
atmosphere to be a little bit mixed up.
A rainstorm not only creates rainbows
and lightning and towering cloud
formations, it also removes haze from
the valley, and the water in the air
makes for more vibrant sunsets. And
knowing that led me on more than
few occasions to complain out loud to
friends and relatives when looking over
a weather forecast that showed nothing
but bright little orange suns.
Fortunately, with that assignment
now completed, I can now take both
eyes off the sky and return to normal
- that being primarily watching
the skies to see how the sun and the
clouds impact landscapes and subjects
on the ground. I can also spend more
time appreciating the early autumn
days in Cache Valley where high , deep
blue skies and lots of sunshine is the
norm.
But then again , a fall snowstorm is
always nice. After all , nothing's more
beautiful - and photogenic - than
white, pristine snow nestled upon bright
red , orange and yellow leaves.
I wonder what this week's weather
forecast is.
Jeff Hunter, editor
jhunter@hjnews.com
SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 7, NUMBER 8
PUBLISHER
Bruce Smith
EDITOR
Jeff Hunter
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Shawn Brady
SALES MANAGER
Debbie Andrew
ADVERTISING DESIGN
Ashley Carley
CIRCULATION
Russ Davis
PRODUCTION SUPPORT
Paul Davis
BUSINESS MANAGER
Kristy Amado
Cache Valley Magazine is published
10 times annually by Cache
Valley Publishing LLC and inserted
in The Herald Journal newspaper
in September 2010. Subscriptions
are available for $12. Please
write to Cache Valley magazine,
p. O. Box 487, Logan, UT 84323-
0487 or e-mail Jeff Hunter at
jhunter@hjnews.com.
To advertise, call Debbie Andrew
at (435) 792-7296 or e-mail
dandrew@hjnews.com. For photo reprints,
call (435) 792-7299. Visit us on
the Web at www.cachevalleymagazine.
com.
All rights reserved. Reproductions
of Cache Valley Magazine in
whole or part is strictly prohibited
without consent of the editor or
publisher.
COVER PHOTO by Jeff Hunter
The remnants of a rainstorm linger
above Old Main on the campus of Utah
State University on a summer evening.
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Six-year-old Trae Priestly of Weston chases after a balloon on the turf at Romney Stadium during Aggie Football Family Fun Day on Aug. 21.
Ags chasing victories
usu opens season with an eye on uncertain future
While overseeing the scrimmage in
the middle of Aggie Family Fun Day on
Aug. 21 , Utah State head football coach
Gary Andersen and his assistants donned
blue T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase
"All In" on the back. Although it's clear
that the Aggies where using a term more
commonly associated with Texas Hold
'Em to help inspire an all-out, team-wide
effort to excel during the 2010 season,
"All In" seemed a bit ironic following
the major gamble Utah State University
had taken earlier in the week.
In-state rival Brigham Young, in an effort
to leave the Mountain West Conference
and go independent in football and
8 Cache Valley Magazine
USU athletic director Scott Barnes answers
questions from the press after the scrimmage.
land elsewhere for its remaining sports,
put together a plan with Western Athletic
Conference commissioner Karl Benson,
USU President Stan Albrecht and Ag-gie
athletic director Scott Barnes that
would have greatly solidified the future
of the WAC and reinvigorated the rivalry
between the Aggies and Cougars.
Early reports on the morning of Aug. 18,
painted an extremely attractive picture
of a regular football series between USU
and BYU, as well as games between the
Cougars and other WAC schools.
The prospects were so thrilling that
some people predicted that gridiron powerhouse
Boise State might even back out
of its plan to leave for the Mountain West
- soon to be weakened by the loss of
University of Utah to the PAC-lO - and
return to a stronger WAC.
Clockwise from top left: Linebacker Jerome
Barbour pressures quarterback Diondre Borel.
A girl reacts to a big splash at the dunk tank.
Eric Moats hangs onto a touchdown pass despite
the efforts of cornerback Chris Randle.
Moats was then flagged after "putting" the
ball underneath Randle's knees. Ryan Bennett
watches as an Aggie signs his USU helmet.
IN THE VALLEY
But before the late summer sun had
set over the Wellsville Mountains, Utah
State was already in the dark, having
been stunned by the announcement that
WAC fixtures Nevada and Fresno State
had received and accepted invitations to
join the Mountain West Conference earlier
in the day. Now looking at a WAC with
only six schools remaining, BYU started
to rethink its best-laid plans and promptly
backed off its return to the WAC.
That meant that Utah State, which had
also been invited to join the Mountain
West but turned the offer down in order
to live up to an agreement with the rest
of the WAC that it would stay together
for the next five years or be subject to a
$5 million penalty, was suddenly facing
a very bleak future.
After going "All In," the Aggies' big
gamble now had them on the outside
looking in. That's why before seeking
out Andersen for an interview after the
Aggie Family Fun Day Scrimmage, the
gathered members of the media first
swarmed around Barnes on the turf at
Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium.
"We felt very confident in the alignment
we had, the security we had in WAC
members and BYU, and we thought that
was the very best next step for Utah
State athletics," Barnes said. "That has
gone away obviously for reasons you've
all heard. That said, every oar is in the
water; we are exploring all possibilities.
Our focus is on making the WAC better,
but that said, we need to look at every
opportunity that is out there."
A week-and-a-half later, BYU finally
announced that it was still going independent
in football, but rather than add
it's other athletic programs to the WAC,
it planned to join the West Coast Conference.
As this issue of Cache Valley
Magazine was going to press, the~future
home of Utah State athletics, whether it
be in a new-look WAC or another conference,
was still unsettled. But with the
2010 campaign about to begin on Sept.
4, at seventh-ranked Oklahoma, Andersen
was trying his best to keep his and his
team's focus on the task at hand.
"We will just take it as it falls and continue
to fight on," declared Andersen,
now in his second season at Utah State.
"We haven't talked about it as a team,
September 2010 9
IN THE VALLEY
10 Cache Valley Magazine
nor will we because we are talking about
a thing that we have no control over, so
why do it?"
After going 3-5 in the WAC and 4-8
overall last season, most USU fans are
optimistic that Andersen has the Aggies
headed the right way. But while Utah
State boasts 20 returning starters and a
much deeper bench, two of last year's
bright spots, running back Robert Turbin
and wide receiver Stanley Morrison, are
both going to miss the entire season with
Aggie fans scramble for Rice Krispie treats
thrown into the stands at Romney Stadium.
injuries, and heralded new linebacker
Matt Ah You, who played at BYU in
2008, was recently shelved for the year
by a shoulder injury.
What Andersen does have is a senior
quarterback in Diondre Borel who put up
impressive numbers last season (23 total
touchdowns vs. only four interceptions)
with his arm and his legs; a stable of
dangerous running backs with different
skills in Michael Smith, Derrvin Speight
and Kerwynn Williams; and a handful
of defensive standouts like junior linebacker
Bobby Wagner, cornerback Chris
Randle, and local high school products
Levi Koskan and Junior Keiaho, who is
moving from defensive end to linebacker
this year.
Slated to finish fourth in the WAC this
season in the preseason coaches' poll, the
Aggies' schedule starts with the Sooners
and ends at Boise State on Dec. 4. In between
there's home games with Idaho
State (Sept. 11), Fresno State (Sept. 18),
Brigham Young (Oct. 1), Hawaii (Oct.
23), New Mexico State (Nov. 6) and
Idaho (Nov. 20). Although Utah State
hasn't finished with a winning record in
a decade-and-a-half, many feel that corner
is about to finally be turned this season,
even if USU's future beyond that
is extremely uncertain because of the
cloudy conference situation.
"Expectations are high, from all of (the
media) and from us," Borel said of the
coming season. "Probably higher from
us just because we're are trying to get to
a bowl game, so I think we are ready for
this year."
leffHunter
IN THE VALLEY
September 2010 11
F
IN THE VALLEY
, :;.tr......L&
Bryan Palmer's garden plot helps maintain green space along the U.S. Hwy. 89-91 corridor. Below, black-eyed Susans grown at the Wellsville farm.
So close you can taste it
Wellsville resident heads up successful community garden
A couple of women walk by Bryan
Palmer's produce stand at the Cache Valley
Gardeners' Market, pausing to check
out the buckets of flowers he has sitting
next to a table filled with vegetables.
There's yellow black-eyed Susans, blue
globe thistle and purple-and-white, daisy-
like echinaceas.
For five dollars, Palmer will pick
out more than two dozen of the flowers
and sell them as a giant bouquet, an
item many customers can't pass up each
week. Upon request, Palmer will sort
through the flowers that have been cut
fresh in the early morning hours, strip off
the leaves, clip the ends, then tie them
together for customers to take home.
Meanwhile, nearby at his produce table,
two of his teenage employees are help-
12 Cache Valley Magazine
ing customers purchase squash, melons
and egg plants.
Palmer, who started selling flowers at
the market 11 years ago, has been growing
them for more than two decades on
property he leases in Wellsville. What
began as a business selling dried wreaths
and bouquets has grown into Palmer's
Community Supported Agriculture
(CSA), which employs a dozen teenagers
in the summer and produces dozens
of different types of vegetables and about
a half-acre of flowers.
'The reason why we have the farm is
for the kids. That's the biggest reason,"
Palmer says. "A couple of them have
worked for us for probably five or six
years ."
Palmer says everything he earns from
the farm stays in Cache Valley and goes
toward paying his employees and buying
seeds and products from local gardening
stores such as Alpine Gardens,
Rudy's Greenhoouse and Anderson's
Seed and Garden. He and the tee nag-
ers are out in the five-and-a-half acres
of land he leases every day, whether
they're focused on weeding, watering,
planting or picking.
On Friday nights, they pick a lot of the
vegetables for the market, and on Saturday
mornings they are up before the sun
rises getting buckets ready to fill with
peppers and flowers . Palmer says it's
been a learning process throughout the
years and they try to grow new things
every summer. They are currently growing
squash, peppers, cucumbers and artichokes,
as well as 30 varieties of fallharvest
vegetables. Palmer expects they
will be picking right up until Thanksgiving
this year.
An Ogden native, Palmer lived in
California for several years, where he
says he and his family went to several
farmers ' markets that lasted year-round.
He commented on the various flowers
they would sell, the seafood and different
produce that was available. The markets
in California spurred the idea to sell
flowers in Cache Valley, which did well
at the market for several years until the
recession.
"With the economy, we really got into
fruit and veggies," Palmer says. "The
last two years have really been hard on
flower growers. We used to be able to
take our truck and trailer and fill it with
60-75 buckets of flowers and sell out in
IN THE VALLEY
a couple of hours. We would have a huge
line. It would be like all day long ."
Now Palmer only sells a third of the
flowers he used to at the market. He says
his bouquets last a little longer than those
that can be purchased at the store because
the flowers are usually fresher. Bouquets
of roses, for example, normally take
three or four days before they reach the
customer, as they are shipped from Ecuador
to Miami, then on to Salt Lake and
Logan.
Currently the CSA can garden for about
eight months of the year, Palmer says,
but it's not like he can go too long before
thinking of the next garden. Catalogs
come around Christmastirne, and Palmer
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14 Cache Valley Magazine
orders seed around the first of the year. In
mid-February he and his employees are
germinating seed in a greenhouse, and by
the first part of April they are planting.
In the future Palmer hopes to lease two
more acres of land and put in an orchard
to grow fruit and nuts.
Retired after more than two decades
in the National Guard, Palmer says the
Army and his job at Alpine Gardens in
Brigham City pays his bills. The CSA is
Top, Palmer breaks open a small, yellow watermelon.
Above, blue globe thistle is one of
the types of flowers grown at the garden.
just a side-venture, a hobby mostly, that
gives back to Cache Valley.
"It's really their farm," he says, gesturing
toward the two teenage boys behind
the produce stand. "They help us on the
farm and then actually come pick on Friday
nights and come sell on Saturdays.
We try to grow a few different things every
year. You learn as you go."
Manette Newbold
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
September 17·18
The Aggie women's volleyball team hosts
the Utah State Invitational over two days at
the Spectrum. The Aggies will take on Loyola
Marymount at 10 a.m. and Utah Valley at
7:30 p.m. on Friday, then play UC Riverside
at noon on Saturday. Call 797-0305.
September 18
The 2010 Nordic Track Top of Utah Marathon
begins at the Hardware Ranch in
Blacksmith Fork Canyon at 7 a.m. and ends
at Merlin Olsen Park in Logan. Spectators
can begin viewing the race at Mile 14 just
outside the mouth of the canyon, and the
awards ceremony is slated for 1 :15 p.m.
Visit www.topofutahmarathon.com.
September 18
Logan Dog Agility sponsors the Canine
Carnival and Fall Fun Run from 9 a.m. to 1
p.m. at the Cache County Fairgrounds. Call
(801) 710-1046 or visit www.fallfunrun.
blogspot.com.
September 18
The Utah State football team welcomes
WAC rival Fresno State to Romney Stadium.
Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. Call 797-0305.
September 18·0ctober 30
The American West Heritage Center in
Wellsville presents a wide variety of autumn
and Halloween-themed activities through
the month of October, including a corn maze,
blackout maze, train rides, pony rides, super
slide, hay jump and kid's pirate hay fort. The
Haunted Hollow will also be scaring visitors
on Oct. 8-9, 15-16,22-23 and 29, for an admission
of $7. Call 245-6050 or visit www.
awhc.org.
September 24·25
The Bear 100 ultramarathon begins Friday
at 6 a.m. Mt. Logan Park in Logan and
winds along a 100-mile course through the
mountains until reaching the finish line in
Fish Haven, Idaho. Call 563-3647.
September 25
The Utah State women's soccer team faces
BYU at 4 p.m. at Bell Field. Call 797-0305.
September 30
The USU women's volleyball team plays
its first home conference match of the season
against Fresno State beginning at 7 p.m.
at the Spectrum. Call 797-0305.
October 1
The Utah State football team hosts instate
powerhouse BYU at Romney Stadium
beginning at 6 p.m. Call 797-0305.
IN THE VALLEY
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September 2010 15
Left, one of the small cabins at Pine Glenn Cove
in Logan Canyon as it appears today. Top, child
actors present a play at the small amphitheatre
that used to sit on the grounds. Above, the interior
of the playhouse used as a child by L. Boyd and
Anne Hatch's daugther, Sydney.
Also known as
Hatch's Camp,
St. Anne's
Retreat and
'The Nunnery,'
the history of
the curious
collection of
buildings in
Logan Canyon
isn't nearly as
scary as you
may have heard
STORY & PHOTOS BY JEFF HUNTER
1- -- -- - -
Floyd OdIum was giving a speech
in Salt Lake City in 1955 before
the Conference on Intermountain
Industry when the wildly successful
businessman tried to playa small trick
on his audience.
"A fellow I have known quite well for
a long time took up his pen years ago
and wrote a rhyme about a certain spot
in Utah which was known as 'Hatch's
Camp,'" OdIum stated before reciting a
poem:
When I'm tired and sick and weary
Of the din of city strife
And am longing for the pleasures
Of a natural open life,
Ship me westward to the mountains,
Put me off at "Hatch's Place"
By the Logan in the Wasatch;
There my sorrows I'll efface.
There before the open fireplace
Or stretched out beneath the trees
I will listen to the music
Of the mountains and the breeze,
To the roaring of the waters,
To the song of melted snow
Until night has brought its shadows
And the sky all aglow
And then the shooting kisses
Of a mountain air so sweet
Will comfort me until I lapse
Into a blissful sleep.
"The author of those lines is here
with us tonight," OdIum then announced
before admitting, "In fact,
I'm that fellow. As poetry, it is a very
feeble attempt. But as an emotional
expression concerning a state I love, I
stand by it."
As the head of numerous, multi-million-
dollar corporations during his
career, including the Atlas Corporation,
RKO Pictures, Northeast Airlines,
Convair and Bonwit Teller, it's easy to
-envision the bespectacled OdIum behind
a wooden desk in a large office of a
skyscraper in New York City, putting his
thoughts down on paper, trying to drown
out the hustle and bustle of Manhattan
outside his window.
All the while wishing he could
abruptly replace the concrete-and-steel
canyons of Wall Street with the rock
cliffs and solitude of Logan Canyon.
18 Cache Valley Magazine
---_ .. - - ---- -
Top, a vintage image of the living room inside
the Hatch cottage. Above, a bedroom in a
cabin at Pine Glenn Cove. Right, Floyd Odium
poses for a photograph with his son, Bruce.
Could phrases like, "I will listen
to the music of the mountains
and the breeze," and "shooting
kisses of mountain air so sweet; will
comfort me until I lapse into a blissful
sleep" actually be referring to St. Anne's
Retreat? Surely generations of Cache
Valley teenagers and Utah State University
students would wholeheartedly
suggest otherwise.
After all, "The Nunnery," as it is often
called, is widely considered the scariest
place in the area, primarily because
of the frightening tales surrounding the
small collection of cabins eight miles
northeast of the mouth of Logan Canyon.
Among the many urban legends
that have been propagated since the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City
took possession of the property in 1958
is that nuns who had been raped by
priests then drowned their babies in the
swimming pool, and visitors to the site
can still hear the infants' cries at night.
Another story has two nuns fighting,
with one sister pushing the other into
the empty swimming pool. The fatal fall
leads to the dead nun returning to haunt
the sister who killed her, banging on her
door at night and laughing with glowing
red eyes when her murderer would look
outside. A nun searching for her stolen
golden arm, and another sister accompanied
by vicious dogs are also among the
ghost stories that have prompted many
people to tempt fate - or at least fight
off a little boredom - and sneak onto
the property late at night.
This Cache Valley tradition turned
')
into a real horror story for 38 teenagers
in 1997, when after crossing the bridge
over the Logan River and heading up the
road to the retreat, they were greeted by
three watchmen armed with shotguns.
The trespassers were then tied up in the
empty swimming pool and threatened by
the guards , who were later charged with
assault for their aggressive behavior.
At the time, the retreat, which sits on
2.85 acres of land leased from the U.S.
Forest Service, was owned by a group
of families who had grown weary of
vandals and trespassers, and many of
the buildings had fallen into disrepair.
But in 2006, the site originally known as
Hatch 's Camp was purchased by Chad
Top, the playhouse used by the Hatch daughters.
Above, the backdrop of the amphitheatre
included an ad for Bonwit Teller. Left, Bruce
Odium's wife sits on the edge of the pool.
Godfrey, a River Heights native who
now works in the health-care field in Salt
Lake City. Godfrey, who now refers to
the property by another of its old names
- Pine Glenn Cove - hopes to restore
as many of the structures as possible, or
at least sell the site to someone else who
can complete the project in the future .
"We're just in the very beginnings of
having it restored," Godfrey says. "About
all we've done so far is completely clean
everything out. I think we took about
28,000 pounds of junk out of there ."
While there are still "no tresspassing"
signs posted at the entrance to Pine Glenn
Cove, Godfrey did take down the barbed
wire that used to discourage visitors from
crossing the bridge. He also helped get
the site put on the National Register of
Historic Places in 2006, and Godfrey
says his hope is to one day host an "open
house and invite the entire valley."
"Once it's restored, we'll let people
come up and tour the whole thing for
three days," he insisted. "I think that
will pretty much turn off all the trespassing
and stuff because they'll see
how wonderful it is all made up."
But Godfrey, who says he first briefly
visited what was then St. Anne's (or St.
Ann's) Retreat when he was 6 years old
- "before my mother and I were scared
off when some dogs came running down
the hill" - admits he's never spent a
night at Pine Glenn Cove.
"But I can tell you , there's no nun
with a golden arm, or dead babies under
the playhouse," Godfrey declares. "In
fact, I've had a number of paranormal
societies contact me, and they all said
there was nothing up there. Although
one of the groups did get the holy heck
scared out of them when a sheriff's
deputy came in off the road - they
check it all the time and he saw lights
- and slammed a door shut while they
were all standing in the lodge. Otherwise,
the scariest thing you'll probably
see up there is a squirrel or a pack rat."
The Catholic church took possession
of what it then renamed St.
Anne's Retreat in the 1950s after
the Hatch family initially tried to donate
the site to the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints and Utah State University.
The retreat served as a getaway
spot for Sisters of the Holy Cross from
the Salt Lake diocese for a couple of decades
before it was turned into a summer
youth camp in the 1980s. The Catholic
Church eventually sold the lease to some
families in 1993, and the site has been
under private ownership ever since.
Now close to 100 years old, the
original buildings at Hatch's Camp/Pine
Glenn Cove were constructed in the
1910s by Hezekiah Eastman Hatch,
the president of the Thatcher Banking
Company in Logan, who obtained the
original permit from the forest service.
His son, Lorenzo Boyd Hatch, would
later improve and add to the retreat,
eventually sharing the site with his
brother-in-law, Floyd B. OdIum.
Hatch, who is best known in Cache
Valley for founding the Sunshine Terrace
Foundation in 1948, and OdIum
became brothers-in-law after marry-
September 2010 19
=--=======----- . - - ---- - --------
ing sisters originally from St. George.
Hatch met Anne McQuarrie in 1917
while working in Salt Lake City and
married her a year later, while OdIum,
a Michigan native who attended law
school at the University of Colorado,
was employed by Utah Power & Light
in Salt Lake when he first encountered
Hortense "Tenny" McQuarrie. The couple
was married in 1914, and the Hatch
and OdIum families would become even
further linked when, following the death
of his wife Georgia in 1919, Hezekiah
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widowed mother, Ella McQuarrie. A
third McQuarrie daughter, Zella, was
the mother of Robert Walker, a popular
movie star in the ' 40s who was married
to actress Jennifer Jones before dying in
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The OdIums and Hatches left Utah
for New York City in 1921 and '24,
respectively, with OdIum working at a
law firm before pulling together $39,000
and founding an investment firm called
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20 Cache Valley Magazine
financial success almost immediately,
the company grew quickly, and in 1928,
it merged with another company to become
the Atlas Utilities Company with
OdIum as president, Hatch as vice-president
and assets valued at $6 million.
But just months before the stock
market crashed in 1929, OdIum sold off
half of Atlas' holdings and $9 million in
new securities to investors, leaving him
with an estimated $14 million in cash
and short-term notes as the country's financial
system was falling apart. In tum,
OdIum started buying up stock from
other investment firms - often for 50
cents on the dollar - reorganized them
and sold of their assets, only to purchase
more firms, and eventually, a wide
variety of businesses from railroads to
mines and motion-picture studios to
department stores.
Considered one the 10 richest people
in the country by 1933, OdIum and
the company now known as the Atlas
Corporation, bought part of RKO Pictures
, the studio that turned out "Citizen
Kane" in 1941 , After taking over RKO
completely in 1942 at a price of $3 million,
OdIum ended up selling the studio
to Howard Hughes four years later for
$9 million_ The shrewd investor also
ended owning all or part of the Hilton
hotel chain, Greyhound buslines, Convair
airplane manufacturing, Madison
Square Garden and the Bonwit Teller
department store_
OdIum turned over control of Bonwit
Teller, a high-fashion store in New York
City, to his wife, who served as president
from 1934-40 at a time when women
were rarely found in such positions.
Hortense OdIum, referred to as "one of
the 10 best-dressed women in the world,"
even stayed on at Bonwit Teller after she
and Floyd were divorced in 1935.
Following that separation, OdIum
was introduced to Jacqueline "Jackie"
Cochran, who would become arguably
the second-most famous female pilot in
the country behind her friend , Amelia
Earhart. The first woman to break the
sound barrier, Cochran married OdIum,
and the couple later settled on a massive
ranch in the California desert near Palm
Springs in the 1950s, virtually founding
the community of Indio while rarely visiting
Utah. The OdIums often welcomed
' j
' j
friends like Chuck Yeager and Dwight
D. Eisenhower into their home prior
to Floyd's death at age 84 in 1976 and
Jackie's passing four years later.
Hortense OdIum, who briefly remarried
in the later 1930s, died in Indio in
1970 at the home of her son, Bruce. Her
sister, Anne Hatch, passed away in New
York City in 1979, more than 22 years
after L. Boyd Hatch had died at his summer
home in Connecticut at age 60.
Pine Glenn Cove is basically
broken up into two parts: A
lower road off of which most of
the buildings constructed by the Hatches
can be found, and an upper road, where
the OdIums' lodge and cabins stand.
Currently along the Hatch lane, just
above the Logan River, remain two
small cabins (one of which housed the
camp's maids), a larger cottage, a small
generator shed, a playhouse and the
main cabin, which was later used as
a dining hall because of its screened-in
porch. East of these structures are
two guest houses, a storage shed and
a magnificent lodge. Stone stairs and
walkways, constructed by out-of-work
masons during The Great Depression,
surround many of the buildings, and
the infamous swimming pool sits in
between the two roads, adjacent to a
two-story structure used as a pool house
and laundry.
While most of the buildings are now
in disrepair, the stone-and-wood cottage
that served as quarters for the Hatches'
daughters, has had extensive work done,
as has the OdIums' lodge. Built about
1929, is boasts a screened porch on
three sides, a stone fireplace imported
from Europe, and a huge, vaulted ceiling
with hand-painted iron work above
the main room. Stairs lead up to two
large bedrooms and a bathroom.
Pine Glenn Cove (or Forest Hills according
to the forest service lease) also
used to be equipped with horse stables,
an outdoor amphitheatre, and an indoor
theater that could seat 24 people and
even had its own ticket booth.
Boyd and Anne Hatch's daughter,
Sydney di Villarosa, returned to the retreat
in the late '90s with Chad Godfrey
in tow, and she shared fond memories of
picnics by the river and putting on plays
with her young relatives with Hollywood
movie directors, CEOs and noteworthy
politicians in the audience. Now
in her 80s, Villarosa recently returned to
Italy, the land of her late husband, after
moving to St. George for a time.
"Sydney has lived an amazing life,"
Godfrey says. "She married into nothing
short of Italian royalty and lived in
Milan until she wanted to come back
to her roots. Her home in St. George is
reminiscent of an Italian villa .... And
right when you walk in, there's a great
photograph of Sydney with Shirley Temple
and Cary Grant, all holding arms.
"I think her sister, Betty, is also still
alive and living in New York City, and
she married into basically the equivalent
of Argentine royalty. They've lived these
illustrious lives, and they think nothing
of it," adds Godfrey, who says he's been
told that among the celebrities who visited
Pine Glenn Cove are movie starlets
Joan Crawford and Marilyn Monroe.
Because it has almost always had a
telephone, Godfrey says OdIum and
We've taken a
vow of silence.
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Hatch used to spend large portions of
their summer at the camp, conducting
business across the country and the
world from Logan Canyon. Pine Glenn
Cove is also outfitted with an unusual
water system that carries water from
springs almost a mile away in Preston
Valley, through a series of underground
pipes and eventually into a large storage
tank above the retreat.
22 Cache Valley Magazine
Clockwise from top left: The swimming
pool were horrified teenage
trespassers were detained in 1997.
The back side of the sleeping cottage
above the Logan River. Signs
of vandalism remain inside the large
Hatch cabin. The view out the upper
window of the Odiums' lodge. The
large, screened-in porch served as a
dining area when the site was used
as a youth camp. The main lodge is
believed to have been built around
1929. The fireplace in the Odiums'
lodge was imported from Europe.
"It's an amazing system," Godfrey
says. "I mean the pool is huge: 20 feetby-
60 feet. And you can fill it in two-anda-
half hours. If you put a garden hose in
there, it would take you until next June."
Godfrey, who says he first started
dreaming about purchasing Pine Glenn
Cove in the late '70s, clearly feels much
like Floyd OdIum when it comes to the
beautiful retreat up Logan Canyon. One
could easily see him, confined to an
office in Salt Lake City, writing a poem
similar to the one that OdIum shared in
his speech 55 years ago .
"I've just always loved the place,
ever since I was a kid," Godfrey proclaims
with a smile. "It has an interesting
story behind it, and it's just full of
history. It's a very unique property, and I
just love it." m
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I,
LOOK TO THE SKIES
TOP Clouds gathered along the southern
edge of Cache Valley soak up color from the
setting sun.
LEFT Cumulonimbus clouds build up
above the Bear River Mountain Range on a
hot summer day.
BELOW Refracted light creates a unique
sky above the northern end of the Wellsville
Mountain Range.
FACING PAGE A huge bolt of lightning
strikes the valley floor near Newton.
f'"
L .
TOP Lightning strikes pummel the flanks
of Gunsight Peak.
ABOVE A single cloud hovers over the
top of the Wellsville Mountain Range.
RIGHT The setting sun lights up the
bottom of a set of dark clouds just above a
barn in Wellsville.
BELOW Wispy clouds race through the
sky high above Logan Canyon.
26 Cache Valley Magazine
TOP Clouds above Providence Canyon take on an eerie hue as the sun goes down.
ABOVE The skies above the Bear River Mountain Range take on a wide range of
colors as the sun rises on a summer morning.
LEFT The end of a rainbow brightens up a mountain ridge following a storm.
September 2010 27
',I
ABOVE Clouds soar above
the Mt. Sterling area on a
spectacular summer evening.
LEFT Wind and lingering
smoke from a fire create an
unusual line of clouds near the
western shore of Bear Lake.
RIGHT A full moon gives
way to the morning sun and
drops behind the Wellsville
Mountains.
FAR RIGHT Altocumulus
clouds create a stunning pattern
in the sky above Logan
Canyon.
I'
But it's unlikely that many of their commercial
counterparts share the Cox family's tradition of more
than a century of association with the honey business.
That tradition began around the tum of the 19th
Century with the clan's patriarch, Henderson Cox,
tending bees in St. George, which was then a small
farming community. Henderson was eventually
joined in that enterprise by his son, Marion. In 1929,
Marion Cox founded the family business that would
eventually become Cox Honeyland & Gifts. It was
Marion who relocated his family to Cache Valley
after marrying his wife, Lucile, a Providence native,
during the Great Depression. The first headquarters
for the couple's local honey business was established
in Providence.
By the mid-1960s, a third generation of the Cox
family, represented by Marion's son Duane and his
wife Margene, had taken over the reins of the business.
They moved the family enterprise to an expanded
warehouse along U.S . Hwy. 89-91 south of Logan
about 20 years later and then expanded into retail
sales in 1989.
Nowadays, their son Darren has assumed responsibility
for tending the Cox family's bee colonies and
the day-to-day operation of the honey and gift side of
the business is handled by their daughters: Maleesa
Jacobsen of College Ward, Camille Cowley of
Wellsville and Michelle Spuhler of Providence. But
a fifth generation of the clan is also involved in the
honey business: teenaged Breanne Jacobsen is already
employed in the gift shop that is collocated with the
Cox warehouse, and her kid sister McKenzie is an
enthusiastic part-time presence there, as well.
Despite its reputation as the Beehive State, Utah
ranks 24th among U.S. states in the production of
honey. In 2009, the total American honey crop was
144 million pounds from about 2.4 million bee Stephanie Adamson puts labels on fresh bottles of honey at Cox Honeyland.
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colonies, for a total value of about $208
million. Commercial beekeepers like
the Cox family, who tend about half of
all bee colonies in the United States,
produced about 60 percent of that crop.
While that may sound like a lot of
honey, the National Honey Board
reports that Americans are using more
honey-based products - ranging from
cereals to cough syrups - every year.
For example, more than 200 new products
containing honey were introduced
in the United States since 1998, many of
them capitalizing on the all-natural and
Adamson, who has worked at Cox Honeyland
for just over a year, fills up a large jar of honey.
wholesome image of honey.
Nutritionists agree that honey is a
natural source of energy because it
contains a unique mixture of glucose
and fructose. Recent research has also
shown that, unlike most other sweeteners,
honey contains small amounts of a
wide variety of vitamins, minerals and
antioxidants.
The unique blend of sugars in raw
honey has been proven helpful in combating
fatigue and enhancing athletic
performance. Honey can also be used to
treat minor abrasions and bums. Since
many types of honey contain traces of
pollen, medical researchers are investigating
the possibility that eating local
honey may help to relieve allergy symp-
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September 2010 33
toms. Finally, honey is often used as an
ingredient in both manufactured and
homemade beauty products for skin and
hair care because honey has naturally
hydrating and non-irritating properties.
Utah's annual honey production averages
about 1 million pounds and the
Cox family sells as much as 20 percent
of that crop in a good year. But it isn't
just production volume that makes
the Cox name one to conjure with in
the Utah honey business. In May, Cox
Honeyland & Gifts was recognized by
the U.S. Small Business Administration
as Utah's family-owned business of the
year.
"We were really honored to receive
that award," Margene recalls, "particularly
since it signaled that state officials
were paying attention to agriculturerelated
businesses ... In agriculture,
your management has got to be just
right. And, even then, the weather has
also got to cooperate if you're going to
produce a crop. So a successful farmer
has got to be a good businessman and
that's something that most people don't
realize."
But residents of Cache Valley and
northern Utah didn't need a state award
to attract them to Cox Honeyland and
Gifts. Customers have been flocking to
the little white-frame gift shop adjacent
to the Cox warehouse for nearly two
decades.
"We have a lot of customers who
come from as far away as Ogden and
34 Cache Valley Magazine
Margene Cox answers a customer's questions about honey production at the gift shop.
Salt Lake," Maleesa Jacobsen emphasizes,
"because they say that they can't
find unique gift stores like this where
they live. They're also attracted because
we have such a wide variety of gifts. We
provide them with an opportunity to create
custom gift baskets. Our customers
don't have settle for whatever is in a gift
box at Christmastirne. They can select
exactly what they want here year-round
and we'll package it beautifully just for
them in a way that's appropriate for any
occasion."
Margene Cox attributes much of the
success and longevity of their honey
business to her family's work ethic and
willingness to adapt to the changing
business climate.
"My maiden name was Lindley," she
explains. "I was raised on the first farm
that you pass coming out of Sardine
Canyon heading north. It was a 750-acre
dairy and cattle farm. We worked hard
on that farm, but it was good experience
for me. If I hadn't been raised in
an agricultural family, I would probably
have never survived being married to a
beekeeper."
Margene adds that she and her husband
Duane were both raised in families
where long, hard days of work were
necessary to "keep food on the table and
a roof over our heads." Given that background,
the couple naturally raised their
children to have that same type of work
ethic. "That didn't mean that our kids
didn't complain about their chores," she
admits with a smile. "But they understood
why those things had to be done
and that they had to work until a job was
finished, not just until they were tired or
bored."
Honey bees are social insects with
a marked division of labor within the
hives they inhabit. Each colony of bees
includes a queen, drones and workers.
In the most simple terms, the queen bee
lays eggs; the relative handful of drones
mate with the queen; and the thousands
of workers feed the queen and her larvae,
collect nectar from plants, produce
honey and guard the hive.
According to Margene Cox, the main
difference between the honey bees and
the humans who tend them is that, in the
family of a beekeeper, everybody is a
worker.
There are roughly 300 varieties of
honey produced in America, running
the gamut from water-white fireweed
to rich, dark amber buckwheat. In
general, lighter-colored honeys have a
mild taste while darker-colored honeys
have more bold flavors. Darker honeys
also tend to have a higher mineral
content and antioxidant potential.
Those variations of taste and content
also impact the commercial value of
particular types of honey, so successful
beekeepers spend a lot of time moving
their hives from one location to another
to take full advantage of abundant
SPORTS GRILL
sources of nectar in crops or flowers
growing nearby.
In addition to producing honey,
wandering bees also help to pollinate
agricultural crops, home gardens and
wildlife habitat. The U.S. Department
of Agriculture estimates that 80 percent
of insect crop pollination is accomplished
by honey bees and that approximately
one-third of the total human diet
is derived directly or indirectly from
insect-pollinated plants and crops. So
many commercial beekeepers like the
Cox family also spend time transporting
their colonies around the country to
provide contract pollination services to
farmers.
Combined with the labor involved
September 2010 35
in tending their hives and harvesting
honey, the aforementioned transporting
chores keep commercial beekeepers
- and their wives and children - almost
as busy as their bees, according to
Margene.
The Cox family began to diversity
their business in the late 1980s. Prior to
that time, Duane and Margene had been
selling the bulk of their annual honey
crop on a wholesale basis to a farmers'
cooperative in Iowa. But when health
problems dictated that Duane Cox take
a less active role in the business, his
wife realized that her life was about to
change in a big way.
"I had worked in several different
jobs over the years to help make ends
meet while Duane was keeping our
bees," Margene explains. "But when
Duane had to get an artificial hip, we
realized that we had to develop a retail
side of our business to support ourselves
when he eventually retired ... If
I was going to start my own company,
I knew that I was going to have to
find my own niche. Well, I knew the
gift business pretty well because I had
Open
September 10
36 Cache Valley Magazine
Cox Honeyland was recognized as the state of Utah's small business of the year in May.
worked in a florist shop for years; I had
also done oil paintings and some interior
decorating. So I had to take those
things that I knew and use them to our
best advantage."
Like many would-be entrepreneurs in
Cache Valley, Margene's first stop on
the road to launching a new business
was Utah State University. While taking
some business classes there, she also so-licited
the support of USU's small-business
development staff, who provided
both start-up advice and testing of her
initial gift product ideas.
The retail gift side of the business
started small, Margene recalls, because
the family was determined to launch
that enterprise with out-of-pocket
money rather than incurring a lot of debt
through business loans. They installed
a pre-fabricated home adjacent to their
warehouse to serve as a gift shop. All
the manufacturing and bottling of Margene
Cox' first products - honey butter,
honey syrup and cream honey - was
done by-hand in the tiny kitchen of that
home. Despite those humble beginnings,
the business took off.
But Cox Honeyland & Gifts is nevertheless
expanding to meet steadily
increasing demand. The Cox family
now ships an average ton-and-a-half of
honey products to locations around the
world each week and sells about a ton
of fudge annually. Their selection of
gourmet food items includes creamed
honeys, honey butters, honeyed popcorn,
flavored honeys, honey caramels
and other types of candy. In addition
to custom baskets, their available gifts
include toys, candles, massage bars and
many other items.
"I hope that our customers want
to stop here and shop because we're
friendly and have a family atmosphere,"
Margene Cox adds. "Honey will always
be our trademark, but we've got
something for everybody here now. We
try to offer seasonal items along with
our unique gifts, like all the Halloween
decorations we have on display now. We
also try to fill an educational role; we've
even got films for children that explain
how honey is made." m
"If I had been willing to risk more
back at the beginning, I would probably
have a much bigger business now,"
Margene Cox admits, sitting in the
cluttered office of Cox Honeyland &
Gifts. The house's small kitchen is now
gone, transferred to the adjacent warehouse
when more room was needed for
manufacturing. A separate department
devoted strictly to creating the family's
trademark custom gift baskets is also
located in the warehouse nowadays. As
the family's product line grew by leaps
and bounds over the years, the gift shop
expanded to occupy every nook and
cranny of that structure. "But I believe
that you've got to crawl before you can
walk and walk before you run. And I'm
still just not willing to incur a lot of debt
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0043.pdf
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Saint Anne trio trial date set for June 8
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Early date set for trial to ensure that college and mission going teenagers will be in available.
Saint Anne trio trial date set for June 8
Early date to insure [ensure] teens will be in valley
By Jacob Santini
Senior News Writer
The three men accused of assaulting 30 high school students in Cache Valley were back in court Monday.
John Jeppson, Christopher Doerr and Arthur Peasnall were in Logan’s First District Court to be arraigned for six counts of aggravated assault. Jeppson has also been charged with one count of forcible sexual assault.
The alleged crime occurred on the night of Oct. 10, when the three men restrained 30 teenagers at a one time Catholic retreat in Logan Canyon.
According to testimony heard in a preliminary hearing, the teenagers were trespassing on the property because they had heard St. Anne’s retreat was haunted and wanted to check it out.
When the three men heard the teenagers on the property they surrounded them with shotguns and handcuffed them together. Once they were restrained the men made the teens sit in an empty swimming pool with a rope wrapped around their necks, according to information obtained from the case file.
Deputy Cache County Attorney Bruce Ward said the trial needs to be held as soon as possible.
“Some of the victims are leaving Utah this summer because they have been accepted to universities in Texas and Virginia,” Ward said. “There are also a number that are leaving on missions for the Church of Jesus Christ (of Latter-day Saints).”
Judge Clint Judkins set the trial to begin June 8, to insure [ensure] that all the alleged victims will be in Cache Valley at the time of the trial.
During Monday’s arraignment, Barbra Lochmar, defense attorney for Doerr told Judkins that change in venue will be expected because of the publicity the case has seen.
In response Ward said, “I think we need to at least try to select a jury before we make a decision for a change of venue.”
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Judge sets trial date for trio
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A trial date has been set for all three watchmen accused of aggravated assaulting trespassing teenagers at St. Anne's retreat.
Judge sets trial date for trio
All three arraigned on aggravated assault charges; lawyers may seek change of venue.
By The Associated Press
A June 8 trial date has been scheduled for three men charged with aggravated assault for allegedly using too much force to detain trespassing youngsters at a Logan Canyon retreat.
John Jeppson of Pocatello, Idaho, Chris Doerr and Arthur Peasnall, both of Tooele County, were arraigned on Monday on six counts each of the third-degree felony.
Jeppson also is charged with forcible sexual abuse for allegedly touching the breast and buttocks of a female trespasser while searching her.
The men are accused of using violence to detain 38 young people who entered the former St. Anne’s Retreat in Logan Canyon on Oct. 10 for a Halloween season thrill.
The young people, ranging in age from 16-21, initially were charged with trespassing. But the owners of the private retreat asked that charges be dismissed after hearing allegations that three men staying there terrorized the youths.
The three were bound over for trial earlier this month after a preliminary hearing.
Jeppson had been represented by public defender David Perry, but during Monday’s arraignment, Perry told 1st District Judge Clint Judkins that Jeppson has retained his own attorney, Greg Skordas of Salt Lake City.
Skordas will now have to approve the trial date.
If the tentative date works out, the trial is expected to last four and a half days.
Logan attorney Arden Lauritzen, who represents Peasnall, and Doerr’s attorney, Barbara Lachmar, said they will confer with Skordas about the possibility of asking to move the trial to another county.
Judkins said all motions must be filed with the court by April 20.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Judge orders St. Anne's trio to trial
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Trespassing legend-trippses testify about their experience at St. Anne's retreat when they were ambushed by three watchmen.
Judge orders St. Anne’s trio to trial - Trespassing teens testify of horrifying canyon experience
By Jacob Santini
Senior News Writer
Three men accused of assaulting 30 high school students from Cache Valley, at what was once a Catholic retreat, are going to trial later this month.
Judge Clint Judkins ruled Thursday afternoon that the state had enough evidence to hold trial for Christopher Doerr, Arthur Peasnall and John Jeppson. Doerr and Peasnall are both charged with six counts of aggravated assault. Jeppson is charged with one count of forcable [forcible] sexual assault and six counts of aggravated assault.
According to one of the victims, the first alleged crime occurred at around 2 a.m. on Oct. 10. The three accused men caught a group of men and women trespassing on the property of Saint Anne’s Retreat.
Once the tree guards found them, Jeppson fired a shot into the air and told the eight to get down. Once on the ground, the individuals were retained with plastic cuffs and then taken to the main lodge room. Jeppson then wrapped a rope around the necks of the group and told them if they moved their heads would be burnt off, he said.
The second incident occurred Oct. 10 about 9:30 p.m. Three groups of local high school students say they were ambushed on the bridge and then cuffed together.
In testimony on Wednesday in Logan’s First District Courthouse, a 17-year-old girls who is accusing Jeppson of sexually assaulting her, said the group of 11 friends were walking across the bridge when a man came running at them and fired a shot into the air.
“He yelled get down on the f’ing ground; you are all under arrest,” the woman said. “Then he fired his gun in the air.”. . . [missing text] of high school students who were face down in the ground, the girl said.
Once all of the kids were on the ground they were handcuffed together with plastic flex cuffs.
Once restrained, the girl testified, Jeppson sexually assaulted her.
“He searched up both of my legs and then around my behind just patting around,” the girl said. “The then put both hands up my stomach and over my breast and then back down over my stomach.”
“I was so afraid, I didn’t know what to think,” the girls said, crying.
The group of about 30 students were then led to the empty pool on the Saint Anne’s property, according to testimony.
They made us kneel down in the pool and then they put a wire around our necks. He (Jeppson) said it would blow up if any of us moved because it was attached to an explosive, she said.
Another 17-year-old girls said she was injured after Jeppson had grabbed her by the collar and jerked her head back and then forward again.
Johnson said, “He (Jeppson) said ‘Shut up or do you want that rope any tighter.”
Jeppson’s defense attorney David Perry pointed out that vandals had caused extensive damage to the property on the Wednesday and Thursday prior to the Friday that the high school kids trespassed. The eight in the group held by the three men on Friday morning had also threatened to be back later to get revenge on the men, Perry said.
The defense attorney for Doerr, Barbara Lochmar said, “Was it reasonable for Jr. Jeppson, Mr. Doerr and Mr. Peasnall to believe that a felony was going to be committed?
“There had been burglaries the two nights prior and their lives had been threatened earlier that morning,” Lochmar said. “There was reasonable belief that a crime was going to be committed.”
For a crime to be an aggravated assault, deadly force must have been used, Lochmar said.
“Did they use deadly force?” she asked. “They shot in the air and shot to the sides of the people. I’m not so sure that deadly force was used.”
In response, Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt said, “A loaded gun falls under deadly weapon. A felony to injure or use deadly weapon is deadly force.
“If every time someone steps in my backyard and made a noise I could shoot at them, then we live in a sorry world,” Wyatt said.
The charge of forceable [forcible] sexual assault was dropped against Doerr and Peasnall by Judkins because there was no evidence which showed they had sexually assaulted any of the high schoolers.
Peasnall is currently in the custody of Cache County Jail. Jukdkins issued a bench warrant for him when he failed to appear at the preliminary hearing on Wednesday morning. Peasnall was picked up in Tooele County and brought to the courthouse that afternoon. His bail was reset at $5,000.
An arraignment for the three will be held on March 23.
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St. Anne's Retreat
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We're guilty: St. Anne's defendants accept plea bargains
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The three watchmen accused of ambushing trespassing high school students at St. Anne's retreat in Logan Canyon plead guilty and accept plea bargain.
We’re guilty: St. Anne’s defendants accept plea bargains
Surprise pleas bring end to trial
By Miriam Rand, Mike Weibel and Jake Santini
Staff writers
The three men accused of terrorizing 38 teen-agers and young adults at a former retreat in Logan Canyon pleaded guilty to lesser charges today, putting a surprise stop to the 3-day-old trial.
“Guilty,” John Jeppson said in 1st District Court.
“I plead guilty, your honor,” Christopher Doerr said to Judge Clint Judkins.
“Guilty,” Arthur Peasnall said.
The men had each been charged with six felony counts of aggravated assault for tying up the youngsters and threatening them with shotguns. Jeppson had also been charged with aggravated sexual assault.
In a plea agreement with prosecutors this morning, Jeppson pleaded guilty to two felony counts of aggravated assault, which carry a maximum prison sentence of five years and a $5,000 fine on each. The charge of forcible sexual abuse-for allegedly fondling a girl’s breasts while searching her-was dropped.
Doerr, Jeppson’s son-in-law, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted aggravated assault, a misdemeanor. Each count carries a sentence of up to a year in prison and a $2, 500 fine.
Peasnall also pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of attempted aggravated assault. As part of the plea agreement, the charges against Doerr and Peasnall were reduced from aggravated assault.
Doerr and Peasnall looked relieved and smiled and laughed together as Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt amended the charges against them. Jeppson expressed little emotion.
After the hearing, Wyatt said the plea agreement should help resolve some of the controversy over whether the youngers themselves were to blame.
“I think this goes a long way to healing some of the divisiveness in the community,” Wyatt said. “Jeppson said he was wrong, and the kids and their families encouraged us to lessen the charges.”
Cindy Dahl, one of the 30 youngsters handcuffed by the three men in the bottom of an empty outdoor swimming pool at the retreat, said she was glad to be finished with the whole thing.
“It was a big relief,” Dahl said.
“Hearing them say they were guilty was worth it,” added Sean Maynard, another of the youngsters who was held hostage.
They agreed they had no problem with the reduced charges. They were also quick to add they’d never go up to St. Anne’s again.
“Never,” said Dahl. “I’m not that stupid.”
The lawyers for the three admitted their clients broke the law. Doerr’s attorney, Barbara Lachmar, said her client was pleading guilty because he assisted Jeppson in detaining the youngsters.
Peasnall’s lawyer, Arden Lauritzen, echoed Lachmar’s comments. Jeppson’s attorney, Greg Skordas, admitted his client used his firearm and assaulted the youngsters.
After the pleas were entered, Ruth Ann Clark, mother of one of the kids, said “I think the guys finally realized there was all the evidence against them. Justice was served.”
She added that the kids, who were originally cited for trespassing but had the charges dropped at the property owners’ request, have learned a lot from the experience.
Deputy Cache County Attorney Don Linton said he, too, was glad the case is over.
“It’s good to have the acknowledgment of guilt in this case,” he said. “This case has formed a sort of schism in this community.”
He said some people believe what the three men did was right-although it’s not.
“You can’t treat kids like this,” he added, noting that the teenagers and young adults weren’t doing anything wrong.
Cache County Sheriff’s Lt. Von Williamson said the three men learned what they did was, in fact, wrong. “It hasn’t been wasted time,” he said about the abruptly canceled trial.
The pleas bring an end to a saga that began in the early morning of Oct. 10 when Peasnall, Doerr and Jeppson detained eight teen-agers and young adults who were trying to get near the retreat eight miles up Logan Canyon for a Halloween thrill. Spooky stories about the old retreat supposedly being haunted by the ghosts of dead babies of Catholic nuns who once stayed there have been whispered around Cache Valley for years.
The three turned the young people over to deputy sheriffs, who cited them for trespassing. Then later that night, Jeppson, Doerr and Peasnall, dressed in dark clothes, duct-taped flash lights to their shotguns, doused the lights and caught 30 more youngsters at the retreat.
The men were accused of threatening all of the young people with guns, handcuffing them, fondling one of the girls and tying the rest together by their necks with a cord they said was hooked to explosives.
Jeppson, Doerr and Peasnall were released on previously posted bond. One of the stipulations of their release was that they have no contact with the victims or their families. Sentencing was set for Aug. 24 in 1st District Court.
[Photo: S. John Wilkin/Herald Journal. Caption: Defendant John Jeppson, left, leans forward and listens intently during court testimony Wednesday in his trial on charges related to last October’s terrorization of teen-agers at the former St. Anne’s retreat in Logan Canyon. Above, Judge Clint S. Judkins listens to arguments in the courtroom.]
[Photo: S. John Wilkin/Herald Journal. Caption: Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt listens to a witness during courtroom questioning Wednesday in Logan.]
Retreat assault case may have turned on trespassing question
By Miriam Rand
Staff writer
The imposing 8-foot chain-link gate topped with razor wire and placarded with “no trespassing” signs that blocks the bridge leading to St. Anne’s Retreat certainly sends a strong message to people passing by.
And it’s not “come on in.”
Defense attorney in the trial for three men accused of capturing 38 Cache Valley teens and young adults who sneaked into the retreat last October for a Halloween scare argued this week that the teens should have gotten that message loud and clear. Obviously, someone didn’t want them there.
But there’s just one problem.
Most of that stuff, including the razor wire and the signs, shouldn’t be there either.
That’s according to testimony yesterday from U.S. Forest Service official Chip Sibbernsen, who said he himself had removed “no trespassing signs at St. Anne’s, as well as from other cabins permitted as summer homes in Logan Canyon over the years.
The permit holders at St. Anne’s have permission for a gate, he said, but not for the razor wire and signs that give the entrance to the retreat a prison camp appearance.
That’s because the land is still public land, he said, not private property.
Basically, while permit holders have the right to keep people out of their cabins, they can’t keep people from walking through on surrounding land. That’s why the Cache County Attorney’s Office dropped criminal trespassing charges against all 38 youths captured and held at gunpoint by the retreat’s caretaker, John Jeppson, his son-in-law Chris Doerr, and friend Arthur Peasnall.
The move raised the hackles of locals who said it was the kids who were in the wrong, and what the men did to defend the property was beside the point.
But there’s one more problem. According to Utah law, you can’t use deadly force to defend property.
And pointing a gun at someone and saying you are going to kill them qualifies as deadly force, Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt argued.
The three men were charged with aggravated assault about a week after the incidents.
Since then, Lt. Von Williamson of the Cache County Sheriff’s Office said he’s even had complaints from some of the parents of the kids about the trespassing charges against them being dropped.
That wasn’t, however, what a group of upset parents were saying when they showed up at the Sheriff’s Office the afternoon after their kids were cuffed and held at gunpoint at St. Anne’s.
They wanted to know why nothing was being done to the men that are now on trial for aggravated assault for holding the kids at gunpoint and threatening to shoot them if they ran.
And while it’s not against the law for kids to walk through St. Anne’s in the middle of the night, should they?
“To me, as a parent, no,” Sibbernsen said. The gate should be a signal that somebody doesn’t want you in there.”
The trespassing question apparently played a role in today’s sudden turnabout in the case, with the three defendants agreeing to plead guilty in exchange for reduced charges. County Attorney Wyatt indicated since arguments about protection of private property were made moot, Jeppson and his co-defendants had no ground to stand on.
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0042.pdf
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St. Anne's trio bound over for trial
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Watchmen cahrged with tying up and terrorizing 38 trespassing teenagers at St. Anne's retreat will go to trial for their charges.
St. Anne’s trio bound over for trial
By Ryan Robb Oliver
Staff writer
A 1st District Court judge determined Thursday there was enough evidence to order the trial of three men charged with tying up and terrorizing 38 trespassers at the St. Anne’s Retreat.
John Jeppson of Pocatello, Idaho, and Arthur Peasnall and Chris Doerr, both of Tooele County, face six counts of aggravated assault. Jeppson will face an additional charge of forcible sexual abuse.
“This was expected,” said Doerr’s public defender Barbara Lachmar after the hearing. Lachmar said the defense does not present most of its evidence until trial.
Sexual abuse charges had originally been filed against all three men by the Cache County Attorney’s Office. But after listening to two days of preliminary hearing testimony from alleged victims and police officers who arrived at the retreat in Logan Canyon, Judge Clint Judkins dropped the sex charges against Doerr and Peasnall, saying prosecutors failed to bring forward enough evidence.
A 17-year old Smithfield girl had testified Wednesday that only Jeppson touched her buttocks and breasts before he tied her up, supposedly checking her for weapons.
Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt said he sought sex abuse charges against all three men because they were acting in concert with one another.
The three men are accused of violently detaining several groups of teen-age and young adult trespassers at the retreat Oct. 10. The three allegedly wielded shotguns with flashlights strapped to the barrels, which they allegedly fired into the air and threatened to kill the trespassers with if they didn’t follow orders to get on the ground. The 38 people would later be handcuffed and bound around their necks with a cord until police arrived.
Defense attorneys for the three men mounted no significant attacks on the testimony of the six alleged victims in the two-day preliminary hearing. Jeppson’s attorney, David Perry, appeared he was laying the groundwork for a defense based on his client feeling threatened by the trespassers and taking reasonable measures to respond to that threat.
One blow to the defense came out of Thursday’s testimony by a Cache County sheriff’s investigator. Lt. Von Williamson said not only did the three men possibly go beyond what’s allowed under law to stop trespassers, but they didn’t even [have] a right to stop anyone because the St. Anne’s Retreat is on leased U.S. Forest Service land.
“According to their special-use permit, they are not authorized to prevent people from walking on their property,” Williamson said.
Wyatt also said Jeppson, who was allowed by the wonders of the retreat’s buildings to tend the property, was never given permission by them to act as a security guard.
“The message here is don’t defend someone else’s property without their permission,” he said.
The men are scheduled to be arraigned March 23.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0037.pdf
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Trespassing teens learned lesson
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Trespassing legend-trippers may still have learned their lesson. In spite of getting off easy, the impact of the experience may have had a greater impact than having the trespassing charges stick. Bruce Smith, former Herald Journal publisher, relates an experience from his youth as one of the most traumatic experiences of his life and one that he will always remember.
Trespassing teens learned lesson
By Bruce Smith
Herald Journal publisher
“I have never forgotten my experience with the sheriff almost 40 years ago. It was one of the most traumatic days of my life.”
My initial reaction a few weeks ago after a bunch of trespassing teen-agers were terrorized at the former St. Anne’s retreat was that although the kids certainly didn’t deserve the outrageous treatment they received at the hands of the watchmen, they probably learned a great lesson from it all.
The whole situation has brought back some very unhappy memories of when I was a teen-ager and, like most young people, did some very stupid things-and, of course, got an education in the process.
On one occasion I found myself with the wrong friends and in deep trouble with the law. I remember it as if it happened yesterday.
I had a .22 caliber rifle and enjoyed rabbit hunting. My friends and I had a favorite spot a few miles from home where there were thousands of rabbits. One Saturday afternoon on the way home from a day of hunting, we noticed some big new lights along a bridge crossing the Snake River. As we drove across the bridge, one of my friends stuck his .22 pistol out the window and began using the lights for target practice. He must have fired eight or 10 times at the lights as we crossed the bridge. Not one of us in the car did anything to stop him.
We crossed the bridge and went right through the middle of town and headed for home. We didn’t give a second thought to what our friend had just done. No one stopped us and we were sure no one heard the shots.
After we traveled a few miles down the highway we noticed a red light flashing behind us. It looked a lot like the flashing lights on a police car. We just kept on going. We were not smart enough to figure out that it was the county sheriff and he was after us.
The sheriff’s patrol car got closer and closer and was soon right behind us with the siren blaring. Only then did we realize it was us he was after. We pulled over and waited for the officer to tell us what he wanted us to do.
He ordered us all out of the car and then noticed that we all had rifles. He asked us all kinds of questions about the guns, where we had been hunting, who we were, and what we had been doing.
Finding the guns in the car, even though they were unloaded, was enough evidence for him to load us up in the patrol car and take us back to town.
He didn’t put us in jail but sat us close enough to the jail cell that we could see inside and actually touch the vars. He then told us that someone had watched us shoot at the lights earlier in the day as we crossed the bridge. The sheriff had us. We were guilty, the sheriff knew it, and we knew it.
I don’t remember all that was said by the sheriff, but I do remember I was absolutely scared to death. I could picture myself setting behind bars in the county jail. Facing my father and telling him the story was even more frightening. I didn’t do any of the shooting but knew it didn’t make any difference. I was in the car, and as far as the sheriff was concerned, I was as guilty as the person who actually fired the gun.
It seemed like we were questioned for hours and hours about our activities of the day. We listened to the police radio as the sheriff’s deputy drove across the bridge, examined each light, then reported his findings to the sheriff. Thankfully, my hunting buddy was a poor shot. He didn’t hit a single light.
We were all scared to death and knew for sure that we were going to at least spend one night in the county jail. Instead, the sheriff got our attention by giving us a severe tongue lashing. He told us that if we ever did anything like that again he would throw the book at us. To this day I am not sure why the sheriff let us go, but he did.
I have never forgotten my experience with the sheriff almost 40 years ago. It was one of the most traumatic days of my life. Thankfully, the law enforcement authorities saw fit to give me and my friends the benefit of the doubt and didn’t punish us as severely as they could have and as severely as we probably deserved. I suppose they decided there was nothing to be gained by throwing us in jail. I am sure it was obvious to them that they got our attention and that we were scared to death. We had learned our lesson.
It’s obvious the teen-agers who trespassed at St. Anne’s a few weeks ago were also scared to death and learned a lesson. The extreme treatment they received at the hands of the watchmen is an experience they will never forget. And I would guess that the punishment by parents in most cases has been more severe than anything the law enforcement authorities could do to them.
We were all teen-agers once, and we have all done stupid things. Let’s hope the experiences of a few teens at St. Anne’s will help teen-agers in the valley think twice before they find themselves in a situation they can’t handle or somewhere they don’t belong.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0032.pdf
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St. Anne's letters rabidly judgmental
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Comments circling around holding parents responsible for the actions of trespassers
St. Anne’s letters rabidly judgmental
To the editor:
I applaud April Anderson for her intelligent and merciful letter on the subject of the St. Anne’s retreat trespassing incident (Tuesday, Nov. 4). If any readers missed her latter, it would be worth their while to look back through their newspapers and find it.
I, too, have been astonished at how many of the people who have written letters on this subject have been so rabidly judgmental of the teen-agers and their parents. I hope they are just misinformed individuals, rather than the malevolent ones they appear to be in print.
I have the feeling that if they had been standing around the adulteress when Jesus said, “He who is without sin among you, let him vast the first stone,” (St. John, Chapter 8) she would have been dead.
Nancy Jensen
Logan
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0031.pdf
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Five testify against St. Anne's retreat trio
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Preliminary hearing for watchment involved in St. Anne's trespassing ordeal.
Five testify against St. Anne’s retreat trio - Packed courtroom hears charges of assault, sexual abuse
By Ryan Robb Oliver
Staff writer
A packed courtroom of witnesses, family members, deputy sheriffs and reporters listened Wednesday afternoon to the testimony of five people who said they were victims of three men who went too far while protecting a Logan Canyon retreat.
The preliminary hearing in Logan’s 1st District Court had to be delayed into the afternoon because one of the defendants, Arthur Peasnall of Tooele County, failed to show. He was contacted and arrived later, saying he was confused about the hearing date. Testimony in the hearing was expected to continue through most of today.
The three men, Peasnall, John Jeppson of Pocatell9o, Idaho and Christ Doerr of Tooele County, are each charged with six counts of aggravated assault and one count of forcible sexual abuse for violently detaining 38 teen-age and young adult trespassers Oct. 10 at the St. Anne’s Retreat property they were tending.
The 17-year-old Smithfield girl who was allegedly sexually abused said in court that Jeppson felt her buttocks and under her shirt as part of a search for weapons.
“He never checked my jacket.” She said in tears. “He just went up my jacket and shirt.”
Jeppson felt her stomach and her breasts on top of her bra, she said.
The girl said she had come up to the property, a former Catholic retreat rumored to be haunted, with several friends for a Halloween scare, but when she squeezed through the gates she got more than she bargained for.
“We got to the end of the bridge, and this guy came around with a gun and said get down on the f’ing ground,” she said.
She said all three of the men were armed with shotguns with flashlights taped to them, and she said Jeppson fired his gun into a tree to show he was serious.
Like the other victims who came down on the evening of Oct. 10, the girl said her hands were bound by plastic flex cuffs and she was placed into an empty swimming pool until police arrived. All of the trespassers were bound with cords around their necks, which Jeppson allegedly said would detonate and blow their heads off if they moved.
“I felt extremely scared, like something you see in a movie. I didn’t believe it was happening,” she said.
Defense attorney for the three men tried separating their clients from the totality of allegations made by the prosecution’s witnesses. Defenders for Doerr and Peasnall pointed out neither of the two touched the girl. In later testimony, the three defense attorneys would try to separate out who exactly did what, since prosecutors have charged all three men with the same seven crimes.
A Logan boy of Asian descent was a member of the first group of eight people who went to the retreat in the early morning of Oct. 10. The other 30 didn’t arrive at the retreat until the evening of that day.
He testified in a Cache County Jail uniform, having been recently convicted on shoplifting charges.
He said when the three men caught his group on the property; Jeppson held a revolver up to his temple and told him, “I should kill you like I killed one of your family members in Vietnam.”
Jeppson then moved the gun away from his head and fired, he said.
Three more teen-agers who were in the latter group of 30 testified the men physically assaulted them during the episode.
A 17-year old Richmond girl said her head was pulled back by her hair while she was handcuffed in the pool, aggravating a spinal condition. She said she was talking to her friend at the time.
“Mr. Jeppson came up behind me and pulled my head back and said, ‘Shut up. Do you want that rope any tighter?”
A Trenton teen said he was punched in the face by Peasnall and a 17-year old North Logan boy said Doerr kicked him in the stomach when he had been forced at gunpoint to lie on the ground.
He said Jeppson hit him on the side of the head and knocked him unconscious with the butt of this [his] shogun.
One more alleged victim was scheduled to testify for the prosecution today along with a couple of deputy sheriffs. The defense is then scheduled to bring forward its case.
Neither Jeppson nor Doerr would talk with reporters when they left court, and Peasnall was booked into the Cache County Jail for failing to show up on time for the hearing.
[Photo (top) by Mitch Mascaro/Herald Journal. Caption: Assault suspects John Jeppson, right, and Christopher Doerr are flanked by a TV crew Wednesday as they leave 1st District Court following a preliminary hearing. The hearing continued into the afternoon due to the late arrival of fellow suspect Arthur Peasnall.]
[Photo (bottom) by Mitch Mascaro/Herald Journal. Caption: County Attorney Scott Wyatt speaks to the media Wednesday after the end of the first day of the preliminary hearing into the charges against three men in the St. Anne’s retreat case.]
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0036.pdf
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Judge issues warrant for St. Anne's defendant
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Bench warrant was issued by court for Arthur Peasnall, one of the security guards in the St. Anne's trespassing drama.
Judge issues warrant for St. Anne’s defendant - One of retreat trio fails to show up for hearing
By Ryan Robb Oliver
Staff writer
A bench warrant was issued this morning after a man accused of terrorizing 38 teenagers and young adults at the St. Anne’s Retreat in Logan Canyon failed to appear for his preliminary hearing.
Arthur Peasnall of Tooele County was scheduled to appear at 1st District Court in Logan at 9 this morning. The two other men charged in the case, John Jeppson of Pocatello, Idaho, and Chris Doerr of Tooele County, were present for the hearing, but Judge Clint Judkins continued it until 1:30 this afternoon and ordered a bench warrant issued for Peasnall.
Judkins made his decision at 10:20 a.m. when Peasnall had still not arrived. No one in the court, including his attorney, Arden Lauritzen, could account for his whereabouts.
“Use your contacts in Tooele County and do what you have to do to find him,” Judkins said to Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt.
Many of the witnesses set to testify at the hearing and their family members expressed displeasure at the delay.
The preliminary hearing is being held for the state to prove it has enough evidence to bring its case against the three men to trial. The men were arrested in October after they tied up and allegedly threatened to kill 38 trespassers on the retreat they were caretaking for. They are also accused of touching the breasts of one juvenile, claiming they were searching her for weapons.
The men are each charged with six counts of aggravated assault and one count of forcible sexual abuse. All three were released from the Cache County Jail shortly after their arrest on $5,000 bail each.
The Herald Journal will have a report on this afternoon’s development in its Thursday edition.
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0034.pdf
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St. Anne's opinions formed without facts
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Locals responding to the St. Anne's retreat trespassing incident giving their version of the facts.
St. Anne’s opinions formed without facts
To the editor:
Much has been said about the incident at St. Anne’s retreat concerning the kids and their parents. I am amazed at the number of parents who have commented about this issue, especially those who have done so without all the facts.
The fact is these kids are very good kids and have very good parents and for you to judge them as you have done is unfair. Fact-These kids know they have done wrong and so do the parents. No one “whined” to the authorities to try to get anyone off. The landowners dropped the charges completely on their own for whatever reason they had. In fact, they felt bad for what had happened to them and the landowners have actually met with these kids and their parents and he has commented on what great kids they are.
Fact-The parents only went to the authorities to try and stop these men from continuing this kind of action again, and maybe against your kids. And you can’t convince me that just because you taught them it will prevent your youth from making any mistakes or to grow through their teen-age years being perfect. If so, I want a leaf from your book. If you think we condoned their action you’re completely mistaken.
Fact-The kids showed up around 9, not in the middle of the night as so many of you think. Fact-they showed up in small groups of 2, 4, and 6 not a large group of 30 with intent to do vandalism and attack poor Mr. Jeppson. In their pockets they had gum and chapstick, hardly any attack tools.
Fact-The kids were attacked, some not even on the property yet, and were taken by gunpoint to the pool, tied up etc. You know the rest of the story. This wasn’t a necessary protection tactic, it was a very cruel one that they laughed and joked about. He told them “it was a great adrenaline rush and to run because they would love to shoot their legs off.” If this is proper treatment for citizens to inflect on trespassers, what should we (as citizens) do to other Cache Valley people who speed, beat their children or their wife, or even avoid child support. They also have broken the law and made a mistake. Is it their parents fault (maybe) and should we tie them up and shoot at them? I would hope not.
I think as parents aw need to help offer the youth wholesome activities and not sit around and judge these parents on who has taught their kids the best and most valuable lessons.
Sue Griffin
Newton
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St. Anne's Retreat
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St. Anne's trio hit with more charges
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Prosecutors add sexual assault charges to list of charges against security guards who terrorized 38 trespassing teenagers at St. Anne's retreat.
St. Anne’s trio hit with more charges - Prosecutors add sexual assault to list
By Ryan Robb Oliver
Staff writer
Additional criminal charges were filed Monday in 1st District Court against three men accused of terrorizing 38 teen-agers and young adults at the St. Anne’s Retreat in Logan Canyon on Oct. 10.
John Jeppson of Pocatello, Idaho, Christopher Doer [Doerr] and Arthur Peasnall, both of Tooele County, were charged with forcible sexual abuse in addition to the six charges of aggravated assault that had been filed against each of them in October.
A preliminary hearing on all seven charges against the three men has been set for Wednesday in 1st District Court.
Cache County Deputy Attorney Don Linton said the latest sex abuse charges stem from an investigation into a statement by one of the teen-agers who said Jeppson had felt her breasts with his hands under her shirt and on top of her bra. Jeppson told police he was checking her for weapons, according to a Cache County sheriff’s report.
The three men were arrested after a sheriff’s investigation determined they had gone too far when they detained eight trespassers at the St. Anne’s property on the morning of Oct. 10 and 30 more trespassers later in the evening.
Then teen-agers and young adults said they went onto the property in search of a Halloween thrill. After entering the gates they said, they were detained by the three men, who were yelling threats and wielding shotguns with flashlights taped to the barrels. In both instances, the trespassers were bound with cords around their necks and handcuffed. The latter group would be placed in an empty swimming pool until deputy sheriffs arrived.
The St. Anne’s Retreat property is owned by four people from outside Cache County. Jeppson was allowed to use it in exchange for helping maintain the grounds.
Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt has said he doesn’t intend to call all 38 alleged victims to testify in court. Instead, Wyatt said he’ll call a few people to testify on several specific criminal acts that allegedly took place.
A sheriff’s report based on interviews with the trio and the trespassers alleges the following took place that day in addition to the sexual assault:
-Jeppson placed a revolver to one woman’s head, threatened to kill her, moved the gun away from her head and then fired it.
-The three men fired their shotguns at or near the trespassers and threatened to kill them by “blowing their heads off.” Jeppson fired one shot at a tree, which showered several people forced to lie under it with debris. He told them if they didn’t believe that he would kill them, they could look at the 6-inch hole put in the tree.
-One juvenile was knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion after he was struck in the head with the butt of a shotgun by one of the men.
-Another juvenile was told to spread her legs while being held at gunpoint and then kicked in the crotch.
-A juvenile was held by her hair by one of the men and had her head yanked back, aggravating a previous spinal condition.
-A male juvenile was punched in the mouth by one of the men holding him at gunpoint.
The three men have since been released on bail from the Cache County Jail. Misdemeanor trespass charges were originally filed against the juveniles and young adults but were later dropped by Wyatt at the request of the property owners.
Wyatt was criticized in the community for dropping the charges by many people who said the actions the three men took were a reasonable and prudent response for dealing with trespassers on a property all too often plagued by vandals.
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Point the finger of blame at parents
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Cache Valley resident points the finger of blame at parents who seemingly condone behavior of trespassing teenagers and do not acknowledge any rights of the property owner.
Point the finger of blame at parents
To the editor:
I was appalled when I read that several carloads of teenagers broke into private property bent on doing mischief. I was appalled when I read that the three guards had to use force to get them removed.
I was appalled when I read how the parents were crying foul and that their sweet children had a few bruises and abrasions due to the rough handling by the guards. And then I was really appalled when I read where the police had caved into the parents and the charges against the teens had been dropped while the guards had to face charges.
Well, that’s America, the land of the guilty and the home of the vandals.
I don’t really blame the teenagers. They obviously haven’t been taught that other people’s property is off-limits. No, it’s not the children I feel angry about, it’s you parents.
What kind of parents are you? Probably you think that because they are your kids whatever they do is all right. Well, it’s not all right. The teenagers broke the law. They invaded someone’s private property bent on mischief.
Today, we worry about gangs, drugs, rape and murder all committed by someone’s kids. Kids who have no respect for the law, just like your kids. Don’t you realize that there is a lesson to be learned from this? Respect the law. Respect the property of others. And respect yourself. If they aren’t taught these lessons at home, where do you think they’ll be taught them [then]?
If they were my kids, I would have been grateful to the guards for this experience. I would hope it scared the kids so they would never consider doing such a thing again. And I would insist that the least the kids do was some community service repairing the vandalism on private property so they could see the work and money that vandalism costs.
And when I got them home, I’d make up for their lack by reinforcing the lesson learned, so they’d never break the law again. But then, I love my kids and I wouldn’t want them to go on to big-time lawbreaking.
Barbara Boman
Logan
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat
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http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p16944coll20/id/38
SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0024.pdf
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Reactions to trespassing at St. Anne's retreat
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Reactions to the trespassing incident at St. Anne's brings out various points of view.
St. Anne’s reaction a lesson in itself
To the editor:
The era in which the constitution of our nation was formed was preceded by many abuses against individuals and their property. Because of this, the founding fathers created the Bill of Rights to help define what “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” entailed.
Article 10 deals with the rights of criminals and those accused of crimes. It states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
Several forms of punishments a God-fearing people will always cry out against are: verbal assault (death threats), physical assault and sexual assault. They should not be tolerated even in a parent and child relationship.
I am saddened by the many letters that contend that tie youths who trespassed at St. Anne’s were not entitled to the respect that is due all men, regardless of their crime, because of the sanctity of life which is given at God’s hand. Many have justified their feelings by expressing loyalty to the rights of property owners.”
Let’s remember that the property owners exercised their rights. They pardoned the youths on the grounds of the treatment they had received. I applaud this compassionate attitude. We, as a people, claim that an individual does not have to be tried twice for the same crime. These youths were tried, convicted and punished by individuals, not by a judge and jury; another crime against the form of government we uphold.
Judgements against the parents have been unfair and untrue. I personally know five sets of these parents. If any who have accused them of being unloving and irresponsible lived by them for several months, they would know that nothing is further from the truth. Unfortunately, many judge the character of God by the actions of his children, too.
The greatest tragedy of this incident is not the trespassing or the vandalism (which the youths spotlighted did not commit), but the feelings of self-righeousness [righteousness] and bitterness that have surfaced in the community.
Good parents have been attacked repeatedly, youths have been told they deserve unlawful and immoral treatment, a public servant has been condemned for uploading the rights of the property owners, and a newspaper that has tried hard to help parents protect other people’s children from experiencing similar terror and injustices has been criticized with explosive emotionalism.
When times are hard, the people show their true character. Let’s learn from this and humble ourselves so that future times find us united in brotherly love and upholding the sacred rights God gave us and we are blessed enough to have protected under the laws of our great land.
April Anderson
Amalga
Trespass raises question of values
To the editor:
I moved from California to Logan because I love the area and the values seemed better here. But I was troubled by the incident at St. Anne’s.
The caretakers seem to be the only ones who really learned something from the whole thing. They are being punished and they sure won’t do anything like it again. But what about the kids or their parents?
The kids and parents have not come forward and offered to pay the owners for the damage that has been done by vandalism and breaking and entering at Saint Anne’s. And they have not offered to help in the repairs.
The damage may not have been done by those kids, but that is not my point. I think that paying for the damage and getting involved in the repairs would teach them to value others’ property and to take responsibility.
Richard Primbs
Logan
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat
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http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p16944coll20/id/37
SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0023.pdf
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Last of the retreat suspects arrested
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Third watchman arrested on assault charges for taking part in the detention of 38 trespassing legend-trippers at St. Anne's retreat on October 10, 1997.
Last of the retreat suspects arrested
The third and final suspect accused of violently detaining and threatening 38 people at the St. Anne’s retreat on Oct. 10 was arrested Sunday morning.
Arthur Peasnall, 22, of Tooele was taken into custody by Cache County deputy sheriffs. Peasnall is charged with six counts of aggravated assault. He posted $5,000 bail and was released from jail shortly after the arrest.
Two other suspects in the incident, John Jeppson of Pocatello, Idaho, and his son-in-law Chriss Doerr of Tooele County, were arrested last month, and both posted bail.
Jeppson, considered the lead property watchman in the assault, is scheduled to be arraigned in 1st District Court on Nov. 10. Dates have not been set yet for the two other men.
The three men are accused of tying up, threatening and assaulting young people who were caught trespassing at the cabin site in Logan Canyon.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p16944coll20/id/36
SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0022.pdf
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Debate over justice served and youth not being held accountable
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Rite of passage does not justify a local tradition where the actions of trespassing and breaking the law are justified by adults who they themselves may have participated in this activity when they were younger.
Fortunately, we have a justice system
To the editor:
Picture if you will, yourself driving down the highway. You are in a hurry. You’re late!
You glance in the rearview mirror and see a flashing red light right behind you, and an officer motioning for you to pull over. You glance at your speedometer and realize you are going 65 mph in an area clearly posted at be 55 mph. You think to yourself … oh my, I am going to get a ticket.
You pull over and wait for the officer to come to your car, making sure during that time you have your license, registration and insurance ID. Much to your astonishment, the officer opens your door with anger and forcefully yanks you out of your seat. He quickly turns you around and pushes you, face first, up against the car. Then he proceeds to angrily handcuff you making sure that the cuffs are good and tight (for they are flex cuffs). He wants to make sure you are truly subdued, so he puts a rope around your neck and attaches it to his steering wheel. He tells you that if you put any pressure on the rope that it will explode and blow your head off.
Fortunately this is a hypothetical situation.
This poor officer has really had a bad day, and his anger has reached the boiling point. He has already had to give 15 citations for speeding in areas that have been clearly marked. Tired of all he has had to put up with, he kicks you in the ribs, and slaps your face. He then proceeds to utter a stream of obscenities. And you say to yourself, is this what happens when you are only speeding.
What does this have to do with the incident at St. Anne’s retreat? Quite a bit. Trespassing and speeding are offenses that are both considered Class C misdemeanors. Neither should be punished by use of deadly force, abuse, or torture. Nor should the offenses be tried and convicted at the scene of the crime. Fortunately we have a justice system to handle that. We also have a justice system in Cache County that is perpetuated by people with a great deal of integrity and morals. We should be extremely grateful for that. Many people seem to think that these young people that trespassed at St. Anne’s should be punished for all the crimes committed at St. Anne’s over the past 40 years. That would be about the same as the judge punishing you for every speeding citation ever issued on that street. They should not be punished for vandalism. Only those guilty of such a crime should.
It may interest you to know that this particular group of 30 young people offered to do a service project for the owner on his property as their way of saying they were sincerely sorry. This offer was made after the charges were dropped. It was something the did not have to do but wanted to. The owner gratefully accepted.
Daily I see in the paper an advertisement entitled. “THERE’S NO EXCUSE FOR ABUSE.” In Cache Valley we have the “Dare” program which reinforces this to our children. We live in a society intelligent enough and well educated enough to realize that making a mistake does not give another person the right to be abusive, whether they are a parent, police officer, teacher or a citizen.
Aileen Lee
Smithfield
Righting the wrongs from a rite of passage
To the editor:
The recent furor over the trespassing at the former St. Anne’s Retreat has given all of us a chance to reflect on past behavior. I read comments from some former Cache Valley teen-agers who implied that this kind of thing was almost a local rite of passage. If this so, I think this is a wonderful opportunity for those who have participated to do some repenting. I think most of us recognize that vandalizing property, and even disturbing the rest of the good sisters, are simply wrong.
If we turn the situation around, and think of our own aunts or mothers going for a much needed vacation on our own property, and being frightened by people prowling outside, we could be quite angry. As grown-ups, I doubt that any of us would contemplate taking part in such an activity. Most of us realize that entering other people’s property without an invitation is wrong, regardless of the time of day, or season of the year. We expect to be in control of who enters our property. We keep sales people on the porch. We tell other people’s kids when it’s time to go home, and we expect them to leave (and they do leave.)
As adults, I expect that some who took part in those activities are feeling some twinges of guilt. May I suggest that those twinges can be alleviated if correct action is taken. Please consider making reparation for the wrongs.
What is a good night’s sleep worth to you? If you’re on a slim budget, you still have to pay about $50 for a motel room for a night. Consider sending a donation in the amount to the local Catholic Diocese. Remember that there were probably a few sisters whose rest was disturbed, and you may wish … more to make full reparation ….
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0029.pdf
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Local youths properly taught right and wrong?
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Local resident suggests youth playing pranks on local home owners may be related to the problem of St. Anne's trespassers who were not held accountable for their actions.
Local youths properly taught right and wrong?
To the editor:
After living here peacefully for over 30 years, for some unknown reason I suddenly find myself the victim of several consecutive nights of harassment and vandalism, including screaming and pounding on the house, outdoor planters upset and damaged, large boulders landing in the driveway, etc. While I have appreciated the quick and professional response of the authorities, I am somewhat baffled by being told by two different government and law enforcement officials that “Tuesday nights are the worst because that’s the night for scouting and other youth activities at the church.” Perhaps because I’m not of the local culture, the connection there escapes me, but what does seem clear is that there must be some parents out there unaware of what their kids are doing, and I appeal to them for help.
Another factor may be the unfortunate message, misinterpreted or not, that seems to have been sent by the recent events at St. Ann’s, that teen-agers can do anything they want without fear of any consequences or accountability. This is not fairly preparing teens for their future in the real world and is definitely a problem for the rest of us in the meantime.
Jerry Benbow
River Heights
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0028.pdf
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Retreat trio
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Herald Journal photo shows a photo of the three security guards accused of terrorizing trespassers at St. Anne's retreat.
Retreat trio
John Jeppson, center, walks with Chris Doerr and Arthur Peasnall on 100 North in Logan after leaving his arraignment hearing today. The three men are accused of terrorizing 38 trespassers at the St. Anne’s Retreat in Logan Canyon on Oct. 11. In court, a motion was made to continue the arraignment on Nov. 24. Attorneys for the suspects claimed the state hasn’t released all the evidence yet. The men have not yet entered their pleas.
[By Ryan Robb Oliver/Herald Journal]
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0027.pdf
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Trespass critics too quick to judge
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Herald Journal Opinion piece defends parenting of trespassing teenagers.
Trespass critics too quick to judge
To the editor:
I have followed the articles on the incident at St. Anne’s with some interest. I have been disappointed with people who publicly voice their opinion on a situation of which they cannot know all the details
It is amazing to me that in a community as largely Christian as this one, so many seem anxious to pass judgement on these teen-agers’ families and methods of parenting.
As an “average citizen,” I do not know all that went on that night up Logan canyon. Although we hear and read much, it all must be taken as hearsay, and only those personally involved can possibly know everything.
At first, I was a little disgusted that the young adults involved were not being punished for their crimes. But then I read Scott Wyatt’s report stating that he did not press charges because the property owners did not wish to.
Well, he certainly should be in a position to know. And if the owners did not want to pursue it, that is certainly their choice.
As a parent, I understand that our society seems to be falling apart at times and young people often abuse privileges and assume they are their rights. What I don’t understand is why so many who have written letters to the editor assume that these teens were not taught better by their parents.
Haven’t any of them ever had a child go against their teachings and better judgment? Or have they perhaps been so quick to place blame that they forgot about their own children’s mistakes?
I have also read letters from adults who have admitted that over the years they, too, went up the nunnery, drawn by its lore. And they have turned out to be respectable citizens in their communities now that they are adults.
My point is, as kids are growing up they make stupid decisions and mistakes. That is how we learn and grow.
It doesn’t mean that these children were not taught better or that their parents condone their actions and behavior. It’s just possible that they may still grow to be decent people and, heaven forbid, leaders of our community, and perhaps this experience will have a lasting impression.
We do not know exactly what the guards’ actions were or what may have prompted their behavior, but I can understand that it must have been a frightening experience for all those involved, especially the parents of the youths.
After all, they are adults and understand the implications of how serious and tragic this could have been better than anyone. I hope that the truth will be presented and a fair decision reached, but until then, I, for one, am not going to point a finger at people who are trying to raise their children the best that they can and lame them for mistakes made not by them. They probably have enough to contend with right now.
Cindy Wheeler
Smithfield
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0026.pdf
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Two separate issues in St. Anne's incident
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Trespassers need to be accountable for their actions and breaking the law should not be justified for any reason, regardless of local tradition. The caretakers response to frequent trespassing and vandalism shouldn't have been a surprise. "They got what they went after,"[the thrill] the author states.
Two separate issues in St. Anne’s incident
To the editor:
1. Trespassing, looting and vandalism have a long-term problem at St. Anne’s and other canyon properties.
2. Two groups of teen-agers admittedly trespassed within 24 hours, seeking a thrill as their excuse. They got what they went after.
3. The trespassers initiated the whole affair by their admitted trespassing, the caretaker “reaction” with the background of vandalism in the past was to be expected, but was taken seriously enough for charges to be filed by the county attorney against the caretakers. Their actions will be heard in a court of law.
4. The actions of the caretaker, “if proven to be criminal” do not excuse the trespassers of their illegal behavior. “One can not justify his bad conduct by the bad conduct of another.” The trespassing teen-agers should answer to the laws for their behavior regardless of the caretaker’s actions. They are two separate issues.
5. Our local attorney’s statement, “every teen in Cache Valley” went up to St. Anne’s for the thrill of it, is not true and doesn’t justify the illegal behavior but speaks volumes on her guardianship of law and order.
6. Teen-age drinking, a keg of beer in the canyon and fast driving are all done for the “thrill” but are illegal and not accepted by society.
F. Robert Bryner
Logan
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0025.pdf
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To say kids deserved what they got is sick
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Local resident gives her perspective on the trespassing incident at St. Anne's retreat.
To say kids deserved what they got is sick
To the editor:
I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But, I would think that before they offered it publicly they would make sure that they were informed on the subject. (I’m speaking to several women who have written recent letters to the editor).
To be informed, you’d have to talk to all involved and get the whole story, not take half statements from the media as the way it really happened. The only ones who have done that are Scott Wyatt, Cache County attorney, and the Sheriff’s Department. That makes them the only ones qualified to make an honest judgement of this vase, which they did.
The thing that people need to understand is yes, these kids did break the law, they trespassed. And they are very sorry and are willing to take their punishment. They have learned great lessons from this experience. Good and bad.
But, because they broke the law, it didn’t give the adults up there the right to break it too. And to a greater extent we are comparing trespassing with no intent to vandalize, with aggravated assault. There is a big difference. (I speak for the second group of kids, as I don’t know any of the first.) In any case, abuse in any form (physical, verbal, mental) will not be tolerated. To say the kids deserved what they got is sick. No one deserves that!
You all can say over and over how you would react. But until it is your daughter being fondled or your son with a gun to his head, his life being threatened, you don’t know! I can guarantee your self righteous ideas will change really fast when it happens.
As for judging and blaming the parents without talking to any of us is wrong. Just because we love our kids and don’t want them harmed doesn’t mean we haven’t’ taught them right from wrong. We do know where they are, whom they’re with, etc. We, also, don’t condone their trespassing as you imply, No, they are not perfect. But neither are we. And, I have to tell you that I was very surprised to see that some of you listed your homes in Cache Valley. For as perfect as you think you are, I would have thought you would have been translated by now.
Let’s hope that this case taught this whole valley a few things. First, to respect the rights of others, both property and constitutional. Second, think before we act. Both youth and adults. Because all actions have consequences, no matter how we rationalize. Third, get the facts and be informed before we make judgements. Because I know there is not one perfect person out there.
Lonetta Brady
Richmond
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0021.pdf
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On John Wayne, Mother Teresa...
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Opinion piece in the Herald Journal talking about the trespassing incident at St. Anne's rereat suggesting both parties at fault.
On John Wayne, Mother Teresa…
To the editor:
Hero? Mother Teresa was a hero! If this John Wayne wannabe fired his weapon, threatened and hogtied the teens as reported, he should be severely punished.
Although the teen-agers did what teenagers have done since teen-agers were invented, they should not get completely off the hook. Although I doubt that a half dozen weekends of community service will have much impact on the next generation of teens, it couldn’t hurt.
P.S. Harmless rock salt loads can have blinded.
Thom MacAdam
River Heights
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0020.pdf
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Parents, Youths should go to bat for watchmen
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Community response demands accountability for teenagers trespassing at St. Anne's
Parents, Youths should go to bat for watchmen.
To the editor:
There have been many thought-provoking letters and commentaries written concerning the Logan Canyon incident. I learned a little of the history of St. Anne’s and why it was sold, and feel sad that it does not speak well for our community that the Catholic Church was forced to sell its property because of the treatment received at the hands of Cache Valley youths.
If adults in this valley were involved in trespassing in their youth, maybe they should not tell anyone or at least express regret and teach their children to have respect for other people’s property. I feel it shows a lack of maturity when adults tell young people things they did that were wrong: it’s like “I did it and I turned out OK, so you do it too”
I am sure there are two sides to this problem, no one really knows what happened up there except the young people and the watchmen. (even the second guy at the gate doesn’t know.) Those watchmen called 911 as soon as they got the 30-plus youth contained.
If they had meant to harm them, they could have kept them for as long as they wanted to instead of turning them over to authorities. Those guards were very probably tired of young people coming the property and thought a good scare might prevent a recurrence for a while.
If the one girl was touched inappropriately that man should be punished, but if he accidentally touched her then it would be just as wrong to accuse him of such a horrible thing. (I’m sure no one was too willing to be tied up.) Did even one parent go to the watchmen and ask for t heir side of it before going to the authorities?
None of us has perfect parenting skills, and even if we did that’s no guarantee that our children won’t do things we wish they would not do.
I feel we all can learn some valuable lesson from this incident and know that it could have been one of our own involved. I would hope that the parents and the 30-plus youth would not be made to feel that they have to keep on hanging their heads.
It is hard to let this issue be put to rest because the watchmen have been charged. Maybe it would be good for the community if the parents and the youths were to go to the authorities and ask that the charges against the three watchmen be dropped-especially since the owner of the property saw fit to have the charges against the youth dropped.
Margaret Townsend
Logan
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0019.pdf
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Locals react to Logan Canyon trespassing incident
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Reactions from locals in the Opinion seciton of the Herald Journal discussing the aftermath of the incident at St. Anne's retreat involving trespassing legend-tripping teenagers captured by security guards.
Locals react to Logan trespassing incident
Newspaper hasn’t told whole story
To the editor:
It was with disbelief that I read the first article of the incident at St. Anne’s retreat. Who were these guardsmen, and what were they protecting?
My mind began to wander. Was it a drug ring? Were they members of some militia movement?
My disbelief quickly turned to disgust after watching the local news reports. Wait a minute! We haven’t heard the whole story. And isn’t that a reporter’s job? To get the story? The whole story?
You gleefully told us in great detail the accusations made by the teen-agers, while glossing over the fact that they were knowingly and willingly breaking the law. They didn’t just stumble across private property. Every single one of them knew as they were climbing through tall, locked chain-linked fences topped with razor wire and huge signs clearly stating “No Trespassing” that they were breaking the law.
Funny how the other side of the story is coming, not from your reporters, but by editorials and letters to the editor. Somebody at the Herald Journal is not doing their job!
The teen-agers and their parents were quick to whine and run to the press when they felt their rights had been violated. They failed to mention the actual “prank” or the “criminal act,” as it should appropriately be called, they were about to inflict on the property, its owners and the guardsmen that surely wo7uld have violated their rights!
The parents of these teen-agers have obviously failed to teach them right from wrong and the difference between “having fun” and breaking the law.
Maybe that comes from the attitudes expressed by some of these parents downplaying their children’s involvement by calling it a “prank.”
Some of these parents participated in similar “pranks” while they were in their youth. Perhaps if these same parents had been held accountable and taught the seriousness of their actions back then they wouldn’t be downplaying their children’s actions today.
Quit treating these teen-agers like they are the victims, or worse, like they’re the heroes. They haven’t done anything heroic.
I cannot condemn or condone the actions of these guardsmen. I can only imagine how I would have reacted to having 38 people breaking and entering my home in the middle of the night.
Stopping and detaining them would be a challenge. How does one do that? We do have the right in this country to protect our lives and our property. Thank goodness no one was killed.
It is ironic that the guardsmen will be legally responsible for the choices they made that night, while the teen-agers, who knowingly made the choice to break the law, are set free with no accountability whatsoever. I guess whining really does pay.
And now a suggestion to those teen-agers who were involved. Unfortunately, the charges against you were dropped. But if you would like to right those wrongs started by you, how about returning to St. Anne’s retreat, legally this time, and putting in some hours of community service repairing the damage inflicted on that property over the last couple of decades.
Maybe then this whole awful, scary and upsetting incident will be put to rest on a positive note.
Cindy Thompson
Logan
Incident a black eye for law enforcement
To the editor:
This incident in the canyon really put a black eye on some of the Sheriff Department (deputies) for their handling of the situation. Some of our friends say maybe they’d better take a refresher course at training school so they know whom and when to arrest.
Look at the scenario, police called, on arrival they find crying teens, ropes around their necks, handcuffed, with men standing over them with guns and knives, a definite hostage situation, same thing as the night before. So arrest the hostages, charge them with criminal trespassing.
Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Men with guns arrested and taken into custody and the names of the teens taken. Did they have a problem identifying the criminals? Or, as quite a few people are now suggesting, buddies of some officers?
But they go to church, one report said, fine, upstanding men. Tell me about it!
Charges should not be so hard to find. Child molesting, child abuse, death threats, kidnapping (because some of these young people had not entered the gate but were forced to enter, guns held to their heads).
If no action is taken against these men, consider what a dangerous precedent it sets. When you go to hunt, fish, hike, picnic, Halloween, some crazed landowner with a no-trespass sign could terrorize you. But maybe if such a thing happens, the right people will be arrested, charged and prosecuted.
If $100,000 damage had been done by vandals, as claimed by the owner, nothing would be left worth guarding, especially with guns, because it was stated they only paid $120,000 in the first place. How easy to justify their actions and shirk responsibility for this terror on young people.
Blame the young people for things they did not do and classify all of them as destructive and bad. These young people who came there Friday night are good, decent kids. They did not destroy his property and did not deserve the crazed treatment they received at the hands of some morons and at the hands of officers who were supposed to be in control of the situation.
I read the sheriff is trying hard to determine if these groups of frightened young people had threatened the lives of the gun-toting men. Come on, get real.
Faye Johnson
Benson
Guards roughed up by zealous media
To the editor:
The recent incident at St. Anne’s retreat brought to mind problems my husband and I endured with some youthful trespassers when we were first married.
A group of neighborhood kids continuously climbed the apple tree in our back yard and ascended to the roof of our house. They considered it their private playground. They would run around there having a grand dime until discovered.
Our pleadings, threatenings and entreatings that they could get hurt or cause damage to our roof fell on deaf ears. Their response was, “But where will we play?”
There was a public park within a block of our home with a fine playground. So the issue wasn’t really where could they play, but where else could they find excitement, danger and challenge doing something they shouldn’t, while trying to avoid getting caught?
Finally we did the only thing we could do to salvage our sanity, the roof and to keep someone’s child from ultimate serious injury. We cut down the tree. It shouldn’t have had to be.
The father of one of the “St. Anne’s 30” was reported to have said during TV coverage that if the owners wanted to keep the kids out, they could have found a better way. And what, pray tell, wo uld have been a better way? An electric fence, vicious guard dogs or land mines?
Although I can’t recommend all the actions taken by the guards, I can certainly understand their frustrations. With determined trespassers making it difficult for the caretaker to fulfill his responsibilities, and with previous vandalism and threats, can’t we understand his trepidation when 30 trespassers (the age of North Korean soldiers in my husband’s war) penetrated the security fence at 10 p.m. How are those guards to know if these night invaders onto private property were intent only on “having fun?”
These trespassers could have learned a valuable lesson concerning the law: “Want the consequences of what you want.” The incident could have been an effective deterrent for future lawbreaking fun-seekers. Instead, all charges against the teens, have now reportedly been dropped, eliminating those consequences for their actions.
Once the guards have been thoroughly manhandled by a zealous media and by a legal system seeking to appease angry parents, local floodgates will be opened, not just at St. Anne’s, but everywhere. IT’s going to take more than “No Trespassing” signs to stem the tide of disrespect for law and property.
If special consideration is to be given to trespassing teens seeking fun at someone else’s expense, then shouldn’t special consideration also be given to guards who reacted in the performance of duty to extenuating circumstances resulting from an incident they did not precipitate?
Janice H. Keeler
Nibley
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat
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http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p16944coll20/id/27
SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0018.pdf
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Herald Journal Opinion Piece
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No wonder our social structure is collapsing
To the editor:
After reading the article on the 30-plus teen-agers that had trespassed on private property in Logan Canyon, we felt compelled to present our view of a hitherto unspoken portion of this alleged violent occurrence.
The purpose of “law” is to protect the rights of the citizenry. The first principle of all law does not compel performance. Quite to the contrary, law prohibits performance. “Do not speed, Do not ill, Do not covet.” I fail to see the action of the watchmen as being as reprehensible, as we have been led to believe.
Where do the parents stand on the issue of their children breaking the law? Does this issue take a back seat because someone held these young adults accountable for their actions?
I have not read one iota of evidence where the watchmen werw outside this private property inviting anyone in. These teen-agers knew that they were trespassing, yet because they were caught and held for the police the watchmen are the ones in the public hot seat.
If my teen-ager had been among those involved, I would have been just as outraged as those parents, but at my teen-ager, not the watchmen. We, as parents, have a God-given responsibility to teach our children to respect other people’s rights, such as obeying the law and being good citizens.
Also to Mr. Chambers, Logan attorney, to teach your children that being frisked or emotionally distressed by our “now” teen-agers taking guns, knives and explosives to schools, churches, etc. The idea of making the perpetrator the victim and the watchmen the villains appears typical of jurisprudence today. Do we even need to wonder why our social structure is breaking down?
Susan Walker
Wellsville
Youths could have prevented incident
To the editor:
When we first picked up the paper and read where we could leave a message for you between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., we found your “mailbox” was full, so we decided to leave this at your office.
Incidentally, we do not know any of the parties involved in this Logan Canyon incident, so we have no preconceived notions because of any friendships.
We would expect our community to hold people accountable for their actions. Although the caretaker definitely overreacted, if the story as reported was accurate, but one must realize this would have never occurred had the youths involved not been breaking the law in the first place. We feel the youths should be required to perform some form of public service to make up for their actions, which initially caused the problem.
A reprimand to the caretaker is all that should be required, as he probably handled it the way he thought best to control the crowd which had him overwhelmed.
Monte and Eunice Merrill
Logan
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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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.
Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat
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http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p16944coll20/id/26
SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0017.pdf
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My reasoning for 'letting the kids off'
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A Herald Journal Opinion piece by Scott Wyatt, Cache County attorney, explaining why he dismissed the trespassing charges against the teenagers.
My reasoning for ‘letting the kids off’
By Scott Wyatt
Cache County attorney
“As I see it, there is only one person who should have authority to initiate and terminate prosecution of a property crime such as trespass. That one person…is the owner of the property.”
Over the past few days, I’ve received several calls from various people questioning why I would “let the kids off” by dismissing the trespassing charges that were brought against them. I hope to clarify some confusion as to why the charges were dismissed.
As I see it, there is only one person who should have authority to initiate and terminate prosecution of a property crime such as trespass. That one person (or persons) is the owner of the property. In a time when we are becoming ever more aware and concerned about individual property rights, it would be an unfortunate state of affairs to see a governmental official, like me, or other community members usurp the landowner’s authority to make these critical personal decisions about his or her land.
When the owners of St. Anne’s retreat called and requested that I drop the trespass charges that were brought against the kids, I felt duty-bound to respect their rights in their property and honor their request. I dismissed the charges. As the elected prosecutor, whose duty it is to serve the public, I, and my staff, will continue to vigorously prosecute appropriate trespassing cases (that are supported by laws and the evidence) when requested by the landowner, and I will also continue to decline to prosecute cases when the owner does not want the matter pursued in court.
There has also been some confusion as to what these kids were actually charged with. They were not charged with intending to damage property or vandalism as there is no evidence of that. They were charged with simple criminal trespass, which means nothing more than they crossed a fence or other enclosure designed to keep them out or they passed a no trespassing sign.
I would like to get back to the question of “letting the kids off.” Forgive me, in this case, for being somewhat of an optimist. But, I like to hope that, despite the owner’s insistence that I not pursue criminal charges, the kids are not necessarily “getting off.” Juvenile court is obviously not the only means of correction for our youth. The primary source of discipline for our kids is good parents. I have personally met with most of the parents of the kids involved in the St. Anne’s event and believe all of them to be good parents who are doing their best to help their kids grow up to become honorable adults. These parents understand the seriousness of what their kids did and are working to discipline and teach their kids with respect to this incident. These kids are generally good kids, and I believe they will respond to this event and their parents’ teaching in a positive matter.
I’m not sure there is much value in attempting to second guess the basis for the owners ‘decision to not have the kids prosecuted. They told me they were concerned that the three men who confronted the kids went beyond their authority and good judgement and that the kids had more than paid the price for their trespass. I respect the decision based on their compassion toward these ids and, based on reports I’ve received from some of the concerned parents, believe that their assessment might just be true.
For the benefit of the owners of St. Anne’s retreat and the owners of other cabins and property in this county let me end this letter with a plea. Young men and women-please consider the plight of the owners of St. Anne’s and other cabins. After spending considerable sums of money and time to purchase and improve recreation property for their families’ enjoyment, they have difficulty finding pleasure in it. Vandalism continues to “nickel and dime” cabin owners to death. In the case of St. Anne’s retreat, vandalism to the extent of almost $100,000 over the past several years. Hundreds of small acts of vandalism, a broken window here, a busted door there, and on and on, add up to extraordinary sums of money.
The owners’ decision to drop the charges here is based on specific concerns about how these kids were treated by the “watchman.” Charges brought against the next group of kids who trespass will not be dropped. Please understand this-I can give you names of people my office prosecuted who were sent to the Point of the Mountain and are currently serving time in prison for vandalism and thefts they committed in cabins in Logan Canyon. We aggressively prosecute these cases and will continue to do so when requested by the owners.
But threats should not be necessary to motivate considerate people. Each of us should make decisions to keep off others property out of respect for their rights rather than fear of prosecution and punishment. These frustrations that owners of cabins have are no different than the concerns of farmers who are constantly rebuilding their fences and suffering other damages from sportsmen and others-or the concerns of people who have storage sheds, cars, houses, bikes or anything else of value. We all own something we don’t want damaged or destroyed by others.
The historical buildings and grounds at St. Anne’s retreat are beautiful and irreplaceable; please leave them alone. Some trespassers might say, “but, I didn’t hurt anything, I just walked through.” Don’t kid yourself, even wandering through the retreat destroys the owners’ quiet enjoyment. Please respect their rights.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0016.pdf
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Trespass forgiveness assailed
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Local residents sound off on charges being dropped for trespassing legend-trippers and overwhelmingly expressing that the youth should be held accountable. Not saying that the armed watchmen were justified in how they handled the trespassers, but that dropping charges for trespassers sent a bad message to juveniles who then think they can break the law and get away with it.
Trespass forgiveness assailed
By Michael R. Weibel
Staff writer
Most people who responded to a Herald Journal telephone survey Monday night said trespassing charges should have been filed against a group of teen-agers who were caught at St. Anne’s Retreat on Oct. 10.
The newspaper’s voice mail system was so overwhelmed by the volume of calls that many people who wanted to respond to the non-scientific poll were cut off and couldn’t leave a message
Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt announced Friday that charges would not be filed against 38 youths who were caught trespassing in two separate incidents at the Logan Canyon retreat. On the same day, Wyatt filed assault charges against the retreat’s caretaker, John Jeppson, and two assistants for their alleged actions while detaining the youths.
Of the 50 or so comments that did get recorded in The Herald Journal survey, most people said a bad message is being sent to local youths-that they can get away with breaking the law.
Micala Jensen of Providence, for example, said, “I was appalled to see that the charges were dropped against the students, the young adults who were there. I think that tells the rest of the kids that they don’t have to respect other people’s property, and it sends a message out to everyone else that you can get off, that those laws are made to be broken.”
Cindy Jackman of North Logan said she’s not sure the caretakers’ actions were appropriate or whether they should be prosecuted. But “I do know that the teen-agers trespassed, and that’s against the law. It was posted, it was an obvious thing that they were trespassing with barbed wire and everything there. And the teen-agers have been not charged. I think that’s very wrong. That sends a message that if teen-agers just want to go have fun…it’s OK to break the law.”
Gary Denton of Lewiston said, “I think the charges against the teen-agers should not have been dropped. I think they need to be accountable for their actions. … I think teen-agers nowadays get away with way too much. They get their hands slapped for doing what adults would be fined or put in jail for.
“I think it’s time they own up to their wrongdoings,” he said.
Some respondents said they appreciated the commentary by Jeppson’s brother, adding that they believe the newspaper has not balanced its coverage with Jeppson’s side of the story.
Cindy Miller of Providence, for example, said, “I feel what has taken place has been poorly represented by the media. I feel that Mr. Jeppson’s point of view has not been given fair time.”
Herald Journal reporters have tried unsuccessfully to contact Jejppson for his comments.
Nate Steele had a personal perspective on the incident.
“I was up there Friday night. I was probably the second person in the gate. I would just like to say, under no circumstances should this man be looked upon as a hero. What he did was wrong. He crossed the line. In fact, he drove about 10 miles past the line.”
The trespassers accused the three watchmen of tying them together by their necks, handcuffing them and holding them at gunpoint in a swimming pool in two separate episodes Oct. 10. The mostly teen-aged victims said their lives were threatened, shotguns were fired near them, and one female said Jeppson felt her up.
“I don’t understand why people are trying to justify what he did,” Steele said. “The only way I can see why is because they weren’t up there. They don’t know exactly what happened. I think the only people that can make an educated decision on what happened and have an educated opinion on what happened would be the people who were up there. We are the only ones that know exactly what happened.
“I don’t think this man was a hero,” he added. “I have trouble looking at this man and saying he is human. He was given an ounce of power, an ounce of authority, and took it from that ounce and made it into something much more than it was. He crossed the line and people need to see that.”
But Jeff Hansen of Logan said he knows what Jeppson was facing.
“I own a piece of property up Logan Canyon and my place gets vandalized at least once a year,” he said. “And I feel I have the right to protect my property, and I think it’s just a bad deal to let those ids off. I eel if you let those kids off, the young adults, we should let the guards off on the charges that were filed against them. What’s fair is fair.
“I think the kids that were involved in that should be prosecuted for trespassing,” Hansen said. “I always felt that trespassing was a serious offense, not a mild offense. If they hadn’t been there, nobody would have been able to rough them up. I don’t feel the guards have done anything wrong. I feel they had every right to protect that piece of property. Every right…those young adults were totally in the wrong.”
Comment sampler
Kathy Edwards, North Logan
I think the teens’ accusations, if they are true, that that man who was up there is not a hero, but maybe some sort of overzealous man wielding a gun that was trying to injure children. And they are minors. He has no business doing that. And if that’s what he wanted to do, he’s no better than any of those guys who go out and shoot people in the post offices and anywhere else. Also, the charges against the teen-agers that have been dropped, probably a very smart thing to do in terms of what can happen to the county in regards to lawsuits and whatever else the families could do. He had no right to do what he did, and I would surely hope that cache county people do not honor him as a hero.
Tami Johnson, Benson
I feel the young adults, not children, gave up their rights as soon as they knowingly and willingly crossed the no-trespassing property line. They chose to break the law, setting in motion the consequences they received. If they had chosen to obey the law, nothing would have happened to them. There would be no “overboard,” your word, treatment. I feel that the trespassing was seriously under-stressed in the media coverage. The young adults were the criminals, not the victims. Stop and think, pretend you live in a high crime area. Trespassing and vandalism are crimes. It’s late at night, its [it’s] around midnight, suddenly a large group of people break in. I mean what are you supposed to do? Welcome them with open arms and who them the best places to vandalize?
No matter how the young adults were treated, they were the guilty party. They were the catalyst. The charges against them should not have been dropped.
Cindy Hamilton, Smithfield
After seeing these kids on TV and in the paper, they all seem to be smiling and happy and thinking what they did was pretty neat. They got all this attention. But they seemed to have forgotten they trespassed. They went through gates that were barbed wired and chained and had no-trespassing signs. And they did something wrong. Also, the guards went overboard, but the kids don’t seem to have any comprehension that they also were at fault and should not have been up there. I hope that since their charges were dropped their parents will help them realize the part they played in it. If they hadn’t been up there, nothing would have happened to them.
Jeff Watkins, Newton
All of those ten-agers caught trespassing on that land should not have the charges dropped against them. They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Had nobody bene there, there’s a very likely probability that those teen-agers would have continued on the vandalism that’s been going on. The three officers who protected the property perhaps engaged in some extreme activities and they could be charged for some of the things they do, but they should not be charged for everything. They were trying to protect property against vandalism.
Larry Winborg
I think that he, if these allegations against these three men are true, then they went way overboard. They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. In no way are they heroes to treat people, any people, like that, especially young impressionable people. If their purpose was to keep them out of there, then they should have just said, “I’m sorry but you can’t come in here.” They should have called the sheriff at that point if they didn’t’ leave. But to take them in there and hold them captive and do all the things that they did to them, and abuse them both verbally and physically was absolutely wrong.
Steve Brown
Supposedly he was hired as a maintenance man, not as a security guard. I have no problem that he felt like he was doing the right thing. But when someone does a job that they’re not trained for, there’s bound to be problems. The teens were trespassing and should not have been there. But trespassing is not punishable by torture or death.
For the man that thinks the teens should have lost all their rights when they were trespassing, I hope for your sake the next time you’re speeding on the freeway the person next to you with a loaded gun doesn’t have the same views as you.
…We don’t need to take the law into our own hands. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Jean Kennedy, Smithfield
The fact that the charges against the teen-agers have been dropped is further evidence of how we are absolving our young people of responsibility. I think it’s wrong to absolve those tee-agers of any responsibility. And if the property owners don’t press charges, the county should. These kids were willfully disobeying the law, and in a very large group. What would any homeowner think if their property were descended upon en mass by a group of teens in the middle of the night. The Herald Journal does the community a disservice by constant labeling the adults as watchmen, a derogatory term, and a group of trespassers as kids. I believe the adults in this story may have been a bit overzealous in their actions. But the fact is they were within their rights, and the trespassers were not. Keep in mind also that no one was hurt in this scenario and the men immediately report it to the proper authorities. Supposedly, those kids went there to get scared, and when they did, they ended up whining to ma and pa. I think The Herald Journal reporting in this matter has been extremely biased, and I think the only reason these kids are being absolved of guilt is that they are white. Image your change of heart if the watchmen had reported a bunch of Hispanic or Tongan youths. Suddenly those watchmen would be heroes in your eyes and the kids would be a gang, wouldn’t they? Wake up, Herald Journal, you’re too entrenched to see beyond the end of your noses.
Ken Daniel, Smithfield
The charges against the teen-agers should not have been dropped, and I think Joe Blow citizen has to take a stand against vandalism regardless of where it is. If we don’t do that, it will only get worse.
Walt Appel
It seems to me that there’d be no problem if the kids hadn’t trespassed. The whole incident was started by kids breaking the law. And they whole be held responsible for it and charged for it. That’s part of being responsible. What have we taught them as a society if we don’t hold them responsible for their actions-that they can do anything and get away with it?
Another point, Jeppson is being charged with going overboard. However, take a look at it from his point of view. He was outnumbered and he was attacked by one of the kids. Didn’t he have a right to defend himself? Didn’t he have a right to do what he did thinking that there wasn’t any help around?
Another thing, the kids were looking for a thrill. Boy, they sure got it, didn’t they? Perhaps, if they had gone to a park and paid for it, they would have appreciated that s care more. There’s people in this world that pay a lot of money to get that kind of adrenalin rush.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0015.pdf
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Settling that bet on St. Anne's retreat
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Local resident expresses opinion in the Herald Journal.
Settling that bet on St. Anne’s retreat
To the editor:
Once again I read the Herald Journal and find myself disgusted with some of the “prominent members of the local community!” Isn’t it sad that we taxpayers employ a dedicated police force to protect us and even though it may mean the loss of their own lives, they are willing and eager to serve only to have an officer of the court tell the public on the front page that the crime is approved by her because she did it to [too].
Ms. Demler, I am one of those “middle aged” “old -time Cache residents” that you’re laying bets on, and you’re not a winner! Not only did I not violate the property rights of St. Anne’s, but the group of friends I ran with didn’t either. Most of us were to [too] busy working to have the time for such nonsense, not to mention the fact that we were raised such that we didn’t go looking for trouble. I thank God every day for the hard-working, valiant, honest parents that taught me right from wrong! Not only did they teach me to respect others property rights but that we as fellow residents have a responsibility to watch over and protect our neighbor’s property rights.
I don’t condone the extent to which the guards allegedly carried out their duties, for which I am sure they are going to pay. However, Deputy Stauffer was correct when he stated that the trespass through posted fences and gates has been underplayed. “Obviously, someone didn’t want them on their property” was made very evident by the property owner. These teen-agers are all old enough to have known before hand that this was wrong, yet they chose to jump into the fire anyway. This time the fire was hot and they got burned. They should receive there [their] proper justice as will the guards. As the old saying goes “kids will be kids.” We can hold no malice towards them as they learn from their mistakes, but they must learn.
You, Ms. Demler, are a totally different case! You are supposed to be an educated officer of the court. The fact that you condone a crime that over time has cost a property owner more that [than] $1000,000 really rubs a saddle sore! Maybe if the $100,000 damage was to your house you would feel differently. We as parents need all the help we can get to raise teen-agers in this corrupt world. How do we explain to our teen-agers the consequences for violating the moral law, which includes honesty, or the civil law when an attorney at law justifies a crime because it was just for thrills? Isn’t that why Ted Bundy raped and murdered women? I know that attorney’s [attorneys] make their living from gray areas, but that fence and those signs were very black and white.
Ms. Demler, I’ve checked my records and neither I nor my business have ever hired you, so please refrain from speaking for “everybody” who is an “old time Cache resident.” This old-timer likes to speak for himself.
Reed Wallentine
Lewiston
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Trio charged; kids off hook
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St. Anne's property caretakers charged while trespassing legend-trippers get off the hook with all charges against the 38 youth dropped.
Trio charged; kids off hook
By Ryan Robb Oliver
Staff writer
Charges were filed this morning against the three watchmen accused of terrorizing two groups of trespassers at St. Anne’s Retreat on Oct. 10.
By noon, Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt also announced trespassing charges against the 38 juveniles and young adults were dropped.
He said the decision to drop the charges came fr om the property owners, who were sympathetic to the what [sic] the trespassers said happened to them Friday at the hands of the watchmen.
John Jeppson, Arthur Peasnall and Jeppson’s son-in-law, Christopher Doerr, have each been charged with six counts of aggravated assault.
Aggravated assault is a third degree felony, and each count is punishable by up to five years in jail.
“the basis for the charges is that the actions alleged far exceeded the authority granted to the gunmen by state law and the property owners,” said Wyatt, who filed this morning’s charges.
On Oct. 10, 38 teen-agers and young adults were roped around the neck, handcuffed and forced to kneel in the retreat’s swimming pool when they were captured by the three shotgun wielding men for trespassing on the property. The trespassers claimed the men fired shotguns near them, and that the men threatened to kill them. One teen-ager said he was knocked unconscious and another claimed she was fondled.
Cache County Sheriff Lynn Nelson said he will be putting together a warrant for the arrest of the three men today. He said he didn’t yet know when or where the men would be arrested, but he said there’s a possibility they may turn themselves in.
Commentary
‘…the stuff heroes are made of’
Editor’s note: Jake Jeppson [Jeppsen], older brother of John Jeppson [Jeppsen], the man accused of terrorizing Cache Valley teen-agers in two incidents at the former St. Anne’s retreat in Logan Canyon, has written the following commentary in defense of his brother. Jake Jeppson [Jeppsen] is a Brigham City resident employed at the Utah State University physical plant. His book of cowboy prose and poetry, “Give My Love to the Children,” is on file at USU Special Collections.
By Jake Jeppson
I am writing this as an answer to the recent articles and reports in the local media concerning my brother, John Jeppsen, who is the lead watchman at St. Anne’s Retreat.
I feel it’s necessary to bring out some facts that have not been mentioned, and to say something about circumstances involved.
1. It is my understanding that the shotgun shells which John had were loaded with rock salt. Years ago these were used for raiders of melon patches, hen houses, private outhouses or stray dogs. These to sting severely, not kill.
2. A great to-do was made about the fellow that was knocked unconscious. Nothing is said about him coming up behind John to jump him during the arrests. John was an Airborne Ranger in Europe. Rangers are one of three groups of America’s finest fighting men. John was not, nor is he, a Vietnam vet (with mental and emotional problems), as earlier articles implied.
3. Emotions? Name me as any man anywhere who would not be wound tight while arresting 38 people as big as himself in the darkness or poor light, alone, in Logan Canyon at that time of day? Especially in view of the monetary value of property damage at the site and the later made threats which I know were made.
4. Nothing has been said about the threats made against John; i.e. “We’re coming back to get you.”
5. There are inconsistencies in the young people’s stories. The Herald Journal stories say the trespassers were arrested just inside the gate. An article in the Statesman quotes a young man as saying “just as he jumped down into the empty pool.” Another was that the fellow who was knocked out was struck with a billy club. That man was struck with a bullstroke (military term), from the shotgun butt as he attempted to jump on John’s back. In other words, John did his job (a tough one) and got the attacker before he could get him.
6. The rope and knots are a tool to contain and retain prisoners as taught to the Airborne Rangers. The knot is not a “slip-knot” nor a “hangman’s knot” as implied. It is a knot like the “bowline” used to tie boats or tie a horse “expressly) because the knot will not slip. The loop is tied loosely or semi-loosely as needed to hold.
7. The owner of the property says he was “allowing John to stay there.” As if John was some homeless poor soul. John may have been staying there as part of their agreement, but he has a beautiful wife who is a fine woman, with whom he lives and they live with and care for our mother who is convalescing from a broken hip and joint replacement. The home they are living in is a very neat, clean and modern brick home in Providence with several bedrooms.
Now about the vandalism which is occurring all over our area. I was on top of Logan Canyon yesterday and stopped to use the public restrooms near Peter Sinks. On the older building the door had been totally ripped off and destroyed. There were unspeakable things which had been done inside and outside the restrooms. This is common all over now.
Several years ago there was a movie made called Walking Tall. It was a true story about a sheriff down south who was man enough to take on a corrupt system and individuals with his famous pick handle. He became a national hero. Two or three movies were made about his life.
Then there are the Rooster Cogburns and Big Jake’s of John Wayne. We cheer these men, yet seek to destroy a man who is striving to do his job and enforce the right of property owners to have their property be secure.
In Salt Lake City yesterday, a police officer was acquitted for shooting a dog while he was jogging. The owners were allowing it to run loose and get in trouble. Needless to say isn’t it lucky we don’t have such a law for kids and parents who cannot control their children and are embarrassed at the stunts they pull. I know, I have six of my own, two step-children and 22 grandchildren. Some of the finest people I know are also sharing this problem.
A remark was made in a commentary about the legends of St. Anne’s retreat, that a certain prominent attorney said he used to go up there when he was a kid, too. I don’t care if it was Thomas Jefferson, would that make breaking the law right? Or trespassing/vandalism?
John may not have done everything perfect, but who could under such conditions.
In my mind, John is a fine man, made of the stuff heroes are made of. If you think not-you try arresting 30 hell-raising young adults in the dark, lonely, middle of the night.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0013.pdf
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Emotions high on 911 tape
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Herald Journal article talks about the events surrounding trespassers at St. Anne's retreat including the transcript of a conversation between a 911 dispatcher and John Jeppson.
Emotions high on 911 tape
By Ryan Robb Oliver
Staff writer
The 911 call John Jeppson made from Zanavoo Restaurant & Lodge around 10:30 p.m. Friday when he reported that a group of kids had trespassed at St. Anne’s Retreat revealed a man on a mission to end vandalism at the site.
Jeppson is the lead watchman who handcuffed and wrapped cord around the necks of two groups of teen-agers and young adults early Friday morning and Friday night. The trespassers claimed Jeppson and two other men yelled death threats at them and fired shotgun shells above one person’s head and near the feet of another. The two other men with Jeppson have been identified as Arthur Peasnall and Chris Doerr, Jeppson’s son-in-law, both of Tooele County.
On the 911 recording, Jeppson calmly tells a Cache County dispatcher about the trespassers bound in the retreat’s swimming pool.
The dispatcher sounds shocked as she gears what Jeppson tells her. Jeppson loses his cool with the dispatcher and raises his voice near the end of the three and a quarter minute all when she incredulously repeats what he says.
When Jeppson is put on hold, he talks bitterly with one or more men at Zanavoo Lodge about his frustration with students vandalizing the property he’s tending.
He also brings up an incident involving Nick Chournos’ son where he implies that trespassers caused his death. Chournos is a sheep rancher from Tremonton.
Tremonton Police Chief Steve Hodges said Chournos’ 52-year-old son, John, committed suicide in 1992, that he would kill himself,” but it was unrelated to trespassers.
“This was a family problem,” Hodges said. “He was having a lot of emotional problems at the time.”
Hodges noted that John’s wife, who never took the suicide well, has claimed that Tremonton Police shot her husband. “She’s never been able to believe that he would kill himself.”
Jeppson also said on the tape that the St. Anne’s Retreat trespassers he detained Friday night had something to do with the earlier group of eight people he detained when they threw eggs on the property. Although, it was later determined these were two separate groups.
Cache County Sheriff Lynn Nelson said Jeppson was interviewed by his office on Monday. Jeppson thought he had a right to do a lot of what he did Friday night, Nelson said.
“He has a lot of really different views on things,” Nelson said.
But the law does allow for some of the things he did, the sheriff explained. People protecting property are given a considerable amount of latitude, he said.
Nelson said Wednesday night he and Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt spoke with more than a dozen parents of victims in the Friday incidents.
The meeting was closed to the news media. Wyatt said afterward that he wanted to answer their questions about the case, but there were too many parents with questions to talk to individually.
Charges against Jeppson and the two other men could be filed as early as today, he said.
When asked for his reaction to the 911 recording, Nelson said “I think it’s pretty consistent with what we’ve anticipated.
“I think he thought all along he was defending his property,” he said. “He was scared of these kids. He viewed them as a danger to himself.”
Transcript:
Jeppson-Well, we’ve got at least a bus load of them.
(delay)
Jeppson-(inaudible)…to stop ripping people’s property apart-steal shit, you know?
(Dispatcher returns to the line)
Dispatcher-John
Jeppson-Yes?
Dispatcher-We’re getting a hold of a deputy. Who have you got up there with the juveniles?
Jeppson-I have two of my men.
Dispatcher-Two men. And you said you got fifty-five zero-right?
Jeppson-Five zero.
(Dispatcher breaths a slight, bewildered and incredulous laugh.)
Jeppson-Very, very close to that number. I don’t know. I didn’t take a head count. They are all handcuffed, and they’ve all got cords around their neck.
Dispatcher-Around their necks?
Jeppson-Yes, they’re on their knees in the swimming pool.
Dispatcher-You got them on their knees in a swimming pool?
Jeppson-(sounding defensive and raising his voice) Hey!
Dispatcher-I’m just…
Jeppson--This is on private property!
Dispatcher-John.
Jeppson-Do you understand that?
Dispatcher-I understand that, but I’m trying to get this information, OK?
Jeppson-Yes.
(A phone line rings at the dispatch center.)
Dispatcher-Now hold on one moment please.
(Dispatcher puts Jeppson back on hold.)
Jeppson-Damn dispatcher, where are you?
(While on hold, Jeppson talks to another or the same unidentified man.)
Jeppson-By the time the goddamn high school gets done with that place it’ll be nothing but powder.
Unidentified man-(speaking in the background)-Let their f--- parents believe they don’t do anything wrong. (He or another man continues to talk, but his remarks are inaudible.)
Jeppson-And like sophomores shoot them dead if you want. Nick Chournos does. Nick Chournos pussy-footed around with some people like this and got his son killed. And now he don’t pussy-foot. He hunts them in his…
(Dispatcher comes back on-line and cuts him off.)
Dispatcher-Hey John.
Jeppson-Yes?
Dispatcher-I’ve got ofoficers on their way. Do you want them to meet you at Zanavoo or do you want them to…
Jeppson-At St. Anne’s Retreat.
Dispatcher-OK.
Jeppson-Three-tenths of a mile past Preston Valley Campground.
Dispatcher-They know where it’s at. They’re on their way, OK?
Jeppson-I’ll be waiting.
Dispatcher-Bye bye…
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Nightmare in Logan Canyon--Scare still haunting teens
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Legend-tripping teenagers trespassing at St. Anne's retreat in Logan Canyon get a real scare after being ambushed by security guards.
Nightmare in Logan Canyon - Scare still haunting teens
Youngsters tell of gunshots, death threats and now therapy
By Phil Jensen
Staff writer
If carloads of teen-agers sneaked into legendary St. Anne’s in Logan Canyon last weekend for a good Halloween scare, it worked.
They couldn’t have imagined in their wildest dreams that what happened there, in the unsettling October darkness, would be a real nightmare. It is a nightmare, a number of Cache County’s boys and girls say, that still wakes them in the warm security of their homes.
When 6 boys and 2 girls were on the floor of the lodge in the old St. Anne’s Retreat at 5 a.m. Friday, their hands cuffed behind them, ropes around their necks and a burly man with a shotgun leaned down and reportedly told his two partners, “I want some blood tonight, boys,” they thought their lives were over.
Interviews with the youths who say they were tortured and their parents reveal a gruesome script like Hollywood’s “Friday the 13th.”
A 17-year old Logan girl who is a member of her high school drill team was one of the eight youths on the floor. She said she went to St. Anne’s for the same reasons that a generation before her had visited the local haunted house.
“I honestly thought it was the end because you don’t say that unless you’re psychotic,” the girl said about the man’s comments.
Her friend and drill team companion said she thought for a time that her life could end at sweet 16.
“When they took our pictures I got really scared,” she said. She said the only thought that came to her was that the three men with shotguns, knives, pistols and clubs wanted before and after pictures.
“Sit up straight or I will slit your throats,” the burly man reportedly said before flashing the shutter.
The burly man is believed to be John Jeppson, who one of the owners said was allowed to stay at the retreat in exchange for tending the property.
Some of the kids began to cry when the burly man with short, graying hair and wearing jeans and suspenders reportedly wiggled his 10-gauge shotgun with a flashlight strapped to the barrel and talked about kids who never made it back from St. Anne’s.
He could kill them and hide their bodies under the building. He said he had done it before, according to some of the youths. “You know how many people I’ve killed in this canyon? You want to know where those bones under here came from?
The ropes, the youngsters were told, were linked to a fuse that, if they moved, would ignite and decapitate them.
The burly man would leave the room from time to time and the teen-agers told the other two watchmen that they only came to St. Anne’s to get scared and asked if they would let them go. They were told that the burly man was in charge.
“They seemed like they were afraid of him,” one of the girls said.
The 17-year-old girls did not have a jacket and sat shivering. A boy asked the burly man if he could give her his coat and the man reportedly said, “Don’t be a hero,” He kept his coat.
Three of the eight youths were Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese and they said that got the attention of the burly man, who kept talking about his life “fighting for my country” in Vietnam.
When they walked through what they said was a partially open gate with no visible “no trespassing” signs, they were ordered to hit the ground.
“Freeze m…., or I’ll blow your f… head off. I’ll slit your f… throats,” said the man, according to the youths.
He allegedly put a gun to the head of one of the Asians, who was now on his knees, called him a “gook” and threatened to blow his head off. Witnesses heard a shot. It was apparently into the ground.
The teen-agers said the burly man talked of Vietnam and patriotism inside the lodge and told them, “You all look like Vietnamese to me. You mean nothing to me.”
When sheriff’s deputies arrived, the man started rambling to them about this being like troops in Vietnam and “about police powers in the war.”
A 17-year-old girl from Smithfield was among 30 or so teenagers who, not knowing what happened earlier that day, tiptoed onto the grounds of St. Anne’s late Friday night. Before she was brought to her knees in an empty pool with the others, handcuffed and tied neck-to-neck with rope, she was allegedly fondled.
Her father said today the family is arranging therapy for his daughter through the LDS Church.
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St. Anne's Retreat
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St. Anne's trio not paid guards
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Article discusses former property co-owner , Mark Epstein, stating that the guards at St. Anne's retreat were not paid guards and their actions were not directed by the owners.
St. Anne’s trio not paid guards
By Ryan Robb Olivar
Staff writer
An owner of the former St. Anne’s Convent in Logan Canyon said the [that] the three men accused of terrorizing trespassers on the property were not paid employees.
Part-owner and San Francisco attorney Mark Epstein said one of the accused men, John Jeppson, was allowed to use the property in exchange for tending it. The property was purchased more than three years ago from the Catholic Church by Epstein and three other people intending to use it as a get-away spot, he said.
Jeppson is one of the men accused by two groups of Cache County teen-agers and young adults who trespassed on the property Friday of binding them with cords around their necks and flexible ties around their wrists while he held them at bay with a shotgun. The two other men allegedly wielding shotguns and threatening the trespassers have been identified as Arthur Peasnall and Christopher Doerr of Tooele County.
Epstein said he did not know Peasnall or Doerr, or why they were with Jeppson on Friay.
“I don’t know exactly what went on that night,” Epstein said. “But no one is going to tell anybody to chase down a bunch of people and tie them around the neck.”
If Jeppson did that, it was not something directed by any of the property owners, he said.
Tim Bradfield of Logan, who was taking care of the property before Jeppson replaced him six weeks ago, said he was told by property owners that if a problem occurred to call the sheriff.
“They never told me to physically detain people,” Bradfield said. “I think these people were acting of their own accord,”
Epstein said one thing that might have been frustrating for Jeppson was the amount of damage caused by vandals. “We’ve incurred in excess of $100,000 in property damage.”
Another thing that may have disturbed him was on early Friday morning, he captured eight people banging on the front doors of the main building who told him they’d come back to get him, Epstein said. Several of the people Jeppson detained in that first incident have told The Herald Journal they were bound with rope around their necks and were forced to sit in a circle until sheriff’s deputies arrived and arrested them for trespassing.
When an unrelated group of 30 people snuck through the gate’s door on Friday night, the trespassers were this time stopped at the door by Jeppson and his shotgun-wielding companions, according to the sheriff’s department.
Cache County Sheriff Lynn Nelson said his office is trying to determine if the men were threatened and were acting upon that threat when they violently detained the second group of trespassers. But he said he hasn’t been able to substantiate any threats and that both groups of trespassers were treated with equal force.
The parents of the trespassers and the community ought to know the Sheriff’s Office is taking the allegations made by the trespassers very seriously, said Nelson, who spent much of Monday answering questions from Utah news media and two syndicated television news magazines, including Inside Edition.
The kids were wrong to trespass, he said, but they were just looking to have some fun. “The big issue here is what these other guys did to them.”
Nelson said all indications so far indicate that Jeppson and his two companions went beyond what was appropriate.
Jeppson began tending the property six weeks ago because of his experience as a carpenter, according to several sources.
Morris Pitcher, who attends church with Jeppson, said the man moved to Cache Valley last spring from Pocatello, Idaho to take care of his invalid mother. He sold his home and gave up his job to come here, Pitcher said.
When his mother got a little better and didn’t need his help, Pitcher said Jeppson asked around in the church ward if people knew where he could find work. It was then that he got hooked up with the people at the St. Anne’s property and was allowed a place to stay if he fixed it up and tended it.
“He’s got a good heart that guy,” Pitcher said. “But maybe this job wasn’t particularly suited to him.”
Jeppson couldn’t be reached for comments.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0010.pdf
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Owner of St. Ann's Retreat Defends Caretaker's Action Against Teens
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Reasonable force is questioned as property owner defends the actions of caretakers.
Owner of St. Ann’s Retreat Defends Caretaker’s Action Against Teens
By Tom Zoellner and Vince Horiuchi, The Salt Lake Tribune
LOGAN-A man hired to watch St. Ann’s Retreat felt he was “in serious fear for his safety” when he allegedly tired up 20 local youths and threatened to kill them, said one of the owners of the property.
“He was just trying to sound aggressive,” said Mark Epstein, a San Francisco attorney who has an owners hip share in a mountain lodge and several cabins that became the scene of the real-life nightmare for some pre-Halloween trespassers.
The 50-year-old caretaker reportedly fired guns near the heads of the teen-agers he caught sneaking onto the property in Logan Canyon on Friday.
One 16-year-old boy said he was whacked in the head and knocked unconscious with a billyclub, and a girl reported being fondled when a guard frisked her for weapons.
The head caretaker and his two assistants could now face a variety of criminal charges, said Cache County sheriff’s deputies, who said they will present the case to County Attorney Scott Wyatt by the end of the week.
The caretaker made repeated references to his military service in the Vietnam War, and allegedly told the trespassers, “I’ll kill you like I killed the Vietnamese.”
He also reportedly bound the frightened teens together neck-to-neck with nylon cord and told them it was “detonating cord” that would blow their heads off if they moved-a trick he said he learned in Southeast Asia.
But Epstein said the man has no record of service in Vietnam that he knows of. Epstein said he hired the resident of Pocatello, Idaho, two months ago to do maintenance work and help save the place from vandals.
“He’s someone we were put in touch with by a Mormon youth group,” Epstein said in a telephone interview from his San Francisco office. “He called and asked if he could spend some time up there and go fishing and spend the weekends-basically enjoy the land.”
When called at home, the caretaker said only “no comment,” and hung up. The Tribune does not print the names of criminal suspects until they are charged in court.
His two assistants, who live in Tooele County, could not be reached for comment.
St. Ann’s Retreat, formerly owned by the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, has been a favorite subject of ghost stories and juvenile trespassing for decades. Epstein said he bought the compound in 1992 with several families in Utah and California, which he would not identify.
Tying up the trespassers was appropriate, Epstein said, because a group of teen-agers who had sneaked onto the grounds had allegedly been threatening the caretaker.
“I don’t think tying them up was excessive,” said Epstein, who has spoken with the caretaker.
“He had been threatened by the first group, and he didn’t know whether they had come up there with weapons or what.”
Some of the Halloween trespassers said it appeared the night watchmen set a trap to catch them.
When 18-year-old Tito Thanadabouth and seven of his friends sneaked into the compound at about 4:30 a.m. Friday, they found the front gate open and all the “no trespassing” sign removed, Thanadabouth said. The guards later surprised them inside the empty swimming pool.
Thanadabouth said he and his friends then were subjected to a diatribe of death threats and cursing while they were tied by the neck. Cache County deputies were called and the eight were charged with criminal trespassing. Police said they were not told of the alleged abuse at that time.
About 16 hours later, 16-year-old Matt Clark and 29 other young people, mainly from the Smithfield area, reportedly were ambushed by a shotgun-wielding guard just after they stepped onto the grounds of St. Ann’s.
Clark said he was hit on the head with a club and knocked to the ground unconscious when he refused to obey the guard’s order to lie down. His girlfriend had a pistol stuck into her back, he said.
“They were loony, they were out of their minds,” said Clark. “It seemed so unreal to me.”
The guards led the 30 teenagers to the drained swimming pool-the subject of numerous grisly legends-and tied 20 of them together by the necks with the phony “detonating cord,” The youths also were bound with disposable plastic handcuffs and told to remain on their knees for almost two hours while the police were called.
One boy who tried to get away was shoved to the ground and a shotgun round was fired near his head, Clark said.
They were taunting us to run,” he said. “They said, ‘It’s no fun if you don’t run. We want to shoot someone tonight.’”
Cache County sheriff’s Deputy Troy Linquin found several of the teen-agers crying from the tightness of the handcuffs when he arrived.
“As I looked at their hands, on the girls particularly, their hands were turning white in color, almost bluish in color,” wrote Linquin in his report. “Visible swelling as well as red marks were observed on the majority of individuals.”
Several of the teenagers came forward immediately with the story of their brutal treatment, Linquin noted.
Despite this, the guards were not arrested because police needed time to sort out all the witness statements and figure out the truth, said Cache County Sheriff Lynn Nelson.
“We know who they are,” Nelson said. “They aren’t going anywhere. We didn’t want to jump in and make a rash decision.”
Linquin said the police gave a warning about “the use of deadly force” to the caretaker, who was still visibly upset and began talking about Vietnam and how this was similar to troops being placed in Vietnam and went on with some conversation about police powers in the war.”
The sheriff said the case presents an interesting conflict between the rights of trespassers and the rights of property owners.
“The law says you can take reasonable steps to detain trespassers. The question is: Was this reasonable? They were protecting their property, and whether that was reasonable is a focus of our investigation,” said the sheriff, a native of Logan who admitted to peering into St. Ann’s from the bridge when he was a teenager.
Police said there is no evidence the teenagers-who were all given misdemeanor citations for criminal trespassing-were a party to any of the vandalism that has recently plagued St. Ann’s, which is about 10 miles from the center of Logan.
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0009.pdf
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Canyon scare charges likely
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The security guards responsible for the ambush of 38 trespassers at St. Anne’s retreat likely to face charges.
Canyon scare charges likely
By Phil Jensen
Staff writer
The Cache County Attorney’s Office said today criminal charges most likely will be filed against three men who allegedly ambushed two groups of thrill-seeking teen-agers Friday, tied them up and terrorized them.
The charges could range from misdemeanors to felonies and will focus on assault, said Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt.
“There is a very high probability that will file criminal charges against these guys,” Wyatt said this morning. “The initial reports are pretty incredible.”
Wyatt said the actions of the three at the old St. Anne’s retreat 8 miles up Logan Canyon apparently went far beyond legal limits.
Wyatt said his office would likely decide on the charges and issue warrants by the end of the week.
The attorney’s office is waiting for sheriff’s deputies t9o finish taking statements from nearly 40 teen-agers, the three men and others. Wyatt said he wants to read all the statements before determining charges.
“They’ve only given me the initial reports,” Wyatt said. “I haven’t seen any statements at all. But as soon as they are collected we will make a decision.”
Wyatt said St. Anne’s is a local haunted house on private property and what happened when the carloads of youngsters got there is almost unbelievable.
“It’s one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen,” Wyatt said.
The kids should not have done what they did because they were trespassing but that doesn’t justify the reactions of these guys,” Wyatt said. “Overkill is a good way to describe it.”
“The kids told authorities the gate was open or partially open when they walked through and were ambushed by three shotgun-wielding men.
In the first incident, before dawn Friday, six boys and two girls were ambushed on the grounds by the men who fired at least one shot over their heads, then marched into a lodge, handcuffed and tied neck to neck by ropes, the teen-agers said. They told sheriff’s deputies who arrived nearly two hours later that the men shouted obscenities at them and threatened to kill them and hide their bodies.
The teen-agers were handcuffed in official police cuffs and taken by squad cars by four deputies to the sheriff’s office where they were interrogated and released. Some were given citations for trespassing, a Class C misdemeanor similar to a traffic ticket.
The three men were not arrested.
The second larger group of about 30 boys and girls, unaware of what happened in the earlier incident, said they were accosted by the same men as they walked through what they said was an open gate late Friday night.
They said they were ordered into an empty swimming pool, handcuffed with plastic flexible ties and also bound by ropes, neck to neck. They said they were told that if they moved the ropes would tighten, trigger an explosive and their heads would be blown off.
One boy said he was knocked unconscious by a billyclub and a girl complained that she was fondled.
About 40 parents confronted sheriff’s deputies outside the station Saturday after demanding action.
Parents told reporters they were angry at the non-action of the Sheriff’s Office for allowing a repeat Friday night of the incident early that morning and thus placing minors in danger.
Wyatt said he has not interviewed John Jeppson, identified as the oldest of the three men at St. Anne’s and the lead watchman who was armed from time to time with a shotgun, pistol, knife and billyclub.
When told Jeppson was still living at St. Anne’s, Wyatt said, “Good, then he can stay put so we can serve him with a warrant.”
The property owner said he allowed Jeppson to live there in exchange for fixing up the place and knew nothing of the other two men or of Jeppson’s alleged actions Friday.
Legends have lured generations to site
Legends surrounding St. Anne’s have provided a thrill to Cache Valley youths for generations.
Middle-aged people, including prominent members of the local community, remember when they were kids, too, and they drove up Logan Canyon with nerves of steel to get the wits scared out of them.
They were drawn at Halloween time by stories of hosts, including one of a nun emerging from the forest and followed by two red-eyed Dobermans.
“It’s been a place where everybody’s been. I remember when I was there,” said Shannon Demler, a Logan attorney.
People around town are laying bets that just about every old-time Cache resident went to scary St. Anne’s in the October darkness at one time or another.
The compound 8 miles up the canyon on the right started as a lodge and cabins in the 1920s and was converted into a Catholic retreat. It was eventually sold by the Catholic Church and has changed hands several times.
The property, with a Yellowstone-type lodge that has a rock fireplace and winding stairs, also includes several sleeping cabins and the famous swimming pool which still abounds with frightening stories.
It is commonly known today as the “nunnery.”
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Three men charged with felony assault
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Security guards charged with felony assault for using excessive force to restrain trespassing legend-trippers at St. Anne's Retreat (Utah State University Statesman).
3 men charged with felony assault
By Ann Vlnar
STAFF WRITER.
Three men were charged on six counts of felony aggravated assault because =of the exceissive fore they used to restrain 38 trespassing youth at St. Anne’s retreat last Friday, Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt said.
The three men who have been identified as John Lemon Jeppson, Christopher Lynn Doerr and Arthur Benjamin Peasnall.
Aggravated assault is a third degree felony, under Utah law, and carries with it a possible sentence of up to five years in prison.
“What we charged them with will be sufficient in a trial and more than sufficient for sentencing,” Wyatt said.
“They went a few steps too far,” Wyatt said. “Their conduct with respect to these kids after they were bound and secure is what brought the charges.”
Charges were filed because the suspects apparently used guns and rope to detain the youth and threatened their lives, ‘Wyatt said.
The owners of St. Anne’s retreat has requested to dismiss criminal trespassing charges against the 38 youth who illegally entered their property on Friday.
“They expressed to me they are saddened by the treatment the youth received and are sympathetic to what they are going through,” Wyatt said.
“The alleged excessive conduct of these men was unfortunate and in no way authorized by the property owners.”
Charges would not be filed in response to one girl’s complain that she had been inappropriately touched.
“The law is real specific on a sexual-abuse case,” said Cache County Sheriff Lynn Nelson. The defendants claim they were “patting down the kids for weapons.”
Some of the youth involved are still undergoing counseling because of the incide [incident].
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0007.pdf
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Retreat caretaker arrested on six assault charges
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Caretaker arrested on assault charges for his part in armed standoff at St. Anne’s Retreat involving 38 trespassing high school students.
Retreat caretaker arrested on six assault charges
By Ryan Robb Oliver
Staff writer
A watchman accused of terrorizing 38 trespassers at the former St. Anne’s Retreat in Logan Canyon was arrested Monday afternoon by a Cache county lieutenant sheriff.
John Jeppson, 50, of Pocatello, Idaho, was arrested at his parents’ home in Providence by Lt. Von Williamson, the lead investigator.
Warrants for the arrest of two other watchmen suspected of assisting Jeppson have been forwarded to Tooele County. The other men have been identified as Arthur Peasnall and Christopher Doerr, Jeppson’s son-in-law, both of Tooele County.
The suspects in the case have each been charged with six counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in jail for each count.
Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt said he chose to file six counts because it was a “representative sample” of what happened Oct. 10. He said the number was also agreed upon by a group of parents of the alleged victims he met with last week.
Six charges, he said, “was sufficient for every aspect of the trial.”
Wyatt said he will also name only six alleged victims to testify for the state during trial. He said he didn’t want to needlessly stack dozens of charges and witness testimonials against the men.
The trespassers have accused the three watchmen of tying them together by their necks, handcuffing them and holding them at gunpoint in a swimming pool in two separate episodes Oct. 10. The mostly teen-aged victims said their lives were threatened, shotguns were fired near them, and one female said Jeppson felt her up.
“If these gentlemen had handcuffed them and secured them and stopped there, we probably wouldn’t be filing charges,” Wyatt said. “You’re entitled to use a reasonable amount of force to protect property.” But Wyatt said the men acted beyond what the law allows.
The sheriff’s office originally cited all 38 trespassers, but the trespassing charges were not filed. Property owners who allowed Jeppson to tend the St. Anne’s property were sympathetic to the treatment they received at the hands of the watchmen, Wyatt said.
Jeppson was released from the Cache County Jail on Monday on a $5,000 bail.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0006.pdf
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Canyon watchmen identified
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Herald Journal article identifies the guards involved in an armed standoff involving 30 trespassing legend-trippers at St. Anne's Retreat.
The Herald Journal
Canyon watchmen identified
By Ryan Robb Oliver
Staff writer
The Cache County Sheriff’s Office this morning released the names of three watchmen accused of terrorizing a group of teen-agers trespassing at the former St. Anne’s Convent in Logan Canyon on Friday night.
John Jeppson, 50, of Pocatello, Idaho, is the head watchman that made the initial trespassing call from Zanavoo Restaurant and Lodge to the Cache County Sheriff’s Office at around 10:30 p.m. Friday.
The other two watchmen were identified as Christopher Doerr and Arthur Peasnall, both of Tooele County.
When The Herald Journal telephoned John Jeppson this morning, an unidentified woman answered the phone and said she’d leave a message for Jeppson but hung up before the paper’s number could be given.
When Peasnall was called and asked to give his side of the story, he repeatedly said, “I have no comment.”
Doerrs telephone number could not be located.
Chief Deputy Mike Stauffer with the sheriff’s office said the three men are being investigated and it will be up to the Cache County Attorney’s Office if charges are filed.
Deputy Troy Liquin, in his report of the incident, stated that when he arrived, he was met by the three watchmen each with flashlights taped to the end of their shotguns. Jeppson also was wearing a holstered pistol strapped to his belt.
When he told them to put their weapons in their vehicles, all of them complied except Jeppson, who Liquin said had to be told three times before he put his weapon away.
Liquin said he discovered the 30 trespassing youths in the pool on their knees. Twenty of them had a continuous nylon cord wrapped around their necks and if one person moved, they would all choke, he said in the report.
Some of the girls were crying and two or three other males were near tears because their hands were tied so tight with plastic cuffs, according to the report.
“As I looked at their hands, on the girls particularly, most of them were turning white in color, almost bluish in color. Visible swelling as well as red marks were observed on the majority of the individuals,” Liquin stated.
Liquin said he ordered the cuffs to be removed, and the youths complained of being hit and yelled at. One girl said one of the guards fondled her, according to the report.
One teen-ager handed a spent Federal 12-gague shotgun shell casing to an officer and said it had been shot near his head. Another said a guard shot next to his feet, the report said.
When deputies approached the three watchmen, Liquin said Peasnall used a military identification card to identify himself.
“Mr. Jeppson was very upset about the juveniles being there. He stated, ‘What am I supposed to do?’” according to the report. “Mr. Jeppson…began talking about Vietnam and how this was similar to troops being placed in Vietnam, and went on with some conversation about police powers in the war.”
Stauffer said the watchmen weren’t arrested because an investigation would need to be conducted to determine which of the juveniles were telling the truth.
“We arrested the juveniles because it was immediately apparent they were trespassing,” Stauffer said.
He said the fact the juveniles were trespassing and had to cross through a barbed wire fence to get there has been underplayed in this incident.
“Obviously, someone didn’t want them on their property,” he said.
The thirty people were cited and released for trespassing.
Another six people, three youths and three adults, were cited earlier Friday for trespassing on the same property.
Action beyond legal limits?
By Phil Jensen
Staff writer
Trespassing laws do not allow the kind of force or confinement allegedly used by three armed caretakers who terrorized Cache County teen-agers in Logan Canyon on Friday.
The Cache County Sheriff’s Office is investigating two incidents of teen-agers who said they were held captive, abused and threatened with their lives at the old St. Anne’s Retreat midway up the canyon.
Detectives said the case will be turned over County Attorney Scott Wyatt who will determine what if any charges against the caretakers will be filed.
Wyatt said he was meeting today with sheriff’s investigators and should know by Tuesday morning what action his office will take.
A Logan attorney read to reporters parts of the state law covering trespassing and what a property owner legally can and cannot do.
The use of force such as weapons against a trespasser or confining a trespasser is against the law unless the owner feels his life or the life of others is in danger, the law states.
“They could be liable for false imprisonment, assault and battery and a whole host of things,” said Joe Chambers, a Logan attorney and former Rich County deputy attorney.
Chambers said the law also covers “intentional infliction of emotional distress” against a trespasser, saying it is illegal to do something “so extreme and outrageous that if you hear about it the average person would say, I can’t believe they did that,” Chambers said.
Chambers, who has a 17-year old son, said he would have been outraged if his daughter had been fondled by the caretakers, as one of the teenagers alleged. “I’d be sitting on Scott Wyatt’s doorstep right now,” he said.
Chambers said the owner also has liability.
“You can’t just hire a bunch of crazies to take care of your property and have no liability, Chambers said.
According to records at the Cache County recorder’s office, the property was sold by the Catholic Church in 1992 to Peggy Godfrey for $120,000. Records also contain the name of Richard Salvitti of Salt Lake City as the person responsible for taxes. Efforts to contact both Godfrey and Salvitti were not successful.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0005.pdf
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Nobody wins in Nunnery incident
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Utah Statesman article talking about the legend-tripping incident at St. Anne's Retreat involving armed trespassing high school students and armed security guards.
Nobody wins in Nunnery incident
Three men are arrested. Thirty-eight teen-agers have been dismissed from criminal trespassing charges. But what has Cache Valley learned from the incident at St. Anne’s retreat last weekend?
It appears that the citizens stand divided on the issue.
While most agree that what the youth did was wrong and should be punished most will admit they too have gone up to St. Anne’s for some pre-Halloween haunts in their day.
The other half of the citizens believe the men had every right to use the tactics they did. The three men were taking bold steps to defend the rights of property owners who have been continually invaded by thrill seekers.
Some defend the gun-toting men claiming they had no other choice but to detain the youth and protect themselves. Friday evening it was 30 on three. Some ask the question, how were the men supposed to detain the youth and protect themselves from retaliation?
However, the Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt disagrees that the men were justified and felony aggravated assault charges have been filed against the three men. He said the threats the men made, the shots that were fired and the abuse the youth incurred while under their restraint were beyond reasonable force.
The citizens of Cache Valley must take this incident seriously. This is only the beginning of this controversy. What is acceptable? Can teen-age thrill seekers continue to invade property owners’ privacy to fulfil a family tradition? Can anyone owning land and a gun, use any force possible to defend their land? We must decide for ourselves what adventures we take accountability for.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04849
St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0004.pdf
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St. Anne's watchman a hero just doing his job
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Herald Journal guest commentary about the trespassing incident involving armed guards in 1997
St. Anne’s watchman a hero just doing his job
Guest commentary
Jake Jeppson
I am writing this as an answer to the recent articles and reports in the local media concerning my brother, John Jeppsen, who is the lead watchman at St. Anne’s Retreat.
I feel it’s necessary to bring out some facts that have not been mentioned, and to say something about circumstances involved.
It is my understanding that the shotgun shells which John had were loaded with rock salt. Years ago these were used for raiders of melon patches, hen houses, private outhouses or stray dogs. These to sting severely, not kill.
A great to-do was made about the fellow that was knocked unconscious. Nothing is said about him coming up behind John to jump him during the arrests. John was an Airborne Ranger in Europe. Rangers are one of three groups of America’s finest fighting men. John was not, nor is he, a Vietnam vet (with mental and emotional problems), as earlier articles implied.
Emotions? Name me as any man anywhere who would not be wound tight while arresting 38 people as big as himself in the darkness or poor light, alone, in Logan Canyon at that time of day? Especially in view of the monetary value of property damage at the site and the later made threats which I know were made.
Nothing has been said about the threats made against John; i.e. “We’re coming back to get you.”
There are inconsistencies in the young people’s stories. The Herald Journal stories say the trespassers were arrested just inside the gate. An article in the Statesman quotes a young man as saying “just as he jumped down into the empty pool.” Another was that the fellow who was knocked out was struck with a billy club. That man was struck with a bullstroke (military term), from the shotgun butt as he attempted to jump on John’s back. In other words, John did his job (a tough one) and got the attacker before he could get him.
The rope and knots are a tool to contain and retain prisoners as taught to the Airborne Rangers. The knot is not a “slip-knot” nor a “hangman’s knot” as implied. It is a knot like the “bowline” used to tie boats or tie a horse “expressly) because the knot will not slip. The loop is tied loosely or semi-loosely as needed to hold.
The owner of the property says he was “allowing John to stay there.” As if John was some homeless poor soul. John may have been staying there as part of their agreement, but he has a beautiful wife who is a fine woman, with whom he lives and they live with and care for our mother who is convalescing from a broken hip and joint replacement. The home they are living in is a very neat, clean and modern brick home in Providence with several bedrooms.
Now about the vandalism which is occurring all over our area. I was on top of Logan Canyon yesterday and stopped to use the public restrooms near Peter Sinks. On the older building the door had been totally ripped off and destroyed. There were unspeakable things which had been done inside and outside the restrooms. This is common all over now.
Several years ago there was a movie made called Walking Tall. It was a true story about a sheriff down south who was man enough to take on a corrupt system and individuals with his famous pick handle. He became a national hero. Two or three movies were made about his life.
Then there are the Rooster Cogburns and Big Jake’s of John Wayne. We cheer these men, yet seek to destroy a man who is striving to do his job and enforce the right of property owners to have their property be secure.
In Salt Lake City yesterday, a police officer was acquitted for shooting a dog while he was jogging. The owners were allowing it to run loose and get in trouble. Needless to say isn’t it lucky we don’t have such a law for kids and parents who cannot control their children and are embarrassed at the stunts they pull. I know, I have six of my own, two step-children and 22 grandchildren. Some of the finest people I know are also sharing this problem.
A remark was made in a commentary about the legends of St. Anne’s retreat, that a certain prominent attorney said he used to go up there when he was a kid, too. I don’t care if it was Thomas Jefferson, would that make breaking the law right? Or trespassing/vandalism?
John may not have done everything perfect, but who could under such conditions.
In my mind, John is a fine man, made of the stuff heroes are made of. If you think not-you try arresting 30 hell-raising young adults in the dark, lonely, middle of the night.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL
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Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
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St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0003.pdf
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Nightmare in Logan Canyon
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Trespassers ambushed by security guards at St. Anne's Retreat (1997)
Nightmare in Logan Canyon
[Photo by Mitch Mascaro/Herald Journal. Caption: Cache County Sheriff Sgt. Brian Locke answers questions from parents and youths who gathered at the sheriff’s office Saturday to express concerns about the youth’s treatment at the hands of three men apparently serving as watchmen on posted property in Logan Canyon.]
Trespassing teens claim they were terrorized by watchmen
By Phil Jensen
Staff writer
About 30 Cache County teen-agers said they walked into a night of Vietnam-style terror in Logan Canyon Friday night when they were ambushed, shot at, handcuffed, tied together by their necks and threatened with their lives by shotgun-toting private guards.
A sergeant with the Cache County Sheriff’s Office, saying he’s never seen anything like this in 11 years on the force, said an investigation is under way. No arrests were made.
One teen-age boy, allegedly butted by a shotgun, was treated at Logan Regional Hospital and released. Some girls said they were sexually molested and other teens showed wrist marks left by the plastic, store-bought handcuffs.
The Halloween-come-early started about 10 p.m. Friday when several carloads of high school students, driven by curiosity of a “scary place,” arrived at an area formerly called St. Anne’s Retreat midway up Logan Canyon.
The teen-agers told authorities they walked over a small bridge and through a green gate topped with barbed wire when someone carrying a shotgun jumped from the bushes, ordered them to hit the ground, then fired a shot over their heads.
They said three men appeared armed with shotguns with flashlights on the end of the barrels, searched and handcuffed them, then ordered them into an outside, empty swimming pool.
There, they said, they were strapped together by ropes around their necks and told that the ropes were linked to explosives. If they tried to get free, they were told, the ropes would tighten and blow their heads off.
They said they also were told that if they tried to run, the guards would shoot off their legs.
One guard bragged about using the same tactics on Viet Cong in the Vietnam War, said one of the teen-agers.
The teens said the guards posted themselves outside the pool, shouting obscenities and threats at the line of teen-agers in the pool. They said the guards also took photographs of each teenager and took their names before sheriff’s deputies showed up.
[Photo/caption: The barb-wire reinforced gate leading to what locals call ‘The Nunnery’ stood open Saturday afternoon.]
Deputy Troy Liquin was first on the scene, followed by three other deputies.
Deputies said they ordered the guards to cut off the handcuffs and free the youngsters from the neck ropes, then cited the teen-agers with criminal trespass and sent them home.
Sgt. Brian Locke said deputies got the names of the three guards but did not confiscate their weapons. He said the sheriff’s office did not know the name of the property owner who hired the guards.
Teenagers told authorities they were scared for their lives.
One 16-year-old Sky View High School student said he was ordered face-down on the ground as he and several friends walked through the gate, then hand cuffed.
“I thought I was doing what I was supposed to do, and this guy picked me up by the back of my shirt and tossed me,” the boy said. “These guys are psychos.”
Girls gave statements to the sheriff’s office that they were sexually molested by being fondled under their shirts. The girls said they were told they were being frisked.
The boy treated at Logan Regional Hospital said he was kicked in the stomach and knocked unconscious by a glow to the head. He was treated for a concussion and head wound.
Others quoted one of the guards as saying, “I hope you run so I can take your legs off.”
About 40 parents and teenagers showed up outside the sheriff’s office in Logan Saturday afternoon demanding action, saying they were concerned primarily with what might happen to unwitting teen-agers drawn to the old St. Anne’s, also know [known] locally as “the Nunnery,” Saturday night.
“A friend of one of these kids might wind up dead,” one parent said.
One parent from an outlying Cache County town whose son was there Friday night said his main concern is that this won’t happen to kids again. “This is well beyond what is reasonable and what is legal,” the father said. “And I want to see them (the watchmen) prosecuted.”
Locke, the sheriff’s sergeant, said statements have been and are being taken from the teen-agers and the incident will be investigated by detectives.
“This is serious,” Locke said. “I have never seen anything like this in my 11 years.”
“If there was use of deadly force, they will be arrested,” Lock [Locke] said. Locke, who responded to the scene, midway between Card Canyon and the Right Hand Fork turnoff, said it looked like a “prison camp” with the gates topped with barbed wire. “There’s nothing like it in the country,” Locke said.
Lock [Locke] said the area has changed ownership and was under renovation. He said there have been several recent reports of vandalism including one early Friday morning.
A separate encounter about 4:30 a.m. Friday may have been even more frightening, according to statements given the sheriff’s office by five boys and two girls.
They said they were drawn to the area out of stories that it was a “whacked out place” and were accosted by three guards armed with shotguns, pistols and knives.
They said one of the guards pointed a gun at an Asian teen-ager, called him a “gook,” and said, “I know something about you Vietnamese…I have killed many of them.” A guard put a pistol to The [the] Asian boy’s head and threatened to shoot, then discharged the gun into the ground, the boys told authorities.
They said the guards took their pictures, saying, “Sit up straight or I will slit your throat.” The picture-shooting continued after the deputies arrived.
When three deputies arrived in three cars, they replaced the plastic handcuffs with official handcuffs. The youths were then taken by squad cars to the sheriff’s office, where they were cited for trespassing and released. Their two cars were impounded.
As they were being escorted by deputies off the land, one of the watchmen walked behind with a shotgun and another took pictures of them and their license plates, they said. The teens were puzzled that this behavior did not seem to concern the deputies.
“I’m just happy to be alive,” said one 19-year-old. “But I don’t like the idea of them having by [my] license plate number.”
Lt. Von Williamson, who is investigating, said he doesn’t know the details of Friday morning’s incident. But he said, “I doubt very seriously that that occurred,” Williamson said.
The teen-agers in both incidents said they showed up only as a Halloween-time curiosity and did not vandalism
“I’ve been here (in Cache Valley) since the 8th grade and have never been there until now, but I bet every teen-ager in the county has been up there,” said one 19-year-old, referring to the old retreat as the local “haunted house.”
Williamson said Saturday night that deputies instructed the watchmen on the proper use of weapons and didn’t anticipate any repeats of the alleged menacing Saturday night. He said, as far as the sheriff’s office knew, the guards had left the area, although manpower shortages prevented the office from posting a deputy at the scene overnight Saturday.
A press release issued by the office Saturday night referred to statements from teenagers of shots fired, excessive force and fondling of female teenagers.
“Due to the volatility of the situation, no action was taken on those allegations at the time,” the release said. It said evidence will be turned over to the county attorney.
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St. Anne's Retreat
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http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p16944coll20/id/11
SCAFOLK032Bx003Fd07Item0002.pdf
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A Haunted Retreat
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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.
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St. Anne's Retreat
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Living Legends: Cache Valley Legend Tripping
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Several legend verisons of St. Anne's Retreat from student fieldwork collection assignments.
Living Legends:
Cache Valley Legend Tripping
Holly Williams
History 5700
Professor Gabbert
Utah State University
Spring 2010
• Living Legends
Holly Williams
HIST 5700
Assignment #3
In a culture of gossip and adrenalin, it's no wonder that legend tripping is such a popular
activity. Legend tripping, or the act of traveling to the location where the legend supposedly happened,
tends to be popular among the young adult age group. I spoke with three men, who had all experienced
legends, or supernatural happenings, personally, or who had heard of others experiencing them. All
these legends take place in Cache Valley. This paper will discuss why these men traveled to the
locations they, or others, did and why they tell the stories to others.
The first person I interviewed was John Reynolds. Each story that he told was a first hand
account of something that he had experienced. Why would John tell me stories that had happened to
him personally? Did they make the stories more scary? Did they make them more real? John, I believe,
• wanted to share his experience with others so that they could experience, too, what he had felt at those
moments.
The first story he told was from when he was in high school. He and some friends decided to
watch a scary movie in the old boy's gym at Logan High. They heard some creaking noises from the
dark corner, but ignored them. Then there was a loud metallic crash and everyone scattered. They later
found out that it was just some boys setting up a dinner for a school dance.
Why would John tell this story and then say what the real reason for the noise was? To start off
his story, he told of how the gym was supposedly haunted, since it was the floor above an old
swimming pool where several students had drowned. Naturally, watching a scary movie in a
supposedly haunted location, would give the gym the aura of spookiness. Similarly, in other legend
tripping adventures, the participants go to the location only when the conditions are right (i.e. on a full
• moon, at midnight, at a certain time of year).
1
John ended his story by giving a real reason for the noise, as opposed to a supernatural one.
• What does this mean? Bruce Jackson says:
•
•
"Stories aren't just retrospective: they rationalize, compartmentalize, and
organize the past, but they also license the future. Our narratives provide
the charter for moral decisions, define the permissible and impermissible,
the good and the bad ...
With stories we know our world and where we are in it and where
everyone else is in it" (Jackson, 188).
So in Jackson's view, John was telling how it was something "real" that made the noise to find his place
in the world. He wanted to leave the possibility of there being a ghost open. Yet he rationalized his
character by indicating that the probability of it being something other than another person as being
very slight.
John's second story is similar in many ways. He starts his story off by telling the "facts" of the
story. These facts later justify his reasons for being scared at the house and for finding the house
creepy. After telling the facts about the story, John goes on to tell about visiting the house alone for the
first time, and then going back with friends and their reactions. To him, it didn't matter what time you
went to the house, it was always scary. He describes what the inside of the house looks like and why it
is so scary. He ends his story by saying, "anyway, it's the scariest house ever."
The Petersborough House, in a way, is Cache Valley's Winchester Mystery House. The house
itselfhas no paranormal stories associated with it. The only thing that makes it ''the scariest house
ever" is that fact that it is abnormal. While the main focus of the tours of the Wmchester Mystery
House is "a crazy lady", the main focus of the Petersborough House is the guy that "kind of lost his
mind over time" and disappeared, just like his wife (Goldstein, 100)
Just like the stairs that lead no where, or the doors in the floor of the Wmchester House, things
in the Petersborough House are strange too. The house looks completely abandoned, not moved out of,
just empty "as if they just left the house as is and and took off". This sense ofthings being unnatural,
2
• makes the house what it is, no ghost stories are necessary.
In John's last story, he explains why something isn't real, and why people think it is, similar to
his first story. This is a story about John and his friend going to the Weeping Widow, a famous statue in
the Logan Cemetery. He explains that the Weeping Widow is weeping because she had lost all of her
children in infancy. Supposedly on every full moon (although John was not quite sure) you can see the
statue crying real tears from her eyes. John explains that there are stains down the cheeks of the statue
from water, but that they could have gotten there from the rain.
His experience starts when he and his friend go out to the cemetery to look at the statue. They
shine their car lights on the statue to see it and then turn off the car and go look at it. Apparently "her
eyes are kind of glowing and her mouth is glowing a little bit too ... as if it was like stitched shut or
something, these like glowing lines or like a line between her lips." John was scared, showed his friend
who became scared as well, and they both jumped back in the car and turned back on the lights. They
• turned the lights off again and noticed that the statue was glowing more, and so decided that it must be
glow-in-the-dark paint or something on the statue.
I believe John told this story for the same reasons he told the first. He wanted to let the hearer of
the story (me) know that there was a possibility that this statue really cries, and he never really clears
that up. He justifies it as not being so scary because the statue was just painted and the stains were from
rain. I believe he told this story to indicate that he believes that supernatural things do occur, but that he
either doesn't believe in them, or has never experienced them himself. All three of his stories dealt with
why things were scary, even if there really was no "proof' of why it should be so (i.e. no supernatural
happenings at those locations).
I next collected stories from Kevin. He had three first hand accounts of the Alumni House on
campus and then just a retelling of the legend of the Caine Lyric Theatre ghost. The way Kevin told his
• stories is dramatically different than the way that John told his. Kevin's stories were not told to impress,
3
rationalize, or anything like that. They were told as fact, not as something to scare others.
• His first experience in the Alumni House, dealt with his computer. He was working in a room
that had two computers. While working on one computer the other started playing music, when he wen
to turn it off it turned offby itself and then turned on again after he had returned to his seat. It turned
off shortly after. All Kevin said of the experience was "kinda weird." He has no explanation of why this
happened except that, maybe, there might be a ghost in the Alumni House, but he wasn't sure. The way
Kevin leaves out all dramatics and fantastical words in his story, allows the listener to believe
everything he says. Nothing is said in a way to make the story feel scary, it simply is by the way he tells
it nonchalantly.
Kevin's second experience in the Alumni House, for many, is more terrifying than the first. For
many believers this story would be proof of a ghost (if not ghosts) in the Alumni House. Kevin tells of
hearing voices upstairs while working downstairs. When he went up the stairs the voices stopped. He
• looked in the office where the voices had come from and then heard them move into another office,
where he checked and once again found nothing. He said it sounded like two people having a
conversation, but at a distance. Once again his explanation for the happenings, nothing but that "it was
kinda weird."
His last experience in the Alumni House also dealt with things acting out of the ordinary. The
shredder in the office next to his started running while no one was in there. He went into the office and
it stopped. He looked around for someone, but there was no one there. He went back into the office
with the paper shredder and it started going again. This story is also told with little terrifying emotion
and almost as if it's not strange for things like that to be happening. In fact he calls the events "weird
disturbances", not hauntings or any of the like.
So why did Kevin tell this stories? And why did he tell them in the way he did? First off, I
• believe that Kevin, like John, was putting himself in his place in the world and trying to find some sort
4
of organization for the past events (Jackson, 188). Kevin had no explanation for why things happened
• as they did at the Alumni House. He did, however, characterize himself by indicating that these things
didn't scare him; almost as if he acknowledges them happening but disproving that they were caused by
a ghost because he doesn't believe in them (although he never states his beliefs on the paranormal).
Next Kevin told me the legend of the ghost at the Caine Lyric Theatre. The story is that a
traveling acting company came to the theater and during the play Hamlet, one grave digger gets more
laughs than the other. According to legend, the funnier grave digger never shows up for work the next
day and is never heard from again. It is believed that this actor was murdered and his ghost now resides
at the theater. He is a picky ghost and when someone sits in his seat he makes all things go wrong with
the performances that night.
This story is popular in Logan, and I have heard it told from many different people. Many
people tell it in a way that makes the theater less inviting to go to. Others tell it with more skepticism in
• their tale. I found that Kevin, however, told it just like he did his first hand accounts; as if nothing was
strange about a ghost in a theater.
The legend itself has much potential for study. It is very popular in Logan, and could be
classified as an urban legend. Similar to many of the vanishing hitchhiker stories, the ghost in the Caine
Lyric Theatre is always in the same location, experienced by many different people, and is protecting
something that is important to him. Many of the vanishing hitchhikers just want to make it home, or
complete the task they had set out to do. So too does the ghost in the Caine Theatre want to complete
his task. He wants to be in control of the stage, hold the audience in his hand, and he does (Brunvand,
24-46).
One interesting side note about the Caine Lyric Theatre legend is that of the play that the actor
was in. The ghost that resides in the theater was playing a gravedigger in the Shakespeare play of
• Hamlet. The story of Hamlet is about a man who is murdered, who comes back as a ghost, to avenge
5
his own death. The ghost in the Caine Theatre was supposedly murdered, who has come back and who
• will avenge his death on any unsuspecting audience, by ruining their show when someone sits in his
seat. Could this legend just be drawing motifs from Hamlet, or are the two stories coincidentally nearly
identical? Kevin, nor anyone else who has told me the legend, has ever mentioned anything about it.
The last person I collected stories from was Ryan. Neither one of his stories were first hand
accounts, but rather second hand accounts; he knew the person it had happened to. Although this kind
of legend telling is different than the last two legend tellers, it is equally as affective in telling the story
and getting its meaning across.
The first story Ryan told was of how the Junction eatery on campus has a haunted basement.
According to Ryan a lady died in the basement and haunts it. He claims to have had a coworker who
refused to go in the basement alone because he was so afraid of it. Although Ryan never stated if he
believed the story was true or not, the way he describes his coworker as being, there is an indication
• that he believes that his coworker, at least, experienced something strange enough in the basement for
the legend to have some basis, and to pass it on.
The next story he told was that of an experience of some friends of his. Apparently one night
they took a trip up to the Nunnery (another famous legend in Logan) to check out the area. They were
playing in the empty pool when they claim to have seen, in the dark shadows of the deep end, a baby
crawling or walking around. They were more scared, when they came back, than Ryan had ever seen
them. He indicated that they weren't the type of people to "show fear or anything like that", implying
that their experience must have happened.
So why did Ryan tell these stories? Why not tell one of his own? Jackson discusses why people
tell other peoples stories, and I believe Ryan was following just as Jackson says. Ryan "populated an
event [he] knew little about with sufficient detail to make it more affective and dramatic so it would do
• what {he] wanted or needed it to do" (Jackson, 24). Ryan was telling his friends account so that he
6
could prove that the Nunnery really is a scary place. There was no need for a back story in this case;
• most everyone in Logan knows the story of the Nunnery. So the strange event that took place there
simple added to the intensity of the legend.
•
•
All in all these three men told stories that helped them locate themselves, and their believes, in
the world. They indicated to the listener, who was a believer in ghosts and the paranormal, and who
was not. They included stories about going to a certain location (legend tripping) and legends about
locations that they may not have been to themselves, but each story had a location attached to it.
Legend tripping and telling of legend tripping will continue for years to come. Each time
something new or strange happens at a legend location that legend becomes more alive and it continues
to grow in the area. This living legends become a part of everyday life for those who have experienced
them. They are a conduit for story telling and belief rationalizing. And they will live on forever.
7
•
•
•
Bibliography
Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends & Their Meanings. W. W.
Norton & Company: New York, London. 1981.
Goldstein, Diane E. Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemponuy Folklore. Utah State University
Press: Logan, Utah.
Jackson, Bruce. The Story Is True: The Art and Meaning of Telling Stories. Temple University Press:
Phi Ii delphia. 2007.
•
•
•
My name is Holly Williams, I'm here with Ryan Kimball, it is May 4, 2010 .
My name is Ryan Kimball, I am 29 and I was born July 17th 1980. I'm a computer engineer. And I am
roommates with Holly's fiancee.
C9 This story was told to me by a coworker. So I worked with a guy at the Junstion up on campus and he
claims that there was a lady that haunts the basement of the Junction where the coolers and freezers are.
And he was so convinced of that that he was afraid to go down there by himself and so he was one of
the chefs there. And we would go down and get stuff for him and accompany him to the basement
when he had to go down there. And I guess the story is that this lady died down there or something and
haunts it.
And this other one I was, actually some friends of mine went up to the nunnerY to check it out. And I
guess there's a pool there, at the nunnery. And they were playing around in the pool, it was empty of
course. And they looked at one of, the opposite end, I guess as it got deeper and kind of in the shadows
down there, they saw, it looked a baby kind of crawling around or something. Anyway, I don't know
exactly kinda what the baby or whatever they saw was doing. They like came back, and they were like
scared out of their minds the rest of the night. Like they were like really scared, I haven't seen them like
that, ever, because they're pretty, I don't know, not the type to show fear or anything like that. So they
were pretty scared .
•
•
•
My name is Holly Williams today is May 4,2010 and I am here speaking with Kevin Crouch.
My name is Kevin Crouch. I am 26 borne on March 30th 1984. I'm a student. I know Holly from work
and I am roommates with her fiance.
Well the first one, because it happened to me. I work at th~lumni House on campus and there's been
several occasions where I've been there working late at night. And I had kind of unusual things happen.
I've never been able to determine if there's a ghost, like if there's any kind of back story, but I wouldn't
be surprised if there is some kind of paranormal things going on. One night I was there working late
and I had, in my office there are two computers, and I was working on one, and I had the other up with
Pandora running and I had paused that to concentrate on something on the other computer. And in
doing so, I went back and was working on the other computer, and the other computer had gone into
like a sleep mode. And all of the sudden I heard a noise and turned around and the computer had come
out of sleep mode and had started to play music again off of Pandora. And when I got up and walked
over to the computer, it paused again and went back into sleep mode. And then, when I went to sit
down again it ~ame ba~k up and started playing musi~ again. And then went ba~k into sleep mode
again, kinda weird. Another experience, I was there late and had gone downstairs for something. When
I was coming back up the stairs, in the office I work in, it sounded like I could hear voices talking. And
I came upstairs and I didn't have, none of the computers were on or anything, but I could here these
voices. And when I came upstairs, the voices kind of stopped for a minute but then they went into
another office and so I went over to that office and looked and nothing, and then the voices
disappeared. It just sounded like two people having a conversation, kinda, it sounded like at a distance.
But it was kinda weird. And the last experience I had, I was working, and we have a paper shredder in
another office, next to mine, by where the copier is. And I was working, and I thought I was there
working by myself, and all of the sudden the paper shredder starts going. And I thought, oh maybe
someone else is here, so I got up and I went in. And no one was in the room but the paper shredder was
going and then it stopped. And so I looked around the comer to see if anyone was there, no one was in
the building. And then when I came back into that office, the paper shredder started going again. So
just kind of weird disturbances kind of things. I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out if there is any
kind of story, per say, of there being a ghost that presides at the Alumni House. So that's story one.
The ~t story I've heard from friends that have worked down at the Caine Theatre. They say that there
was, that there's a ghost there. And the story behind that was a traveling acting group that would come
through. And one year they came and they were doing Hamlet. And in Hamlet there's the grave digger
scene. And the two grave diggers are kind of this comic relief duo. And one of the grave diggers was
getting a lot more laughs than the other grave digger. And the story that I've heard is that there were
kind ofjeleousy issues going on with that. And the next day the grave digger that was getting more
laughs the night before didn't show up for work and supposedly no one saw this person again. And it's
was believed that maybe this individual was murdered and their ghost now haunts the theatre. And the
ghost has a certain seat he likes to sit in, in the balcony and they leave that seat open for him Because
when someone sits in his seat, performances that go on have a lot of issues that arise. Lights that
become unplugged, sound systems that don't work, a lot of unusual technical issues that arise. And so
they try and leave that seat open for this ghost that apparently resides at the Caine Theatre and
apparently likes watching shows in his favorite seat.
So those are kind of two stories I have. ----
•
•
•
My name is Holly Williams it is May 4,2010 and I am talking to John Reynolds
Hi I'm John Reynolds I am 28. I was born on January 16th of 1982 and I am self empolyed and I am
Holly's fiancee. I am also from Logan, and so I know several stories. I'm going to start with a story r, ~
about the Logan High old boys gym. V
There used to be a gym at Logan High that had a label on the front that said Brigham Young College.
And it was built inlike 1820, no not that early, like 1890 or something like that. Anyway, the gym,
when I went to high school was actually haunted. It had a pool underneath that had a big crack going
through it and so it was not working anymore, obviously. And it used to work when I was little. I used
to go swimming in it a lot, my dad was a teacher at Logan High, and he would take us and I was always
so scared because there were all this scary paintings of like clown faces in the bathrooms and stuff and
it's just the freakiest place with all these bare pipes everywhere and just like rusty cement walls and
everything. Probably the scariest place you could ever find yourself in. Not to mention it's underground
and so it's completely pitch black, really scary. And there were all these stories about people seeing
ghosts down there because students had drowned in the pool. I don't exactly know the story about the
drowning but I just know a lot of people would talk about how they heard voices or sounds from that
basement. So anyway, one day me and my friends we decided to go watch a scary movie in the old
boy's gym, we didn't watch it downstairs, we watched it in the gym part and we're sitting there
watching the movie in this gym and we start hearing all these creaking noises coming from like the
back where it was all dark. And everybody was freaking out. And I was just thinking "it's probably just
the heater ducts moving" because the heaters would turn on and you know how metal expands when it
heats up and it makes noises. So I didn't think anything of it, I wasn't scared at all. But then all the
sudden we heard this loud crash noise of metal and everybody just dispersed and ran right out the door,
wetting their pants. And my friend and I we were like "oh no the TV's still in there" so we went back in
and grabbed the TV and brought the TV out and everyone was just like "I'm out of here" because we
were so freaked out. Even I like, my heart was just like, that was not the heater making noises, it was
like something moved in the back in the dark and made this loud noise and we were freaking out. And
we're sitting outside in front of the school wondering what to do and it turns out that these guys were
setting up for like a school dance downstairs in the pool to have like their dinner in the pool downstairs
for the school dance or something and they were just trying to get in the door and stuff. But that was
really scary. I'll never forget that. The old boy's gym is torn down now and it doesn't exist anymore so I
was pretty lucky to be able to experience the haunted old gym, old boy's gym before they tore it down.
Another story I have is one that I learned in, probably about 2004. I have a friend of mine who was (9
really into ghost stories around here and he was like, "John", he went to high school with me also but I
was in college at the time. And one day in the student center he was like "John I have this new place."
He started telling me about all these other new stories that he knew about, but he was like "there is this
one that is the ultimate scariest place I've ever been to in this area." And so he told me the story and he
told me where it was and so here's the story:
On the west side of the Valley in PetersboIDugb there is this house that kind of stands alone and it
belonged to the family, the Chase family. And there was a father and a mother and their children had
already moved out, they were older, and they had already moved out. And the father was a working
man still and one day, Mary his wife, his name was John and his wife's name was Mary, Mary
disappeared one day mysteriously. And they couldn't find her anywhere. They searched and searched
and they even looked through, you know, through, they looked everywhere they couldn't find her. And
so after years, they just, she remained on the missing persons list and to this day she is still on the
missing persons list. This was probably about in the 70s I think. So they didn't know, they never found
•
•
•
her. Then one day, John, the father, he started like talking to himself and kind oflost his mind over
time. And his coworkers talked about how they'd heard him talking to himself sometimes and they
could hear him talking to himself inside of his house. They thought that was kind of weird. And then
one day at work John told his coworker that he was going to go join his wife, that he knew where she
was and he was going to go join her. But he was kind of acting weird and he didn't know what to think
of it and then he disappeared. They couldn't find him anywhere. So they looked everywhere and they
found his EI Camino crashed into the Benson Marina, which is a body of water, it's not very deep,
maybe like 4 feet deep max. And so they combed the Marina looking through the water for a body and
they couldn't find a body anywhere. So they couldn't really close the case, so to this day, John also
remains on the missing persons list. And they took the car and dragged it back on the property and the
car is still up there on the property.
So my friend told me, you know, just go up there, and you'll be, everyone will be freaked out because
it's the scariest place ever. So I told them this story, there aren't really any ghost stories, this is just the
story of what happened, very real story. And we, so I took some people up there and I didn't really
know how to get there so I went there in the middle of the day to try to find it, like at noon. And just so
that I wouldn't ruin the whole feeling when I'm like fumbling around trying to find this house at night
time because it's harder to fmd. So my friend gave me the directions, he said that if you're going west,
just past the train tracks you take a right on this road and then you take the second left and go up this
hill. And about part way up the hill on your right side you'll see this lone house, that's kind of nestled
against some trees and it's this really old house made of stone. And so I went up there and it really was
pretty easy to find. And I saw this house and I started driving up the drive way through this alfalfa field
and I got up next to the house and I was going to get out and maybe walk around, check it out. But my
heart was just racing. Mid-day, I couldn't stay there more than two minutes, no more than a minute. Just
immediately I put into reverse and drove away as fast as I could because the house looked so scary .
And so that night I took my friends there. One of my friends started crying as soon as the car lights like
shined on the house, she started crying and people were freaking out, no one would get out of the car.
Usually when I took people there nobody would get out of the car, let alone go inside of the house.
Once in a while I would get a daring group that would go inside of the house. And inside of the house
you'll fmd clothes allover the floors, upstairs and downstairs, really old clothes like old timey
suspenders and stuff. There are like dishes on the counters. There are like beds. It's as if they just left
the house as is and and took off. There weren't any couches there, I assume people took the couches,
but the beds are still there. There was even dishes on the counter. The fridge is like, you can tell it's
from the 70s, trying to all futuristic, you know those round fridges? You go upstairs and there are beds.
And upstairs in one of the rooms there's this creepy children's wallpaper that's like half tom off the wall
with these like paintings of children with empty eyes and stuff, really scary. All the windows are
boarded up so it's completely dark inside. Anyway, it's the scariest house ever. ~
The other story, I have this other experience. The same friend that told me about this house told me
about, we decided to go check out the Weeping Wj.Q.ow one day, and this was when I was in high school
also. So we went up to the Weeping Widow and the story, there are a lot of stories behind the Weeping
Widow, but the one that we were kind of focusing on was how basically she just had several children
that died in their infancy and they were all buried. And then when she was buried with the children,
they had this statue put up of this lady crying, and so hence she's called the Weeping Widow. The story
goes that on a full moon, I think it's just every full moon you can look and see her crying, from her
eyes. Or maybe it's, yeah I'll just go with that, every full moon you go up to her and you can see her
crying from her eyes that are carved out of the granite. So we went up there and we had car lights
shining on the statue and everything and we're looking at the statue, in the Logan Cemetery, and you
know she's not crying or anything. But you could see streaks down her face from her eyes, where the
-------------------------------_._ _ .. _.. ....
•
•
•
stone is stained from like water. So clearly the water runs down that part of her face. So we're like
"that's kind of spooky, I wonder if rain just runs down that part of her face" or whatnot, I don't, you
know, very speculative, not believing. And so I'm looking at the face really carefully and I noticed that
her eyes are kind of glowing and her mouth is glowing a little bit too, as if it had, as if it was like
stitched shut or something, these like glowing lines or like a line between her lips. They were like
glowing and I was like, I like jumped back a little bit and like shuddered, and I was like "oh my gosh"
and so I kind of looked to see if it was like the stone was reflecting somehow off of the lights in the
background down the street. And I looked and they weren't, it was like truly glowing, it wasn't a
reflection. So I like grab my friend and I was like "come over here", my hearts like racing, I was like
"what is this? Do you see this?" and he like looked and he was like, and he jumped back, and he was
like "oh my gosh!" and he got so scared. And we went and turned the lights back on from the car,
because during the time the lights were off. We went, got back in the car, turned the lights back on for a
while, and freaked out a little bit. And then we decided to go look at it again. And then we turned the
lights off again and it was glowing even more after that. And so we think that maybe someone put some
glow in the dark stuff on her face. But who knows, we'll never know. Anyway that's my story .
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Utah State University undergraduate student fieldwork collection, 1979-2011 FOLK COLL 8 USU
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv86462
St. Anne's Retreat
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SCAFOLK008USUBx100-10-11.pdf
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There's been a Scandal, Here are the Facts: St. Anne's Retreat Legends
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Folklore student fieldwork project containing several verisons of the St. Anne's Retreat legend.
There's been a Scandal, Here are the Facts:
St. Anne's Retreat Legends
Russell Jones
English/History 5700
Professor Gabbert
Utah State University
Spring 2010
, .
RJ 1 • There's Been a Scandal, Here Are The Facts
"Why do history books divide time up according to wars instead of the periods of peace?
Because it's interesting, and because, on some level, people like seeing big things fall apart."
Michael Garibaldi, Babylon 5
I first heard of the nunnery in fifth or sixth grade myself. I didn't even know the name of
it until I began this project. It was always just "the nunnery up in Logan Canyon." I'd been
told it several times and the story was ,~lways pretty close to the same. Some nuns had gotten
pregnant up there and drowned their babies in a pool to cover it up. On a certain night -
whether it was a full moon, or a night without a moon, that part always changed - you could go
up there and you'd see the pool filled with water and dead babies floating in it. I never gave it
much thought, honestly. People rarely do when it comes to local legends. • The nunnery, St. Ann's retreat, has been a part oflocallegend for a long time. One of
the sources I interviewed stated that people had been going up there on legend trips since before
he'd been patrolling the area as a police officer. His estimate was forty years. Recently, razor
wire was set up around the place and security guards were hired to keep trespassers out. This
didn't stop trespassers, though; at least, not until a security guard caught a group of students and
tied them up and threw them in the empty pool to scare them. This case was well documented
and became quite a scandal. It brought the nunnery back into the public mind, which seemed to
have forgotten about it.
Thinking on this event was part of the reason why I chose St. Ann's retreat for my
project. The other part of the reason was that I thought it was a common legend that everybody
knew and that it would be simple. Naturally, I expected some variation from one story to the
• next, but I never expected just how much variation I would get, or that it would be so hard to find
, ,
•
•
•
RJ 2
people who knew of it. Of the fifty different people I asked in my initial excursion, only five
actually knew the legend. Oh, everybody knew the haunted nunnery existed, because of the
recent scandal, but nobody would admit to knowing exactly why people would go up their in the
first place. This was quite frustrating at first, but as I continued my quest to find people who
knew the legend, a common element showed itself in people's hesitation: they didn't have the
Facts.
You'll notice this immediately in the story I collected from Greg Nielsen, who was the
most willing person I collected from. He prefaces his story with an explanation of how he
knows about the place: his grandfather helped build it. He then gave a disclaimer that the story
is as he "understood it," not necessarily according to the Facts. Facts were so important to him
that he even stopped by my home later to correct a mistake; his wife had informed him that the
uranium tycoon built the place first and the Catholic church acquired it later.
This disclaimer was another common element. People would stress that what they were
telling me was a story. As I did my collecting, I noticed that I had to emphasize this as well in
order to get them to tell it. If I opened up my interview by asking what people know about St.
Ann's retreat, they clammed up instantly and no amount of prodding could convince them to talk.
If, however, I asked them to tell me what others had told them about it, I had a much greater
chance of getting them to speak. This happened with Jeff in the most dramatic way. When I
first told myoid friend I was collecting performances of the legend, he insisted that he'd be a bad
source because he didn't know that much about it. I had to keep asking for several days and
eventually got him to open up by asking him to tell me specifically what he'd been told by others.
Even after I'd completed the interview and moved on, he would continue to remind me
•
•
•
RJ 3
afterward that what he said probably wasn't the Facts. When I confronted him about this and
said that the real facts, what little I had, suggested that the story never actually happened,
however, he quickly became defensive and looked for ways to justify it. From his own mouth,
"well, you can't really know for sure that it didn't happen. I mean, the Catholic church is always
trying to cover up things like this." Interesting, that someone so unwilling to talk without the
Facts would have such a strong reaction against the suggestion that Facts seemed to say the event
never happened at all.
This point about the Catholic church covering things up came back again when I
interviewed my mother. "But I guess I always kind of believed that because when we went to
Rome with our family that was the story there too, that a lot of the nuns, that they found babies
cemented into the walls of the underground tunnels throughout the city of Rome." I think this
may be one of the keys to explaining why there would be a legend surrounding an abandoned
Catholic retreat. While all the stories have some pretty wild variation - some say the ghost is of
the babies, some say its of the nun who drowned a baby, etc. - but aside from an obsession with
facts, they all have one element in common: scandal.
It is well known that members of the Catholic clergy cover up scandals because they have
been caught in it. Stories of Catholic priests involved in illicit sexual acts have been hanging
around them for centuries because it's such a taboo. People love scandal and will look for it
wherever they can. The fact that there have been stories of this confirmed in the public mind
through news media have probably served to increase these stories. That the date of the event
involving the security guard and the kids, October 15, 1997 (Herald Journal), seems to coincide
with the trial, sentencing and death of one of the priests involved in the sex scandal lends a bit of
•
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•
RJ 4
credence to this conclusion. According to BBC news, Brendan Smyth pled guilty 96 counts of
child molestation in 1997 and died one month into serving his sentence (BBC Online). A search
of website dedicated to holding priests involved in sex scandals accountable for their actions also
yielded a considerable number of priests exposed or tried in 1997
(http://www.bishop-accountability.orglirishpriestsinus/).Itis important to note that
these are internet sources and therefor may not be entirely reliable. Although there are plenty of
articles about Brendan Smyth easily available, time constraints made it impossible for me to go
through and verify every priest tied to a scandal in 1997 for this assignment, but the correlation is
strong enough that it's probably worth a followup study to confirm it at a later time.
The interest in a scandal also comes up in the version I collected from Josh Mecham. He
said, "I know that it was a place for nuns to go up that were pregnant and would kill their
babies." One of the only ones I collected that didn't need to be coaxed into talking by reminding
him that I was only looking for how it was told, Josh specifically says he "knows" how things
happened. His story is also the most gruesome in its implications, suggesting that not only did a
baby drowning happen there, but that St. Ann's retreat existed specifically for that purpose. You
see scandalous details emphasized in other stories as well. In Jeffs, the nuns drown a baby born
from a woman who was not a member ofthe clergy and in Danielle's the Mother Superior
drowns the baby for the nun to cover up the truth. In Tawny's version, the first thing she makes
known is that nuns aren't allowed to have babies. Like Josh, she also said that St. Ann's Retreat
was a place where nuns were supposed to drown the babies, but the way she said it was off-hand,
as if she didn't see the implications ofthat, but the fact that nuns weren't supposed to have
babies was very important. This was also emphasized in the story told by Nathan. "You know
,
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RJ 5
the nuns can't have sex, or aren't supposed to. To cover it up, they would drown the babies in a
pool."
This is very interesting to me in light of earlier studies I did on "The Hook" and
information I've picked out from other urban legends. I made a special point in my report about
how the people being punished in the urban legend were people who broke the taboo of
pre-marital sex. In the story ofthe kidney heist, it's a man out looking to pick up women in a
bar who gets his organs stolen. There are even urban legends about children swearing on live
broadcasts of kid shows, such as "Bozo, the Clown," or that Mr. Rogers was secretly a child
molester, which was the reason why children were never seen on his show. (Brunvand)
Scandal seems to be a very important element to urban legends and the more fervently the taboo
is preached, the more emphasis is placed on the breaking of it in the telling of the story .
At first, I thought that the correlation to stories in the news was the cause of the obsession
with Facts in the tellings and that may very well have something to do with it, but the more I've
gone over the tellings, the more I think that the scandal is at fault. It is more a interesting and
juicy story to tell if Facts seem to back it up. Facts mean that it Actually Happened, that it
wasn't just a story somebody Made Up to scare us all. It's important that the story be true,
because the possibility of a scandal isn't as interesting as one that actually happened. It would
be particularly interesting to see if the way Catholics tell the story is different from how the LDS
sample I collected from tell it. I would bet that if they would be willing to tell it at all, there
would be a lot less emphasis placed on the taboos broken. They might be more inclined to tell
the version of the story in which it was just one nun who got pregnant to minimize the scandal.
As interesting as all this speculation is, it's nothing but speculation, because I did not find any
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RJ 6
Catholics to ask. Still, this would be another interesting area to follow up on.
When I first started this project, I expected a simple essay. I thought I'd make some
points about the gender roles like Tatar did in OjfWith Their Heads, and say a few things about
the common elements of urban legends brought up by Brunvand and possibly make a few
statements about a legend in an LDS area laying blame on the Catholic church. I believed it
would just be another small project for me to demonstrate a large amount of information I'd been
spoon-fed in class, but as I collected the stories and examined them in detail, new things came to
the surface that were of far greater interest. The importance on Facts, the emphasis on scandal
and the correlation of the documented legend trip that went bad to the arrest and trial of several
Catholic priests caught in sex scandals; I hadn't predicted any of this. It's given me a lot of
interesting areas for myself and others to look into in future research projects on the subject, as
well as given me a new perspective to examine urban legends from. And, above all, this
experience has hammered home the importance of keeping an open mind and not going into a
collection project with to many specific ideas in mind .
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RJ
Allen, Paul (October 14,2000). Thrillseekers Steer Clear of Canyon. Harold Journal.
Retrieved from:
http://news.hjnews.com/article6aS07c12-eSb4-Se22-S77c-a6cdaSfOf929.html
Anonymous (2004). Bishop Accountability. Retrieved from:
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/irish priests in usl
7
BBC Online - No Author Given (2010, March 15). Profile of Brendan Smyth. BBe News
Online. Retrieved from:
http://news.bbc.co.ukl2/hi/uk news/northern ireland/8567868.stm
Brunvand, Jan Harold (1981). The Vanishing Hitchhiker. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and
Company.
Reily, Jerome (2008, April 6). Abbey For Sale, With Pervert Priest's Grave Included.
Independent National News. Retrieved from:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/abbey-for-sale-with-pervert-priest
s-grave-included-1339709.html
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Infonnation:
JeffJohnson
Logan, Utah
April, 2010
Jeff is an old friend of mine. We've known each other since before grade school and he
was raised her in Logan all his life. He is an active LDS church goer, returned missionary and
currently a student at USU majoring in exercise science.
Context:
I recorded this in my basement for a project. It was difficult to get him to agree to the
recording because he "didn't have all the facts." I had to coax him into telling it by infonning
him that I wasn't interested in the facts, just the telling of the story.
Text
Me: Where did you first hear the legend of the nunnery?
Jeff: I heard it when I was actually in fifth grade, was the first time.
Me: Okay. Who told it to you.
Jeff: A friend of mine in my class.
Me: Okay, now go ahead and tell me what the legend is as you heard it.
Jeff: The way I heard it is that there used to be a nunnery up in Logan Canyon and a
pregnant woman for some reason, I guess she was running away from an abusive husband went
up to the nunnery for shelter. The nuns took her in; she was fine for a while, but the nuns started
doing really odd stuff, started to kind of act creepy. Then she had her child, but she was afraid
of what the nuns were doing, so she hid the child and went to go find a way to get away. Find a
place to live, or something like that. Then she came back and everywhere in the nunnery there
was blood and stuff and her baby was missing and the nuns were missing away. The woman
ended up going crazy grieving for her child and I guess ended up killing herself. They say that
around the nunnery now around Logan River, they say you can hear her screaming for her baby.
That's how I heard it.
Russell Jones
North Logan, Ut
Utah State University
Spring 2010
. ,.
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Information:
Greg Nielsen
Logan, Ut
April, 2010
Greg Nielsen is one of the stake leaders for the LDS student ward I go to. He works at
Thikol as an engineer. He regularly goes to Florida to supervise rocket assembly and considers
himself an active outdoorsman.
Context:
This sample was recorded at an LDS activity. Greg volunteered to be interviewed
because he said he had a family member who'd worked on building the nunnery and had heard I
was having trouble finding people who knew the story.
Text:
Greg: My grandpa did a lot of the rock work up there for the Catholic church in the
1930s. As I understood it, one of the nuns went crazy up there and killed herself up there and
then the church sold it to a guy that had a uranium mine, had a lot of money. He put a
swimming pool in and some billies (?) up there, but as far as I know, because the girl killed
herself there, that's what drove the catholic church to sell it. They didn't put the pool in there, it
was this uranium tycoon that installed the pool and used it like a summer camp.
Me: What have you heard said about the haunting? What is the manifestation?
Greg: The haunting is that you go up there at night time and on certain nights you can
hear her screaming. (Unclear due to background noise) She still haunted the place because she
went crazy. The ghost has always been up there in the mountains above the lodgings. Some
people say it's the wind, but everybody else say it's not the wind that makes that noise, it's
actually the screaming. She screams up there.
Russell Jones
North Logan, Ut
Utah State University
Spring 2010
2
t . -
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Information:
Josh Meacham
Logan, Utah
April, 2010
Josh Meacham is an undeclared major at USU. He is 22 years old and recently just
returned from an LDS mission. He lived in California until he was 14, at which point he moved
here to Logan, where he's lived ever since.
Context:
This was recorded at a large gathering in Elk Ridge park. It was an LDS activity for our
ward.
Text:
Me: What do you know about St. Ann's retreat?
Josh: What?
Me: St. Ann's retreat. That's the nunnery.
Josh: Oh. I know that it was a place for nuns to go up that were pregnant and would kill
their babies. I've had some friends actually go up there, I did not attend with them, but I have
heard that on the full moon in the middle room or cabin, I guess there's some sort oflittle pool, it
fills up with blood on a full moon and there's chains hanging on the wall and there's blood seen
around there and it's kind of crazy.
Me: And this is what you were told by your friends?
Josh: Yes, that have gone up there.
Me: Any other times you've heard it told or just that?
Josh: I've heard of kids going up there and some getting possessed and getting attacked
by spirits, I guess you could say. Just rumors, basically. I haven't heard them first-hand from
anyone.
Me: That's awesome, thank you very much.
Russell Jones
North Logan, Ut
Utah State University
Spring 2010
- .
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Joe Yonk
Mendon, Utah
April, 2010
Information:
Joe Yonk is a retired police officer currently serving as a stake leader for the LDS
University student wards. He was involved in a lot of operations involving trespassers to St.
Ann's retreat. He currently lives in Mendon and has been in Utah for most of his life.
Context:
This was recorded at an LDS social gathering. He was hesitant to say much at first
because he claimed not to know the details of the legend, despite having been involved in a lot of
cases surrounding it.
Text:
Me: What do you know about St. Ann's retreat?
Joe: Well, I know that it's supposed to be haunted up there. I don't remember all the
background on it, but I've been up there on several incidences involving young people going up
there at night, trying to stay there. Most ofthem get in trouble doing one thing or another.
Me: Do you have any knowledge of the story that people tell about why it's haunted.
Joe: I don't.
Me: Have you heard anything, any stories about what people are supposed to see?
Joe: I know it's supposed to be people that used to live there. I can't remember ifit was
the way that they die, or, I don't know. Their spirits or their ghosts are supposed to still be
around there. That's about all I remember.
Me: About how often did people go up there when you were on duty?
Joe: In the spring and summer, every weekend.
Me: Every weekend?
Joe: Every weekend, there was somebody up there.
Me: You're serious?
Joe: Yeah, they had to finally put up No Trespassing signs up there. They've been going
up there for, oh, I was a cop for thirty years and they went the whole time I was there and they
were going up there before I was even a cop, so they've been going up there for forty years.
Russell Jones
North Logan, Ut
Utah State University
Spring 2010
.. . •
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•
Danielle Grunig
Smithfield, Utah
April, 2010
Information:
Danielle Grunig is 21 years old and an active member of the LDS church. She was
raised in Utah her whole life and is currently a student at USU majoring in English.
Context:
This was recorded at an LDS social event. She voluneered to be interviewed for this
project because she heard I was having trouble finding people to tell the story.
Text:
Me: You've been here in Logan, or here in Utah, this area?
Danielle: I've lived her my whole life, in Smithfield, which is right next to Logan, so ...
Me: Alright, tell me what others have told you about St. Ann's retreat.
Danielle: The nunnery is up Logan Canyon, I've seen it. Basically, the story is that a nun
had a baby and the Mother Superior there drowned it in a pool because nuns aren't allowed to
have babies, or something to that effect. That's all I know. It's technically (?) haunted by the
baby.
Me: By the baby?
Danielle: Yeah.
Me: Okay, what are the conditions under which you can see the baby?
Danielle: I don't know because I've never had the desire to go up there. I just know the
story because my parents told it to me.
Me: Have any of them ever actually told you how it is that the ghost is supposed to
appear?
Danielle: My brother told me that they can hear a baby crying from the pool area
sometimes.
Me: So, you saw it (the nunnery) what was the situation you saw it? Were you just
driving by?
Danielle: Yes. We were just driving by and I'd heard of the nunnery, but I'd never seen
it. I asked my parents about it and they drove slowly by it so I could see it through the trees.
Me: What kind of an impression did you get from looking at it?
Danielle: It looks like a haunted house, definitely.
Russell Jones
North Logan, Ut
Utah State University
Spring 2010
.,'
•
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•
Dawn Jones
Logan, Utah
May, 2010
Infonnation:
Dawn Jones is a homemaker. She also works part time at K-mart and as a substitute
teacher. She graduated from Logan High in 1976 and has lived in Utah her whole life.
Context:
This perfonnance was recorded in my home. It was hesitantly given because she didn't
feel she had much to say about it. She told it with a bit of sarcasm and she was teasing me as
she told it. That's our relationship, though, so it may be nothing.
Text:
Me: So, I've been collecting these stories of the nunnery. I want to get just see what do
you know about it? Have you been told this story before?
Dawn: Oh, yes, around the campfire, years and years.
Me: Okay. How has it been told to you?
Dawn: It was told to me that there was a nunnery up there and one of the nuns had a baby.
She didn't want anybody to find out about it. It would be a secret. She'd been raped by one of
the fathers there, or priests or whatever. So, when the baby was born, she and the other nuns
that were there helping her smothered the baby. Somehow there was a tunnel or a basement
there, I don't know. It was buried inside the cement somewhere. Now when you go up there
it's haunted. The nun did such a terrible deed that she's not allowed to go to heaven, so she
haunts the nunnery. She's a spirit that wanders around there at night.
night.
Me: Alright. And, of course, everybody's heard about people going up to the nunnery at
Dawn: Oh, yes.
Me: Have you heard any stories about what people say is supposed to be up there?
Dawn: Oh, they say the black cloak floating around in the air, things like that. She
moans and wanders around. It's worth a thrill, but when I was a kid, all the kids going up there
for a thrill.
Me: So you say the nun was raped by a priest up there?
Dawn: That was the story, yeah.
Me (with malicious twinkle in my eye): So he was both a father and the father.
Dawn: *laughs* Yes, yes, I guess. Don't make fun of that. But I guess I always kind of
believed that because when we went to Rome with our family that was the story there too, that a
lot of the nuns, that they found babies cemented into the walls of the underground tunnels
throughout the city of Rome. So it sounds pretty believable to me.
Russell Jones
North Logan, Ut
Utah State University
Spring 2010
•
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•
Tawny Jones
Logan, Utah
May, 2010
Information:
Tawny is my sister and she is a senior student at Sky View High School, age 18. She
enjoys dancing and singing and is member of the LDS church. She currently works at a local
restaurant.
Context:
This performance was collected at my home, in the kitchen, in front of my mother and a
friend of hers from Sweeden. She was very nervous as she gave the performance.
Text:
Me: So, sitting here in the comfort of my own home, I am asking you to tell me the story
of St. Ann's retreat as you have heard it.
Tawny: Well, I heard that the nuns weren't allowed to have kids or something, so the
nunnery retreat was a place where they had nuns and there was a pool that they would drown the
babies in. That's the story that mostly everyone hears and so that's what I've heard that they do.
Me: And you of course know that people go up there, or that they used to before they
surrounded it in razor wire and crazy security guards. Have you heard stories from people
who've gone up there, or say they've gone up there.
Tawny: Yes .
Me: What do they say goes on up there?
Tawny: Well, the person that I talked to who said went up there trashed the place.
Me: Okay.
Tawny: They just said it was really scary. That it felt weird.
Me: What were they expecting to happen.
Tawny: I don't know. I think they thought it was haunted.
Me: So what were they supposed to see? What sort of ghost was supposed to appear?
Tawny: Babies.
Me: Babies?
Tawny: The ones that were drowned, but they're in their older years.
Me: Really?
Tawny: Yeah.
Russell Jones
North Logan, Ut
Utah State University
Spring 2010
---------------------------- ------- .. __ . __ •....
.. ,
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Infonnation:
Nathan "Nate" Jones
Logan, Utah
May, 2010
Nathan is a member of the LDS church who recently returned from his mission to North
Dakota. He has lived in Utah his whole life and currently works at a Camp Chef warehouse
unloading trucks.
Context:
Nathan insisted on being interviewed when he heard that I was doing this project It was
collected in my basement and he was particularly enthusiastic.
Text:
Me: St Ann's retreat; what's the story?
Nate: Well, what I've heard is that's where the nuns and the priests would go to take it
easy_ Somehow, the nuns got pregnant and you know the nuns can't have sex, or aren't
supposed to. To cover it up they would drown the babies and then they would throw their babies
in the well. I've been there. There's a pool and there is a well, but it's all blocked off. That's
what I know of the nunnery_
Me: So you went up there, did you see any ghosts or anything, or was this after the razor
wire?
Nate: No, the razor wire was still up .
Me: Did you actually get into the nunnery?
Nate: Oh, yeah.
Me: So you didn't see any crazy security guards or anything.
Nate: No, but we did hear weird stuff.
Me: Such as?
Nate: Such as doors moving, not like voices or anything, but we did hear growling. Who
knows, maybe it was a large cat, I don't know. But maybe it was a ghost
Me: Maybe. So you didn't hear any crying babies or anything.
Nate: No, they wouldn't cry, they were being drowned.
Me: Oh, that is a good point
Russell Jones
North Logan, Ut
Utah State University
Spring 2010
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