Haunted by the Ghosts of Nuns? Kenosha, Wisconsin's Kemper Center
Kenosha, WI 53140
United States of America
Before the haunted sightings, the Kenosha Kemper Hall was an Episcopal girls' school from 1870 until 1975 when the school closed down. Many of the ghosts that haunt these sprawling buildings and halls originate from these years, and especially around a certain nun who took over at Kemper Hall by the name of Sister Margaret Clare, who ruled Kemper Hall with an iron fist. One ghostly legend claims that the Sister was either pushed, or fell, from an observatory tower on the grounds and fell to her death, causing her ghost to haunt the grounds. This has been established as urban legend as Sister Margaret Clare died in 1921 due to chronic illness, though, that does not mean the ghost sightings could not be her ghost, haunting the grounds she once presided over.
Another famous, and more historically accurate, story involves the ghost of a young girl that committed suicide instead of leaving her love behind and joining the all girl school. In 1900, Sister Augusta came from Chicago to attend an annual retreat at the seminary. She vanished without a trace, while in Kenosha, and left behind nothing except her handbag, crucifix, and her insignia of holy Sisterhood. Telegrams were sent to Chicago and St. Louis to alert family of Sister Augusta of the disappearance. On January 5th, a notice came from the Kenosha Kemper Hall saying that the mysterious disappearance had been solved. They told newspapers that she was found in Springfield, Missouri, but these statements turned out to be lies.
Around noon, on January 8th, a little girl by the name of Bertha Smith, was playing on the beach on the east end of Seminary Street, which is now 65th Street, with her younger brother. They spotted the tattered robes of Sister Augusta floating in the water of Lake Michigan and ran home to tell their mother. The robes clinging to the lifeless body of the missing nun, and the police started an inquest into the mysteries surrounding the disappearance. This uncovered secrets about her strange behavior around the time of the disappearance and the fact that Kemper Hall, and Sister Margaret Clare, covered her strange behavior. According to testimony, Sister Augusta had become "mentally deranged from her work, which had been exceedingly hard during the last few months". Two young girls testified that they had seen her walking on the beach on the night of January 2 and this was the last time that she was seen alive. The coroner's jury ruled her death a suicide and she was laid to rest in her habit. The body was then taken to St. Louis, where her sister and her family buried her in Bellefontaine Cemetery. It is possible that Sister Augusta's ghost may still be haunting the Kenosha Kemper Center to this very day, also.
There have been many recorded ghost sightings and haunting activity at the Kenosha Kemper Center. In the 1930's, a bakery worker at the school spotted a ghost dressed in a brown skirt clutching the railing of a stairwell. She ran to tell the other kitchen employees of her encounter and then returned to the staircase, the ghost was gone. In 1985, a member of the Lakeside Players, a Kenosha theater group, had a strange, haunting encounter in Kemper Hall, which is still the name of the main and largest building in the Center. She was standing inside of the old gymnasium when she sensed a presence in the back of the room, as if someone were watching her. When she turned, she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye and then the sound of scraping and footsteps climbing up the balcony staircase. The stairs were empty at the time, and a search of the building revealed that no one else was present. Even the media has felt the strange, haunting presences at the Kemper Center. In October, 1997, a crew from the local television news station filmed a story inside of Kemper Hall. According to a source, the photographer who edited the tape began to experience bizarre problems with the tape that was shot. He was inside of the editing bay and each time that the tape would reach a portrait of founder Charles Durkee, the tape would go berserk. It would roll, and begin flashing with static, and then return to normal when the shot changed. Several co-workers came in to observe the problem and it happened every time. No one could explain why it happened.
Published by Joshua Cook
I am a freelance writer for hire who has a true passion for writing. Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, I moved to the Seattle area about three years ago. After a recent dark period in my life, I came out stronger... View profile
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43 Comments
Post a CommentI was a student there. I lived there for several yrs. I had 1 of the front bedrooms 1 yr. and was in the attic for 1 yr.I also had a room on the floor with a long hall and lots of doors.I never had any bad or ghostly experiences there. Kemper was a wonderful school and I wish it were still a school now . I had 1 class with 3 students in it. Long live Kemper and her ghosts !!!
the last part about the tape screwing up creeps me out! me and my friend used the kemper center to film a movie for a school project and in the begining there was a bunch of pictures. when the video got to a picture of they observatory, it would freez and lock down the computer. we put the picture in fifferent places in the video and it did the same! thats creepy!
Also, just wanted to share this. I just spoke with a woman at Kemper about the Haunted house this year. Beginning October 15th in addition to the haunted house they are having a ghost tour in the southern section of the building where public usually isnt allowed.
When we were younger my husband worked there as a side job putting up and tearing down events. One day he calls me up to come get him, his shift wasn't done for a few hours. He said he was never going back. Something in the church scared him and he wont talk about it. He didn't even believe in ghosts.
For the person who thinks TAPS is fake ...if you watch GH international they have someone speaking the local language when on hunts. Check out the ones in Central and South America, one of the investigators speaks spanish.
Im in the local marching band, Rambler band & we have a concert there every year. But when im playing I feel as if someone is watching me from the window & it creeps me out. Ive been prefroming there since the summer of 08 & i still get the same feeling. Its very creepy.
i had to do community service there back in the late 80's and one day i started to just walk around inside of the building and found myself in a hallway with many doors, they had to be the bedrooms. the hall was narrow and i almost had a anxiety attack feelling as if i wasnt alone and lost inside of there. believe me or not , i wasnt alone, i could feel the presence of something and it wasnt a good feeling.
so yesterday was my first day at kemper, i just was walking around. didn't really believe i'd see anything paranormal... but then i was walking around the corner, right by that like walk way tunnel thing, and i saw like a faint foot right behind the corner of the building as though someone was walking... i walked around to see who it was and nobody was there. i don't know. it was weird. /:
believe me or not, i don't care. just thought i'd put my little story out there. :)
I have worked at Kemper Hall for about 3 years now and I have never encountered such things. I am on the grounds at all times of the day including the midnight hours and while it does make odd noises, they can be attributed to an old building. When I first started there I was well aware of the rumors that surrounded the Hall including that of the suicidal nuns and students. I have a very active imagination and I would love to believe that it is indeed haunted but I just dont see it. I don't know that the building will ever be turned back into a girls school for lack of space, while it does seem spacious the rooms used were actually quite small. Class sizes were 10-15 and that is not practical in todays financial and educational practices. Kemper Hall rents out the rooms to professional business members including psychologists, hypnosist, Doctors, and our staff of accounting, event managing and Alumni Board. Senator Durkee's mansion is open year round for tours and the main halls are re
SISTER AUGUSTA DROWNS HERSELF; Body Found Floating in the Lake South of the Kemper Hall Grounds at Kenosha.
• KENOSHA, Wis., Jan. 8, 1900- (Special) -
The strange disappearance of Sister Augusta from Kemper hall last Tuesday,
was solved just before 12 o'clock today,
when her lifeless body was discovered
floating in the lake just south of the Kemper Hall grounds. At the time she
disappeared it was feared that she might
have committed suicide, but a report came from Missouri that she had arrived at the home of an aunt and had renounced
the faith, that the attractions of the world were stronger than that of the attractions of the secluded life of devotion to the suffering poor of the world.
Sister Augusta was a minor sister attached to the Mission Home of St. Mary at 209 Washington Boulevard, Chicago.
She had come up to Kemper hall to attend a retreat for the sisters. She arrived in Kenosha Monday afternoon, Jan. 1, and attended the opening services of the retreat. Tuesda
well wen i was around 8 or ten ma dad n step dad played soccer in the fields i never knew it was haunte but somehow it game me da creeps i always saw this weird robe sitting in the stairwell but wen i came bak it was never their well i dirint find out it was haunted till last year me n my frends done investigaions with cameras we saw some one in the window once but thats it im exited to go to the haunted house this year tough. %28sorry about the spellin%29