Most Holy Trinity Church

Most Holy Trinity Church was built between 1882 and 1885 on land that was used as a cemetery from 1841 to 1853. According to local rumors, not all of the bodies were exhumed from the graveyards, and the spirits of those left behind still inhabit the grounds to this day. Lights in the school gym have gone off and on for no reason, and at nighttime the sounds of footsteps walking back and forth can be heard in the school building.

The church’s rectory was built in 1872 by its second pastor by Monsignor Michael May, who later died in his room on the second floor. Priests who live in the rectory have continued to reserve the space as a guest room ever since as no one has ever been willing to live in it on an ongoing basis. Guests say they have heard strange noises and the sound of a person walking back and forth while trying to sleep in the room. Phantom footsteps have also been heard on the staircases in the building, and dogs who were once kept as pets in the rectory would stare in a trance-like state down the basement stairs, as well as into the dining room when the building got cold.

In 1897 a parish sexton and bell ringer named George Stelz was murdered in the vestibule of the church. Though there was a suspect in the case—a former parishioner who would later be executed for an unrelated murder—no one was ever convicted of the crime. Stelz’s ghost is said to still roam the church and is believed to be the reason why the bells will at times ring for no reason. It is said that Stelz will not leave until his murder has been solved.