I spent most of my years growing up in a small northern Utah Town. My house was about 5 minutes from about three different major canyons in the area, which were filled with campgrounds, picnic spots and hikes. Our church had several lodges or retreats that our church group would go up to on a regular basis. There were also cabins and other lodges up the canyons that were owned by other churches but we didn’t know about them too much so that lead to legends and tall tales about these big places that were dark a lot of the time.
While attending one of these evening church socials I heard the Story of St. Ann’s Retreat. The story goes that it was a nunnery where bad nuns went to have abortions for the illegitimate babies they were carrying. The urban myth also goes that if you went up the canyon to the retreat and just went across the bridge, turned off your head lights and said “Hell Mary” 10 times, An old witch would come out of the woods and chase you with the knife looking for more children. The legend didn’t make much sense but it was passed around from kid to kid. Later when I was in college a group of my friends had gotten together up in the canyon for a marshmallow roast and spooky campfire stories started. One of my friends mentioned the St. Ann’s retreat legend and he also said he actually met some other students that were hired to take care of St. Ann’s retreat. He said that the students had been hired as caretakers for the place because the urban stories had gotten out of hand and now local vandals were going up on a regular basis and causing damage. These students also and said to come up and visit anytime. So we decided to take a trip over to explore and see the place for our selves. We met the Caretakers and they took around to the buildings and told us a bit about the history. 21 buildings and structures, including two main lodges, six smaller cabins, a playhouse, a pool house and generator house, along with a fireplace, fire pit, fountain, bridge and swimming pool. At one time, it also was home to a small theater with an adjoining ticket booth.
Used by a group of Catholic nuns in the 1950s as a summer retreat and then a children’s camp, the site was originally developed in the early 1900s by two millionaires.
They said it was owned by two millionaires that used to have Broadway, Hollywood stars, international dignitaries and artists to come up and stay with them. The place was amazing! But because of local legend and lack of communication the locals the buildings were constantly vandalized and broken into. I guess what was amazed at was the stupidity of the locals. If only the town knew what a nice place this was I’m sure things would have been different information would have been exchanged better and local legends changed to tell the truth. Currently the location is now up for historical landmark status and to be restored. Hopefully they will be successful and the legends will change before it’s to late.
While looking for scary places and experiences during this holiday season make sure to treat locations with respect and always make sure to get permission before entering. Even if it is just the spirits left to ask. Happy Halloween everyone!
