The Secrets of St. Nazianz
Priests, Vandalism, and Abandonment
I felt a rush of excitement as I drove up to JFK Prep seminary school in St. Nazianz Wisconsin with my friend Carissa on a cold Saturday afternoon. I slowed down to stare at the old building, feeling amazed and curious as I thought about various events that could have taken place there. I could see why people would think this building is haunted just based on appearance alone.
As I stared up at the four-story building, with broken windows I couldn’t help but wonder what events had occurred there and if the rumors were true. What if JFK Prep, and the rest of St. Nazianz was haunted? And what events and rumors gave this town its creepy reputation? Unfortunate events happen in multiple places, so why are only certain places considered to be haunted?
I had researched this town before I arrived and had gotten a lot of background information from a website called Cult of Weird made by Charlie Hintz. In his article, Hintz states that “The town of St. Nazianz is believed to be one of the most haunted places in Wisconsin. It was founded by a rogue priest who, upon his death, is believed to have cursed the town he built. Throughout the years, natural disasters and numerous accounts of bizarre, unexplained phenomena have helped keep the legend alive.” The rogue priest that Hintz is referring to, was a priest named Father Ambrose Oschwald.
Another source goes more in detail about what makes people believe that Father Oschwald cursed the town and the strange things that have happened in St. Nazianz since. Andrew Lutzke wrote an article focusing on the paranormal activities and rumors surrounding the abandoned JFK Prep, as well as other strange things that have happened in the town. Lutzke writes, “Twenty years after Father Oschwald died, the state took a huge amount of land away from his colony (possibly upwards of 3800 acres). This supposedly provoked his spirit to curse the town. This culminated in a massive tornado that severely damaged St. Nazianz in the year 2000 causing over 100-million dollars in damage to it and the neighboring town of Chilton.” This explains what would have possibly angered the spirit of Father Oschwald causing him to curse the town he built.
Even though the whole town is said to be cursed and haunted, the building JFK Prep, is arguably the most haunted place in this small town. JFK Prep use to be a salvation seminary but was turned into a 4-year school for boys who wanted to become priests and was re-named to JFK Prep. Lutzke provides background information in his article by saying, “it was reopened as JFK Prep Academy in the 70’s but once again shut down in the early 80’s due to lack of funds. The property has laid dormant ever since.”
Hintz reports that JFK Prep was rumored to be haunted not only by Father Oschwald but also “rumored to be haunted by the tortured souls of kids who suffered at the hands of abusive nuns.” Lutzke implies in his article that JFK Prep could also be haunted by a student that committed suicide there. He says “You can also supposedly hear students laughing in the school hallways, which is credited to residual energy from all the kids who had passed through. The ghost hunters who explored the grounds a few years ago did confirm that a student committed suicide in the dorms, and they were even shown the suicide note as confirmation.” Perhaps it takes several unfortunate events to happen in one place for that area to be considered haunted.
I pulled up to the thrift store behind JFK Prep, which seemed to be one of the few places open to the public in this small and mysterious town. Lutzke states that “the gym has been converted into a thrift store.” Which explains why it is a seperate building, yet so close to the abandoned JFK Prep.
We got out of the car and walked into the small building. To our left was a table with miscellaneous objects scattered all over it. To our right was a staircase going down with a piece of mint green construction paper with the words “Thrift Store” and an arrow pointing to the stairs. Carissa and I walked down the stairs and opened an old door with wood peeling up from the bottom of it.
The whole place had a strange smell, and the smell became stronger once we entered the thrift store. The place had dim lighting and wasn’t very clean or well organized. Most of the thrift store consisted of old clothes, none of them met my taste in fashion. We walked around more to find old books, the most interesting of the books were a few cheesy romance novels that I liked to laugh at. The rest of the thrift store consisted of miscellaneous objects, such as dolls, jars, knick knacks, more things than I could name. However, I couldn’t see anyone purchasing any of the objects. I wondered who these objects once belonged to, and why they were given up. Were any of these old objects haunted as well?
As Carissa and I walked out of the thrift shop an elderly woman told us to have a good day. I felt surprised as I recalled a previous time I had been to St. Nazianz with another friend and tried to go to the thrift store only to be told by a woman that the thrift store was closed and then escorted back to the road. I got the sense that she didn’t trust two teenage girls to be alone near the closed thrift store and the supposedly haunted JFK Prep.
I remembered reading comments on websites from people who have been to this thrift store saying that the staff seemed on edge and as if they were hiding something. Perhaps some of the objects in this thrift store could be haunted. A person named Kassidy says in the reviews “I’ve heard about the people being edgy…” she goes on to talk about how she would like to get inside of JFK Prep to make a documentary, but the people from the town aren’t being very helpful or telling her information about it. Another person that goes by the online name “Risen” comments, “Have been there a few times since it was abandoned and made into a thrift store. There is clearly *something* going on there; I’d wager something besides ghosts and thrifting. The staff seem a little too edgy and protective.” These comments from other people that had been to this thrift store reassured me that I wasn’t the only one to come across reserved employees that did not want teenage girls snooping around looking for information.
I wondered if my friend and I just happened to go to the thrift store on the day a friendly employee was working instead of the private and secretive employees that others and myself have encountered before.
I later did some more research about this thrift store and found a news report posted on the website, Herald Times Reporter, February 13th, 2017 that said, “Feb. 12, someone broke into the gym and thrift shop at the site previously known as JFK Prep. Money was stolen and four fire extinguishers discharged.” This information helped me understand and realize why some employees seem suspicious of the customers.
We left the dimly lit building and were met with bright afternoon sunlight.
We walked over to the St. Ambrose church next to the thrift store and I looked at the broken stain glass windows, that I’m sure at one point in time, were beautiful. I remembered research I had found saying that this church is where the townspeople kept Father Oschwald’s body until his coffin was finished being built. Hintz writes in his article that “his coffin was placed on view in a crypt beneath the high alter of the old St. Ambrose church. The coffin was reopened on April 29th for examination before it was to be placed in the completed chamber. A priest by the name of Father Mutz, along with a group called the Oschwald Sisters, noted that his body had not decayed, and there was no odor of corruption. Oshwald’s eyes had sunken in, but his skin had a lifelike complexion, his hair and fingernails were growing. They washed his face and noted that it served to give him an even more natural complexion.” I shivered, partly because it was cold, but also because of this unsettling background knowledge that I had.
I looked out into the distance and saw a cemetery. This specific cemetery is only for priests that have preached in St. Nazianz, and the crypt of Father Oschwald. I recalled another piece of history that I had learned from Hintz’s article, saying that Father Oschwald’s “coffin was opened again on October 4th, 1926, when it was being moved into a new stone mausoleum below Lorreto Hill. Local health officer Dr. L.W. Gregory, as well as many other members of the clergy, observed through a glass cover that Oschwald’s corpse was still in remarkably good shape after 53 years. His skin had become shriveled and sallow, but his body and vestments were still very much intact. The iron on his coffin and rusted and fallen away long ago.” I attempted walking to the cemetery through the snow, but I sunk into the snow with every step, filling my sneakers with cold, wet snow.
Feeling slightly defeated, Carissa and I walked back to my car and I drove us to another building, only about a minute drive away from JFK Prep. This building fascinates me, because I still do not know what it is, or what it once was. This building, however, was arguably just as creepy as JFK Prep, with nearly every window either broken, or boarded up and what appeared to be a bullet hole through the side door. I wished that I had background knowledge on this building but no matter how hard I searched I could not find any answers to what this building once was, or what it was used for now.
Behind the building there were totes and laundry baskets full of miscellaneous objects carelessly thrown there. I had come to the realization on a previous trip to St. Nazianz that the objects carelessly thrown behind this building change every time I visit, and this time was no exception. An unsettling feeling washed over me as I thought about the fact that people must come behind this building often to take and leave different objects. Why was this a place for people to leave their unwanted belongings? What happened to the things I had seen there on my previous visits? Do people just take things they find here? I don’t think I will ever find answers to these questions.
We walked further down the plowed path. If this place is truly abandoned, why do people bother to plow a path? I wondered.
We stumbled upon another unknown building with several garage doors on it, a sign on the building said “Furniture & Appliance Warehouse” on it, and I wondered if it was still frequently used because it didn’t appear to be.
We followed the path to the next building. The building had four floors and many windows, most of them either broken of boarded up. I could only imagine that this building was once used as an apartment building. There were also three cars parked in front of this building that were snowed in, and no way of telling how long they’ve been there.
We approached the last building, and once again, I had no idea what it once was or what it is now. However, I could tell that someone had been there recently. I found fresh footprints in the snow, and a car that had been cleaned of the ice and snow.
Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, I turned to my friend and told her that we should go back to the car. We quickly walked back to the car, feeling slightly anxious that we might have went on to someone’s property and that we were about to get ourselves into trouble. We got back into the car and I started to drive away, taking one last look and the creepy JFK Prep, and once again wondering if anyone would ever find out what happened in that seminary.
