Chill out this summer with Cache Valley ghost stories

By Blaire Saunders

May 3, 2005 | The prickles on the back of your neck, the shivers, shaky hands and unsure steps overcome you as you approach. Every sound is magnified and fear grips you.

You tell yourself to calm down and you promptly shut your book.

Ghost stories and sightings have been around for ages. The urban legends and folklore have been passed down from generation to generation and make for good talk around the campfire. As long as the stories have endured, so has the fascination with investigating the paranormal and experiencing it yourself.

Michelle Kartchner, a junior majoring in business administration at Utah State University, went to Colonial Williamsburg for spring break in March 2004. There she took a nighttime ghost tour of the town and nearby College of William and Mary.

"[The tour] was the thing to do, especially in the colonial town where [ghost stories] are so prevalent," Kartchner said. "It was kinda freaky, suspenseful. Some of the stories made the hair stick up on the back of your neck, that kind of thing."

You don't have to go out of state to find a good haunted spot. When those warm summer nights get boring, and the moon is round and bright, the temptation to seek out the paranormal can be very enticing. There are several favorite spots in Cache Valley for ghost hunting, but before you go out for your brush with spirits, there are a few tools and tricks that will help make your ghost hunting a success.

Utah Ghost Research & Investigation is a group based in Salt Lake City that investigates paranormal activity around the state. Novice ghost hunters should be able to get their hands on digital cameras with bright flashes, a tape recorder and a regular compass to measure disruptions in the Earth's electromagnetic field. UGRI uses cameras with infrared sensors to capture ghosts on film. It also uses digital and analog voice recorders to capture any ghostly voices. Electromagnetic frequencies are measured with sophisticated instruments during all investigations and infrared thermometers are also handy to detect cold spots that may be sources of paranormal activity.

If you think your home or business is inhabited by a spirit, UGRI will investigate for free if you contact the organization.

To begin your ghost hunting, you may want to start with one of Cache Valley's most celebrated spots. In the center of Logan Cemetery stands the memorial to the mother of the Crosquist family, who were early settlers of Cache Valley. The story goes that after suffering the grief of losing all her children, Mrs. Crosquist attended their graves ceaselessly. Eventually her health deteriorated and she passed on herself. Her husband had a memorial placed among the graves of her children so she could continue her watch over them. On a moonless night, you can reach out to the statue's face and feel wet tears on an otherwise dry stone.

"[It's] spooky feeling. You get freaked out. I usually go up there with a girl so it's all good. It makes me less fearful," said Andy Dean, a USU student and a frequent visitor to the monument.

Another well-known haunt is St. Anne's Retreat in Logan Canyon. What is known is that before it was purchased by the Catholic Church, it was used as a hotel for movie stars. After purchase, it was renamed St. Anne's and was used as a summer vacation home for Catholic nuns and priests. Despite this innocent past, there have been rumors of murder in the 1940s and that the nunnery was formerly an abortion clinic for unwed teenagers. Local rumor has it that the spirits of these aborted children still walk the grounds.

Many USU students have been caught at St. Anne's by security guards and issued citations for trespassing. Although it may seem like the perfect place to catch a case of the creeps, it is an unsafe area and should be avoided.

A slightly less well-known spot is the Ellen Eccles Theatre on Main Street in Logan. Several stage directors, lighting technicians, and others have commented on strange occurences while in the theatre alone.

Darla Seamons, Marketing Director at Utah Festival Opera, said that she's heard several accounts from those working during the festival season. She said Peggy Tueller, executive director of Ellen Eccles Theatre, told her that once she was in the theater alone, when an overhead spotlight turned and shone on her as she stood on stage. Seamons also said a lighting technician named Mark was in the theater alone when he saw kids playing in the balcony. There have also been reports of children asking directions in the theatre, but no one seeing them actually where they were instructed to go, Seamons said.

While this may all seem very strange and possibly frightening, first-hand experience with a ghost seems commonplace to Jessica Evans, a senior in environmental studies at USU. She recalled the experience of growing up with a ghost in her childhood home in Paradise, Utah.

"I grew up with it, it wasn't anything I noticed. It's like growing up with red hair," Evans said. "[The ghost] was harmless. She'd open and shut the door, and tromp up and down the stairs that didn't exist. My dad said she would come to him at night when my mom wasn't there; just stand in the bedroom."

Relax, it's only a story, right?

To find a list of haunted sites in Utah you can visit www.prairieghosts.com.

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