A couple months ago some friends and I had planned to spend the night at the Haunted House in Leopolis, but due to a caretaker working there being bothersome to the guests, they had to cancel it for now. However, The Fox Valley Ghost Hunters suggested another location which is part of their haunted places, the former Catholic Convent and School in Jericho. I knew exactly where it was because one year while on my way to meet a friend in New Holstein to attend the motorcycle races at Road America while on my motorcycle, there was pea soup fog that morning. So, I had to stop in their parking lot until it cleared up a bit.
We had seven participants and we arrived by 8:00 p.m., signed our waivers and received a tour.
The convent had electricity but no heat or running water. We had some electric heaters and a kerosine heater which we brought over from the school. The school had no electricity or heat. Mind you, it was a low of 13 that night.
Right off the bat, we heard some giggling in the room next to the one we had set up in the convent for our base camp. Jamie and I did a Charlie/Charlie in the dining room asking if Sister Marie was one of the spirits, as we were told. However, her name was Maria, so I kept getting it wrong.
We ventured over to explore the school for a while and I immediately noticed my fully charged camera was suddenly only at 43%. A little while later Mike’s flashlight that he had put brand new batteries in was dead as well. Colton also claimed he saw a shadow go down the stairs to the tunnel that connected the convent to the school. While Jesse and Jeff were looking at old documents in the school dated 1921 & 1927, I was standing there next to them with my back to the room of the entrance to the tunnel when they both claimed to have heard someone go “Pssst”.
When we got back to the convent one of the pens from our Charlie/Charile session was on “No”.
Later Mike and I went back over to the school in a room just next to the one by the entrance to the tunnel where we sat in the dark being still and mostly quiet. I heard shuffling and footsteps coming from the room by the tunnel, but I thought it was Mike until he asked me if I heard it too and then he said he was sitting perfectly still on his step-ladder. He also said he saw a shadow in the entrance to that room.
Later we were all in the base camp and Mike went upstairs to read and take a nap and after a while we heard him upstairs shuffling around and his footsteps. After the second time this happened and he did not come downstairs, I went up by myself, knocked on the door and when I opened it I could clearly see I had woke him up. I asked if he had been up and he said “no.” I asked if he heard the footsteps and shuffling around because it went on for quite a while. He said no again and that he was sleeping. I accused him of doing it and then he removed his blanket to show me he wasn’t wearing any shoes.
During this time Jesse was over in the school by himself and when he came back said he heard Mike enter the school on the opposite end from where he was sitting. I told him Mike was upstairs sleeping and well the rest of us were in the base camp.
Later on we all went back over to the school, some of us taking the tunnel. While we were in the tornado shelter/punishment room in the basement, when the light switch clicked by itself. We sat there for 5 minutes or so in the dark… but nothing. When we left the shelter, we were standing in the room outside of it talking with my back to it, when the light switch clicked again. Jamie and I looked at each other and said “wholly shit!”
As we were heading back upstairs to leave and back over to the convent to warm up, I of course was the last one, which seemed the case often. As we were going up the stairs, it appeared to me that Colton had tripped on the 2nd tier and I asked if he did because he looked scared, and that’s when he told me he saw a child going up the stairs behind me. Again always behind me!
We ended up leaving the next day shortly after 5 as our kerosine heater had run out of fuel and so did we.
Yes, some of the things could be explained and questionable. For me I know I heard the footsteps by the tunnel, upstairs near Sister Maria’s old room and the light switches were very bizarre.
Next, the Insane Asylum in Sheboygan or to the Haunted House in Leopolis.
