St. Anne’s Retreat - Erase or Embrace the Legend?
About eight or so miles up Logan Canyon, not far from my house, is the legendary St. Anne’s retreat. Also known as Hatch’s Camp, it is the largest retreat in the county – and as a salient point, it is the only one with a swimming pool. St. Anne’s is situated on about 2½ acres of U.S. Forest Service land in the Cache National Forest next to the Logan River. It has two main lodges, six cabins, a play house, a pool house, and other outdoor amenities. Inside features include 12 bedrooms, nine bathrooms, French doors, hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings, and stone fireplaces. The yard is secluded with mature trees and mountain views. The retreat was built by a prominent Logan business man in 1920 and expanded by wealthy family members who lived in New York and used the property as a retreat for the rich and powerful.
That is the property the owners, realtors, and the Forest Service want you to see. But mention St. Anne’s to any past or current resident of the valley and they will immediately bring up its haunted history. The property was donated to the Catholic Church in the 1950s and used by vacationing nuns until 1978 when it was turned into a youth camp. This became fodder for urban legends of wayward nuns who retreated to St. Anne’s to hide their shame. The rumors of illegal abortions, nun suicides, and drowned babies have given way to more than just ghost stories over the years. Scores of legend-trippers and curious visitors bring back reports of children’s cries, ghostly apparitions in nun attire, red-eyed hellhounds, and the presence of demonic spirits. Travel Channel’s popular paranormal series, Ghost Adventures, even featured St. Anne’s in a 2016 episode.
As terrifying as these urban legends may be, it was a horrific incident at St. Anne’s that grabbed headlines in October 1997. Three armed caretakers held almost 40 young men and women hostage for hours on the grounds of the nunnery. These youths were out for some Halloween-themed fun when they were assaulted, threatened, and bound by the gun-wielding assailants. They fired their weapons and terrified the youths until the police arrived at dawn. The three men later admitted to their crimes and were convicted; several of the teens would later say that the assailants appeared to be under the influence of demonic spirits.
If you are selling the property, these may be the sorts of details you want to leave out of the listing. Which the realtor did when the property was listed for sale in the spring of 2021.
St. Anne’s has changed hands several times since it was sold by the Catholic Church to private investors in 1992. The then buyers planned to turn the property into vacation homes but apparently failed to anticipate the accepted tradition of legend-tripping to the site. Or how fear, belief, and prejudice would interfere with peaceful vacation due to a long-standing cultural gap between local Mormons and Catholics. At least that is what one of the investors cited as the reason they were unable to renovate the property. The owner did not mention the ghost stories, extensive vandalism, or Forest Service control over the use permit that may have contributed to their decision to sell.
In 2006, an investor from Salt Lake City purchased the property and had it added to the National Register of Historic Places. This is a status that carries both a financial benefit and a legal obligation. Constant vandalism eventually led him to also abandoned his efforts to renovate the camp and it was again listed for sale. The asking price in 2010 was just under $2 million but four-plus years on the market drove it down to a fraction of that at $595,000. Actual selling price is unknown.
But it opened the door for a new owner who, after years of wanting to purchase the property, closed the deal in 2015. He had the same goal of renovating the historic resort as the investors before him. Surveillance cameras were installed and the property was posted but history repeats, and he was unable to stop the vandalism. A Facebook page was created in 2015 that appears to have spent more time trying to identify trespassers than honoring the history and renovation of the property. The page has had very limited activity since 2017 and nothing in the last year.
I learned about St. Anne’s shortly after moving to the valley – ironically from locals in a restaurant after a ghost tour that excluded the nunnery from the agenda. But it wasn’t until the property was recently listed for sale that I decided to take a look. As expected, it was heavily featured with cameras and posted warnings. The land is Forest Service and we took care not step onto any of the private structures. I figured that was a defensible position – it is the publicity of the land that makes renovation so hard. I can’t say that I felt anything unusual apart from anxiety over straddling the line between public and private property. Deteriorating structures … no viable parking … obvious vandalism … a weathered electrical wire extending from the source to the main lodge … no internet. What would it take?
For starters, the property would have to be constantly inhabited – by owners who accept the conditions of the use permit – not gun-wielding caretakers. I can’t even imagine the liability of the owners in 1997. Nor could I get details of the USFS permit or what other summer homeowners have experienced because the realtor shut me down. The listing clearly shows that it is under contract, but I was this close to a private showing when I mentioned our interest in horror and haunted places. I was politely and immediately informed the current offer is very solid. I did some additional research and found a newspaper article where a spokesperson for the Forest Service said they are very much against anything like a haunted B&B.
Mental note: must do homework first.
So for now, my dream of a haunted retreat in this valley that I love so much is on hold. But a generations-old legend is not going anywhere. The property is protected by the historical registry (kudos to the guy who made that happen). History cannot be erased - so it should be embraced. We are watching to see what is next for the haunted nunnery.
In the meantime, here are a few recommendations for movies based on real haunted places. Enjoy.
