Ecology Center Newsletter, volume7, no. 1 through no. 11, 1976-1977
Utah State University. Ecology Center--Periodicals
Utah State University Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 7, no. 1 through no. 11, 1976-1977.
Utah State University. Ecology Center
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 17.12:38 Box 1 Vol. 7
Digitized by : Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library
Jaacks, Marilyn
Reproduction for publication, exhibition, web display or commercial use is only permissible with the consent of the USU Special Collections and Archives, phone (435) 797-2663.
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Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 6, no. 1 through no. 11, 1975-1976
Utah State University Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 6, no. 1 through no. 11, 1975-1976.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 17.12:38 Box 1 Vol. 6
Smith, Dee
Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 5, no. 1 through no. 11, 1974-1975
Utah State University Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 5, no. 1 through no. 11, 1974-1975.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 17.12:38 Box 1 Vol. 5
Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 4, no. 1 through no. 11, 1973-1974
Utah State University Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 4, no. 1 through no. 11, 1973-1974.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 17.12:38 Box 1 Vol. 4
Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 3, no. 1, September 1972
Utah State University Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 3, no. 1, September 1972.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 17.12:38 Box 1 Vol. 3
Paul, Nancy
Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 2, no. 1 through no. 3, 1971-1972
Utah State University Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 2, no. 1 through no. 3, 1971-1972.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 17.12:38 Box 1 Vol. 2
Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 1, no. 1 through no. 7, 1970-1971
Utah State University Ecology Center Newsletter, volume 1, no. 1 through no. 7, 1970-1971.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 17.12:38 Box 1 Vol. 1
Annual report fiscal year 1965 to Office of Water Resources Research, Washington, D.C.
Utah Center for Water Resources Reseach--Reports, Annual and biennial
Annual report fiscal year 1965 to Office of Water Resources Research, Washington, D.C. from Utah Center for Water Resources Research, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, September 1, 1965.
Utah Center for Water Resources Research
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 17.10:47 Box 1 1965
Utah State University
Utah Water Research Laboratory progress report: 1964-1966
Utah Water Research Laboratory--Reports, Annual and biennial
Utah Water Research Laboratory progress report: 1964-1966. College of Engineering, Utah State University, 1966.
Utah Water Research Laboratory
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 17.9/2 Box 4 Folder 5
Utah State University. College of Engineering.
Iran and Utah State University, half a century of friendship and a decade of contracts
Technical assistance, American--Iran
Agriculture--Iran
Iran--Foreign relations
Publication created at the behest of Dr. Daryl Chase, president of Utah State University, outlining the interactions between Iran and USU for the previous 50 years.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 10.2:63 No. 2
Irrigation
Irrigation farming
Irrigation principles and practices by Orson W. Israelsen, 1950. Part of the Wiley Agricultural Engineering Series
Israelsen, Orson Winso, 1887-1968
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 8.8:63 no. 56
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Program for the dedication of the Dean F. Peterson Engineering Building and the George D. Clyde Water Research Laboratory, August 6, 1982
Programs
Dedication service
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 6.4 Box 3
Speech read by Iranian Ambassador Ardeshir Zahedi at a banquet at Utah State University, June 4, 1960
Zahedi, Ardeshir--Speeches
Zahedi, Ardeshir
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 3.1/10-2 Box 131, Folder 11
Correspondence from Reza Esfandiari to Daryl Chase, August 31, 1962
Chase, Daryl, 1901-1970--Correspondence
Esfandiari, Reza--Correspondence
Correspondence from Reza Esfandiari to Daryl Chase, August 31, 1962.
Esfandiari, Reza
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 3.1/10-2 Box 131, Folder 11, Item 73
Correspondence from Iranian ambassador Ardeshir Zahedi to Daryl Chase, February 22, 1962
Zahedi, Ardeshir--Correspondence
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 3.1/10-2 Box 131, Folder 11, Item 72
Cable from Daryl Chase to Iranian ambassador Ardeshir Zahedi, June 22, 1965
Cable from Daryl Chase to Iranian ambassador Ardeshir Zahedi, June 22, 1965, regarding exchange students and the Peace Corps Training program.
Chase, Daryl, 1901-1970
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 3.1/10-2 Box 131, Folder 11, Item 17
Correspondence of Daryl Chase with Iranian ambassador Ardeshir Zahedi, September 9, 1965
Correspondence of Daryl Chase with Iranian ambassador Ardeshir Zahedi, September 9, 1965, regarding the status of an exhange student, Peace Corps volunteers serving in Iran, and international projects in which Utah State University was involved.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 3.1/10-2 Box 131, Folder 11, Item 7
Correspondence of John A. Widtsoe, between 1912 and 1914, regarding his publications
Widtsoe, John Andreas, 1872-1952--Correspondence
Correspondence of John A. Widtsoe, between 1912 and 1914, regarding his publications.
Widtsoe, John Andreas, 1872-1952
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 3.1/5-2 Box 23, Folder 5
Letter from O.W. Israelsen to F.S. Harris, March 9, 1914
Israelsen, Orson Winso, 1887-1968--Correspondence
Letter from O.W. Israelsen to F.S. Harris, March 9, 1914, regarding potential prospects for a position in Department of Irrigation and Drainage.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 3.1/5-2 Box 4, Folder 12
Correspondence of Jerome Cochran and John A. Widtsoe, 1908
A letter from Jerome Cochran to John A. Widtsoe, dated May 16, 1908, requesting information about internship possibilities in the Mathematics or Civil Engineering departments at the Utah Agricultural College. Following is a response from John A. Widstoe to Jerome Cochran, dated May 21st, 1908, stating that the Utah Agricultural College was no longer allowed to teach engineering, per state law.
Widstoe, John Andreas, 1872-195
Cochran, Jerome
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 3.1/5-2 Box 4, Folder 2
Reports: Duplication of work in the Agricultural College of Utah and the University of Utah: A report by President W. J. Kerr to the Joint Committee, Utah Legislature, 1905 and Minority Report of the College-Univeristy Commission, 1906
Education, Higher--Utah
Agricultural College of Utah
University of Utah
Education, Higher
Agricultural education
Utah
Two reports bound together that explore the curriculum overlap at two higher education institutions in Utah around the turn of the century. Titles include: Duplication of work in the Agricultural College of Utah and the University of Utah: A report by President W. J. Kerr to the Joint Committee, Utah Legislature, 1905 and Minority Report of the College-Univeristy Commission, 1906
Kerr, William Jasper, 1863-1947
Bullen, Herschel, 1870-1966
Walters, J.C.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Archives 1.2/2-1 1905
Report of Water Conservation Program and Drought Situation in Utah, May 1934
Water resources development--West (U.S.)--History--Sources
Agriculture--West (U.S.)--History--Sources
Utah State University--Faculty--Records and correspondence
Report of Water Conservation Program and Drought Situation in Utah by George D. Clyde, May 1934.
Clyde, George D.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, MSS COLL 279 George D. Clyde Research Materials, 1929-1971, Box 16, Folder 6
Water in agriculture
Principles of Irrigation Practice by John A. Widtsoe, 1914. From the Rural text-book series.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, Dewey Book Collection, 631.7 W634
The Macmillan Company
Legends;
legend-tripping;
Narratives from legend-tripping at St. Anne's retreat ("Nunnery").
• • • 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 • • 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. • • • • 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. • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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 . • • • 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. • 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. • 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 . • 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. • • • • 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. • • • 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 . • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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 . • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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. ~--------------------------------------.-------------------------------------------------- • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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 . • • • 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. • • • 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. ( 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. ( ( ( 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.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 55
Digitized by : Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library.
Digitized by: Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library.
Tristin Merkley
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 55
legends (folk tales);
application/pdf;
6611293 Bytes
Text;
Logan Canyon (Utah); Cache County (Utah); United States;
1990-1999; 20th century;
Personal narrative from an individual who went up to St. Anne's retreat in Logan Canyon.
• e e · 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 • 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 • • • • 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." • • • 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 • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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 . • • • 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 . • • • 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 . • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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." • • • 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. • • • 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 • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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 . • • • 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. • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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 . • • • 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 . • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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. • • • 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 .
Tanner Burt
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Two accounts of legend-tripping at the "Nunnery" In Logan Canyon.
• • 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 • • • • .. ... .. .. ....... .. __ ... _ --- - 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 • • • 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 • • • 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 • • • 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 .
Tyler Thurston
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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.
Nick Allen
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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
Martin Tiege
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Logan Canyon Nunnery and Paranormal Experiences
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 • • • 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.
McCall Hoggan
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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 • 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 • • • 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 iii • • • 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 iv • • • 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. v • • • 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 • vi • • • 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. 1 • • • 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 • 2 • • • 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 • 3 • • • 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. 4 • • • 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 • 5 • • • 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 • 6 • • • 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. 7 • • • 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. 8 • • • 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 • • • 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 • • 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 • • • 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 • • • 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 • • • 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. 14 • • • 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
Shaw, Sandra L.
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 8
Utah State University undergraduate student fieldwork collection, 1979-2011 FOLK COLL 8 USU
7959861 Bytes
Cache Valley Magazine article (2010) featuring St. Anne's Retreat
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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Step away from the the "big box" and experience the kind of service you only get from a 3rd generation family owned business. ~INEL FENCE Come see us at our showroom! 435-774-1234 Price, from $2995 390 N 1000 W • logan· licensed & Insured Vinyl· Wood' Gates· Farm' Chain Link Automatic Gates· Ornamental Railings' Sport Courts THE BOOK TABLE I ~ 11202 South U.S. Hwy 89·91 & Suite 130 • Logon jbflooringomericostore.com • 435-753·6106 • LANDSCAPE~XPRESSIQNS A DESIGN/BuILD COMPANY GRADING/ExCAVATION BOULDER/ROCKVVORK RETAINING VVALLS DESIGN/CONSULTING HARDSCAPES DECKS/GAZEBOS 7- \ -kVVl L-/.3 lTIJc@ ~~ ilimillJ @]t{ [J[Qll]~[]) ~Diij lliij) ~ ~~DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD [t[)~~ DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD ~DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD ~ ~D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A member of the Richmond Road Runners team competes in the Cache-Teton Relay race alongside U.S. Hwy. 91 between Smithfield and Richmond on Aug. 13. The Road Runners completed the 189-mile course between Logan and Jackson, Wyo., in just under 30 hours. 4 Cache Valley Magazine o 0 0 0 ~ DOD 0 ~ DDDDDDDDDD® (0)0° DDDDDDDDDD~ o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11~ Ci't:O)Oo DDDDDDDDDD~ "CACHE VALLEY'S MOST AMAZING PRESCHOOL & CHILDCARE CENTER" j i j- "WHERE CHILDREN LOVE TO LEARN" -_ -lflii CORNER OF 3200 som & MAIN IN NIBLEY [3 shin 10IIIs frllO lagloJ -152·2266 - OPEN MON·nI611· 6PM 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. . \ FROZEN CUSTARD ITALIAN WATER ICE CONES & SHAKES NOW OPEN! 435-753-9554 555 W 100 N Suite B • Providence Mon-Thurs 11AM to 10:30 PM Fri-Sat 11 AM to Midnight Closed Sunday 1219 No. Main • Logan 753-4355 r IN THE VALLEY 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 Your q,JeciaC rfay aeserves tfie 6est, wFietfier on or off campus. Custom menus, unique weadl11fJ cakes, centeryieces, trainea yrofessionaC staff. :free room rentaC in tfie '1Sc. du 435-797-1707 252 EAST 760 SOUTH WELLSVILLE, UT 84339 ......... .. A Division of A.D.S. International, Inc. @LIS'fEO September 2010 13 ]1 IN THE VALLEY =.9or sports medicine & orthopedic services, we've got you covered. HEALING THE AGGIES. AND YOU. Logan Regional Sports Medicine and Canyon View Orthopedics are the official medical providers for athletes at Utah State University and Cache Valley high schools. ~~~ Intermountain­Canyon View Orthopedics 435.716.2800 canyonvieworthopedics.org 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 £ {5}Fauid rM: O£i:?~fWl. ~ (~--:-: ~~~ Weddings For Information & Reservations Call (435) 797-2055 'r Utah State Historical President's Home Special Celebrations Makers of Fine EyeWear For Over 70 Years 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 • Ideal for large areas/heavy snowfalls • Throws snow up to 45'/13.5 m • Quick Stick® changes chute direction effortllessly • Headlight comes standard • Powerful auger system • 3-Year Limited Warranty" Eastman Hatch married Hortense's 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 1951 at the age of 32. 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 the United States Company. Finding ARE YOU READY? GEAR UP FOR WINTER WITH TORO_ POWER CLEAR® $499 Starting at For more deta ils on product and offers visit VIIWW.toro.com. • Ideal for medium to heavy snowfalls • Throws snow up to 30'/9 m • Quick Shoot chute control • Power Propel Drive System • 2-Year Guaranteed to Start" • 2-Year Full Warranty" $599 - As shown with Quick Shoot chute control. lID Count on It. IPACOInc. 555 NORTH 10TH WEST LOGAN, UT 84321 Mon-Fri 8-5:30 Sat 8-12 (435) 753-1942 ' Purchase must be made between August 2 · October 31,2010. Offer valid on the following models: 38624,38634 See your dealer for rebate & registra tion delails. "See dealer or torO.com for warranty details. Product availability and pricing may vary per dealer. Advertised products, as well as financing. may not be available at all dealers. Pr1ces shown are manufacturer's suggested promotional prices and are subject 10 local dealer option. 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. Operating at just 40 dBA, the 800 Plus is the quietest dishwasher in the U.S.' The800PMdoesn'Ijusl:doltsjob_~.lldoe$h;enr~~-wllhlessw<Jter.The800P\u$U5e$ AttM!Wolll!f"'te<hnoiogylOefficlemtytumks2iJo!lIQn·pI!f-cydewmrt.l5agelntothedNnlng~d_th¥o l,30093fons.And)'OUfeeI~wkhAquaStop·Plus,themost,~leakpr~~ttmilVllilabieln H theu.S.!IIOthlnglsquletff._tffr.:W!ntOfbeltrfC~ VISit....-.bosch.JpplilrKt5.com lOt more Infon'l'lltioll. Invented for life Bosch Consumer Rebate up to $100 Plus $20.00 if you have an ELE WATER HEATER APPLIANCE Service & Sales Old you k.now ... A new dishwasher from Darrell's will clean better? Stop in, Darrell's will tell you how. 752-9022 • 2346 West Airport Road, Benson www.darrellsappliance@Qmail.com September 2010 21 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 \ 1 { .... ' FARMTASTIC FALL' i I CORN MAZE & MORE Corn Maze • Train Rides • Pony Rides f Authentic Heated Restrooms! Blackout Ma~e fds Hay Jump • Kids Maze living His'ory Weekends • Storytelling Wagon Rides • Super ,slide • Gourd launcher Petting Zoo • More! SEE OUR CALENDAR OF EXCITINq FARMTASTIC FALL! EVENTS! WWW..AW.Hq .ORG Reason #18 Moolah for kids We've got an awesome idea ... let your kids pay for college. With a little guidance. a little help from you, and some rewards from us for achieving milestones, your kids will be well on their way to fi nancial independence ... all this courtesy of the Moolah for Kids program at USU Charter Credit Union. Another reason, we're with you. smart. local. convenient. September 2010 23 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. H o M E s AsSISTED LIVING IN A RESIDENTIAL SETTING (435) 787-1484 352 5 500 W . Logan Our quality of service focuses on personal attention to each resident. BeeHive Homes was recognized In Utah Business In 2009 for being one of the states top rated assisted living businesses. BeeHive Homes really Is the next best thing to home! 32 Cache Valley Magazine Resident of ? -:5 ([) Grace Smith Age 102 on August 27 2010 $ o ::J r-+ :::J 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- MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY $26/ $30 I $341 $38 BAR J WRANGLERS $16/$18/ S201 $22 ScrapArtsMusic $171 S22f 5241 $27 THE 5 BROWNS $261 $30 I 5341 $38 REPERTORY DANCE THEATRE $16/$18/520/$22 JANIS IAN $17/$221$24/ S27 FIDDLER ON THE ROOF $26 / 530 1534 1538 NOVEMBER 12 & 13,2010 ~ ... ';'1 ~;:; .. r~,",,~,'. , ': ' -3~ ;:; '~ ~ DECEMBER 18,2010 ~ \l v R L1A\ ..~ t j 3 ....l p 't &; '3l1pr~1 ~"'\i',,,,~~~ MNUAHY 26 & 27. 2011 WEDNESDAY & THORSDAY;,""i1ipm~ , FEBRUARY 28 & MARCH 1. 2011 MONDAY I]. TUESDAY dt 7-30 p.m. MARCH 15 & 16. 2011 TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY at 7.30 p.m. MARCH 22 & 23. 2011 - ~ I.. • • ' \ : . ::: ',;:-" .::' , 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 in order to expand." The Drowse Around Antique Shop Fine Antiques and Vintage Collectibles * W'hen you are hurt or sick ... you will need cash quick Call the Cache Valley's Premier A'R"ac. Agency For over 20 years we've ... helped get CASH benefits paid directly to you for your illness or injury To see what everyone's "quacking" about, stop by and see us today at our new location 664 N. Main Suite 101 in Logan Open 9:00am - 5:00pm Monday - Friday 435-753-4416 Ask us about becoming and independent agent with AFLAC knowquack.com heidi_bullock@us.aBac.com 180 West 1200 South Logan·435-753-4514 Open Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm ~ 1r/.~ Syirit §oat " + soaps available here • Free Hearing Aid Cleaning and Diagnosis Dave Robinson, Au.D. Doctor of Audiology Audiology & Hearmii.') 129 East 1400 North· Logan· 753-7171 September 2010 37 , I , CACHE BACK 38 Bobcat Salute PHOTOGRAPHS BY JEFF HUNTER The setting sun made it difficult for the Sky View football team to pick up direction from its sideline during the first half of the Bobcats' 34-17 loss to Northridge in SV's season-opening game at Smithfield on Aug. 20. Cache Valley Magazine • French Pastries • Gourmet Sandwiches • Baked fresh daily from 100% organic flours • 232 pieces of Tiffany Glass • Vintage Bronze ·23" High 16" Diameter 9Udf.fI.D iJJ n. We do State Inspections, Wash & Vacuum We service all makes and models and have a full service shop We are open Monday-Friday 8-5 and Saturday 8-12 Where Utah Gets Engaged! Middle of the block at the sign of the doc' 141 N. Main :752-7149 www.seneedham.com ---------------------, FULL LINE OF O!JILTING FABRICS, BABY \ FABRICS AND FLANNELS. READY MADE " QyILTS, BLANKETS AND HEMSTITCHED I RECEIVING BLANKETS. BERN INA SEWING I MACHINES AND SERGERS. PARTS AND " SERVICE FOR ALL MAKES OF SWEING I MACHINES AND SERGERS. I I ---------"
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, FOLK COLL 32
Utah State University Folklore in the news collection, 1973-2012, FOLK COLL 32
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Saint Anne trio trial date set for June 8
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.”
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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.
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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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We're guilty: St. Anne's defendants accept plea bargains
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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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.
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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.
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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
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Five testify against St. Anne's retreat trio
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.]
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Judge issues warrant for St. Anne's defendant
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 opinions formed without facts
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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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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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
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Reactions to trespassing at St. Anne's retreat
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
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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.
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Debate over justice served and youth not being held accountable
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 ….
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Local youths properly taught right and wrong?
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
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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]
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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
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Two separate issues in St. Anne's incident
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
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