Phantom Monks of Benedictine College - Atchison, Kansas

In 1858, two monks arrived in Atchison, Kansas and set up a boarding school for boys on a rise overlooking the Missouri River.  They started off hosting just a half a dozen students.  Heavy wagon traffic, with settlers heading west, kept the town very busy and some chose to settle in Atchison.  Within a year or two, the boarding school grew into St. Benedict's College.  In the 1970s, the school combined with the Mount St. Scholastica College for women, resulting in Benedictine College.   Many students have come and gone through Benedictine, but the monks who originally founded the school, never left!  And, they have a few ghostly friends that hang out with them.

Phantom monks are thought to haunt Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas

Atchison is considered one of the most haunted towns in Kansas if not the country.  And Benedictine is a big source of some of those hauntings. Over the years dozens of students have reported strange encounters at the school.  

Benedictine College overlooks the Missouri River on the highlands of Atchison, Kansas, one of the most haunted towns in the mid-western United States.

Little Boy in Blue

Some on campus say they have seen a little boy wandering the walkways of the campus.  He wears a blue T-shirt and shorts and seems to bounce playfully along around all over campus.  Students have reported seeing this little boy in blue a lot.  However, he is always wearing the same blue T-short and the same pair of shorts which leads many to believe that this particular little boy is not of this world at all!

Memorial Hall

A young woman was in her closet one day deciding which clothes she was going to wear that day.  When she turned, to exit, she discovered that the door had been closed behind her.  It was apparent to her that her roommate had entered the room and was playing a joke on her, locking her in somehow.  After calling for her roommate to let her out, there was no response.  She then began screaming in earnest to get out, banging loudly on the door.  Finally someone heard her and came to her rescue.  As it turned out, someone had moved a heavy dresser in front of the closet door.  And when her roommate returned, she exclaimed that she was not the one who did it.  And how would she move that heavy dresser, unnoticed?  The young woman never did find out how the dresser moved itself in front of the door.  What is really spooky is there could be a logical explanation for this poltergeist activity, it is rumored that once upon a time a student gave birth to a child in a closet in Memorial Hall.  However, the infant died in the closet.  Many residents of the hall have reported hearing the sounds of giggling children, and some have even felt the sensation of a child crawling into bed with them!

Benedictine College, haunted by the monks who founded the school.

Ferrell Hall

The original building used as a monastery by the monks at Benedictine was Ferrell Hall.  It is thought that one of the founders or both could be haunting this building.  Over the years it was converted to a dormitory and many students report hearing and seeing some very strange things.  A very loud pounding noise can be heard by many, seemingly coming out of the walls.  However, no one has ever been able to determine the source.  Many students have heard disembodied footsteps in the hallway.  And several students have head footsteps walking down their hallway and stopping outside their door.  They open the door only to find and empty hallway!

Benedictine Hall

Perhaps the nastiest haunting of all buildings on campus took place in this building.  A group of students were said to be attempting to make contact with the netherworld by use of an Ouija Board when one of the participants is thought to have become possessed by a demon.  It got to be so bad that the priests on campus were forced to perform an exorcism on the young man. 

Benedictine Hall, when it was standing, was one of the most haunted buildings on the campus of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas

The ghost of a former monk is said to walk the halls of the fourth floor at nights.  Many have reported seeing a cloaked figure that seemed unlike any other, he was semi-transparent! It is thought that the monk was the college's former barber who died in a fire in the 1930's.  His old barber chair remained in the building.  It would be difficult to make a ghost hunt of your own however, because Benedictine Hall is no longer. The historic edifice, becoming to run down to maintain, had it's contents auctioned off and was demolished in 2004.

Most of the spirits of Benedictine College are friendly and keep to themselves.  Thousands and thousands have passed through this college and no harm has come to anyone. In fact, the school is considered to be one of the best in the United States.  So as the Phantom Monks of Benedictine go, they bid you... welcome!

 View the Index of Haunted Places

References:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-10-21/news/0310210256_1_benedictine-university-barber-chair-bid-farewell
http://www.hauntedplaces.org/item/benedictine-university/
http://www.riseupparanormal.com/paranormal-world/locations/Benedictine_College.htm

The White School - Anamoose, North Dakota

Built back in the late 1920's on 33rd Street in Anamoose, North Dakota, there stood a school house known as White School.  Founded by Colonel Samuel White.  It severed as a school for local students and later served as a teacher's school were new methods of teaching were taught.  Tragedy struck the school and a couple of people killed there were said to haunt the building.

The White School was the scene of a tragic fire that killed two people who may have still haunted the place afterward

At some point in the school's history, there was a fire that devastated the school and the superintendent and one of the students lost their lives.  After repairs, the school stayed open until 1968.

The building was later purchased and completely remodeled.  During the renovations however, workers claimed to have witnessed some strange disturbances within the building.  As construction personnel were toiling along, they would smell cigar smoke.  When they traced the smell down to the basement, they claim to have seen the actual smoke on numerous occasions.  However, there was no one around smoking a cigar.  By coincidence, the former superintendent of the school who was killed in the fire, was a cigar smoker.  Workers also claimed to hear moaning sounds coming from the walls as they were being torn down. Afterward, there were many reports of strange feelings as people entered the house, hair standing on end, and objects moving about.  There were no further reports of cigar smoke, it seemed the poltergeist activity took over.

The White School is now the Sage Hill Bed and Breakfast. All hauntings seem to have subsided.  But, rumor has it they have great bread!

After being renovated again in the mid-1990s and being restored to it's former schoolhouse look, it reopened as the Sage Hill Bed and Breakfast, the paranormal activity in the house has seemed to subside.  Whatever was causing the unrest of the spirits within the house, seems to have put them at rest.

Although you may not have any paranormal experiences if you stay there, rumor has it they have some fantastic homemade bread!

Sage Hill Bed & Breakfast and Country Inn
2091 33rd Street NE, Anamoose, North Dakota
www.sagehillnd.com

The Ghost of Seth Bullock - The Bullock Hotel in Deadwood, South Dakota

Many believe that the town of Deadwood, South Dakota is one of the most haunted places in the mid-west.  This could be so because it is the place where legendary figures from U.S. history abounded.  Among them, Seth Bullock who had become the first Sheriff of Deadwood.  Some say that he has never left.

Seth Bullock in his younger days

Seth arrived in Deadwood in 1876 along with his partner Sol Star.  They were in the hardware business and began by selling mining equipment out of their wagon.  Being successful, they soon set up shop on the corner of Main and Wall Streets, building a store.  That same year the law in Deadwood, Wild Bill Hickock died.  Having prior experience as a Sheriff, Bullock was soon made the law in town to keep the peace.  They say he was able to do so because he had a stare that scared most people.  It was said that he was the sheriff "whose gaze could stop fights."

The Star & Bullock Hardware store in Deadwood, South Dakota 1877

Seth Bullock and Sol Star circa 1880s on their ranch

Although  his hardware business still thrived, it burned down in 1876.  The only surviving structure was the brick warehouse in the rear of the building.  Seth and Sol decided to abandon the hardware business and rebuild on the site with a luxury hotel which became widely known as the finest in the region.  They added a bar in 1900 obtaining the adjacent property.

The Bullock Hotel in Deadwood, South Dakota 1876

Seth Bullock met with Theodore Roosevelt when he was in Deadwood bringing in a horse thief.  The two became good friends over the years and when Roosevelt was elected president, he appointed Bullock as the first Forest Supervisor of the Black Hills Reserve.  He was appointed U.S. Marshall of South Dakota by Roosevelt in 1905 and continued the office through two more presidencies through 1910.

Almost a decade later, Seth died of cancer in September of 1919 at the age of 70.  He was laid to rest near Mt. Moriah Cemetery which some say has become a very haunted place in itself.  However, Seth had never really left the hotel which became his pride and joy.  

Seth Bullock of Deadwood, South Dakota

The Bullock Hotel still stands to this day and several dozen people over the years have claimed to have seen his ghost with it's steely stare roaming the hallways of the hotel.  Most sightings have occurred on the second and third floors of the hotel, but other strange occurrences have occurred in the restaurant and cellar area of the hotel which is used for meetings and banquets.  Occurrences range from a full body apparition to misty figures being seen in several of the rooms.  Some guests have sworn that someone has tapped them on the shoulder or felt someone brush against them to turn and find nobody actually there.  Other folks have heard whistling and foot steps only to find that there was no one around to have actually made the sounds.  Several times in the hallways, apparitions have been spotted in mirrors, some claimed to have captured them in photographs.

The Bullock Hotel today

There are some poltergeist activities that take place as well.  In the restaurant, dishes have been known to rattle, lights turn themselves on and off, appliances turn on and off at their own accord as well. Glasses and bottles have been known to move in the bar area by some unseen force.  There is an antique clock that stands on display but does not function.  Every now and then it has been known to chime.

A snapshot taken inside The Bullock Hotel showing what many to believe is an image of a man in the right of the mirror

In the cellar of Bullock's Hotel which is known as "Seth's Cellar", near the bar an image of a cowboy has been spotted in the mirror when of course there was no one dressed as a cowboy in the room.  Perhaps this is Seth looking out from the after world to make sure that everything is running smoothly at his pride and joy hotel!