George Stickney House

George Stickney House

Infobox_nrhp | name = George Stickney House


caption = The George Stickney House in Bull Valley, Illinois. Note the rounded corners.
locator_x =
locator_y =
location = Bull Valley, McHenry County, Illinois, USA
nearest_city =
lat_degrees = 42
lat_minutes = 18
lat_seconds = 58
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 88
long_minutes = 22
long_seconds = 1
long_direction = W
built = 1836 [ [http://www.nundatownship.com/Supervisor/Cemetery/Holcombville.htm Holcombville Cemetery] , Nunda Township Supervisor, Nunda Township, Retrieved Jan. 2007.]
added = May 14, 1979 [ [http://www.nr.nps.gov/nrloc1.htm NRIS Database] , National Register of Historic Places, retrieved Jan. 2007.]
governing_body =Village of Bull Valley

The George Stickney House or simply Stickney House or Stickney Mansion is located in rural McHenry County, Illinois, in the small village of Bull Valley, near Woodstock.

The Stickney House has housed the Village Hall and Bull Valley Police Department since 1985. The structure has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.

The house is widely considered bizarre due to its design, which was based, in part, on George Stickney's belief in Spiritualism.Fanjul, Juan Carlos. [http://wgntv.trb.com/news/local/eveningnews/wgntv-news-103105stickney,0,3914119.story WGN Cover Stories: Stickney House] , WGNtv.com, 31 October 2005. Retrieved Jan. 2007.] [ [http://www.ghosts.org.uk/index2599.html Stickney Mansion] , Ghosts, Ghosts.org.uk. Retrieved Jan. 2007.]

Round corners

As an adherent to spiritualism, Stickney believed that the spirits in his house required the freedom to roam without getting caught in corners. Therefore, the home's interior is designed with no 90 degree angles between the walls. Every "corner" in the house is rounded.

The Stickneys may have drifted toward spiritualism as a way to communicate with their dead children; they had twelve children but only three survived to adulthood. It is known that the family conducted seances on the second floor of the building. In the years since the house left the hands of the Stickney family, owners have reported supernatural occurrences.

The supernatural

Today the mansion is occupied by the Village of Bull Valley and its police department.

In 2005 Bull Valley Police Chief Norbert Sauers described his experiences with possible paranormal events in the Stickney Mansion. Sauers said that village employees have heard numerous sounds that seem to defy explanation. He described hearing footsteps in the second floor ballroom, a room that today is used only as storage for village records but was used for seances when the Stickneys owned the mansion. The footstep sounds have extended out onto the stairwell at times. Other occurrences include hearing human sounding noises or voices. They sometimes even hear the toilets flushing when they are alone in the house.

The Chief said he has also personally experienced objects moving around on his desk, lights turning off and, door knobs turning and a door opening, seemingly by themselves, and voices from thin air, having once heard a shout in his ear when no one was around him. Another police officer in Bull Valley claims to have come face to face with an apparition of Stickney's father-in-law.

According to a local news report, " [o] ver the years, two men who carry a badge and gun" have quit their jobs over the supernatural events.

Photo gallery



Notes

External links

* [http://www.prairieghosts.com/stickney.html The Stickney Mansion] at [http://www.prairieghosts.com/ Ghosts of the Prairie]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • George Dewey — Infobox Military Person name= George Dewey born= birth date|1838|12|26 died= death date and age|1917|1|16|1838|12|26 placeofbirth=Montpelier, Vermont placeofdeath=Washington, D.C. caption= nickname= allegiance=flagicon|USA United States of… …   Wikipedia

  • William Stickney (Board of Directors member, Columbia Institution for the Deaf) — William Stickney (April 11 1827 ndash; October 13 1881), was the son in law of Amos Kendall, a co founder of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf, a grammar school in Washington, DC, which became Gallaudet University. He was a member of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Thomas Stickney — (1729 1809) was an American military officer and statesman born in Bedford, Massachusetts on June 15, 1729. He moved to Concord, New Hampshire as a young man with his father Jeremiah and brother William. Their house was made into a garrison house …   Wikipedia

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in McHenry County, Illinois — See also: List of Registered Historic Places in Illinois Contents: List of Registered Historic Places in McHenry County, Illinois, USA: This National Park Service list is complete through NPS recent listings posted November 10, 2011.[1] …   Wikipedia

  • McHenry County, Illinois — Seal …   Wikipedia

  • Bull Valley, Illinois — Geobox|Settlement name = Bull Valley native name = other name = category = Village etymology = official name = motto = nickname = image caption = Sign leading into Bull Valley. symbol = country = United States state = Illinois region = McHenry… …   Wikipedia

  • List of reportedly haunted locations — This is a list of locations reportedly haunted by ghosts or other supernatural beings. Reports of haunted locations are part of ghostlore. Ghostlore is fueled by history and legend and is part of folklore.Australia * The Alkimos is a shipwreck of …   Wikipedia

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts — Location of Cambridge in Massachusetts This is a list of sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of… …   Wikipedia

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany County, New York — Location of Albany County in New York Ma …   Wikipedia

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Niagara County, New York — Location of Niagara County in New York …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”